We’re back in Vegas tonight, where the original group of 152 dancers has been whittled down to 77. In just two days!
The judges aren’t messing around this time. The remaining contestants will learn a jazz routine by Laurieann Gibson, who bursts onto our screen screaming “ five, six…. and EEEAAAAIIIIGHT!!!” She is not wearing her signature giant headphones tonight, and this accessory oversight has apparently made her grumpy, because she spends the next hour hollering at the contestants. You know that little saying “there is no such thing as a stupid question?” Laurieann wholeheartedly disagrees. When one contestant dares to ask her what their opening position should be—something I would think the dancers would need to know—she replies with “I know you can’t believe you got here, but there are people waiting in the wings! ACT LIKE THAT! The AUDACITY of you to ask me such a RIDICULOUS question!!! NOW DANCE!” Y’all, that is so going to be my standard response whenever anyone asks me a question for the next six months, through and including the NOW DANCE part. I’m sure that will go over well at work. During one rant, ballroom superstar Iveta notes, “It’s like I’m back in Russia!”
More screaming and scared dancers, and now it’s audition time. The husband and wife team of Karen and Matthew are split up for this round. Karen is safe, but Matthew totally botches his audition. Nigel says he wanted more fire from him as a Latin dancer, and he’s out. I don’t think lack of fire was his problem, I think it was not performing the dance AT ALL. Anyway, jazz is not going well. At one point, Nigel stops an entire group and yells at all of them, telling them to do it again, and do it better. Iveta and the same sex ballroom dancer William get cut this round. Is anyone I know even left?Oh, I suppose so. Our last group contains early favorites Molly Gray (High School Musical) Billy Bell (brilliant dancer, broken nose), and krumper Russell who is a god. During their audition, Adam notes to Debbie, who appears to be bored and picking at her fingernails, that Molly and Billy look like children (they so do!), but they are so good. Nigel notes to Molly that she has to start dancing like a woman, and not like a little girl—that’s why they have 18 year olds on the show; not 16. What the heck does that mean? Is she supposed to start working a pole? He asks Russell what other training he’s had. Russell says he just takes whatever comes at him; he just dances. Nigel clarifies “so you’ve had no formal training whatsoever”, and Russell says no. Adam interjects that doesn’t seem possible, and I totally agree with that. I call BS. Russell seems a little shaken by this inquisition, but Nigel tells him “You’re doing SO well; keep up the good work”, and Adam concurs. All of the dancers in this round are safe.
But oh, dramarama! Molly has injured her foot. She tries to shake it off, and tells Cat that she doesn’t want the judges to know. But the pain grows worse, and we cut to commercial as she’s being toted off to the hospital.
Later that night, Cat tells the dancers that they are being broken up into groups, and they have all night to choreograph a dance. Oh man. I HATE this part of the audition. It’s rarely good; it’s all drama…ugh. Fortunately, we are spared most of that! We’re only subjected to a very small amount of drama before we go straight to seeing what the dancers produced. What the heck. Are they going to follow up on the Molly thing?
Anyway. First up are Russell and four contemporary dancers. They’ve randomly selected a Broadway routine. Footage of the previous night shows that they were done choreographing and rehearsing in about an hour. Nice! Tyce ooohs and aaahs the entire time that they perform, so you know they are probably safe. And they are! Montage of groups; at one point, Debbie calls something “dreadful, and uncomfortable to watch” and yes, it was as harsh then as it sounds now.
The last group of the to perform contains Molly, and we finally learn what happened the night before. Molly was carted off to the hospital, and her group left to fend for themselves. After deliberating about how to proceed, the group decides to choreograph without Molly, and plan a chair based dance for her should she return. Really, since they had no idea if she was coming back, and they knew she was injured, this seems smart. Mollie comes back two hours into rehearsal with a report that she has a really bad sprain. They try to accommodate her ankle in the dance, and of course she hates that, and worries that the judges will hate it. Maybe? They perform, and it seems to be a dance about…a girl who has a sprained ankle? Given the situation, I think it’s fine. Mia disagrees with me, and declares, “As a whole package, I just thought it was stupid; I thought it was dumb.” Nigel says he felt like they hid behind their characters. But they are all through anyway.
Now we’re back with the dreaded Mia round. We see footage of her yelling at the dancers last year, shouting such gems as "You know me, I’m a cutter, and I will cut you” while scary music plays in the background. But instead of hollering, Mia starts out by telling everyone not to be scared, and next thing we know we’re going all Namaste. I give this fifteen minutes, tops, before the yellin starts. Oh but I’m wrong! There’s a lot of hugging going on. What the heck?!
They perform the Mia routine. First up is Kevin from Boston, who made it to the last day of Vegas last season before getting cut. The judges coo over him during the audition; afterward, Tyce calls him brilliant. Russell, Billy Bell, and Molly all do well. Last up is Legacy the hip-hop dancer, who barely made it through last week. He gets all emotional during the rehearsal. And now he’s crying after performing, saying that this dance changed something inside of him, and that his movement meant something to him. OOoh, way to go Legacy! Mia has got to LOVE that! And she does; he survives this round. Wow, this guy turns on the waterworks. I’m one big ball of hormones and I don’t even cry this much! But apparently the tears are contagious, because EVERYONE is crying after this round—crying on the phone to their momma, crying all over each other…what the heck is going on? I gots to take me a Mia Michaels master class so I can experience this for myself.
We’re back for the final round of choreography, which will be a Tyce Broadway piece. We meet Pauline again, who also made it through to the final day in Vegas last year. She’s performing with someone who I’m going to bet right now is Joey Dowling’s sister; there is no way she’s not. But Pauline falls during the final leap, and her ankle is crazy swollen.
As she rests, we see the other girls perform. Oh Ellenore! She’s soooo good. Ashley, of another husband and wife pair, makes it through with the judges telling her that she’s grown the most out of all the dancers.
Pauline is back from the hospital with news of a sprain. She's rocking the crutches, and has been told not to dance on it for two days. Unlike Molly, she appears to be interested in heeding the advice of the doctors.
Boys round. Ryan of Ryan and Ashley is through too, and not just because he has crazy washboard abs. They judges love love love all of the contestants…until they get to Dominic. Dominic gets cut, and proceeds to break down like nobody has broken down before. We are talking collapse to the floor in heaving sobs type of hysterics. Nigel looks appalled, and yells at him for breaking down like that.
We close the night with the final solos. Billy Bell is first, and good lord, he’s amazing. Adam starts sobbing during his solo, and Tyce repeatedly whoos. So even though they aren’t getting critiqued, um…you kind of know. Montage, it’s amazing, judges are crying and throwing things, they are so happy. This season is just going to own last one. I can’t wait! Now I have to ponder my top 20 predictions.
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