Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

There are so many people that audition for So You Think You Can Dance, I really don’t envy the producers and editors of So You Think You Can Dance at all. Nigel even said as much in a tweet he sent where he talked about being on the golf course while the editors were hard at work trying to get a few days of auditions down to an hour or two.

I think there are two types of dancers that unfortunately hit the cutting room floor on So You THink You Can Dance. First, we lose dancers that we fall in love with in the auditions and then never see again. Second, there are great dancers that make it to the end of vegas week and just barely miss making the top 20, but which we never actually get to see dance.

This post is a tribute to these dancers who we hope will return for So You Think You Can Dance season 6. If you have a dancer you think I should add to this list leave a comment (preferably with a link to a video of that person) and I’ll add them to the post.

Kelsea Taylor – I’m sure very few people will forget the “beautiful disastrous weirdo” who also introduced us to the music of Oona (even if it wasn’t her original music). Too bad after her killer audition, we never saw her in Vegas week. My source says she went home in the ballroom round in Las Vegas.

Paula VanOppen – She almost made the top 20 and you should have seen the fan club she has in my comments. Considering her fan club and the videos on YouTube of Paula I’d love to see her come back on season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance.

Diana Vaden – Another person similar to Paula which made the top 20, but we didn’t see her dance nearly enough to be able to make any judgments. My source says she’s still undecided about auditioning again. Let’s hope she changes her mind and goes back.

Kellen Stancil (Umbrella Guy) – He made it to Las Vegas, but then we never saw him again. I’d love to have seen how he did in Las Vegas. Hopefully he’ll come back again.

Chimezie Nwosu – Can you say Twitch? Let’s hope he works as hard as twitch did and he’ll be back on the show. Too bad we didn’t get to see more of his work in Las Vegas.

Arielle Taylor – A wonderful audition, but she kind of fell off the show when we got to Las Vegas. She auditioned before and I expect we’ll see her audition again.

Talia Rickards – Remember her audition. Beautiful along with a beautiful back story. I’d really like to see her dance some more.

Geo Smith (African Dancer) – Another disappearing act. It was in Las Vegas, but dancers weren’t meant to disappear. Cris Angel has tried that in Las Vegas and he’s been failing miserably.

Marico Flake (Memphis Juker) – Great audition, but once again nothing in Las Vegas. I’d have liked to see him try some other styles and see how he’d do.

Anna Dunn – I’m sure you remember the name. Great contemporary dancer that we never get to see again. I guess there’s always next year.

Lauren and Lydia Guerra – I’d have love to see the twins in Las Vegas. Too bad.

Amanda Kerby – Where did she go? They did a whole package on her talking about her family and her father and then we get none of her in Las Vegas. Very sad.

UPDATE: If you want the music from other SYTYCD season 5 episode’s here’s where I’ll be posting the music from the most recent episodes of SYTYCD Season 5.

I must admit that I always find it a little bit difficult to write about the audition episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. They go through people so quickly that it’s really hard for me to keep up with everyone. So many new people and so many new names. It gets much easier once we make it to the top 20.

Until then, I’ll still provide random thoughts and other tidbits that hopefully you’ll find interesting.

I guess we now know why Nigel was interested in our response to Tiffany Geigle, Gabi Rojas and “Mutations” on SYTYCD 5. Tiffany Geigle was indeed interesting and inspiring. The thing that disappointed me most was that Nigel didn’t allow Tiffany Geigle to go on to the choreography round. Why not let her have a cool experience that she could get no where else? Maybe there were other reasons I didn’t know about.

The same gender ballroom guys I actually feel the opposite. They should have never been sent to choreography. I know that Nigel Lythgoe is getting flamed on the boards for his comments about these guys. However, I think they’re missing the point. These two guys weren’t very good dancers. I don’t care if it was a guy and a girl. They would have never been put through to choreography if they were a guy and girl. Did Nigel forget that these 2 guys fell on their backsides? Seriously, in dancing that’s the equivalent of a juggler dropping something. They didn’t deserve choreography after the fall.

