Vegas Week

It's my turn to take over the Sisterhood of the Traveling Dance! Wahoo!

We're finally past the auditions and getting closer and closer to the main competition. I am going to try and get a post up tonight and tomorrow, since there's a lot going on.

Vegas week is crazy because we've had all these audititions and seen all these dancers, some who've made an impression on us and many we've never seen at all.

172 dancers show up and they begin dropping like flies.


Throughout this whole episode I kind of just wrote down my thoughts- I guarantee you that I will not spell the names correctly and will probably not always have complete sentences...it's a very basic recap with my thoughts throughout....not at all polished or pretty!

We start off with everyone doing solos and a few are highlighted. (Alex Wong, amazing, Tony Bellisimo, had a clever trick with Nigel's picture in a briefcase, on a newspaper, etc). Many seem pretty amazing but Nigel says that overall he doesn't think they're very good and starts cutting people right away. Can you even imagine!?

Some people who had gotten some earlier air time are Chimizee, football coach's son, the widow…45 are cut at this point.

So now the remaining dancers have to prove that they can learn choreography in styles other than their own. Starting with.....

Hip Hop with Nab/Tab

Gabby – (quirky, unique audition - everyone loved her initially) stunk, but got to stay

Mary looking weird – botox? (that's just what I wrote down...I'll have to go back and check it out again)

Hmm...I didn't have much to say about hip hop.

Day 1 ends and they are down to 96

Day 2 starts with...
Ballroom with Jean Marc

Philip Chebeeb, trying so hard…at least doing it. He's staying!
Ariel Coco (Philip's audition partner) looks good to me – got cut, shows what I know!
Nabuya Nagahama (someone wanna look that up, see if I'm even close), a goofball breaker/popper – The judges were impressed, did good. Cried, thanked his teachers...so sweet!

16 more going home - buh bye!

Next up...
Jazz with Sonya
Natalie and Brandon are showcased because they are picking up the choreography so well.

After performing Natalie is called forward, I'm nervous because the judges didn't seem to happy with her. Oh no….please don’t cut Natalie….what!!!!!! Why on earth did they cut her? So annoyed. This poor girl can’t catch a break! One of the things that has always bothered me is that they seem to cut some dancers a ton of breaks (Gabby) and Natalie doesn't do as incredible as they expect and she's gone. I'm mad. Must be a ton of talents contemporary dancers outh there for them to get rid of her so quickly. All the dancers are shocked as well.


Brandon – Mia and Lil C don’t like him. Nigel does. He's staying, but it's never good when Mia doesn't like you.

Gabby – Better go home b/c she stunk it up…why does she get to dance and not Natalie, I’m a bit bitter can you tell. I like her, but it seems like there are double standards.

Sammy Ramirez – popper with the great smile and cool hair, goodbye with barely a glance…

At the end of the day the dancers are told that they have the night to choreograph a group dance to perform the next morning. I tend to think this is a bit rough - these kids have to just be exhausted at this point.

Day 3

Group Dance

Erik/Silky, tapper…his group is not meshing well the night before, they go to bed and hope for the best. They perform and it seems a bit random. The judges don't like it...and most of the group is cut, but Silky gets a chance to dance for his life.



So far the group numbers look painful.

Brandon’s group is up and they do a decent job, but Brandon is still not winning everyone over…

Some guy Jason gets some big compliments! Will we be seeing him in the top 20?

Whoopie cushion brother Evan is part of this one, we haven't seen much of him in Vegas. They are called Nerdography!!! Love it! The judges love it too. Adam Shankman even gets teared up which leads to one of my favorite lines of the night when he says to Nigel "don’t you make fun of me you English bastard! "

68 moving on

Silky, danced for his life, but it wasn't enough, he's going home

Now on to the one that is often the biggest struggle

Contemporary with Mia

Tony Bellisimo – still in there…not bad to me, for an untrained hip hopper…the judges say he is dancing for his life, but with a twist - he gets to repeat the choreography with a new group.

Nabuya – going home, but with a positive attitude.

Sisters Megan and Kaitlyn are still together – one will get cut for sure!
Megan – seems off from everyone else…but they liked her…
Kaitlyn – I think she's pretty good, stood out more than her sister, but of course the judges aren't as thrilled. She must dance for her life…now. Great solo. Squeaks through to the next round.

Evan and Ryan – I like them both…which means one will get cut
Ryan – going through!
Evan – going through!
Love them! So happy to be wrong!

Philip Shibeeb (I have no clue how to spell his last name - just trying all different ways!)– going through? Looks like it...

Go Tony – aw –he’s crying. Debbie Allen says he let them down. But he's going through! Now he's really crying!

I haven't said how much I love these judges. But I do. Especially in comparison to the American Idol judges - these judges seem much more connected to the process and helping the dancers grow. I love how emotional some of them get. I'm really liking Shankman this year!

13 more cut
54 left.
(It's getting late, this will get less and less coherent (is that possible) as I go on)
Next/Last Day
Girls and Guys routines.

Broadway with Tyce – hope he’s not a jerk!

West Side Story routine...girls go first

Bianca tapper gets cut here.
All the Megan’s are getting cut, Gabby, Priscilla, sister Megan

It seems like all the girls who've been given air time are getting cut. 16 left, 6 more will be cut to make up the top ten girls. I really don't know that many who are left and don't feel too strongly (at this point) about who gets in. I remember last year I was super annoyed that the Miami Latin dancer made it in and hope there is no one like that this year.

Now the guys are up and webriefly get to see Evan, Ryan and Brandon
There are more guys in there that I am pulling for at this point.
Now we are down to the final 16 guys and it includes all the ones I'm hoping make it.
Based on the previews the last guys spot will come down to the two brothers. How annoying is that? I really hope they both can make it, but from the looks of it the producers are setting it up for an emotional final moment. Any thoughts on who will make it through.

So that's it. I should go back and spell check and make sure a little bit of sense was made, but I'm not!

Enjoy enjoy, let me know what you think and if any of your fav's got cut and who you're pulling for tomorrow night!