Arielle Disciascio had the somewhat unenviable position of having her performance shown after Peter Mangione’s.
At this point, SYTYCD really had to prove itself, so there wasn’t a lot of patience left for listening to Arielle’s backstory. Placed anywhere else in the episode, Nigel Lythgoe’s shoutout to Arielle’s mom, whose cancer was now in remission, might have been heartwarming. Catch your Resident Judgmental Dancer in the bad mood she was in after that last fail, though, and it was more of an opportunity for annoyance.
Just. Dance. Already.
Thankfully, when Arielle finally started to dance, it was well worth the wait. Her technique was lovely, and that was a pretty epic tour leading into her floor work. Massive, yet controlled right on down to the ground. (Try doing that without good control, and get back to me on your wish to die from all of the bruising, folks.)
And those toes. Yes.
The only thing that could have made this solo better — aside from not wasting so much time before airing it — would have been a much, much bigger contraction right at the very end.
Judges’ comments: Nigel was first up with the praise, telling Arielle, “you danced that beautifully, darling.” Mary complimented how “utterly controlled” the dancer’s movements were; but at the same time, she wanted her to try to “live life more dangerously” in future pieces. Vanessa Hudgens thought the solo was beautiful.
Verdict: Mary wanted to send Arielle straight to The Academy. Nigel, on the other hand, saw plenty of potential but still wanted her to go to the choreography round first. Vanessa acted as the tie breaker, sending Ms. Disciascio straight to The Academy — and Ms. Murphy straight into a fit of screams.
Montage of familiar faces!
Chris Andrews and Jason Kidd were more dancers who were lucky enough not to “win” a spot in season 12, and Chase “Ctut” Lindsey was back after falling short of being one of season 11’s top dancers.
This was all just a way to set up Romainson Romain’s return to the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE auditions. Just like Chris Andrews and Jason Kidd, he had previously tried out in season 12 (aka the season most of us wish had never happened).
While “New York Auditions #2” was the hot tamale train’s last stop before making this season’s voyage to The Academy, it wasn’t the end of the road for most dancers. Romainson, on the other hand, was really down to his final shot. Next year, he’ll be too old to audition.
As if having just one last chance to make the show wasn’t enough pressure, Romainson had also decided to dedicate his performance to his cousin Marvin, who died just last year.
The desperation definitely showed its ugly face in Romainson’s performance. Those turns, while an admirable attempt from a hip hop dancer, were…not good. And those sneakers didn’t exactly help with the feet. What Romainson lacked in technique, though, he made up for in raw emotion.
Judges’ comments: Vanessa wanted Romainson to be set free; and Nigel wanted all of that weight off of his shoulders. Mary echoed her colleagues’ feelings, delivering a heartfelt and teary-eyed motivational speech of sorts: “We all have grief in our life and so many tragedies…[But] take that step, and trust me it will be okay. You gotta dance. You gotta live! You gotta bring joy back. And only you can bring the joy back.”
Verdict: Romainson was going to have to prove himself in the choreography round if he wanted to get his ticket to The Academy. Mary’s advice on how to pass? “Let it go. You love them; they love you. They want you to shine!”
Indeed.
Next up: Marc “Fullout” Royale, aka This Guy Should Go Dance With Peter.
Ok. That was probably harsh. Marc’s hip hop was way better than whatever that wasted time from earlier was supposed to be. But it still wasn’t anywhere near what belongs on on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. At least Marc had the decency to apologize, though.
Judges’ comments: Nigel sang along with Marc’s music. Important. But “you can only go full out for so long, can’t ya?” Indeed. Vanessa complimented Fullout’s energy level, but thought the “technique needs a bit of work.” You don’t say.
Verdict: Nope.
And then, at long last, SYTYCD reunited me my first love: Ballet. And Claire Rathbun was here to prove that it was possible to be a ballerina with personality.
Ok, I have no idea why we’d need to prove that. But whatever.
At any rate, Claire was a hit the instant she put on her pointe shoes and called herself “super awkward!” (She gets me.) Her solo was lovely, and she was more than just “[giggles] good, usually.”
With that being said, nobody does ballet without being open to corrections. So.
Let me clear my throat. Ahem. Let’s go.
Claire’s chest was angled forward for a bit longer than I would have liked to have seen. It works for certain steps and facings, as well as just conveying particular feelings, but it was a wee bit excessive here. Keep that back nice and straight — it’s tried and true.
Secondly, that passé was a bit over-crossed. That one comes down to preference and the like, though. The position wasn’t really wrong; it just wasn’t a favorite. The main area where the technique definitely needs a bit of a clean-up was the piqué turns. You can’t blame camera angles for that slight loss of turnout, but it’s definitely not something we should see for that particular step. Or any step that’s not intended to be in parallel, really.
Judges’ comments: Vanessa Hudgens wanted to see more (same), and she got dizzy just watching the turns (girl, no). Mary Murphy told Claire she had “a grace and elegance that we really haven’t seen today,” and she complimented the dancer’s presence and control. Nigel agreed with both ladies but actually wanted to see even more of Claire’s personality when she was dancing.
Verdict: The Academy or bust.
At long last, it was time for New York’s final audition. The honor went to Lex Ishimoto…but not until after a very tired Nigel Lythgoe cued music for an empty stage.
I really wish that whoever does the editing for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE knew as much about technique as your average live tweeter. In Lex’s introductory video package, he talked about all the styles of dance that he knows, including lyrical. Awesome, right? Wrong. Just as Lex was mentioning lyrical, there was a shot of him, mid-air, with his feet in a dead hang.
Yikes.
So, color me pleasantly (and massively) surprised when he stepped on stage and did that.
The stretched feet, the beautiful mixture of styles, the control…Everything Lex did was gorgeous. To say that his audition was impressive would be an understatement; and the fact that he was still able to get me this excited about his dancing after days on end of going nuts over The Dance Awards speaks volumes. (No, really. Catch a live stream of TDA and/or hunt down some videos on youtube. You’ll see what I mean.)
Judges’ comments: Nigel told Lex he was going to be a star, and he asked if he’d done anything professionally. The answer: Your boy’s a part of Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound. Yes, that Travis Wall. (How’s that going to work out if Lex makes it into this year’s top group??)
Mary Murphy was up next, and it’s honestly impossible to recap her enthusiasm without just quoting it. So, here we have it: “I love the way you move. I love the way you think. You’re a smart dancer. You have a different way of doing things. You’re in the tenth dimension! “ When Nigel Lythgoe asked if that meant Lex Ishimoto was a passenger on the hot tamale train, he got an earful: “of course he is! WOOOO!!!!”
(Please add as many Os to that as deemed necessary.)
Verdict: Academy.
The final order of business was the world’s quickest clip of the choreography round.
Romainson Romain, Ramita Ravi, and 25 other dancers proved themselves worthy of tickets to The Academy. But, you know, we didn’t get to meet those 25 other dancers because we were all busy being tortured by that Peter mess.
I’m not bitter or anything.
Next stop: The Academy.
Make sure to watch SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE on Monday, July 17 at 8/7c on FOX to see everyone’s favorite exercise in dancers’ torture.
