It’s the final night of the SYTYCD 2011 premiere. AKA the last round of regular auditions. Next week, things get serious, y’all. For now, let’s enjoy the fun.

SYTYCD 2011 Round 5: Los Angeles

Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Tyce DiOrio

Second Chance Choreographers: Katee Shean & Jakob Karr

Highlights/Lowlights:

Ones to Watch in Vegas:

Jordan Casanova: In her background, Jordan claimed to be sweet and innocent. Then she proceeded to do a routine that every straight man in the audience enjoyed. A lot. Including one of Nigel’s alter egos: The Dirty Old Man. But besides being “naughty, naughty, naughty” like Tyce said, she was also a supremely talented dancer. I can already see a lot of the choreographers dying to get their metaphorical (or literal) hands on her.

Derion “DC” Chapman: DC started off strange with his pre-routine dance moves, but then became charming as he got Nigel to try one of the moves to the great delight of all the SYTYCD Alum sitting in the audience (Why, hello, Allison, Lauren, Brandon, Twitch, Jeanine and more!). What really sold me – he used Sinatra’s “That’s Life” as  his music  for a hip-hop routine. I’m a sucker for a hip-hop routine that uses against-type music. Don’t know how he’ll handle the choreo in Vegas (as is the case with so many hip-hop dancers who get the ticket right off the bat), but this kid won me over.

Arielle Coker: If there is one thing fans of SYTYCD appreciate, it’s a repeat auditioner. We love the crazies that come back (I miss you and your mom, Sex!) and we love when people who didn’t quite make the cut come back stronger. I do not really remember Arielle that well, but after that insanely dynamic audition, she will be hard to forget from now on. Well done, Arielle!

Hero McRae & Patty Anne Miller: Female hip-hop dancers. Oh wait, FANTASTIC and CHARMING female hip-hop dancers. That’s all that needs to be said. (PS I hope Patty Anne makes Top 20 just so she is forced to wear a gown while doing a Viennese Waltz, plus in her 3 minutes on screen I feel in love with her. Huge girl crush.)

Alexis Mason: No pressure on Alexis, but her sister Jeanine, was the winner of Season 5. This is not the first time sibling of a winner has come on the show- Season 2 winner, Benji, was followed in Season 4 by his sister Lacey, who wound up Top 4 of Season 3 and is now a pro on DWTS. But back to Alexis, she did a solid, very beautiful routine (minus the faces she pulled) and did her sister proud. Again, no pressure though.

Sent Packing:

Joe “Big C” Doyle: First of all this guy was dressed like Santa on his off days. Then he ripped his shirt off. What was underneath…. well… it wasn’t a dancer’s body. But thankfully, Big C had a sense of humor and didn’t argue with the obvious no.

Note: This season the audition rounds seemed to go a lot quicker. Usually there is at least 1-3 hours more of it, I believe. Not sure why, but it explains why we didn’t get as many of the crazy auditions.

Next week: First round of Vegas. I LOVE the Vegas rounds. It is brutal. If you saw the clip, you saw we will not be short on injuries this year. There are always ambulances standing by! Also, Travis Wall is there to choreo the Contemporary round (squee!) and on the judges panel: Directors/Choreographers/Geniuses, Adam Shankman and Debbie Allen. Two of my favorite judges.

Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @serrae

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