So You Think You Can Dance, Season 6 Premiere

Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Adam Shankman
Audition City: Los Angeles, at the Orpheum Theater

Season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance begins only a little more than a month after the previous season's finale. With the seasons so close together, there's been no time for anticipation to build. Will this affect the ratings and voting participation? We'll see.
Host Cat Deeley is back, and draped in some gorgeous shimmery white fabric. She's as charming and cheeky as ever. Her lack of Emmy nominations in the host category is baffling.
We start off with a hilarious performance-art number by a fellow named Cole Clemens, who wriggles around the stage without music and chanting "shatter shatter shattershatter". Mary Murphy laughs throughout. I don't know why these auditioners are surprised by not being chosen when the judges can't contain their scorn until they're even off the stage.

Next up, we meet Mollee Gray, 18, a very young-looking blonde from Utah and principal dancer in High School Musical parts 1,2,and 3. She moves well, but shows no personality in dance. "She is SO this show!" Adam says. That's...alarming. And Nigel..well, we all know how Nigel loves his young blondes. Off to Vegas she goes.

We see now a brief montage of successful auditions: we have David Hovhannisyan, a high-flyer of a dancer, clad in a yellow diaper...a random blonde named Amanda (Nigel and his blondes, oy vey)... and a hip hopper named Brandon Dumlao.

Look who's back- Ryan Kasprzak, tap-dancing elder brother of last season's charmer Evan Kasprzak. Ryan made it to the last cut in season 5, and was cut for drama's sake. There's a weepy flashback to the Kasprzak boys.
Fellow tap-dancer Bianca Revels has also returned, and is now forced to eat her words, her claim that she'd never audition again.
Ryan performs his routine, a tap number without music but with him occasionally calling out words or phrases. It's a cool number. Adam gushes, "You're a freakin artist, this is the best audition ever. So special, and unique," and blah blah blah. We get it, Ryan is very talented.
Bianca comes onstage now, and Nigel suggests a tap battle. I have to say, Bianca's weaknesses are visible when she's up against Ryan Kasprzak like this. She's a good dancer, but he's much stronger. Anyway, Bianca gets a ticket back to Vegas.

We meet an allegedly-filmmaking nut case named Christopher Aguilar who shimmies to a crazed medley of songs from "Chicago." Adam is so sweet, he treats this auditioner like he's serious, when Aguilar is clearly one of those people who audition to be on tv and get noticed.

Next up: a pretty young black woman named Amber Williams. Remember her name, I think she'll be around for a while. Her sob story is that her mother is paralyzed and Amber helps her a great deal. She does a lovely contemporary routine.Nigel tells Amber that he wants to see smiles on her face when she's dancing, not just at the front of the stage. Of course, he LOVED the blonde, Mollee, who did the same thing earlier in Los Angeles. Nigel and his fucking blondes.

A few positive auditions of note:
Paula van Oppen, 18, the dark-haired pixie in the yellow dress. Contemporary dancer with a great face.
Christina Santana, 23, Latin ballroom/salsa, awesome dance, very fast-paced and enjoyable. She dedicates this performance to her dad who is up in Heaven. Do I smell a good sob story?

We see a brief Montage of Suck before meeting the last auditioner of the night.
Philip Atmore is a tap dancer and was in fact Ryan Kasprzak's roommate on the Fosse tour. He's a lot taller than Ryan, and I can see him going far on the show.

They didn't show anyone getting sent to Choreography tonight, which I thought was odd. At the end of the hour, Cat tells us that 10 dancers were chosen from choreography to go to Vegas, and we see their celebratory ticket dances.

Next week: Phoenix auditions, and the return of Mia Michaels, the Stay-Puff Marshmellow Cuntess