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Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Auditions: Atlanta

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Episode 46 direct download

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Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction
2:51 – Dragonhouse Crew: Boris Penton, Andre Rucker, and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
9:02 – Other Hip-hop/Street Dancers: Tim Conkel, Jackson Alvarez, Asher Walker, and Damon & Deon
16:28 – Bellydancing: Janelle Issis
17:53 – Contemporary Guys: Joshua Alexander and George Lawrence II
21:31 – Contemporary/Jazz Girls: Audrey Case, Danielle Dominguez, Courtney Kirby, and Brittney Ortner
29:46 – Wrap-up

Episode Length: 32:18

After an exciting set of auditions in Los Angeles, we found ourselves disappointed with the turnout in Atlanta this year. That’s not to say there weren’t some standouts, and those standouts were pretty amazing. We were treated to some absolutely amazing hip hop from the members of the Dragonhouse Crew, with Boris Penton, Andre Rucker and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer each offering us unique and draw-dropping takes on their “robotic” style of dance. It’s breathtaking what is possible with this style, whether it’s a fresh take on a character-based performance or melding two unrelated elements together, such as Boris’ movement atop a beautiful piano piece. Beyond the Dragonhouse Crew, Asher Walker surprised us with his self-taught brand of hip-hop dancing. While his dance vocabulary is limited, he overcame this with a great personality and sense of musicality, gliding to and fro across the stage without effort. George Lawrence II put forth a strong contemporary performance, putting every inch of his body into his extensions and balancing this with a tasteful routine full of contrasts in speed and quality of movement. Rounding out the dancers that impressed us was Danielle Dominguez, who’s Sonya-inspired style stood out and displayed a sense of power while maintaining a quirky character.

We wish we could say that we liked everyone from Atlanta, but many of the other contestants left us with mixed feelings. We felt lukewarm towards Tim Conkel, Jackson Alvarez, and Joshua Alexander, and we didn’t know what to make of Courtney Kirby. In addition, during her segment we wondered if having family members sit up at the panel is actually a good idea or if it carries a risk of biasing the judging panel. We discuss these things and more in the Atlanta audition episode of our podcast!

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

June 13, 2012 I Written By

Over the past few years my fiancée Meghan slowly brought me into the world of television, turning me into a full-fledged fan of both scripted and reality shows. So You Think You Can Dance turned into one of my favorite reality shows as it is a competition that takes itself seriously, providing the audience with artistic choreography and talented dancers. It's certainly not something I ever expected to get emotionally invested in, but here I am! Meghan and I are very analytic when it comes to the things we enjoy. We constantly discussed and analyzed shows with each other and after doing this for a couple years, we decided that we should turn these discussions into a podcast. We created Reflections on Pop Entertainment, a podcast that provides commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 is the first television series we're covering with weekly podcasts and has allowed us to find our voice as well as actively contribute to the fan community. We hope that you'll enjoy our installments as they are posted to Pure So You Think You Can Dance!

SYTYCD Season 9 Atlanta Auditions Thoughts

After last night’s episode of interesting music… I finally sat down to re-watch the episode for what it was meant to be: watched for its dancing.

Below are my thoughts of the dancers that made it through to the Vegas Callbacks as well as information to find them.

ATLANTA AUDITIONS
Audrey Case
Twitter
She’s interesting, she takes the usual tricks and adds more to them to make them more interesting and undoubtedly stand out more. She’s also a bit of a flirt, as it would appear. She seems to glow quite a bit as she dances… but with so many strong contemporary dancers I am not entirely certain if she would be able to stand out from the rest of the pack.

Boris Penton, Andre Rucker, and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer (Dragon House roommates)
YouTube Channel
I was glued to my seat with my jaw dropping when I was watching these three dance. Their musicality was absolutely fascinating, their isolation… just everything. I have no idea what else to say. If not at least one makes it to the Green Mile at Vegas… Well let’s just say I wouldn’t be thrilled.

