So You Think You Can Dance Review: Vegas, Baby

This is a good show. Really. I just wish it wouldn’t make me burst into tears at least once a week.

The auditions this week took us to Los Angeles, Nashville, Dallas, and Chicago. Several of the stories made me weep; the deaf dancer, the guy with a brother living with spina bifida, the girl whose birth mother died before she got to meet her…the list goes on. The Los Angeles and Chicago auditions stood out, with several contestants being send straight through to Vegas. Dallas held it’s own, and as a place I once called home (roughly), it did me proud.

Nashville, on the other hand? Total Crap. They only took eight people from the Nashville auditions to Vegas.

The panel of judges, including Adam Shankman, Mary Murphy, Nigel Lythgoe, and Tyce Diorio, put 122 dancers through to Vegas. They will only be keeping ten on the show. Those…are not good odds. Just saying.

They explained Thursday night about the returning all-stars, and that they will not be eligible to win Season 7. I wish they were. There should still be twenty contestants, I think, and none of them won before. Why not let them compete?

Vegas started out with solos, after which twenty five or so dancers were let go. I don’t remember any faces, so most of the favorites must have gone through. Next they got down to hip hop, and here we did lose some lovable dancers. Teddy (aka weird plaid suit guy) was sent packing after the judges found his street moves lacking.

The next segment the kids tackled ballroom dancing. I suppose they put the hardest two categories first to really weed out the fakers. Two people ended up dancing for their lives at the end of the night: a contemporary dancer from NYC who had, for some reason, chosen to underwhelm the judges with a tap solo the first night, and an AMAZINGLY talented contemporary girl who the judges refer to as Marge Simpson due to her curly, top of the head, ponytail.

Now, I think its crap they made her re-dance the piece with her hair down. It’s just hair. What does it have to with her dancing? Granted, her ballroom wasn’t the best, but she HAS to stay. If I had to guess I’d say she makes the final 10, but who knows.

Also notably, Billy Bell, the contestant who had to drop out of last seasons Top 20 has returned, looking better than ever. A contender from Season 5 also returned and made it through both rounds. The only cut that lingered for me was a slightly larger dancer named Sarah who stole my heart during the first week of auditions. She is a gorgeous dancer but hurt her back before Vegas, making the moves painful and difficult. I cried along with her when she got cut. Another notable loss was the surprisingly charming ex-drug addict. I hope he returns next season.

Next week will finalize the top ten; the judges still have fifty or so dancers to cut before all is said and done. What do you think? Have they cut anyone you love? Kept anyone not worth saving? I’d love your opinions in the comments!

If you want more information on the judges, host, choreographers, or all-stars, click here.

For another take on this week’s episodes, read One Foot In Vegas by Inisia Lewis.

Season 7, Episode 2 & 3: Auditions #3 and #4 and Auditions #5 and #6/Vegas Callbacks, Part 1 (originally aired June 2 and 3, 2010)

For more on So You Think You Can Dance, click here.

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro