‘Dance’ auditions move to Charleston, D.C.
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- May
- 30
I know I’ve said this before – and perhaps I’m a little cranky because my brain’s turned to mush after over-analyzing last night’s “Lost” finale. (Yes, it’s been a frenzied, TV-watching 24 hours.)
But once again, I honestly don’t care one lick about the “So You Think You Can Dance” auditions.
Get me to Vegas already!
Charleston and Washington, D.C. were a positive snore, as far as I’m concerned.
Just like the other cities, this audition episode was just an excuse to highlight a handful of stand-outs, who, if they’re as talented as they seem, we’ll see again during the main event.
Sheila Kaiser of Atlanta was the first contestant of the day, and the first one in awhile to get a trademark WHOO! from Mary Murphy.
And Brandon Bryant of Miami, thank goodness you came back to audition when you were finally of age to try out. (He auditioned in Season 1 when he was 15; contestants have to be at least 18.)
This is a cliche, but it’s still true: The boy has a body of a Michaelangelo statue. Every muscle rippled during his audition, and every move showed off incredible strength. Nigel nailed it when he said Brandon’s body was “built for dancing.”
Other than that, no one else moved me. much I was even kind of blase about the tearjerker inclusion of Claire Callaway.
To recap: She injured herself during the Season 2 auditions, and Nigel gave her an automatic free pass to Vegas for Season 3. But she couldn’t take advantage because she got pregnant; giving birth to a cutie-pie daughter sidelined her dancing for awhile.
Yay, Claire nailed the choreography and got through to Vegas, yada, yada, yada. Sniff, sob, hooray.
As for the wackadoodles, the group of rejects oddly included at least one who was actually talented.
Of course, there were the standard nutcases—or attention hogs—like the appropriately-named Jason Looney, who auditioned in drag and insisted that his name was “Betty Wallis.”
The only good thing about Jason’s audition is that it brought out another side to guest judge Tyce Diorio, who joined the other judges in calling him a “disgrace,” then gave him a kooky little tsk-tsk finger wave while saying, “I gotcha numbah.”
Now, I’m kind of liking Tyce—when I hadn’t given him a moment’s thought before. I also love the fact that he’s the only judge who has no poker face at all. His open-mouthed horror at the more awful dancers is priceless.
Anyhoo, the unusual cukoo-bird of the evening turned out to be repeat auditioner Anthony Bryant, who—believe it or not—is a Julliard graduate who’s actually been turned down for the show TWICE.
And it’s not for lack of talent: As the judges pointed out, he has amazing technique.
Yet the kid had zero personality or passion, which he couldn’t change, even after the judges gave him another shot in the choreography round. From the little that was shown, he seemed to do pretty well with the routine to me—certainly better than others they’ve shown sailing through to Vegas.
But I’m thinking that the judges may have seen a little bit o’ crazy in Anthony, figuring he’d be a loose cannon if he ever made it through to the main competition. That theory was backed up by his wild mood swings after the audition: crying on Cat Deeley’s shoulder, cursing, smiling, and yelling about how he couldn’t find his shoes.
Maybe it was just careful editing on the show’s part, but Tony seemed a tad unstable to me. So good call in the end, though it might have made for some good future drama.
But “Dance” isn’t about off-stage drama, is it? As the judges keep reminding us, this is a SERIOUS dance competition. Players need to just stay at home.
Which is where I’ll be next Wednesday, stuffing my face with frozen yogurt, as the last audition episode airs.
We FINALLY get to Vegas—and the Top 20 announcement—next Thursday.
In the immortal words (sort of ) of Mary Murphy: WHOO!!
(Photos courtesy of FOX)
This entry was posted
on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm by Heather Salerno.
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