I was checking out some of the chance to dance videos and found one where Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt discuss the skills hip-hop dancers with Nigel. Nigel offers some interesting comments about his experience with Hip Hop dancers on SYTYCD.
I also found this short clip from A Chance to Dance which still makes me laugh. I’m sure that Nigel loves to be called Charlie.
A Chance to Dance also put out a couple videos that I think dancers will enjoy. The videos feature ballerina Marine de Vachone and look at the life of a dancer off stage. Enjoy!
The dancing was great on So You Think You Can Dance tonight, but I must admit that I’ve really been enjoying A Chance to Dance. I love seeing more of the dynamic between the choreographer and the dancers. SYTYCD doesn’t have time to show the process and A Chance to Dance has been able to show that part of the process more.
As you know, we’ve been covering A Chance to Dance as well as So You Think You Can Dance lately. I’ve really enjoyed watching A Chance to Dance. It’s a great look at the dance world. Plus, I purchased the Chance to Dance online stream and commercial free watching of the show is great.
I got a bunch of pictures from behind the scenes of A Chance to Dance episode 2. It’s amazing to see how flexible the dancers are. Plus, I love the pictures where the dancers are stretching and warming up. It’s cool to see that snapshot in time. Enjoy!
One thing that I’ve really loved about A Chance to Dance is seeing Allison Holker in another light. She eats breathes and sleeps dance, but it was also great to see more of her personality as well. A Chance to Dance has published a few videos that highlight Allison Holker.
This video is hilarious as Billy and Michael talk about Allison. I have to admit that her driving does seem scary. Plus, at the end, Allison has the perfect line, “I hope that’s soon.” Watch to see what I mean.
I was like Billy and Michael in this video where Allison introduces them to Flocking. Pretty awesome to watch.
Here’s another fun video with Nigel Lythgoe and his son Simon Lythgoe side by side talking about various types of dancers on the show and in particular, the Hula Hoop girl on A Chance to Dance.
I won’t be surprised if we see the Hula Hoop girl on a reality TV show again soon.
The more videos I watch for A Chance to Dance, the more interested I am to see what Michael and Billy do in future episodes. This Friday’s episode looks like it will be really good:
I’m sure that most of you read Katie’s thoughts on the premiere of A Chance to Dance. Any hard core fan of SYTYCD will love the show.
For those trying to pick out some of the dancers on the show, check out some of the pictures from the A Chance to Dance Salt Lake City auditions. Some of the pictures are just incredible since they show how flexible the dancers are. Enjoy!
Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer and judge on SYTYCD, decided he wanted to create a company of 12 talented dancers from around the country and have them premiere at the Dizzy Feet Foundation gala in New York City. Easy, right? Maybe not — he wanted it done in 28 days. So he contacted the creators of the Ballet Boyz Dance Company, Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn, to go to different cities to visit dance studios and then hold an open audition in hopes of finding talented, classically trained, dancers to make the final cut.
On the premiere tonight, Billy and Michael landed in Salt Lake City and were picked up by their host, Allison Holker, from season 2 of the SYTYCD, and were welcome by wonderful Utah traffic (which I know far too well) on the way to different dance studios in the surrounding area. At the first one, two girls automatically were given passes to the next stage because they impressed Billy and Michael so much, and everyone else was invited to attend the open audition the next day. They visited a few more studios before calling it a day.
But enough of the re-capping. If you’re reading this, you must have watched the show. So now I’ll just give my thoughts.
The show started off strong. We got right into the audition/scouting stage, which I liked. Most of these dancers were serious about what they were doing, and there weren’t any “spoof” auditions that we often see on dancing and singing shows. It also become obvious very early on that Billy and Michael meant business. I mean, someone left without saying anything, and you could tell it bothered them. I loved the speech they gave at that point — I would have been scared to even attempt to leave! They also didn’t waste time cutting people, which was unfortunate for those that didn’t have much a of a chance to show what they had, but it kept the show moving.
Here is a video from tonight’s episode that has Billy “showing how it’s done”:
Billy and Michael had three fears going into the open audition:
Nobody would show up
Those that showed up wouldn’t be any good
How could they know if someone was really as talented as they appeared after one day
There was definitely a huge turnout of a variety of people — a dance student at BYU, an organic gardner, and a guy in his mid-thirties.
