SYTYCD Season 8 - Atlanta & Bay Area Auditions

Can you believe this show is already on season eight? I can't. I've been watching it from the very beginning. Some changes for this season - they're going back to a top 20 (can I get a hell yeah?), but once it gets to the top 10 dancers, they are bringing in the all stars again. I'm just not sure the all star concept really works, but we'll see. Also? Mary Murphy is back! Yeah, the lady can be kinda crazy, but that's why we love her, right? It's not the same without the hot tamale train.

Tonight's two hour opener featured the auditions in Atlanta and the Bay Area. I'm not going to go through all of the dancers they highlighted, because I'm tired and at this point we can't really say who's going to get into the top 20 quite yet, but I will say that the following were the ones that stood out to me:

Melanie Moore, the jazz dancer who's also an artist. I liked her quirky style. Marko Gemar, the guy with the bullet in his arm. He looked like he had some real potential too. Those were really the only two from the Atlanta ones that stood out to me. There was that one girl who was doing all kinds of tricks with her partner, but I feel like that's all she was doing. How is she solo without a guy to lift her around?

In the Bay Area, I think they were setting up that girl Amber Williams as someone who's going to make it. You know, the crazed one. I'm really not sure I can handle her in large amounts, but they almost always have someone like that on every season. Remember Mollee? Yeah. Oy. There was one girl I wrote "kinda boring" by, and as I don't remember who she was, it must be true. There was the Zoe Saldana lookalike that they were all raving over, but I wanted her to bring more sharpness to her stuff. Maybe she will in Vegas. The B-boy Jeffrey McCann was pretty awesome, if they don't get any other amazing hip hop style dancers, he could be a shoe in. One girl I wish we'd seen more of was Lilly Nguyen. They showed just a little bit of her and she looked like she had a cool style. I always admire the ones with the funky style, it seems.

Also back is Ryan Ramirez, who made it to the top 24 last season but did not make it onto the show. I'm still not that jazzed about her, but I don't make the decisions, do I?

And that turfing dance style? Pretttttty awesome. The floating across the stage thing was amazing to see. Alas, the dude couldn't pick up the choreography. That comes as little surprise, but still kind of sad.

"Your spirit is fantastic" is code for "you're a terrible dancer, but we're being nice to you anyway."

Are you excited for this season? Or are you over the show in general? I'm sort of on the fence, to be honest. I guess time will tell!

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