SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season 14 began with the first round of this year’s Los Angeles auditions. The reality dance competition series has (thankfully) returned to a more traditional format. The “Stage vs. Street” and “Next Generation” gimmicks are dead, hopefully for good. What’s left is, as series host Cat Deeley put it, the show we all “know and love.” And speaking of something SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE viewers all know and love? Perhaps the best part of the new season’s return to the SYTYCD of old is its corresponding return of a familiar face. For the first time in almost three years, Mary Murphy was back at the judges’ table, bringing along her screams and plenty of tickets for the series’ talented dancers to take on her trademarked hot tamale train.
Welcome home, Mary Murphy. You’ve been missed. It would have been impossible, even with the massive amount of talent auditioning for this new season, to consider anything a return to form without you. Now, let’s take a trip on that train in search of this season’s hot tamales.
Just getting started.
We all know the drill by now. Episodes of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE that feature auditions tend to start out with sweeping shots of the dancers, lined up and waiting for their chance to show their stuff. The season 14 premiere was no exception. Even in these short clips, it was obvious that there was a lot of talent and a lot of heart, just waiting to be put on full display.
After the opening montage, it was time to take a trip to the judges’ table, where Mary Murphy was taking shots of the crowd on her phone. As excited as everyone is to have her back, it looked like she was just as happy to be there. Before the first dancer of the day had his chance to take the stage, Mary let out her first “WOOO!!!” since season 11.
If that moment didn’t bring tears to your eyes (to accompany the ringing in your ears), make sure to leave some comments that will teach me how to turn off the feelings…
First contestant: Mark Villaver.
As is SYTYCD tradition, Mark had a chance to share his backstory with Cat Deeley and, by extension, the viewers at home. On the one hand, he had this weird, almost egotistical, air about him in one of the clips. On the other, he was almost bashful with Cat. And his story about his single, deaf mother — who also happened to be a street dancer — raising him was just the kind of feel-good stuff this series is known for. In other words, there was no way of knowing exactly what to think of Mark before he actually danced.
Cat Deeley, on the other hand, was as on-point as always and knew just how to handle this guy. When Mark said he loved being on television and dancing, she responded with, “you’ve hit the bullseye with our show.” Love it.
When asked about his style of dance, Mark rambled about expressing himself and came up with “thera — therapeutic” as a name for his hybrid breaking and contemporary style. Then, he wasted time by “teaching” the judges some moves; so, by the time Mark finally danced, yours truly was already like, “ok, and?”
His feet were kind of just…hanging there. And he didn’t quite have the connection in the more contemporary-type parts of his solo. But Mark’s tricks were nothing short of amazing. Despite not quite nailing some of the contemporary flavor, he still blended two very different styles of dance in an interesting way. The creativity and diversity of movement involved were both more than enough for me to consider this a successful outing for Mark Villaver.
The judges agreed.
Mary Murphy was basically just excited, which I was completely here to see. She loved every second of Mark’s performance and said the two styles he worked with were “integrated beautifully.” Nigel Lythgoe complimented Mark on his signature moves: “We will remember you long after you’re gone today because of your moves.” That left Vanessa Hudgens, who was new to the judges’ table and, as far as I could tell, borrowing Carrie Ann Inaba’s happy pills for the day. She said Mark’s audition was “an amazing way to start the morning,” with about 900 exclamation marks thrown on the end of that sentence.
The verdict? The first contestant of the day was given the first ticket to the Academy for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season 14.
But, really, who cares? The most important part of Mark’s audition was the moment when Mary Murphy put him on the hot tamale train. That’s the first passenger on that train in almost three years. How, exactly, did this series even exist for two seasons without it?
Wait. It didn’t. Just ask the massive ratings drop.
Up next: Ballroom dancers Kristina and Vasily. “It’s ok, everybody. They’re married.”
Guys, there’s actually someone here to explain ballroom to us again. Someone get me a cardiologist because I’m having palpitations.