Jaecey, more commonly referred to as the hoola hoop girl, stood out to me right away because of her less-dance like attire, and, of course, her hoola hoops. Unfortunately, turning the first part of the audition, she stood out…but not really in a good way. I commented right away that I felt like she didn’t seem to be picking it up very well, and my thoughts were quickly voiced by Billy and Michael. I definitely agreed with that cut.
I did wonder why they kept around A.J. He definitely had a very cocky persona from the beginning, and he just didn’t seem to be that talented. He blamed it on the nerves, but I think he just wasn’t really wanting to listen. I was relieved when he was cut in the end, especially after he made the comment about saving the girls in his trio toward the end.
The group pieces were pretty cool. I think my favorite was Jen and Jessica, who performed second. They seemed very connected and fluid, and it was a beautiful piece to watch. Another stand out performance was Sarah and Eldon, who went first. I think these two could make it to the end. Here’s the clip of their performance:
In the end, I agreed with most of their choices. I noticed that they focused Sarah quite a bit throughout the entire episode. She had several interviews throughout the episode, and it seemed like Billy and Michael singled her out quite a bit. I wonder if that’s a hint at the future — will she make the final cut? She was a bit emotional, so if she can keep that under control, I think she has a good chance.
They are leaving Salt Lake with 11 dancers, however, only two of those were men. Hopefully D.C. and Austin will prove to have more talented male performers. I didn’t catch all the names of those moving on, but among those 11 are Sarah, Jen, Jessica, Sydney, Joni, Megan, Chase, Eldon, and Savannah. In the individual pieces earlier on in the episode, I really liked Joni’s performance. Beyond her, Sarah, Jen, Jessica, and Eldon stuck out to me.
Don’t forget to tune in every Friday until September 28th to see more auditions and who makes the final 12. Plus, if you don’t have Ovation TV, remember that you can stream A Chance to Dance online. This is a competition like none other I’ve seen before. I’m excited for the upcoming episodes and to follow the journey of these dancers, and to see who makes it to the final performance. I love that there is more than one winner, and this is giving dancers an opportunity they may not have otherwise had. Just so you want to come back next week, here’s episode 2’s promo:
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
As I mentioned previously, since many of our readers don’t likely have the OvationTV channel in their homes, A Chance to Dance has an online streaming option through Milyoni that will be available at https://www.facebook.com/OvationTV. It will also be available as video-on-demand and TV Everywhere if you have those.
The show premieres Friday, August 17th at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET. The online stream is available for only $1.00 per episode or $11.99 for a seven-episode bundle and will be shown simultaneously on American TV and Facebook. I think that’s an entertainment industry first for a TV show like this to be shown online and on TV at the same time. Plus, the Facebook viewer will have online access to an exclusive interview with Nigel Lythgoe.
Also, if you saw my previous Chance to Dance post, you’ll want to see Michael and Billy Dancing 2-step at the Broken Spoke in Texas.
This quote from Nigel has me excited to see the full series:
“A CHANCE TO DANCE shows the passion, creativity, blood, sweat and tears that go into creating a new
American dance company,” said Nigel Lythgoe.
As I mentioned previously, we’ll be covering the new show Chance to Dance which premieres this week on Ovation TV. It’s getting close and I’m getting quite excited to see what I think will be chock full of amazing dancing.
I’ve found a number of videos that preview A Chance to Dance and give a good look at the 2 main characters in the show: Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt. Here’s the first video to help you get a feeling for Michael, Billy and the show itself.
This next video has Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt shopping in Texas. I hope that A Chance to Dance has as much humor as this video. It’s awesome. I do need to find the video of Michael and Billy going to the “Broken Spoke” dance hall.
This video has Simon Lythgoe offering some dance tips and comments about the music. You know how we feel about music and dancing. Although, my favorite part of the video was seeing Nigel’s son Simon.
Does anyone else enjoy watching a ballet dancer try and pole dance? Yep, Billy pole dances. He actually does quite well.
One last video that has Billy Trevitt offering dance tips. You can tell that Billy doesn’t hold back with his suggestions. I think that’s a good sign that the show is going to expose another side of the dance world that hasn’t been shown on TV that much.