I made a prediction on Twitter that Kayla would make the SYTYCD season 5 top 20. She just was an awesome dancer with an awesome look and an awesome story. The picture of her grandfather sleeping at her dance studio is just awesome.

The story of Natalie (Katee Shean’s friend) coming back this season was good too. I don’t personally think that Natalie has that special star quality that Katee had, but I do expect Natalie to make the top 20 this year, but bow out in the early stages of the show.

I know there are some more people I missed that should be mentioned. I’ll save that for tomorrow when I have a chance to review some of the videos. What I did miss on this episode was dancers that were kind of in that middle ground. I like the raw talents that are hard to select. It seemed like almost all of the dancers on the show tonight were clear cut either Las Vegas, choreography or out. Not too much actual deliberation.

Before I go, I did want to list a couple of the songs that I’m sure people will be looking for from the So You Think You Can Dance season 5 premiere:

Song at the beginning of the episode was “Pocket Piano (Joakim Remix)” by DJ Mehdi

Montage of girl dancers (when Sonia was freaking out) was to the song “Jungle Drum” by Emiliana Torrini

Natalie Reid from Seattle danced to “Breakdown More” by Eric Hutchinson

Gabi Rojas danced to “Moonray” by Zap Mama

Brandon Bryant danced to “O Fortuna” by Carl Orff (from “Carmina Burana)

Kayla Radomski danced to “Blackbird” by Dionne Farris Buy CD on Amazon

Saalim “Storyboard” Muslim and his partner Habby “Hobgoblin” Jacques (“Mutation”) danced to the song

Chimezie Nwosu danced to the song “I Question Mark” by Wade Robson

Arielle Taylor danced to the song “Walking On” by Blaire Reinhard

Peter Sabasino (italian tapper) danced to the song

Kellen Stancil (umbrella) danced to the song “Like I am” by Rascal Flatts

Elias Holloway and Enoch Holloway danced to the song “Techno Rock” by Heiko And Maiko

Background song at beginning of SYTYCD season 5 Denver auditions is “Dancing On The Perimeter” by The Actual

Lauren’s choreography was done to Neyo – “Nobody”

After New York choreography round: “Lights and Music” (Boys Noize remix) by Cut Copy

Mitch & Misha Intro – The Weather Girls – “It’s Raining Men”

Mitch and Mishka danced to Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes with the Black Eyed Peas

Mitch & Misha Exit – James Brown – “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”

Nobuya Nagahama talked with the background music “Tokyo Drift” (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) by Teriyaki Boyz and then danced to the song “Peace Pipe” by BT Express

Intro to New York – KISS – “New York Groove”

Brooklyn Bounce – The Hives – “Well All Right!”

Mutation intro – Paul Wall – “My Life”

Tiffany Geigel – Enya – “The First Of Autumn” Download MP3 on Amazon

Maksim Kapitannikov – Blackout All-Stars – “I Like It (Like That)”

Day 2 New York Intro – Andrew WK – “I Love NYC”

Thomas Martin – Destiny’s Child – “Emotions”

Day 2 New York Bad Dancer Montage – Daft Punk – “Robot Rock”

Day 2 Vegas Tickets Montage – Ben Lee – “Just Say Yes”

Katherine Lynch – Janet Jackson – “Feedback”

Alison Moist – John Williams – “Theme From Star Wars”

Denver Day 2 Bad Dancer Montage – Leo Sayer – “Long Tall Glasses”

Arielle Taylor danced to the song “Walking On” by Blaire Reinhard

Montage sending people through in Denver (starting with Max) is to the song “Don’t Stop” by Lauren Elle (seems like the song is only currently available on Lauren’s myspace page) (This is the Don’t stop dancing, dancing song)

I’ll keep adding songs to this list of SYTYCD 5 music as I find it.