SYTYCD Season 9: New York and Dallas Auditions Thoughts

Unfortunately Fox.com doesn’t allow me to watch the episodes of So You Think You Can Dance via their website until nearly a week later. So I had to find other avenues to view the videos… so watch this space as I add on over they days of my thoughts on the dancers that have made it through to Vegas (as far as I know).

NEW YORK AUDITIONS
Amelia Lowe
Twitter
– Faculty of The Dance Academy of North Jersey
For some reason, see her run on stage and her name the whole package just seems to make sense to me. That whole silent film era, she embodies that in her personality and in her dancing. Her technique does need to be stronger in my opinion, but everything else… it just draws you in to an extent. There is a theatrical quality to her movement that isn’t easily taught.

Leo Reyes
Twitter
YouTube Channel
Hip-hop/contemporary mix, Leo has a good story coming into the show and effortlessly melds the two styles together.

Shafeek Westbrook
Facebook
One thing about breakdancing is that after a while you see the same things over and over again. Once in a while the power moves/tricks would push the envelope, but how to do take things to a whole new level? What drew me into Shafeek is that the usual power tricks he modifies them and smooths out the shapes, some in slow motion. More of an artist in this way… he could be someome with a good chance to go far in Vegas.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Facebook
A very strong ballet dancer, with strong lines and technique. He reminds me of Season 3’s Danny Tidwell except he emotes very well. Tyce is right, that level of technique deserves a chance to push themselves to the next level in Vegas.

DALLAS AUDITIONS

Bree Hafen
Facebook
Is it bad that the kids stole the show in this one? Nigel is really good with them… I don’t remember Nigel doing that in the past, it’s like he’s become personable over the years. In any case… Bree was smooth and graceful, with a strength and a passion in what she does and still loves to do after all these years.

Bree has a bunch of YouTube videos up that feature herself and her kids. In fact here is a video of her solo as she practices dancing around the kids:

Stepheon Stewart
Tee hee hee, I just love this guy’s facial expressions. They freaked me out, but they were awesome! Makes me wonder just how much time he spends in front of the mirror looking making those faces. 🙂 He might have just enough flexibility that he could go far in the season, but the Vegas callbacks will determine that.

Hampton Williams
I got chills when I watched him dance, I didn’t really know what to expect and his flow is smooth and his transitions from one dance flow to another is just effortless. Sometimes he’s locking, sometimes he’s popping, sometimes it’s lyrical hiphop. There was no way to predict what he was going to do next, let alone even predict what he was going to do. Nigel just hit the nail on the head, he’s not a dancer he’s an artist, no doubt about that.

Even though he got his ticket to Vegas, I am still worried about how he would fare in the other styles. He reminds me a little of Cedric Gardner from Season 3, so incredibly unique, fantastic to watch but unsure as to the adaptation to other dance styles. I really hope that Hampton would adapt better than Cedric did, because this is something that people should truly watch and enjoy.

Daniel Baker
– Danced at the San Francisco Ballet
Well… before I talk about Daniel Baker, how about a little treat. Courtesy of Alex Wong’s twitter:

Yup, that’s Daniel Baker dancing with Alex Wong…

Now that I’ve saturated the palate a little bit, Daniel originally auditioned for SYTYCD back in Season 7, got a ticket to Vegas but was absent for the Vegas callbacks. According to an email from Alex Wong:

He auditioned for S7 and made it to Vegas but opted out of going when he was offered a contract with the San Francisco Ballet.

I really would love to see him in the other styles and potentially all the way to the live shows. He has amazing lines, great strength and artistry, just to see him grow would be worth it. Heck, I’d go so far as to say that he should be able to adapt to some of the others styles just based on the Mortal Kombat video alone. 🙂

Jarell Rochelle
Facebook
Twitter
He emoted really well on stage, but I think having his mom front in center and dancing to music that clearly is dedicated to his mother probably helped that. He does a little bit of popping/locking as well as contemporary and how those two melted was really good. I can’t wait to see what he brings to Vegas, how would he grow as a dancer and artist.