So You Think You Can Dance Season 12 Renewal!!

We posted previously about Nigel’s somewhat cryptic tweet about whether So You Think You can Dance would be renewed and return for SYTYCD Season 12. The good news today is that Fox announced the renewal and return of So You Think You Can Dance for Season 12.

As part of the renewal, the show is going through some major changes. Here’s the details of those changes:

Throughout the auditions, the dancers who advance will be placed into two teams – the STAGE dancers, featuring those trained in styles such as contemporary, ballet, jazz or tap; and the STREET dancers, hopefuls skilled in hip-hop, animation or breaking. As the auditions continue, the judges, along with each team’s All-Star Mentor, will eliminate dancers until only the Top 20 – 10 Street Dancers and 10 Stage Dancers – remain. When the competition goes “live,” the Top 20 will be challenged weekly to perform a variety of styles, working with world-renowned choreographers. One dancer from each genre will be eliminated each week leading up to the Season Finale. Who will win…a dancer from the stage or the street?

This sounds like it could be a very good change. I (and I think Nigel) was always upset when an amazing street dancer was sent home from the show because they didn’t have skills in the other styles of dance. This sounds like it will give them an opportunity to stick around much longer. Plus, we should see a new level of choreography on the show as the choreographers can go nuts with their skills. My only caution would be that the choreographers think more about the art of creating something amazing versus just trying to showcase the dancers skills.

I do hope they’ll have some cross over dancing where we can see some b-boys doing contemporary and some ballroom dancers doing Krump. Oh wait. The announcement doesn’t list ballroom anywhere. Does that mean that ballroom will not be part of the new season or are they just grouped with the trained styles? That will be interesting to see. It would be a shame if Nigel included his beloved Tap and shutout ballroom.

What do you think of this new season?