‘So You Think You Can Dance’ review: ‘Mary Poppins’ dances; Fik-Shun, Cyrus Spencer return

The second episode of “So You Think You Can Dance” was hyped up before the show as one of the best audition episodes ever by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. That’s a lot to live up to.

Did the show make it? For the most part, we’d say so. There was comedy, great dancing, a lesser amount of filler and dads getting on stage, and some inspiration. Obviously, we still have a beef with the dance crew segment, but we’ll get to that at the very end. We really want to focus mostly on the good dancers who had airtime on the night.(Unless otherwise specified, all acts below moved on to the callbacks.)

Chicago Dancers

Paul Brushaber – This is one of those guys we really want to be good. He’s a fellow geek, and his dance style is completely unique since it is part animation, and then part “puppeting” … something completely new. He is going to have a very hard time in the later rounds, but he at least made it through.

Emily James – Apparently, dancing can be like riding a bike. She hadn’t been active in it in around a year since taking time off for her degree, but this former auditioner came back and smoked this one.

Franchesca Bass – It may be a little strange to say that her alopecia is an advantage to her in the dance world, but we feel like it is. There are so many young women who come on this show with the same exact look, and she clearly stands out and could do so many things in this industry. Also, her style is creative and excellent.

Jenna Scaccia – Still, we are a little thrown off by her smiling so much to serious movement, but by far she is one of the best female ballet dancers we’ve seen on the show.

James Thomas – The reason that James worked was mostly because of the fact that he stuck to the music with most of his movement. Too many of these contortionist dancers are more about “look what I can do” and not about actually working to the music. It’s too bad he couldn’t keep up with the choreography.

Los Angeles Dancers

Jessica Richens – Serious hairography going on here. Obviously, pretty much everyone in the room loved her, and she could be around for quite a long time.

Valerie Rockery – Nigel Lythgoe’s face lights up like a Christmas tree when there is a tap dancer, and we get it here. Valerie was just a pleasant tap dancer to watch, though we prefers tappers who slow things down and show off more of the touch than the fast-paced tapping.

Jaja Vankova – It’s a lady krumper / animator! It’s like Cyrus Spencer and Mariah Spears having a child, and then having that child be from the Czech Republic. Very entertaining, and something we have not quite seen before.

Kyle Taylor – You have no idea how happy it makes us that Kyle was good. He was in a package of duds, and after hearing his story of how he never gets these sort of opportunities in Kansas, we really wanted to see good things from him. Also fun here was the show utilizing both Fik-Shun and Cyrus Spencer for a little dance-off at the end. Sadly, him bowing out of the choreography was rather predictable.

Justine Lutz –  She’s very good and lyrical with her movement, even if we feel like she is probably one of those performers we will have a difficult time remembering when we get to the next round … or at least we thought in the beginning. One of the best auditions of the night, thanks in part to the emotional quality she brought to this.

Deise and Mauricio – Our first duo of the night, and they were striking, almost like a moving picture frame with the way in which they can dance.

Hailey Payne – When she said “jazz funk,” we thought of “jazz flute,” and then consequently Ron Burgundy. Also, the hair’s a little too lie Miley Cyrus, but the dance was slick and different. A great personality, as well!

Sebastian Serra – A guy from the last season is back in the game! Obviously, he has worked on some things since then and has the potential to make it all the way to the live rounds this time if he doesn’t stumble.

Dani Platz – If Dani had been a mediocre dancer with an inspirational story, we would have blasted the show for just sticking her on here to milk drama. But she was an extraordinary dancer, and her story of overcoming obstacles made her dance more powerful. The biggest tear-jerker of the night.

“Mary Poppins” – Since this is her stage name, we’ll go with that. Also, a great use of Fik-Shun here for what was really just a delightful performance from someone who has obviously worked very hard at what they do.

The Dance Crews

Let’s talk for a minute here. It’s interesting that we’ve seen most of these crews before in between “America’s Best Dance Crew” and “America’s Got Talent,” but we don’t care about that so much. We just feel more like with all the racist videos coming out now (even if they are years old), Justin Bieber’s a distraction to the show. Plus, it’d be pretty easy to cut him out and still feature the crews.

Overall, a wonderful episode. We’d give it an A, but the Bieber thing still irks us. Grade: A-.

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Photo: Fox