Joshua Alexander
Twitter
For some reason he reminds me of Ade Obayoni from Season Five, except that I remember Ade for his power and strength, and Joshua has a bit more fluidity and flexibility that I really like. I’m drawn to him, I won’t deny it, so I’m curious to see how he does in Vegas.

Tim Conkel
Twitter
Facebook Page
After seeing Cole Horibe the other night at the LA Auditions, I wasn’t nearly as wowed by Tim Conkel. Kind of difficult to be honest. In fact I wanted to see him in choreography just to make sure. And then he auditioned again with the little “ballet” and nearly died laughing. Ok Tim, you win, you have personality and goofiness that has been lacking on the show for ages. I just hope you’ll be able to stick around for more than a day or two during Vegas Callbacks.

Janelle Issis
Twitter
Facebook Page
– Teacher/Choreographer at Encore Performance Company
I have always been a fan of ethnic/cultural dancing. When the “bollywood” style and others were introduced to the show I was really hoping to see someone whose primary dance style was ethnic. To me belly dancing is definitively ethnic… and what really drew me to her was her belly dancing to a hip-hop type of music which drew a lot of attention of how she worked the music into her dancing. Here is hoping she’ll go far in Vegas Callbacks.

Danielle Dominguez
I don’t remember Nigel being this friendly and personable in previous seasons, maybe it’s just me. For a pretty girl she definitely didn’t dance as I expected her to. She reminds me a little bit of Mark Kanemura from Season Four someone that was a bit “left of center”. I really like this, I like this a lot… it would be interesting to see how she fares during Vegas Callbacks.

Courtney Kirby
While watching, I had a sneaky suspicion that the judges were being really nice since her grandmother was at the judges’ table. For a while I got bored with her performance, and then she did a move and she had this intense look in her eyes and I was just, “wow” ok… there was the presence and she was getting into her performance. I would be intrigued to see what she can bring onto the table.

Asher Walker
Aww, he’s cute as a button, and I agree he is not nearly as talented as some of the other hip hop dancers we have seen over the years or even thus far, but dammit it was fun to watch. I think he needs at least another season or two of training before making it far in Vegas Callbacks… but we’ll see.

George Lawrence II
What struck me most about him is his spins and how controlled they were and instead of dancing out of them he slowed down and stayed in position. Very much like Jeanine from Season 5 when she did her final solo with the rose in her mouth, she just spun very control and slowed it down as opposed to dancing out of it.

Abigail Ruz
Through the snippet the best part of it was her drop from the spin… she was sassy and sexy, yes, but we’ve seen a lot of that on the show. She is a strong dancer, but beyond that I’m not sure.

Calvin Turner Jr
He comes across as a ballet dancer, strong lines and power of movement… but I think I got spoiled after seeing the likes of Alex Wong, Ade Obayomi, and even Daniel Baker and Stephen Jacobsen. So I am not really seeing much more here that I haven’t already seen before. He doesn’t seem to have the stage presence going across the floor quite like the others, but I’m not sure.

Aubrey Klinger
– Part of the Renegade Performance Group
Much like Abigail, there isn’t much to go and not much really impressed me. So I don’t know.

Brittany Ortner
Facebook
– Faculty at University Performing Arts Centre
There isn’t much to say here, it is very hard to comment on contemporary dancers because there is just so many of them. I like her, but I don’t love her. She has potential for growth, but she definitely didn’t wow me.

Damon Bellmon & Deon Lewis
Damon’s Twitter
Damon’s Facebook
Damon’s Facebook Page
After last season’s debacle of “paying homage” to a routine that wasn’t theirs, I was glad to see them in a more original routine (well I hope it was original). But I wasn’t wowed… I suppose after the kind of episode like today that is not likely going to happen. Meh. I have to agree, I like Damon over Deon even during their audition, he wasn’t as “lazy” in his movement as Deon appeared to be, finishing more, etc… so we’ll see.

June 7, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)