“So You Think You Can Dance”, the hit television show, recently performed here in Tampa at the St. Pete Forum on October 19.
The show, which crowns America’s favorite dancer, selects the top ten dancers perform in a cross country tour. Touring this year were Kameron, Danny, Pasha, Dominic, Neil, Lacey, Lauren, Jamie, Sara, and America’s favorite dancer, Sabra Johnson. Special guests included Anya, Shauna, Jesus, and Hok.
The show featured favorite dances of the season as well new dances choreographed especially for the tour. Emmy nominated artists Mia Michaels and Wade Robson’s choreography (crowds favorites) took life on the stage; the hummingbird/flower dance was revived on the stage by Hok and Jamie who were greeted by non stop applause.
Shauna understudied for Lacey who sustained a new injury prior to the Tampa show; Jamie also performed the piece, commemorating Mia Michaels father in place of Lacey. Ballroom, Hip Hop, contemporary, breakdancing, and many other genres of dance were performed for the packed out forum.
The costumes were also magnificent, there were many pieces from the original show in L.A. as well as new pieces designed only for the tour.
The audience was stunned by tricks like aerials, layouts, and backhandsprings to name a few. The audience was also stunned by bloopers of the season; the show featured short clips of the worst falls of the season.
One guy crashed into a glass table after doing one to many backhansprings while another fell mid-air out of a poorly executed backhandspring. Sabra was dropped on her back after being dropped by Domonick during the Hairspray number; however, another guy took the title of the worst fall after falling on his face in the middle of the routine leaving him with a cut up face and some bloody gums.
Thankfully no one was hurt at this show. The audience also enjoyed pre-show clips of the tour’s dancers.
Did you know that Pasha drinks pickle juice with every meal, Dominic was a cheerleader, and Sabra picked her nose as a child? Neither did I!
The show will be holding auditions for its fourth season beginning this March. Auditions which are held in Atlanta, L.A., New York, and Chicago are tedious and grueling on the dancers.
Many of us have connected to these dancers just by witnesses their progress as a dancer throughout the season.
While many of us are already preparing audition pieces for the show, others are anxiously awaiting the debut of season four and episodes of endless people auditioning with warped dances such as “Sex” and the elite dances like those of Neil and Jamie.