In case you missed it previously, we had the chance to attend the auditions of a new show produced by Nigel Lythgoe called Chance to Dance. Since then we’ve decided to cover the full season of Chance to Dance here on Pure SYTYCD.
For those dance fans like us, Chance to Dance premieres on Ovation TV on Friday, August 17th at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET. You can also follow Chance to Dance on Facebook as well. Word is that they’ll be streaming the show on Facebook as well. I’ll try and get more details about the online stream and share that once I get it.
For those who don’t know anything about Chance to Dance, I think this video does a pretty good job showing a short preview of the show:
Also, Allison Holker is a part of Chance to Dance and recorded this video where she offers some really great dance tips:
I’m excited to see how this show comes together. As it says in the top video, the dancers that make it through Chance to Dance will have the opportunity to go on tour with the SYTYCD dancers. Very cool!
Pure SYTYCD got the chance to be able to attend the auditions for a new show on the Ovation TV channel called Chance to Dance. The show is produced by SYTYCD’s own Nigel Lythgoe and also includes Allison Holker.
A Chance to Dance follows Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, two former London Royal Ballet dancers and creators of the renowned BalletBoyz Dance Company, as they search the United States for undiscovered dance talent to form this new dance company. And there isn’t one winner… A Company of Dancers will get A CHANCE TO DANCE.
Pure SYTYCD sent Natalie to cover the Salt Lake City Chance to Dance auditions. Here’s her writeup of the experience along with a number of great pictures from the auditions and a short video outside while the dancers wait for their “Chance to Dance.”
Wake up early. Put your favorite dance clothes on. Look at yourself one last time in the mirror and tell yourself you can do it. Drive out in the middle of nowhere. Wait in line for 2 hours with a clip board waiting to check in. Wait in line for another two hours, stretching and free styling, for the people who decide if you’ll get the chance to dance.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the auditions for a new TV show called ‘A Chance to Dance-An exciting new dance competition series from father-son producing team Nigel & Simon Lythgoe.’ While shows like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Dancing With The Stars’ pick one winner, ‘A Chance To Dance’ will find the best of 24 and narrow them down to 8, that will perform as a company.
The judges of this new show are Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, or “The BalletBoyz” as they have become known. They will also be joined by, SYTYCD contestant and all-star, Allison Holker, who I also had the chance to meet at the auditions in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I asked them if they will look more for someone who fits into the group versus a star like they look for in SYTYCD? They responded with the easy, both. They will be looking for someone so stands out in the initial stages of auditions and as things progress closer to the final 8 they will look for those that work well in a group. Another difference is that America will not be sharing their opinion by casting a vote. “We are not a democracy,” was there response to my inquiry.
The judges mentioned that all styles of dance will be a part of the show, but I only witnessed about 30 seconds of auditions and those seconds were ballet and contemporary, being led by Allison Holker. Unlike our other favorite dance show, the contestants did not try out by preparing a solo to perform for the judges. They were all taught choreographed routines practiced in typical company class room fashion.
The different audition style rattled some, bringing them to simply walk out of the auditions in the middle, and leave. Others seemed to really be in their element, keeping up with Allison as she taught the routines quickly, with her telling the rest to keep up. The BalletBoyz sat in front of all the dancers talking with show producers, looking up occasionally to see how things were getting along.
Before they let the dancers in to start the auditions, Allison was seen dancing around the studio going over the upcoming choreography in her jeans and ankle boots, drinking her Starbucks, while The BalletBoyz worked with the production team and camera men to get the camera angles right for filming.
Witnessing a panicked, overbearing crew run around like chickens with their heads cut off, all trying not to be the one to mess up and get in trouble, was certainly a new experience. Everything always looks so simple when you see it on TV. But there is a lot more to it than we see in the final cut.
Keep an eye out for “A Chance to Dance”, set to premiere on August 17, on Ovation. You’re guaranteed to see a lot of amazing dancers, looking for their chance to dance.
Here are some of the other shots from the Chance to Dance auditions in Salt Lake City.
Now for a video showing some of the dancers outside waiting to audition for Chance to Dance:
