New York

Jason Gilkinson. Yay. I like him.

Princess Lockeroo – Groove is in the Heart was long ago and we already have a Lady Miss Kier so please try to work a new style. So, you invented whacking? Girl, some queen is going to come along and break you off something. You’re not fierce, mama and you surely didn’t invent what you just did up there on that stage. And Nigel, if you think she created that? You need to go see Paris is Burning. Immediately.

Brandon Jones – Oh my word. Gorgeous, this boy. Such control and pretty, pretty spins and leaps. I think I don’t like his hands, they are kind of lazy and thrown away, but that was the only thing. Don’t care about the dead daddy. Who doesn’t have one, seems like? Definitely think he could make the show. Kids like him don’t win, though. Dancer montage: Love green shirt, black skirt girl. Plaid shirt boy? Love him, too. The other kid, eh. He didn’t make much of an impression on me, but who knows.

Brian Henry – Get it gully? You cannot be hard when you repeat a phrase once uttered in a JLo song. I kind of love that he took it to Nigel on the whole “Krump is violent thing” though. Somebody had to do it. And kid can dance. That’s how it’s done. Krump as praise dance? That popped up on ABDC, too. What is this? The thing with Mary was weird because there’s just a culture clash there. It’s just a difference in how they communicate. And it’s fair to send him to do choreo. Lots of street dancers can’t hang.

Mary Kate Sheehan – Irish step dancing. It surely seems hard, but I’m wondering if she can do other stuff as well. That was gorgeous, what she did. Hope she can do choreo because those split leaps were phenomenal.

Lil O Gadson - Such a cutie and he’s dancing to Mark music. Dobule fun. Create is such a great song. And he threw the little pirouette in there at the end. Alright, I see you big daddy. He was a tiny bundle of fabulousness. And by tiny, I mean tiny. I’m trying to picture him partnering someone and failing spectacularly. Hard to get around that on this show.

Choreo: Brian did better than I thought he would. Mary Kate turned it out. Go Irish stepper. Awww, they made the big bad krumper cry. He will not make the show. Bet.

Jess Lopretto – Oh, no. Do we need another Kasparzak moment? Umm, no. We do not. Damn. Yes, we do. We do want a whole hell of a lot more of that. I get what the judges are saying with not selling it as much as he could have, but why put him through to choreo. Clearly, he’ll knock that out.

Kristen Dobson – Her body is sick ridiculous and I want to wear that costume to my next office party. Also, she can dance. Lacks a little hip action for a latin dancer, though. Ah, I see. Only 3 years doing ballroom. Thus the lack of hip action. Well, then, yes. For only 3 years at her craft, she’s tremendous. I’m glad they sent her to do choreo because the ballroom alone was not strong enough to put her straight through to Vegas. Not after the Anyas and Laceys and Chelsies. And what they heck, I’ll throw FP up in the mix.

Ballroom montage: Liked them all. Red dress and Captain Von Trapp were stand outs.

Dancer montages – All yes. Curly red headed black girl? Hell yes.

Robert Taylor, Jr. – If you are 30, you’re too damn old to call yourself the Woo man. It’s not cute. He’s good. Not great, but good. That will get old and he will never even make top 10, but I’m fine to see him go through to Vegas. But seriously? Enough with the woo.

Choreo: So, ballroom girl has clearly done choreo before. I was happy to see both her and Broadway go through. Let’s se what they can do with it.

There’s still no one that I love unreservedly. Where is my Jakob Karr moment? Where’s Alex Wong?

Fear not, Kat, there's still another night of auditions to go! You might yet find your One True Dancer! :)

Seriously, at one point in the show I went "are we going to see ANY ballroom people?" and then they finally did the one, and a superfast montage of the others (but didn't get to meet them). Oy.

And it’s fair to send him to do choreo. Lots of street dancers can’t hang.

They sent Russell to choreo, and then he ended up taking a few classes before Vegas, where he really turned it out.

He was a tiny bundle of fabulousness. And by tiny, I mean tiny. I’m trying to picture him partnering someone and failing spectacularly. Hard to get around that on this show.

Exactly what I was thinking. He's going to be harder to pair off than Evan was.

There’s still no one that I love unreservedly. Where is my Jakob Karr moment? Where’s Alex Wong?

As much as I preferred this week's batch of auditions over last week's, I still don't see any of these going onto my "Best of" dvd at the end of the season.

TCM - I agree that was just dumb. And I don't know why they can't just let these guys cook.

They sent Russell to choreo, and then he ended up taking a few classes before Vegas, where he really turned it out.

He clearly had years of training -- he's a dance major, and went to arts high school -- they sent him to choreo because he did a hip-hop audition. He didn't win because of the training between auditions and Vegas.

ETA: of course, the show implied that he had no training. But that was obviously false.

I can't get too attached to anyone during audition rounds -- I learned that the hard way with Idol.

Top Chef Master: I'm done. I didn't even watch last night. That was absurd.

Yes, Russell and Joshua (your two hip hop winners) both had extensive training in other styles of dance before going on SYTYCD. Russell went to a performing arts HS. Joshua had even studied with the fabulous Miss Debbie Allen. And yet the show sold them to us as untrained naifs. Feh.

They have had pretty raw street dancers on the show in the past who've gone far - Legacy, I think, hadn't done a lot of other styles of dancing, and Gev. I don't know about Dominic, but I don't think he'd done a lot of cross-training prior to being on the show. But most of the truly untrained hip hop/b-boy kids (think Cedric and Jose) flame out pretty quickly once they hit the show because they can't hang with picking up all that choreography in completely new styles at the pace that's needed to make it on the show. That's why I'm fine most of the time with hip hop kids getting sent to do choreo during the early audition rounds.

Yesterday at lunch one woman was talking about being at the pool and seeing a man in a Speedo (who REALLY shouldn't have been). Watching SYTYCD, these are the guys who can and should wear Speedos (and, yes, I saw the one who did ... which is what reminded me).

TCM - I agree that was just dumb. And I don't know why they can't just let these guys cook.

Seriously. I hope now that they are down to the final four they'll give the gimmicky shit a rest, but I'm not hopeful. Plus, I think Floyd is the only left I give a damn about.

That's why I'm fine most of the time with hip hop kids getting sent to do choreo during the early audition rounds.

Especially since they do send other styles of dancers there for much the same reason (even if it's not as common), like the Irish step dancer from last night.