“A Beautiful Disastrous Weirdo”: The Final Season 5 Auditions
I think we’re all clearly ready for the Vegas rounds. Tonight’s episode had me (Dawn) reeling in frustration at all the time spent on the talentless. By my count, extra time was given to only 9 good dancers. Let’s focus on the highlights, shall we?
Amanda: I think we learned two lessons this evening. One, having the ability to fast forward through the audition show is a must. Two, don’t piss of the Executive Producer.
Dancers Who Are Nearly Guaranteed a Top-20 Spot:
- Sammy Ramirez
Dawn: Crazy red hair. Charismatic megawatt grin. Popping & locking. Adam Shankman said, “I love you so much.” Shone in choreography round. Will shine when he does his “hair choreography” when he dances for his life later on.
Amanda: He reminded me of Dominic in Season 3. He was certainly entertaining and a standout amongst the rest of the auditions.
- Amanda Kerby
D: Complete with background footage of her playing football in slo-mo with her dad (diagnosed with MS), Amanda is a beauty who went straight through to Vegas. Nigel said what I was thinking, which was essentially, “You’re so pretty I didn’t quite notice your dancing.” Which reminded me so much of Kherington’s audition that I had a little deja vu. Time will tell with this girl. I feel we’ve seen other dancers in her style this season who can edge her out, talent-wise (Natalie, Gabi, Kayla, & Caitlyn come to mind.) I can’t wait to see who rises to the top.
A: Of course, as a blonde Amanda myself, I am a little biased. 
I am hoping she goes far and she doesn’t pull a Kherington.
- Kuponohi’ipoi Aweau (”Pono”)
D: Mia loved this guy, who reminded Nigel of Mark from last season. I think he’ll go far on Mia’s endorsement alone.
A: I was watching his hair and not his dancing. Yeah, if it comes down to him and one other guy and Mia is on the panel. Then he is getting the pick.
Other Great Dancers:
- Riki and Asuka, the Asians who danced Latin
D: They were awesome. I thought Riki is the best of the male Latin dancers we’ve seen in the auditions so far.
A: I agree, Dawn! I loved them.
- Bianca Revels, Tapper
D: She gave the best tap routine Mary has ever seen. I do remember her from last year. But will she shine over the other 168 dancers in Vegas? And what is it with tapping this year??
A: I noted that I liked her new feminine look this year. Tappers don’t generally don’t do well on SYTYCD. I never get my hopes up when they go to Vegas. I will be pleasantly surprised if any crack the Top 20.
- Kelsea Taylor, Mia’s “beautiful disastrous weirdo”
D: “Sonya would love her,” Nigel said, and that pretty much sums it up.
- Nathan, the super cutie who’s only 17
D: He was a camera-ready, talented wonder the judges compared to Travis and Danny (yay! Danny shout out!) for his strong center. I found this all quite interesting, because Nigel gave him a ticket for when he turned 18. The captioning said that Nigel said “2010″ - but of course, we all heard Nigel’s dubbed in voice say, “Season 6 This Fall”. I wish we could read more press on why they’re doing two back-to-back seasons. Regardless, Nathan will be there, and I’m convinced he’ll be Top 20 then. I hope so.
A: I am a fan. He also reminded me of Neil. Can’t wait to see him next season.
Fun Extra of the Night:
D: Adam Shankman’s spontaneous swing audition. Dude had moves! Best part was the fun in having previous SYTYCD dancers Comfort, Lauren, Katee & Joshua take the judges’ table and jokingly critique him. (Katee: “I like him. He has spunk.”)
And that’s about it. The other 90 minutes were devoted to the ridiculous, the redundant, and the tiresome. I think I’ll try to cleanse my palette this weekend with a good dance movie. Any suggestions?
A: Center Stage is my favorite!
A: I can. not. wait. until Vegas and the Top 20 next week. I am so glad that these audition shows are over. Next week Nigel finally gets a hair cut and Evan is in a muscle tank! (He better make it dang it.)
Finally, here is a preview of next week in Vegas.
P.S. Have you seen the Fame trailer? Kherington’s got a pretty big part!
- photo courtesy of JohnnyRokkit
Ha ha! I knew you’d recommend Center Stage.
I do have Step Up 2 the Streets checked out from the library. Haha!!
p.s. Sammy totally reminded me of Dominic, too!
I am looking for a picture of Mia Michaels hair from last night (05/28/09) show. Do you know where I could find it?
Horrible Admission #2 - so The Sex showdown was my favorite part of the entire show. I just wish his mom had been given more of a “role”. I suppose b/c her baby was given a chance this time around (probably the last one he’ll ever get from Nigel), her mom-to-the-rescue skills weren’t required.
Also I agree with you Dawn - I thought Riki was one of the best Latin dancers so far. And I totally disagreed with the panel in that I thought Asuka was distracting (and slutty) - not that she wasn’t talented.
Judge Adam gained some big bonus points in my eyes with his impromptu swing. Judge Sonya also gained points in my eyes an episode or so back; she finally seemed like a normal human being despite the bizarro mohawk. Mia, well, I still have to roll my eyes at her…
I’ve just finished catching up on the last 2 weeks I’ve had gathering dust on my divo. Even though i’m way behind, thought i’d share my thoughts with you all.
It was especially hard for me to watch 2 2-hour audition shows knowing i already had vegas waiting. Don’t think you woulda made it, Dawn!
I really liked Riki - thought he had moves like (better than?) Gev. And i don’t care for Asuka. Now that i know that she’s gone through and he hasn’t, i like her even less. She stinks of Katee to me, who was not my favorite (even though i can admit that she is a good dancer, even after the awesome Bollywood routine, she still didn’t turn me. and i felt like i could see the “that’s sweet, but you’re not going to make it as far as me” thought bubble over her head — over the phone! — when she was squealing for Natalie (for the cameras). ugh.)
I’m happy to see Evan came back and made it through this time. But I would have been happy with either brother. I think it’s likely they’ll bring Ryan in to choreograph this season (and that’d be way cooler for him than auditioning again for the fall).
I liked the beautiful weirdo. I said Sonya’d love her, too. But i’m not surprised she didn’t make it to the show. I WAS surprised that Mia thought she was weird. Pot Kettle Black? I think Sonya’s taking the place Mia used to hold in my heart. She’s got her own ‘thing’ going on and she gets so excited when dancers move her. What’s with Mia being the badass bitch this year?? Is she trying to transition to Debbie Allen territory? I’m not finding it endearing. Actually, seems kinda pompous. I used to like her even though i felt like her choreography sometimes leaned too much on ‘avant-garde’ — by which i mean she could trot any schlub onstage and everyone would gush about it whether or not it were interesting or moving in any way…. like we were all afraid of admitting we didn’t get it. Or maybe it was all beautiful because there was so much of Mia poured into it and that was beautiful? It seems like that sweet freak joy has transferred to Sonya, and I hope to see more of her this season (even if that means less Mia).
Pono reminds me of Mark, too (and I loved Mark). I’m happy to see that he’s made it. And I’m happy that his hair is no longer taking away from his dancing or his beautiful face.
I, too, enjoyed seeing Sex’s danceoff. There’s something about that guy…. I just wanna believe he’s in on the joke.