So You Think You Can Dance

In this two-hour episode, we watched the first and second auditions in both New York and Chicago. We saw the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the first stage of auditions, the three producers from American Idol screened the contestants fairly leniently because the second audition was far more "telling." In the second audition, a choreographer gave them two pieces: one set as a solo and one set on a male/female duo. If they couldn't keep up they were sent home. Those that made it through will go to Hollywood. Throughout the premiere episode, they also gave small video vignettes of a few of the contestants at their homes.

In this special 90 minute episode, the auditions take place over 2-days in Los Angeles, CA. The dancers perform a number, solo or with a partner, for the producers in order to move on to the next round. The producers let several creative, attention-getting dancers through regardless of how well they can actually dance, but heavily weighted on their "likeability" for a TV show. In the next round, the dancers are given choreography to perform in smaller groups for more talent-related judging. They are to learn a solo routine as well as a partner routine, but the first day of LA auditions put so few people through that they skip the solo routine. Several dancers are put through to Hollywood, and a few husband/wife teams are broken apart as one part of the team makes it through and the other doesn't.

The dancers are divided into 5 groups to attend class with each choreographer. Alex's salsa class, Brian's hip-hop class, Dan's hip-hop class, Mia's contemporary class and Mary's ballroom class. As the week draws to a close the choreographers meet with Nigel to decide who will be cut out. The choices are made and announced to cut the group down to 24.

The 26 remaining dancers enter the "judging" room one-by-one as the choreographers tell them whether they have made it to the top 16 or not. As each dancer approaches the table, a small recap of their experiences on the show is played.

Several of the choreographers are now judges. This includes Mia, Brian and Dan. Joining them to make an even four is Producer Nigel. During the first round, each of the 16 dancers will dance in pairs. The pairs are chosen by the male dancer pulling the name of a female dancer out of a hat. The pair must dance to the style of dance that the female dancer pulls out of a hat. After the first round, the dancers line-up on stage and the bottom 3 couples, as decided by the judges, are put up for elimination. During the second round, the 6 dancers that are put up for elimination (one male and one female from each couple) dance solo for 45 seconds. After the show, the audience can call to vote for their favorite dancer leaving one male and one female dancer with the lowest number of votes eliminated before next week. During the first round, the pairs that are made include: Kamilah and Jonnis dance in hip-hop style, Michelle and Nick dance in mambo style, Ashle and Jamille dance in jive style, Sandra and Artem dance in lyrical style, Snow and Allan dance in hip-hop style, Melissa and Ryan dance in mambo style, Melody and Craig dance in jive style, and Destini and Blake dance in lyrical style.

At the beginning of the episode, 2 dancers from last week are cut. At that point, the competition continues in the same format as last week, except the females pick the partner and the males pick the style. This week, Mia is replaced by Mary as a judge (Mia has the chance to choreograph instead). Nigel, Brian and Dan are still judges. The 14 dancers complete round 1 in the following pairs: Snow and Jamile (Quick Step), Destini and Blake (Lyrical Jazz), Melody and Craig (Hip Hop), Michelle and Nick (Quick Step), Ashle and Artem (Lyrical Jazz), Kamilah and Allan (Hip Hop) and Melissa and Ryan (Salsa). Everyone was amazed at the number of pairs that were re-united from last week. In round 2, the couples put up for elimination danced as individuals and the audience voting was opened.