So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)

So You Think You Can Dance?
Format	Interactive reality competition program
Created by	Simon Fuller Nigel Lythgoe
Developed by	Simon Fuller
Directed by	Nigel Lythgoe (auditions) Matthew Diamond (studio shows)
Presented by	Lauren Sánchez (2005) Cat Deeley (2006 - present)
Judges	Nigel Lythgoe Mary Murphy (2007-2009) Adam Shankman (2009-present) Mia Michaels (2010-present)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	119
Production
Executive producer(s)	Simon Fuller Nigel Lythgoe Allen Shapiro (2005 - 2006) Barry Adelman
Location(s)	Various U.S. cities (auditions) Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino (Vegas rounds) CBS Studio Center (finals) (finale 2005 - 2008) Kodak Theatre (finale, 2009 - present)
Running time	1 - 2 hours
Production company(s)	19 Entertainment Dick Clark Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	(480p) (SDTV) (720p) (HDTV)
Original run	July 20, 2005 (2005-07-20) – present
External links
Official website

So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.

The series first premiered on July 20, 2005 and has a similar premise to the American Idol series of singing competitions, with nationwide auditions leading to the discovery of the next big star. However, unlike American Idol, the show focuses not only on the dancers' talent, but also showcases new works by cutting edge choreographers, crafted specifically for the dancers and the show. The show was created by Idol's Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions. A mixture of contestants are chosen for the show, ranging from unknown street dancers to winners of national championships. All contestants have to work their way through a rigorous audition process. By the end of this process, 10 to 20 dancers (depending on that season's format) of various styles are chosen to compete on national television. Over the course of the show, dancers are assigned different dance styles and partners each week to test their versatility.

It was the #1 rated show in summer 2006 for adults aged 18–49. The first season was hosted by current American news personality, Lauren Sánchez; since the second season it has been hosted by former British children's television personality and one-time game show emcee, Cat Deeley. Spin-offs were announced in August 2006; there are currently versions of the show in New Zealand, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Germany, Greece, Poland, Malaysia, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, South Africa, United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal, with several other versions in the works.

So You Think You Can Dance holds auditions in major cities across the U.S. each season, looking for the top dancers in each city. Dancers with all types of backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Salsa, ballroom, hip hop, street dancing, contemporary, jazz, ballet, tap, and many other types of dancers can be seen auditioning for a chance to win the grand prize—which, in the past, has included a new Hybrid SUV, $100,000 in cash, and a dancing role in Celine Dion's Las Vegas show—of US$250,000 and the title of "America's Favorite Dancer." In its seven seasons, the winners have been Nick Lazzarini, Benji Schwimmer, Sabra Johnson, Joshua Allen, Jeanine Mason, Russell Ferguson, and Lauren Froderman. The show has won five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Choreography and a total of seven Emmys altogether.

Show format

Dancers audition one-by-one in front of a panel of live judges, who determine which contestants will go on to the second round. During season 1, the second round was held in Hollywood. From Season 2 going forward, the second rounds occurred in Las Vegas. Due to time constraints, most auditions are either cut or edited from the final version which is seen on television.

During season 1, the 50 top dancers were assigned to groups, each of which spent time working with five different choreographers for a week, at the end of which the choreographers chose the top 16. Every season after the first has been of a format where the (approx. 100) competitors who make it to the second round Vegas callbacks dance choreography in front of the judges, who will pick the top 20 based on their performances.

This is usually done gradually over the course of the entire week, with many dancers being cut from the competition on the very first day, and several more being cut each day, as the contestants are put through many different rounds to test their dance skills as well as their adaptability, learning speed, and stamina. Most rounds consist of the entire group of remaining dancers being taught a dance in a specific style (hip-hop, Broadway, and ballroom are among the most frequently-seen styles), and then performing the dance in front of the judges, a handful of contestants at a time. Another round consists of group work, where randomly chosen groups of four to six dancers are given a CD with a different song on it. Each group's members must then work together to create a choreographed group number for that song, and dance it the next morning for the judges. At the end of this week of auditions, the judges meet and discuss each remaining dancer, to determine who will be chosen for the audience-vote portion of the competition (generally referred to as that season's "Top 20"). The "top 20" format, however, has been modified again for Season 7--this time, only eleven dancers were chosen to compete in the televised audience-vote portion.

