SYTYCD: Academy Week, Part One

Well that first Academy episode went by a little to fast and I had to re watch just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Now this is a personal opinion, I feel like the network has done this show a disservice shortening the length of the show by limiting the number of episode. It really doesn’t allow the viewers to connect with the dancers, unless they were featured in the first round of auditions. That being said, the first episode of the Academy didn’t disappoint with very challenging rounds for the dancers to take on. Nigel was probably the toughest judge that we saw during the show. The first three rounds were featured in this episode: Hip hop with Luther Brown, Ballroom with Emma Slater and Sasha Farber, and Contemporary with Talia Favia. 

Round One: Hip Hop (79 Dancers)

Luther gave us a hard-hitting routine that allows the dancers to inject their own personalities into the performance. I also agree with him when it comes to talking while he is trying to teach. The dancers have 90 minutes to learn these routines…I would be paying attention as closely as I could to each choreographer.

The only hip hop girls to make the academy were up first and one of them seemed to get a little bit flustered but they were given a second chance. The second chance was much better.

It’s really hard to see those struggle with picking up the choreo and that includes dancers from all styles. However it is also great to see the dancers succeed as well, like Jay Jackson being part of the best group. Sophie Pittman seemed to be worried while learning but shined when it came time to perform.

Laurieann’s reaction to Nigel being a bit harsh was amusing “You made it, run for your lives before he changes his mind…” By the end of day one a total of 10 dancers were cut.

Round Two: Ballroom

I love that Emma and Sasha are back and that they want to show the dancers what they created first. Wow…what a cha-cha. I was really cute to even see the ballroom dancers react to that last trick. Which was probably an optional thing due to the potential injuries if the trick went wrong.

The was a lot of debate after the first group to which D-Trix commented that when they did that his season, that it scared him. The entire group made it through but I understood their critiques.

The ballroom round turned out to be the end of the road for many dancers including  a few of my favorites (like Smac) from the first auditions.

Round Three: Contemporary

I feel like Talia created a piece that sums up this week of auditions. The dancers are at “war” fighting and crawling your way to the top 10. With not much time left in the episode we only saw a few clips of this round.

Unfortunately Jay Jackson, even though he had improved since last year, it wasn’t quite good enough. It had to sting a bit when Nigel said we will see you again. He quickly said that they wouldn’t because he is 30 and that is the cut off age for this show. 

The best group of the night was Bailey and John John, a b-boy and a hip hop dancer. They put their whole heart into that performance and show more emotion than some of the contemporary dancers.

Next episode will feature the group round with Mandy Moore and the Top 20 that will make it to the final cut to create the top 10 for the live shows.