Saturday, June 9, 2012

Season Nine Auditions: Los Angeles & Atlanta

I know, I'm really behind on this season so far. But that's because after a stellar opening with the New York/Dallas auditions, the quality has fallen off considerably in the subsequent two episodes (well, at least in my eyes). The producers have been cramming a lot of backstory into very few auditions, and it's gotten to the point of utter boredom. The first episode gave us auditions in two cities, while the following two episodes have been dedicated to one city each. That shouldn't be a bad thing, but the excitement level was just higher in the first episode because it felt like it was moving quickly. Now the episodes totally drag, and the dancers haven't even been that great.

In last week's episode in Los Angeles, I can't even tell you which dancers I liked. The only ones I remember were the Ninja Twins; they know how to work a crowd and a camera, and I'm waiting for some obscure network like Ovation to announce that they're getting their own reality show. I'd watch. They were so entertaining as people, and they were actually really good dancers. Unfortunately the show has an age limit of 30 and the twins were 32; get it, girls. Most of us could only hope to work a floor like that in our 30s.

I don't really remember anyone else who was all the impressive. Alexa, who made it to the green mile last season but was cut at the top 20 in favor of Ryan, auditioned again and will probably make it all the way through again. I don't recall much about her from last season, and her audition wasn't all that great. It was good, of course, and it showed some real power; but she's not my favorite.

The L.A. episode was dedicated almost entirely to sob stories, though. There were the brother and sister who were in a major car accident just weeks ago, and he was declared dead at the hospital; but he's miraculously dancing at the audition. Then there was the girl whose mother kicked her out of the house because she didn't want her anymore, so she's been living with her best friend's family. Then there was Jonathan, a breaker who auditioned years ago and made an ass of himself, but he's back this year to prove he's a changed person and can be humble. It was all a bit much and totally unnecessary; I'm watching to see dancing, not people who are going to inspire a Lifetime Original Movie someday. Instead of hearing people's stupid stories, show me Teddy Tedholm's audition. I love him, and he got about two seconds (literally) of airtime.

And for how much Nigel has been talking up the Atlanta auditions on Twitter, I was not impressed. I didn't like any of the "Dragon House" dancers (was it just me, or did the first guy not even really dance?!), or the first black male contemporary dancer of the evening (Joshua, I think?), or the girl who makes her neck fart (she danced more with her hair than her body, a personal pet peeve of mine). Then the kid with the Selena Gomez backpack who mixed martial arts with hip-hop just creeped me out. He was not a good dancer, and I can't believe they sent him to Vegas. He demonstrated the extent of his ballet experience, and it made me want to vomit; do you really think he's going to vastly improve by Vegas week? You just wasted airfare.

My favorite audition of the episode was Asher Walker, the backwoods bumpkin white-boy hip hop dancer. His was the first audition I watched more than once. He was charming, funny, musical, rhythmic, and just great. I can't wait to see more of him. Other than Asher, I'm over it. The female contemporary dancers are all blending together; they dance the same, have the same personality and looks. The only dancer to shake things up was Janelle, the belly dancer. She was pretty entertaining, and she was also the closest thing to a ballroom dancer we've seen all season.

The next month is full of more audition/callback episodes, and I'm just not looking forward to it. Sorry I'm not sorry.

No comments:

Post a Comment