Posted are the auditions of all the contestants who were featured during the auditions rounds. Click on the link to watch. I’ll post the last names of the unknowns as soon as I have correct spellings. SYTYCD cannon fodder?

The Top 20

• Courtney Galiano – Audition
• Chelsea Hightower -Audition
• Susie Garcia – Audition
• Chelsea Traille
• Kourtni Lind – Audition
• Joshua Allen – Audition
• Stephen “Twitch” Boss – Audition
• Kherington Payne – Audition
• Rayven Armijo
• Matt Dorame – Audition
• Thayne Jasperson – Audition
• Marquis Cunningham
• Mark Kanemura
• Comfort Fedoke
• Jamie Bayard
• Chris Jarosz
• Jessica King
• William Wingfield – Audition
• Gev Manoukian – Audition
• Katee Shean – Audition

Top 20 Happy Dance! – Video

Big ass recap with VIDEOS After the JUMP…

Big BIG show tonight! I will try to summarize…

Over 200 dancers hit Vegas for a week to compete for the Top 20. After a pressure filled week, the judges whittle the contestants down, and at the end of the show, we are introduced to this season’s Top 20.

And finally, I am entertained. Vegas week is filled with lots of drama as the kids are put through grueling dance routines and exercises designed to test their mettle.

Six judges sit on the panel: Hip hop choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon, contemporary choreographer Mia Michaels, Debbie Allen, Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe.

“If you’re not a star get off the stage,” says Nigel, as he addresses the crowd. He’s looking to make dancers into stars again.

Day One:

The first challenge is a hip hop routine, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon. After an hour of rehearsal, the dancers audition.

But before that happens, Robert Muraine, a popper who auditioned in Los Angeles (audition) wants to quit the show. He’s never done choreography before, and he’s completely intimidated. Nigel calls him to the front of the stage and asks him to do his solo, which involves a lot of body contortions that look impossible to do, and are, quite frankly, kinda hard to watch (VIDEO). After he performs, the judges try to persuade him to stick it out. Mia tells him he’s been given a gift, and not to sh*t on it. In the end, he decides to leave. Nigel says, “Let’s move on with people who want to be here.” Despite his lack of training, Robert was sent straight to Vegas without having to do choreography. I had a feeling he wouldn’t make it very far.

The hip hop performances finally begin. The dancers line up in rows of 10 to audition. After they dance, they stand and wait as the judges confer. Nigel asks some dancers to step forward, and either the front or back line is dismissed. In this round, Courtney Galiano moves on, but, sparkle girl (audition), Rebecca Hart, is cut.

Also eliminated: strip club DJ Ryan Race (audition), and ballroom dancer Ricky Sun (audition). By 3 pm 150 dancers performe, and 62 are eliminated.

Those who pass to the next round get to relax by the pool. Meanwhile, Claire Callaway, (audition) the contestant who was injured Season 2, promised a slot in Vegas Season 3, but had a baby instead is fighting for her life back at the theater. She barely made passed her audition. She doesn’t fare much better in Vegas, she’s cut in this first round. (VIDEO). At the end of the day, 203 dancers perform and only 129 remain.

Day Two

The night before, the producers tell the contestants to wear something “sexy and sassy”. The day’s choreographer is Tice Diorio, and he rehearses the group in a Broadway routine.

In today’s first lineup is Erica Gee (audition). After auditioning for 3 years in a row, she’s convinced it’s her year to make the Top 20, but it’s not to be. She’s partnered with another girl, Britney Parks, and although their routine is clever (Britney plays the male lead) Britney makes it through, but Erica does not. (VIDEO). She’s shocked, and worried that she’s displeased her parents who’ve sacrificed to pay for her training. Damn, those stage parents!

After a bunch of Awesome! Dancers! make it to the next round, the twins, Anthony and Antwain Hart take the stage. The twins are worried that the judging panel will try to break them up. (VIDEO) If the twins know anything about how Reality TV works, they know what the deal is. Breaking up siblings and best friends for awesome Tee Vee drama is a staple. Of course it happens. Anthony advances, while Antwain does not. Ironically, it was Anthony who nearly didn’t make it when the two auditioned together in Charleston. (audition).

More people are cut. “Maybe I’m not as pretty as all these little blondies running around,” says one contestant, “But, I’m not going to get plastic surgery just for So You Think You Can Dance.” Them grapes are sour!

By lunchtime, the Broadway round is over, and the judges decide to keep 94 dancers. The original number is cut down by more than half.

Ballroom dance is the next round, led by choreographer, Jean Marc Genereaux, who teaches the contestants a fox trot. Some of the hip hop dancers, including Joshua Allen and his fellow hip hop dancer Comfort (Nigel told her in Dallas she was the best female hip hop dancer he’d seen) find ballroom dancing a bit daunting, to say the least. But after practicing hard, they dance the round together beautifully. The judges congratulate them as they are passed on to the next round. They both break down into tears of relief when it’s all over. (VIDEO).

Cut in this round: the lovely Devin Oshiro (audition), and the incredibly annoying pageant girl (audition) Paige Jones. After she has a disastrous ballroom performance with hip hop dancer Will Adams, she’s given the chance to dance with a more experienced partner later (VIDEO). She’s sent home anyway. Huzzah! At the end of the day, 5 dancers who were cut from the ballroom round are chosen to “dance for their lives” in their own styles. Paige’s initial dance partner, Will Adams is also eliminated.