In addition, for Season 7, the contestants initially did not dance together--rather, each is paired with one of a group of twelve "All-Stars"--contestants from previous seasons of the show who were chosen for their adeptness at certain styles of dance. However, partway through the season, contestants started doing two dances per show, one with an all star and one with another contestant.

The season finale generally consists of the top 4 to 6 dancers, and in addition to their solos, each also dances several other numbers, while being paired or grouped with the other finalists in such a way that "everyone dances with everyone." In addition, during the grand finale, contestants who were eliminated that season come back, and that season's favorite dances are showcased. At the end of the finale, the winner (the competitor with the highest number of audience votes from the night before) is revealed.

Seasons

Finalists

^1 These dancers never appeared in the bottom three couples or bottom two dancers.

^2 Season 6's finale consisted of six dancers. Ashleigh and Ryan Di Lello placed fifth and sixth respectively.
^3 Season 7's finale consisted of three dancers. However, AdéChiké Torbert was eliminated in fourth.

Season 1

The first season was hosted by Lauren Sanchez. It premiered with over 10 million viewers.

The final show aired on October 5th, 2005. The winner was Nick Lazzarini, who received over 37.6% of the vote. Lazzarini won $100,000 and the use of an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City for one year. Melody Lacayanga was named runner-up.

Season 2

The show premiered on May 12, 2006, leading audiences through the audition stages. Cat Deeley became the new host. The top 20 finalists were revealed on June 8, and the winner, Benji Schwimmer, was named "America's Favorite Dancer" on August 16, 2006 after 16 million votes were collected for the season finale. Travis Wall was named runner-up.

Schwimmer almost did not make the show's top 20—he was officially first runner-up dancer in case any of the male dancers ran into unforeseen difficulties prior to the start of filming. As it happened, for the second year in a row, Hokuto "Hok" Konishi was unable to get his visa cleared to work in the US in time for the first taping, and he was cut. Schwimmer came in and proceeded to routinely wow the judges and the audience on the way to victory.

There were several changes to the show's format in the second season. New styles of dance were introduced, and the prize for the second season was increased from $100,000 to also include a new car and a one-year contract to perform in Céline Dion's show in Las Vegas.

Season 3

Open auditions for Season 3 began early October 2006, held in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Like the previous season, those that made the cuts moved on to Las Vegas. The taped auditions premiered on the Fox Network on May 24, 2007, and the subsequent shows were taped and broadcast live for a 12-week season. Cat Deeley returned as host, and Nigel Lythgoe returned as permanent judge. Joining Lythgoe permanently at the judging table was Mary Murphy; her promotion was reported by TV Guide on March 8, 2007. The prize for the winner was increased to $250,000 cash. On the performance finale show (August 16, 2007), it was announced that the series had been picked up for a fourth season. Sabra Johnson was named "America's Favorite Dancer," while Danny Tidwell was named runner-up.

Season 4

Auditions for Season 4 began in Texas on January 17 and took place in six locations through March 2008. The show kicked off its two-hour season premiere on May 22, 2008.^[1] Cat Deeley returned as host and Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy as permanent judges. This season saw the introduction of new dance styles, including Bollywood, and new choreographers, including hip-hop duo Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo. The prize for the winner was again $250,000 cash, the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" and an offer for a role in Step Up 3D. In the finale, viewers voted Joshua Allen as the overall winner, while Katee Shean was given a surprise award of $50,000 for being the top female dancer.^[2]

Season 5

Auditions for Season 5 kicked off in New York City on November 13, 2008 and continued on to Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Memphis, and Seattle. The premiere aired on May 21, 2009. Louis van Amstel joined the show's cast of choreographers and Shane Sparks returned to choreograph while on break from America's Best Dance Crew. The prize for the winner was once again $250,000 cash, the chance to be on the November 2009 issue cover of Dance Spirit Magazine, and the title of "America's Favorite Dancer." On August 6, 2009 (the finale), Jeanine Mason was given the title.

