So You Think You Can Dance season 8 premiered on Thursday, May 26, 2011. Auditions #1 and #2 took place in Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay area!
Audition #1: Atlanta
The dancers of season 8 are impressing the judges so far, particularly in Atlanta where the judges sent ten people in row through to Vegas. That’s an all time record for So You Think You Can Dance. In Atlanta we met the dynamic duo Deon Lewsa Jr. and Damon Bellman, whose performance was comedic and entertaining enough to earn them a ticket to Las Vegas.
We also met 19 year old Melanie Moore, an extraordinarily graceful dancer who lost her father when she was young. The judges thought that she has something extra special. One even said that Zeus would invite her to dance on Olympus.
Day two in Atlanta brought Kimale Piedad with her non-competing partner. They danced and performed dangerous and stunning tricks, almost like figure skaters. But outside of Kimale, there wasn’t much talent in day two.
Audition #2: San Francisco
The auditions moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where we met 18 year old Danielle Ihle. When she was young, her dad lost his job and abandoned their family, leaving her mother to pick up the pieces. Her dancing was strong, but the judges didn’t see enough emotion in her performance to send her straight to Vegas. However, she did earn a golden ticket during choreography.
Other talented San Fran dancers included Ashley Rich, b-boy Jeffery McCann, and returning contestant Ryan Ramirez. Last season, Ryan was so close to making it onto the show, so the judges encouraged her to come back. And she did, impressing them all over again.
Finally, San Francisco introduced a new style of dance called “Turf Dancing.” Turf stands for Taking Up Room on the Floor, and involves swagger, footwork, pantomiming, and storytelling. And a little bit of contortionism. Eek!
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