‘So You Think You Can Dance’: Standing out from the crowd (of super-talented hardworking people)

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A ton of promising dancers auditioned on Tuesday’s and tonight’s episodes of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ — but only a select few really stood out from the crowd. This was the issue with last season — the dancers were all talented and seemed like nice people, but they failed to capture the audience as did the performers on Season 4. I think the producers of the show know this, which is why last night Nigel Lythgoe called Amber Jackson’s performance a bad word and made a face at her — because her dancing was great but she totally failed to engage the judges or audience — on an audition! Obviously, a lot of this is just editing — I’m sure each contestant is unique in his or her way, but I think longtime viewers of the show saw that the fan favorites of the series stood out early.

The bright spots of the last two nights all seemed to be in tonight’s New Orleans audition episode: I like Justin Kenney, the risk-taking break-dancer, just because in many ways he didn’t look like most of the people on the show — he was tall and resembled Jakob Dylan with ear spacers. Kimalee Piedad also brought something new to the stage with her theater arts/ballroom genre and the ridiculous lifts she was a part of. And I liked Diana Drexler too — not just because her grandfather died and she danced through it, but because she has spunk.

Jakob Karr, on the other hand, was a dancer the judges loved, but the audience didn’t get to hear him speak a word, so who knows if he’ll be fun to watch on the show.

One more week of auditions and then we’ll see if all this talent translates to good TV. Speaking of auditions and talent, Thursday I will be interviewing Adam Shankman, so if you ‘SYTYCD’ fans have questions about the show in general, his choreographing or new judge seat, please leave them in comments and I’ll see if I can pass them on to him.

— Claire Zulkey

Photo: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ judge Adam Shankman. Credit: Fox