Last night’s episode of SYTYCD showed the last stop for this season’s auditions – Salt Lake City, Utah! Host Cat Deeley opened by saying that SLC is “a city that’s never disappointed us.” Adam Shankman was the guest judge.
I can’t think of a more perfect way to start off the last set of auditions than with Whitney Carson, who has been ballroom dancing since she was 8 years old.
She is an unbelievably fantastic ballroom dancer. She received a standing ovation from all three judges, and great comments from everyone. Adam said she is “everything this show is all about.” And we will see her in Vegas!
Lynn Gravett from Portland, Oregon was up next. I’m not sure how I feel about her dancing. According to her, it was some sort of “alien” type dancing. She says she’s from Earth physically, but she believes her spirit is from the stars. Or something like that. The judges all said she looked really happy, which she did. Adam said that there is a special place for her in the world, but that is not in this competition. She received a no from all judges.
Not surprisingly, lots of families were at the SLC auditions. The included an “undercover dancer” dad that got on stage at danced to Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow.”
Next we saw Deanna “Dee” Tomasetta, 19, from Millbury, MA. She is a ballet dancer. Deanna is a beautiful dancer, with amazing form and technique. She’s very graceful. Mary said “one thing I know for sure is I just loved every single second of that. Couldn’t have asked for a better audition.” I completely agree. You can really tell she loves dancing. We’ll see her in Vegas, too!
Next we saw a little video montage of all the crazy/interesting and just plain weird dancers we always see with the audition process.
Speaking of weird dancers, meet Gene Lonardo, 22, from Vegas. He came dressed as a praying mantis, and his dance was the life story of a male praying mantis. Yeah, weird. It was definitely not like anything I’ve ever seen before. It may have been a little weird (or a lot), but it was surprisingly really good! I was very impressed. And so were the judges. Adam told him “the choreographers on this show would eat you up!” And then they told him he is going to Vegas (or home, since he’s from Vegas)!
Next we saw Lindsay Arnold, 18, from Provo, Utah. She is another ballroom dancer, but she incorporates other styles into her dancing. And she is amazing! She had great technique, great form, great transitions, and just a great all around performance! Mary said that Lindsay reminds her a lot of Julianne Hough, and I agree 100%. She is off to Vegas as well!
There were a lot of ballroom dancers at these auditions! I honestly had no idea we had so many ballroom dancers here in SLC. After Lindsay’s audition they showed another montage, this time of all the other very talented ballroom dancers who auditioned.
We almost got to see Adam do a spit take when Mariah Spears, 18, from Phoenix, came in and said she was dancing krump. She was surprisingly really good!
I don’t think anyone was expecting that. She hurt herself a little at the end though, because she really got into it. She may not be the stereotypical krumper, but she is a perfect example of the age-old phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Nigel, Mary and Adam wanted to see what else she could do, so they sent her to choreography.
The last audition of day one was Murphy Yan, 22, from Roy, Utah. This guy is an entertainer, and a pretty good dancer for having no training! I really enjoyed watching him, although he does need some work on technique and such. He pulled up his shirt at the end to reveal “Vegas?” painted on his stomach. The judges decided to send him to choreography.
At the end of the first day of choreography, Murphy did not end up making it through to Vegas. However, Mariah and ten other dancers did make it!
Dareian Kujawa, from Boulder City, Nevada, started out day two of the SLC auditions. I think he may be my favorite male dancer for this season so far. Everything about his audition, his form, technique, transitions, basically everything except for his feet, was absolutely fantastic. Adam loved him just as much as I did. I can’t wait to see him in Vegas!
Next up was Johnny Ahn and Whitney Hallam from Orem, Utah. They are ballroom dance partners. While they were very fun to watch, I’m not really a fan of Johnny. He came off as really cocky and a little egotistical (he hit on just about every girl he saw). He was a good dancer though. But they had no chemistry together. There was no eye contact, which is a huge part of ballroom dancing. Nigel said that Whitney reminds him of Lady Gaga. They were both sent to choreography.
Next we got to see some dancers who had auditioned in past seasons, but didn’t make it past auditions or past Vegas. Remember Chase Thomas, the guy who auditioned in nothing but a speedo at last season’s SLC auditions? He came back, and this time he made it through!
You may also remember Adrian Lee, 22, from Los Angeles. He also auditioned last season. He was not my favorite, but he is not a bad dancer. He definitely has a lot going for him; he just needs little help with choreography. We’ll see him is Vegas as well!
Next they played a little montage of a bunch of people getting through to Vegas.
Following the montage was Rachel Applehans from Denver. She was not one of my favorites, whatsoever. First of all, she danced in her underwear. Second, her dance style was jazz/burlesque, but way too much burlesque. I honestly felt like she was just trying to seduce all of the guys in the crowd. Adam responded to her performance with “I think if some things in my life were a little different I would move to Salt Lake City.” I was not impressed with her at all. The judges put her through to choreography.
As with every type of competition, we always have rough patches where we don’t find much talent. So next they played a little montage of some not so great dancers.
Leroy Martinez, 29, from Sacramento, California, came in to end the rough patch. I liked him a lot! Not a single person was sitting down
by the end of his audition. Well, besides the judges. They said he put on a great performance and they felt a very positive vibe from him, but he was not quite what they are looking for in the show. They sent him to choreography.
After day two of choreography, Johnny, Whitney and Leroy did not make it to Vegas, but Rachel did.
And that’s the end of the auditions! A total of 181 dancers were sent to Vegas, but only 20 will make it out. Have you picked a favorite yet? I have a few favorites, but I’m excited to see what Vegas brings!