"So You Think You Can Dance" Fall 2009: Vegas Week, Pt 1

By Kathy Laluk on October 8, 2009

Vegas Week is finally here! I was so excited to see some of my faves again, but the judges were a bit loopy with eliminations tonight. They were keeping people who deserved to be cut and vice versa.

They started off with several rounds of cuts. A few noticeable auditions flashed by: rosy-cheeked Nathan Toras, who's 18 now, made it past the first round, as did tapper Bianca Revels (love her), and Yvette, the scary-looking but talented ballroom dancer from last night's auditions. Same-sex ballroom couple Jacob Jason and Willem De Vries did a slow ballroom routine, but the judges only kept Willem around. 41 down, 111 dancers left.

First routine: hip-hop with TabNap. The routine had lots of sharp, quick popping and some serious sass. Most dancers did pretty well, but at least one B-boy (whose name I forgot already) was cut, and tapper Ryan got a serious talking-to from the judges. I don't really understand why though. He did get out of sync for a few counts, but managed to hit the rest of the routine pretty hard. Half the judges wanted to keep him in, half wanted to cut him then and there. Luckily, the rules say that means he got to stay...at least for the time being.

Louis VanAmstel and S3 contestant Anya took the took the remaining dancers through a quick cha-cha. Contemporary dancer Billy Bell took an elbow to the nose from his partner early in the run-through and had to miss most of the rehearsal. He recovered in time to perform for the judges, but hadn't practiced with the music at all. He managed to do well and made it to the next round, but B-boy Legacy struggled, badly. They asked him to dance for his life (more on that in a second).

One other couple of note during this routine was Yvette (trashy though she may be, girl's got serious talent) and the krumper (sorry, I can never seem to remember his name). I thought for sure he'd struggle, but he actually did really well. His feet were a little too flat for the cha-cha, but he hit the steps crisply and had lots of chemistry with his partner. I'd love to see the two of them dance together again. They both made it through and as they were leaving the theater had the most adorable conversation ever. "Thanks for teaching me your style," he said. "Yes, maybe next time you can teach me ... what was it called?" "Krump." Love them.

Ryan was in the last group and was nervous after the judges' comments the day before, and it showed. He was noticeably tight in the hips and was off his game. I was seriously hoping the judges would let him dance for his life (hell, they let Legacy do it), but he was cut. Nooooooooooo! I was so bummed. I can't say I blame the judges -- he wasn't performing to his best in Vegas -- but given who they were giving chances to, I thought maybe they'd give him a shot to dance for his life. Guess not. I hope he's back next year and really serves it.

At the end of the day, it was time for some of the competitors to dance for their lives. Contemporary dancer Jonathan Litzler, who did an incredible audition in New Orleans, definitely danced for his life. He did spend about the first half of his routine doing aerobatic tricks, but the agility and control he did them with was just unbelievable. And yet somehow he was cut. Huh? Sometimes I really think the judges are on something.

Legacy also had to dance for his life and although his hip-hop was good, it's nothing we haven't seen before. Some of the judges said his other styles weren't strong enough (which they weren't), but they all decided he could stay. Even Mia, who called him an asshole, gave him her vote. What are these judges smoking? For the love of my sanity, please don't let us have another Tony situation this year. I might not survive.

The rest of the Vegas auditions and Top 20 revealed next week. Like I said yesterday, hopefully there are some more hidden gems in this crowd who haven't been cut yet. Otherwise, Season 6 is in trouble.