So You Think You Can Dance, Season 6: Auditions

Audition City: Phoenix, AZ
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Mia Michaels

Cat Deeley is wearing a white peasant blouse embroidered with red flowers. Very pretty. Are they still letting her style herself?

Moving on...

We meet a short black guy named Brendan who goes by "Shorty," and his dancing partner, Demetrio, a really fat guy nicknamed "Biggie." Highly original, boys. In an effort to display their sensitivity, the sound editors have bouncing sound effects whenever Biggie jumps and lands. Niiiice.
They're NOT a disaster, actually. Hip hop, mild popping. Shorty is stronger by far, the overall effect is entertaining. The judges put Shorty through to the Choregraphy Round.

Next up: Sasha Mallory, who made it to Vegas during Season 4. Her family is watching her perform today and she feels more comfortable. She's wearing a white tank dress over what looks like a bright red leotard, and she's holding a red rose. Her audition is contemporary. Very nice, you can see her telling a story. Good technique overall. Mia likes it. Mary thinks it was beautiful. Sasha's weeping in joy. Straight to Vegas once again for Sasha.

We see brief auditions from:
An 18 year old brunette named Katie. She's wearing an unbuttoned plaid shirt. Are we bringing grunge to contemporary dance? Alright then. Gets ticket to Vegas.
Next: Ellie Soto, 21, also going to Vegas

And here comes the big weepy Human Interest Audition where courage is saluted, and tears shed, and dancing ability becomes secondary!
Meet Allison Becker, 21. She had spinal meningitis as a child,and is deaf now. She feels the music instead of using her ears, the vibrations keep her on rhythm, and she wants to be role model. There's something very gymnastic about her dancing. She's okay, but not good enough. The judges are very serious watching her. Nigel says her face is beautiful. Of course. She's blonde, and Nigel loves his young blondes. Her technique is not as good as he would like it. He notes that if it wasn't written down, he'd never know she was hearing impaired. Mary knows it hasn't been easy. Her cousin was in the same position..here comes the BIG MARY TEARS! Very Tammy Faye of her. Her cousin gave up when she was Allison's age, but Allison hasn't. Mary's crying but she claims that she's actually very happy. Mia asks Allison what inspires her, because for Mia, it's music that inspires her dancing. Allison says that it's music for her too, only she hears it differently.
After all this adoration, they send her to Choreography.

This year, we have another same-sex ballroom pair. There was a pair who auditioned last year, and Nigel scorned them for being a man-man pairing. The couple last year actually sucked, but these guys are Ballroom Champions. Awww, they met in line during season 2 of the show. Their names are Willem de Vries and Jacob Jason. They're really good. Nigel looks initially put out that they aren't terrible. He loudly says over the music, "They've got great lines to it!" Way to overcompensate, Nige. During the judges' remarks, Mia is welling up. Mia says that she celebrates their courage to expose themselves (teehee) and their hearts. Mary is proud of them. Nigel says thanks for showing him that same sex ballroom can be very strong and good. He admits he got himself into trouble last time. He then asks them to do choreography.The tall partner volunteers the information that they do like dancing with girls as well. I'm sure Nigel is relieved.

Quick joke audition from Jonathan Noronha. He uses short batons (and drops one), and then spells out "disco" with letters on paper. It's pretty funny, actually. He's not the worst I've ever seen on the show, by far. Definite no for him, though.

The 1st Day ends. Anya and Pasha run the Choreography round, in Latin ballroom.
Biggie quits, saying that he'll try harder next time, but this is not his thing. Shorty is not sent to Vegas, he's just not good enough.
Allison the deafie, Jacob, Willem, and 12 others are going to Vegas.

Day 2 In Phoenix

First dancer up is Jarvis Johnson, 18, a hyperactive, screechy fireball.He literally dances his shoes off and slaps his ass during his not-bad routine. He's a good club-hip hop dancer, great drops, but cannot break at all. At one point during the judges' remarks, he declares he's a box of chocolates. Comparing yourself to a Forrest Gump quote, not a promising sign! Nigel says that he's a great entertainer, not a great dancer. Mia says he's sunshine, and says yes to Choreo. Nigel says he can go to choreo, but if he doesn't pick it up quickly, he has to leave. Well that's kind of a dick move.

Freakshow auditions montage set to "People are Strange." At one point, Nigel asks, "How close are we to Roswell?" Well, it's in another state entirely, so not that close, Nigel.


Next Phoenix weirdo: Kelsey White. A cute blonde. Oh, Nigel is going to cream his knickers over this one. She's just okay. They ask if she's ever been kidnapped by
aliens? And Kelsey says,"Just once." Nigel walks off stage jokingly. Calls from off stage "Yes to choreography" a couple times. Mary and Mia agree with that.

Finally, we get to Jonathan 'Legacy' Perez, 27. He's gotten some hype already. He's an amazing bboy dancer. He lives up to his hype, definitely the most striking we've seen audition so far. He does what Nigel calls a "back-handed duckwalk" that is wicked cool. Nigel is hugely excited. Mary agrees "exciting". The judges acknowledge that Legacy assisted a choreographer last year. Mia says he's stupid, but in a good way. Mia loves her ghetto words, they sound fabulous coming out of the mouth of a middle-aged white woman wearing frosted lipstick. Legacy is off to Vegas, of course. He's pure Top 20 material.

The final Choreography round in Phoenix: Jarvis Johnson collapses,and paramedics attend to him. His sunshine is gone, he's teary-eyed and panicky, having had an asthma attack. He's okay finally.

NO, to Kelsey the UFO girl. Pretty sure Nigel wants to anal probe her though.
Five anonymous others are put through to Vegas. No names, very indistinct.

Next week: Boston