Before Kristina and Vasily had the chance to dance, they proved to Cat Deeley that men can’t count. The couple has been married for some number of years (nobody can agree on how many), and Vasily couldn’t even keep his guess straight. Disaster? For their relationship, maybe. For their dancing, strangely not.
The piece started off without much of interest, save for maybe Vasily’s blindfold. But then it just kind of…took off, performance-wise. Throw in some nice samba rolls (per Nigel’s comment during the audition — I never know ballroom until Mary explains it to me) and Kristina’s great extension; and you’ve got an amazing number. Bonus points to the dancers for kissing their way through that lift.
Mary cried because she was sure that seeing a performance like Kristina and Vasily’s was going to make tons of people fall in love with ballroom dance. She wanted to put the dancers on the hot tamale train; but she couldn’t get the words out until after they were gone because she was so overcome with emotion (I cried because Mary cried.)
Nigel made weird comments about “50 shades of dance” before saying the pair was “absolutely stunning,” and Vanessa told the dancers that her “heart exploded” when they were kissing.
Simmer down, Vanessa. The real feels should come from seeing SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE actually be its old self again.
Verdict: A pair of tickets to the Academy.
After the world’s shortest fail segment, in which some random dancer had his back turned to the judges the whole time he was dancing, it was time for Robert Green’s audition.
Robert used to be an accomplished violinist, but he found that dancing gave him “freedom that made [him] feel alive.” In order to follow his dream, he left all of his music scholarships behind. I guess nobody ever told Robert you could do both. Liberal arts schools are your friends, sir.
At any rate, there’s no reason to worry that Robert Green threw away a potential music career for nothing. As is usually the case when I watch this particular style of dance, I had no idea how it was possible for Robert to make his body move that way. The highlight of Robert’s performance was his use of more technical or traditional steps whenever the lyrics talked about wanting to dance. It was a really clever bit of personality thrown into an already quality performance. And Robert showed that, despite leaving his classical training behind, he still knew how to connect with music.
Vanessa loved the performance a lot, while my bff Nigel said the best part of Robert’s dancing was his creativity and sense of humor. Mary was enthusiastic times ten for this one, saying: “He loved it. She loved it. They loved it. I LOVED IT TOOOO!!!!!!”
Verdict: Academy tickets and a request to borrow Robert’s outfit for weight loss purposes.
Next contestant: Alexis Gilbert.
Alexis wanted SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE fans to know how nervous she was. Apparently, she was so nervous she forgot to get her hair out of her face before performing her jazz solo. Wait…No…There was choreographed hair tossing. I hate that. Tie your hair back, people. Please.
Despite the hair faux pas, some slight bouncing to get into her fouettes (as opposed to just letting it happen with a good plié and good technique), and some sloppy arms right at the beginning, Alexis’ performance still had a certain special something. Her dancing was loaded with passion; and her nice extension through her legs and feet didn’t hurt matters, either.
Mary Murphy herself could feel how much Alexis loved to dance, all the way in her (rightful) place at the judges’ table. She also complimented Alexis’ control and “great legs.” Vanessa, having downed more of Carrie Ann Inaba’s happiness elixir, called Alexis “a ray of sunshine.” Nigel had only one word: Academy.
Verdict: See also: Nigel’s last word.
In tonight’s “WTF Audition” segment, we had Luke Dryjski.
Luke told Nigel Lythgoe he’d been dancing for four years; but when asked, it took him at least a decade to settle on hip hop as his supposed dance style. No, I don’t want to hear about your time playing guitar when Nigel asks you what you plan to do on stage. I also don’t care if it “just naturally came to” you, either. Answer the question.
Spoiler alert: Whether he was dubbed “the Austin Powers of hip hop” by Nigel or not, that…wasn’t hip hop. It wasn’t much of anything, really. Throw in Vanessa Hudgens joining him on the stage to do that, and I guess you could call Luke’s style, “epic waste of time.” If you want to make it sound more dance-ish, you could always use Google to translate the phrase to French, I guess.
Verdict: Nope.
After a brief detour to some (bad) rapping on the street, it was time to meet Darius Hickman.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE can sometimes be annoying with all of the sob stories. Like, we get it: People have rough lives. We all do. No need to tell the same sad stuff, over and over again.
