Pbmom's Blog

So You Think You Can Dance — Season 9 —  Los Angeles Auditions

By Hilda Clark Bowen

On Twitter, East Coast people are complaining that New York only got 1 hour of airtime last week while California got 2 this week. Judges for this panel were Mary Murphy, Nigel Lythgoe, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

Who I liked a LOT

Eliana Girad; West Palm Beach, Florida. She has an impressive resume including Joffrey Ballet. She does pole dancing. I got distracted on Twitter by the reminder to people that our local Fox 26 Houston did a story about Pole Dancing for Jesus, a group here locally, which then brought up images and comments for me of, “So that was what Christ and his disciples were looking at on the other side of the table in “The Last Supper!” I understand empowerment, I understand exercise, but I don’t envision pole dancing to Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Dive.” I do see pole dancing to “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse. Her routine mesmerized me. The judges give her a standing ovation. Vegas baby.

Eliana Girad

Cole Horibe; Honolulu, Hawaii; contemporary. He combined his training in martial arts (silver in the junior Olympics) and dance. He presented a powerful piece. He could be the “Marko” of this year. He is sent straight through to Vegas.

Cole Horibe

Jasmine Mason; Placentia, California; jazz: She was in a wreck 6 weeks prior with Marshae Kidd. She had beautiful lines. Her dance was sultry and sexy. She is sent to Vegas.

Marshae Kidd; Placentia, California: He broke his neck in a car accident 6 weeks prior to the audition. I don’t know if I’d even be out of bed after breaking my neck. I think he has grown since trying out previously. He also gets to go to Vegas.

Jasmine Mason and Marshae Kidd

Who I thought was average

Alexa Anderson; Chandler, Arizona; contemporary: She was on last year, but Ryan Ramirez was picked instead. She had a very strong dance. Quite beautiful. She is through to Vegas.

Sam Lenarz; Lavergne, California; contemporary: Her story was oh-so-familiar-to-me. She was kicked out of the house by her mother (mine occurred when I was 14). She had great fluidity but she wasn’t emotionally connecting with the dance. “You can always believe in yourself.” I felt that way, too: You can take responsibility for your own life and be the captain of your own destiny. It also helps when there is someone there as a safety net as it appears we both did. She is sent to choreography and then to Vegas.

Megan Branch; Gilbert, Arizona; contemporary: She did a great job. She is sent to Vegas.

Who needs improvement

Jontel “Johnny Waacks” Gibson; Portland, Oregon; waacking. The judges could not stop saying “waack” without breaking into hysterics. Johnny was such a good sport and his answers just fed into the hilarity. Jesse called him a Lenny Kravitz nesting doll. While he definitely is no Princess Lockeroo, they put him through to choreography. Unfortunately, Johnny will have to come back another year.

Jontel “Johnny Waacks” Gibson

Jonathan Anzolone; Milan, Italy; B-boying: He was good, but not spectacular. He had tried out previously on SYTYCD. He’s toned down his narcissistic persona, but I get a really negative energy from him. The judges send him to choreography but he did not prove himself worthy of a Vegas ticket.

The Odd-Ball Lot

Nick and James Aragon, contemporary, age 32. (a.k.a. the Ninja Twins). Although they are past the age limit of 30 for the show, these two young men deserve to have a reality show of their own. I LOVE them. They are not only terrific dancers, but charismatic and funny as hell. The judges and the audience gave them a standing ovation.

The Nina Twins: Nick and James Aragon — Someone PLEASE give them their own reality show!!!

Caley Carr; Huntington Beach, California, tapper: He surfs and dances. This is a case where what he looks like on the outside deceives you to what kind of talent he has on the inside. One immediately stereotypes him as a surfer. I did and I’m glad when I am reminded not to do such things. He is sent to choreography and not sent to Vegas.

David Marz; Los Angeles, California; Cyr wheel. What is a cyr wheel? Per Wiki: “The Cyr wheel (also known as the roue Cyr or simple wheel) is an acrobatic device popularized in the early 21st century. It consists of a single large, metal hoop, and is used in a similar manner to a German wheel, with the acrobat rolling the wheel around the stage from the inside. The Cyr wheel was popularized by Daniel Cyr from 2003. There are records of others using a similar apparatus during the 19th and 20th centuries, but Daniel Cyr is known to have popularized it, and claims he created it without any awareness of previous similar devices. It is now used in performance by hundreds of performers around the world.”.  I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was mesmerizing and beautiful. He is sent to choreography and leaves on his own when he finds the choreography difficult.

David Marz using a Cyr wheel for his dance audition.

Stephen Jacobsen; Cincinnati, Ohio; ballet: I wonder if the audition dance was some kind of plant by the producers because it was horrible. However, when Nigel had him do a ballet routine, which was incredible, they put him straight through to Vegas.

Vegas bound

Eliana Girad; contestant numbers 20515 (tapper Aaron Turner?, son of the famous Earl Turner); contestant 20323 (inspired by Desmond); and contestant 20429 (inspired by Sasha); Megan Branch, contestants 20273, 20309; Cole Horibe; Stephen Jacobsen; Jasmine Mason; Marshae Kidd; Sam Lenarz.