Season 6

It was a special episode of Dance featuring viewer's favorite dance routines from seasons 1-5 which aired Wednesday, September 2, 2009 8-8:58 PM ET/PT, the sixth season of Dance, premiered on Wednesday, September 9, 2009.^[3] Auditions were held in Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City.^[4] Adam Shankman joined as the permanent judge for the first time this season. The winner was Russell Ferguson.

Season 7

Auditions for Season 7 kicked off in Dallas, TX on March 10, 2010 and continued on to Nashville, Chicago, and Miami. The premiere aired on May 27, 2010.^[5]

Format changes for Season 7 included the addition of "all-stars" from previous seasons of So You Think You Can Dance returning as partners for the Top Eleven dancers, much like on Dancing with the Stars. This enables the show to vote out one contestant each week, instead of two, and may result in fairer match-ups, as no dancer will run the risk of being brought down by an untalented or unpopular partner. Instead, they will draw an "all-star's" name out of a hat and then both the all-star and the contestant will then learn the dance style that the contestant chooses out of the hat. This also gives contestants the opportunity to dance with an experienced dancer, furthering their "artistic growth."

The "all-stars" for season 7 were Allison Holker (Season 2), Anya Garnis, Dominic Sandoval, Lauren Gottlieb, Neil Haskell and Pasha Kovalev (Season 3), Comfort Fedoke, Mark Kanemura, tWitch Boss and Courtney Galiano (Season 4), Ade Obayomi (Season 5) and Kathryn McCormick (Season 6).^[6]

On June 9, 2010 it was announced that there would be eleven Top Dancers: Alexie Agdeppa, Billy Bell, Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman, Ashley Galvan, Robert Roldan, Jose Ruiz, Cristina Santana, Melinda Sullivan, Adechike Torbert and Alex Wong. ^[7] The three finalists were Robert Roldan, Kent Boyd, and Lauren Froderman. It was announced on August 12 that Lauren Froderman was the winner.

Special show

On September 2, 2009, a special show aired, featuring the top 15 routines from the first five seasons. At the end of the show, show creator and judge Nigel Lythgoe presented his favorite performance, a contemporary piece choreographed by Tyce Diorio and performed by Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi.

Ratings

So You Think You Can Dance premiered with over 10 million viewers in 2005. For Season 1, it was the #1 summer show on television. However, when NBC's America's Got Talent premiered in the summer of 2006, it took the title of "#1 summer show" and, over the past few years, has broadened its lead. In summer 2009, SYTYCD premiered strong with a 3.4 rating in its target demographic, although with the start of America's Got Talent roughly a month later in the same timeslot, Dance fell to #4 on the ratings board. It continued to lose viewers throughout the summer of 2009 and ended up with an average of approximately 8 million viewers. Fox then moved SYTYCD to its fall 2009 schedule where its ratings continued to decline; hitting an all time series low of 4.6 million viewers for a "special" episode hosted by Nigel Lythgoe on September 2nd, 2009. The move to the fall was short-lived. After dropping to an average of 6 million viewers, Fox moved SYTYCD back to the summer in 2010. With Mia Michaels replacing Mary Murphy and former contestants termed as "all stars" being used as partners, the ratings for Dance have continued to slide to all-time series lows; dropping to just 5.6 million viewers on July 15, 2010. For Season 7, Dance is averaging just over 5 million viewers each night while similar shows such as Wipeout and America's Got Talent have seen their numbers increase significantly in the summer of 2010.

Awards

Emmy Awards

• Former contestant Chelsie Hightower was also nominated for the 2010 Emmys for a dance from Dancing with the Stars.
• ^a : Wade Robson and Mia Michaels were joint-winners along with Rob Marshall and John Deluca from Tony Bennett: An American Classic.

Teen Choice Awards

See also

• Dancing with the Stars
• Soul Train
• American Bandstand
• America's Best Dance Crew
• Dance Fever
• List of So You Think You Can Dance Finalists

References

External links

• Official website
• So You Think You Can Dance at the Internet Movie Database
• So You Think You Can Dance at TV.com
• So You Think You Can Dance episode list at TVGuide.com