SYTYCD Episode 10x02 LA Auditions Part 2

Not sure why they cut up the LA Auditions into two parts and inserted them at random throughout the other auditions... In any case, we have Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family, which by the way was hilarious last night) as judges again.

First is 26-year-old "Slick" from Brooklyn, NY. His style is "flexing"... His entire audition was an attraction-repulsion deal for me, because I couldn't stand looking but I couldn't look away... Which appears to be half the idea of "flexing". It's basically any move that can make you wince, with some fast footwork added in. It's pretty impressive, especially since he's dislocating his shoulder every twenty seconds or so, but it got kind of repetitive for me because he would just keep popping the one shoulder again and again. Choreography.

Next is Alex Kessinger, 18, from Riverdale, CA.

She was raised by her foster mom, who also happens to be her aunt, since a very young age. Her mom also trained her. We get a whole promo package for her, and she seems like a pretty heavy player for this competition. She was something like "Miss Teen Dance America," and she's only 18. She reminded me of a Lauren Froderman (Season 7)-type- very athletic and acrobatic but also incredibly technically trained. The judges send her straight to Vegas.

The judges seemed unfairly harsh on 23-year-old Sebastian Serra, from Orlando, FL. As soon as he said he's been dancing with the Orlando Ballet for three years, everyone pretty much knew he'd be amazing. (If you're interested in his ballet career, here's his company link; http://orlandoballet.org/sebastian-serra/). He's originally from Puerto Rico. In any case, his solo was incredible and technically perfect, but no one seemed as impressed as they should have been. They send him to Vegas anyways.

Next are Latin Ballroom dancers Mariia Lebedeva and Misha Smagin (it was super stressful trying to write down their names), from New York City, NY. Very tight performance, and they've obviously been dancing together for a while. They particularly praised Mariia, and to be honest, Misha seemed kind of ticked off whenever they complemented her more. Vegas.

We get a plethora of "strange" dancers- a contemporary hoop dancer, which I thought was actually quite creative, a chicken dancer (to which Nigel shouted "What the cluck is going on here?" Brilliant joke, Nigel) on pointe, and a male pointe dancer. They either didn't show or I can't remember what happened to either of these three, but I thought at least the hoop dancer was capable enough to at least be sent to choreography. The man pointe dancer guy seemed to be banking pretty heavily on the "wow factor" that he was on pointe, because from the thirty seconds we saw of his solo, it wasn't too pretty- and it's because men aren't supposed to dance on pointe....

My personal favourite of the night is Millie Dosal, 22 from Houston, TX, and most notably, friend and roommate of Phillip Chbeeb (Season 5).
Usually, I get annoyed whenever someone tries to name-drop on this show, but when Millie said he was in Phillip's crew, I got excited, and rightly so. His routine was entertaining, energetic and unique. I thought it was unfair when he only got sent to choreography- maybe the judges wanted to make sure he could make a name of his own first? Not sure.

Finally is 18-year-old Makenzie Dustman, who's still a senior in high school. She grew up in show biz with her parents in a vocal jazz group. Her contemporary routine was amazingly beautiful and she showed a surprising amount of maturity and emotional depth. She seems to already be growing a fan base, which is rare but not unheard of, and I'm expecting her to go far. Again, I hope she's unique enough to stand out from the other contemporary girls and can hold her own in other styles.

Choreography round. Dunno why Marko and Sasha are there every time, but they must have been travelling with them or something. Flexy guy doesn't make it, but Millie does with flying colours. I was particularly watching him and I'm excited because he can actually do other stuff too.

The Austin auditions from this episode will be posted tomorrow- this episode was incredibly long and I can easily write another full post for the Austin portion because there was so much packed into this episode.