It’s the end of the day, and the dancers are put into groups. They are given a CD and told they have to learn a choreography and present it the next morning. Stress, arguing and sleep deprivation will surely lead to some train-wreck performances in the AM.

Day Three

The groups are back in the morning to perform for the judges after being up nearly all night rehearsing. The first group includes hip hop dancer Twitch, contemporary dancer Jason Glover, and tap dancer Bianca Revels. They struggle with their routine all night, but are reasonably happy with the final results. The judges, however, are not so happy. Their routine is a big hot mess, with the random tap-dancing thrown in appearing like an afterthought. Mary is pissed that Bianca took so much time tap dancing at the end. The judges vote, and Jason, with two votes against him, is forced to “dance for his life” later on in the day. The rest make it through to the next round, but leave the auditorium devastated. Jason is crying, and Twitch feels like he let the group down. (VIDEO).

The group routines pretty much suck, but the odds are really against this round turning out well. The round really serves to dish up some good trainwreck TV, and that it does. The next group, with Jessica King, Derrick Spears and Comfort Fedoke fares a little better after a night filled with conflict. (VIDEO).

At the end of the morning, Jason Glover dances for his life, and he manages to squeak by.

Only 4 dancers are cut from the group rounds (further proving it only exists to make TV drama, rather than advance dancers) including single mom, Courtney Pearson (audition).

Mia Michaels’ contemporary choreography fills up the rest of Day 3. Sixty-eight sleep-deprived dancers are left to learn her difficult choreography, and she pushes them to the brink.

Tap dancer Lizz Plott (audition) is slowly losing her mind. Between the lack of sleep, her legs giving out and the difficulty of the dance, she’s becoming manic as she works frantically to make it through the round. She does well enough, and the judges begin to compliment her. But she talks back to Nigel when he suggests that she get a handle on her stress. The panel is aggravated enough to take back their compliments and cut her. So much for talking back to the judges. (VIDEO).

The next contestant to completely lose his sh*t is Jeremiah Hughes (audition). His reaction to his inability to master the choreography is to stomp angrily off the stage. Afterward, he gains his composure enough to apologize. Very weird dude. (VIDEO).

Twenty-two dancers are cut from this round, including Jason Glover.

Forty-Seven dancers remain. Nine of them have to “dance for their lives,” including jazz dancer Sheila Keiser (audition), contemporary dancers Dominic Pearson and Mark Kanemura and hip hop dancer, Twitch.

Dominic’s SYTYCD stint ends as he pulls a muscle during his routine. He rides off with the medics. Mark is saved by a creative and humorous routine to “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Twitch performs well enough, and he advances too. But it’s back to Engineering school for Sheila, who doesn’t make the cut. (VIDEO)

The last round has the remaining contestants performing solos for the judging panel. (VIDEO). And after, they find out who makes the Top 20.

The big dramatic reveal involves having the contestant walk down a long corridor to meet the judges. Their auditions play on monitors along the walls.

First up is Kelli Baker (audition) daughter of High School Musical choreographer Bonnie Story. Nigel tells her she’s a fabulous dancer, but they want to see “a little more personality emerge” from her. Surprisingly, Kelli is cut.

Courtney Galiano is a Yes. For Latin dancers Chelsea Hightower and Susie Garcia, it’s a YES. For contemporary dancers Chelsea Traille and Kourtni Lind, it’s a YES.

Anthony Hart does not advance. Evan Kasprzak (audition), Jannette Manara (audition), Aliona Vetrenko and Leonidas Proskurov (audition), Bianca Revels (audition) are all sent home.

Joshua Allen is called out by the judges for having more training than he’s admitted to, because of some of the moves he’s used in his routines. Nevertheless, he is a YES.

Top 20 Part 1 -VIDEO

Twitch is a YES. Kherington Payne is a YES. Ballet Dancer Rayven is a YES. Matt Dorame is a YES. Thayne Jasperson is a YES. Marquis Cunningham is a YES. Mark Canamura is a YES. Comfort Fedoke is a YES. West coast swing dancer, Jamie Bayard is a YES. Contemporary dancer Chris Jarosz is a YES, despite several dancers just like him making the cut.

Markus Shields (audition), Asuka Kondoh (audition), and Derrick Spears are cut.

Jessica King is a YES. William Wingfield is a protege of Debbie Allen and he is a YES. This means Debbie won’t be able to judge while he’s on the show.

Top 20 Part 2 – VIDEO

There are 4 dancers left. It’s between Brandon Bryant (audition) and Gev Manoukian and good friends Katee Shean and Natalie Reid.

Brandon Bryant is cut, Gev Manoukian is a YES.

The two girls face the judges. When asked if she’d come back next year, Katee says she doesn’t know, because this year was so tough. Nigel stops the reveal abruptly to hold a meeting with the judges. Katee was their pick, but now the judges are thinking she doesn’t have what it takes to follow through. Yada yada yada.

The judges hold a re-vote. Mary switches her vote to Natalie. The vote is a tie, so the judges give the spot to Katee Shean and she is a YES. Best friend, Natalie Reid, is sent home. Big TV Drama!

Top 20 Part 3 – VIDEO

The Top 20 is in place. Next week, the voting begins.

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