I’m saying all of this because, for Darius Hickman, the story actually mattered. This kid went through far too much loss in far too little time. He never knew his father, and his mother was sent to prison for drugs. He went to live with his aunt, but then she wound up in an abusive relationship, from which she and Darius weren’t able to safely run. All of this started when he was about four or five. Then, three years ago when he was only a teenager, his aunt died.
Darius said of his life of struggle: “It was rough to get through, but when I found dance, I let all of that out.” This is so important.
After hearing the whole story, Nigel said he was really hoping Darius would be good because he deserved to finally have something good happen to him. And let me tell you: Darius Hickman wasn’t just good when he auditioned for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. He was nothing short of a miracle in motion; and he had me on the edge of my seat from count one.
Darius had every ounce of power and passion, control and extension of an Ailey dancer. Someone, please, pick up the phone and offer that young man a scholarship to study at The Ailey School. If not there, then somewhere. That beautifully pulled up standing leg in those pirouettes, coupled with all of that emotion, should not go to waste. Nope.
This guy is heartbreakingly good; and like Nigel said, he deserves for something good to happen to him.
(But, Darius, in the interest of constructive criticism so you can be even better? Watch your feet in those massive leaps. They’re fine for most of the solo, but for some reason, they…aren’t in leaps.)
The verdict: Three judges, standing with tickets to the Academy. And then Nigel and Mary did that banter thing they do. Nigel said he’d never complain again. Mary’s response: “Can we get that in writing?”
The shade.
I’ve missed this weird dynamic so, so much…Is it weird to ship it? It’s probably weird to ship it.
“United Nations of Dance” montage time!
We get it, folks: Your contestants come from all over the world, just like on that new show, WORLD OF DANCE.
Bonus: More Mary-Nigel banter. “Mary will lend you her broomstick,” followed by, “yeah, we’ll know where to shove it.” Drag him, Mary. Drag. Him. (He’s missed you, and he has no other way to show it. Silly boys.)
The last dancers for the first round of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season 14’s Los Angeles auditions were Anastasiia and Viktoriia.
Take two ladies from Russia, and bring them to the U.S. to audition for a massively popular reality competition series. Make sure they’ve only been in America for two days before doing their thing. Throw in an amazingly quirky, high-difficulty and high-energy modern dance performance, and what do you get? Anastasiia and Viktoriia.
I honestly don’t know if the majority of SYTYCD’s audience is going to quite understand the difficulty of sustaining that particular quality of movement. I also don’t really know what the story was that the Russians were trying to tell? But um, whatever it was, it was a really, really good story. Much like everyone else (except the Austin Powers fail) in this episode, their piece was a lesson in performance quality.
My future bff, Nigel Lythgoe, agreed: “Excellent. Brilliant entertainment. Fantastic characters within the dance. And beautifully executed.” When Nigel was done singing the twins’ praises, Mary Murphy had her chance to compliment them. She was in tears for the second time this episode; but unlike with the earlier ballroom performance, she didn’t even know why she was crying. Something just moved her. Mary also mentioned that she had started with modern — no idea how I missed that detail, love her more now– and said that Anastasiia and Viktoriia’s duet was the best modern audition she’d ever seen on SYTYCD. Finally, Vanessa complimented the sisters’ piece, saying it was “so emotional and breathtakingly beautiful.” She promised she’d pay “so much money” to see them perform; and I sat at home, wondering whether she’d ever heard of donating money to ADF, which showcases great modern and contemporary annually…
The verdict: How do you say “Academy” in Russian???
Wrapping it up.
After showing off some Russian to impress the pretty girls, Nigel Lythgoe told his fellow judges that he was worried. The SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Los Angeles auditions had brought dancers from Ukraine, Korea, and Russia to America…and he was afraid Trump would ban the show.
I love the taste of savagery in the evening — almost as much as I love spending an hour watching the hot tamale train fill up.
Make sure to watch the second half of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE’s Los Angeles auditions Monday, June 19 at 8/7c on FOX.