‘So You Think You Can Dance’ review: Amy Yakima, Tyrone Cobham Jr. rule Detroit

Thanks to all of the finales happening on TV last night, we’re a little late in talking about this week’s edition of “So You Think You Can Dance.” Nevertheless, there is still quite a bit of content here of value worth talking about. Detroit brought out some of the best performers that we’ve seen thus far, including some new styles, a guy with his name tattooed across his chest, and Nigel Lythgoe doing “Gangnam Style” on stage. We don’t think that there is any way in the world this show gets enough credit for being, pound-for-pound, the best reality competition on TV. Nothing else is even close.

Advanced straight through to Vegas

Jade Zuberi – You always want to start an audition show with someone who deserves to go pretty far, and Jade did that. We still have no idea whatsoever how in the world this guy managed to accomplish what he did here in between the popping and the waving (which sounds almost like eating a bag of those ruffly potato chips). Seeing his appreciation for the judges’ feedback was inspiring all its own.

Amy Yakima – Seeing Amy’s dad do his goofy routine was so funny, we didn’t even mind having to deal with Mary Murphy’s hot-tamale-scream-of-doom. Cheesy segment aside, she is an effortless contemporary dancer with great form, emotion, and potential to do a variety of other things.

Mo Williams – Did anyone else find it odd that he was dancing to “Goodbye My Love,” and dedicating it to his grandmother? A little weird. His dance had the feeling of a guy who would brag about his abs (which Mo did). Is was pretty good, but probably not as good as he thought that it was. Not enough fluidity. He’s ultimately rather lucky that Mary saved him from the choreography rounds.

Tyrone Cobham Jr. – We have not seen a fantastic tapper like Tyrone in seasons, and this is a tough thing to do in the live shows. For now, this was the best tapper we’ve seen audition in years. Not only was he fundamentally strong, but he had a great sense of likability about him.

Advanced via choreography

“Prince Charming” – This guy was a part of a larger dance group who all auditioned individually, and most of them were more cheesy than good. However, there was some talent in this guy’s popping moves, and he handled the choreography okay, He’s very much a diamond in the rough, but if he works his tail off, he could make it through to the live rounds a la Cyrus.

Sent home via choreography

Will “Sysko” Green – Really, this was just great fun more than anything else. One of the joys about this show comes via the opportunity to learn about some styles that we no absolutely nothing about, and they were featured pretty heavily here. Granted, it wasn’t enough to know if he had some sort of actual technique worthy of the competition. The problem was that he broke a cardinal rule in choreography: Freestyling, which could have hurt his partner.

Sent straight home

Garrett Frye – We’re cool with a joke audition like this from time to time, at least as long as the guy auditioning is actually in on the joke. Garrett seemed to be, so we were pretty cool with it at the end of the day.

We want to point out something in the preview for next week’s show that look entertaining: Hampton Williams, the “exorcist dancer” who literally moved us to tears last season, is back, as is a guy who looks suspiciously like Turf from “America’s Got Talent.” (Hey, he is a good street dancer.)

If you want to see some more highlights from the “So You Think You Can Dance” premiere, you can do so just by visiting the link here.

Photo: Fox