So You Think You Can Dance Australia (season 1)

infobox tvseason
season_name=So You Think You Can Dance Australia Season 1


caption="So You Think You Can Dance Australia" logo
dvd_release_date=
publisher=
country=AUS
network=Network Ten
first_aired=3 February 2008
last_aired=27 April 2008
num_episodes=24
next_season=|

Season one of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia", the Australian version of the American reality dance-off series "So You Think You Can Dance", [ [http://ten.com.au/dance/home.htm So You Think You Can Dance Australia Official Website on Ten - So You Think You Can Dance ] ] is hosted by Rogue Traders vocalist Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe acting as the judges. The series began airing on Sunday 3 February 2008 at 7.30pm and continued on Sundays and Mondays until the final on 27 April 2008. [ [http://ten.com.au/dance/about.htm About the TV Show - So You Think You Can Dance Australia - So You Think You Can Dance ] ] Jack Chambers was the inaugural winner of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia" 2008.

Overview

From October to November 2007, auditions for contestants were held in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. After being selected, through either an impressive initial audition or after a choreography workshop, the top 100 finalists spent a week in Sydney for more auditions, ultimately forming a group of 20. A 600 seat arena was constructed in Sydney for the finals.

Several finalists later performed during the 2007 "Australian Idol" grand final, as well as Ten's New Year's Eve broadcast. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUR7mVJwMA Australian Idol Final - So You Think You Can Dance] ]

The song played after each female and male elimination differs each week.

Comparison with US version

* In the US version, two main judges (Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy) and a guest judge appear each week on Performance and Results night. Australia has three main judges who usually appear in each episode, with the odd exception when a fourth judge (such as Mary Murphy from the American version) joined the panel for one week.
* Each dance couple has to pick their genre from a bucket at a warehouse or backstage, instead of a hat on the stage.
* Jason Coleman does all the talking when eliminating one contestant from both the bottom three males and females.

Finalists

From over 3000 contestants, 20 dancers (10 males and 10 females) were chosen to compete in the elimination series, which began on 17 February 2008.

Men

Top 18 – 24 February 2008

Top 12 – 16 March 2008

This week's episode featured guest judge Kelley Abbey.

This episode had each pair performing two routines; one by a professional choreographer, the other by their own conception, the latter being called the "Surprise Challenge". This involved the dances choosing out of 3 songs (the one they chose being in bold) and 3 costumes, then creating their unique routine.

Top 6 – 13 April 2008

In the live results shows, since Bonnie Lythgoe wasn't able to attend, Jason Gilkinson took over her spot on that night.

Top 4 – 20 April 2008

Ratings

The 3 February 2008 premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia" attracted a peak audience of 2.15 million viewers. The show was the night’s top-rating program, averaging 1.83 million viewers over its timeslot. [ [http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/ten/Dance-Up-A-Ratings-Storm-040208.html Dance Up A Ratings Storm] ] The following two audition episodes also put up respectable figures, peaking at 2.04 million and 1.94 million viewers respectively. The Sunday night Top 100 show averaged 1.6 million viewers to become the most watched program of the night. [ [http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/ten/TEN---Dance-Tops-The-Night-050208.html TEN - Dance Tops The Night ] ] [ [http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/ten/TEN---Dance-rocks-the-block-070208.html TEN - Dance rocks the block ] ]

Since debuting, the weekly performance show had averaged around 1.5 million viewers since its debut. The series one finale averaged 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.2 million viewers nationwide. Over 50% of Ten's key 18-49 age demographic had tuned into the show. [ [http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/04/dance-ten-ratings-18m.html Dance TEN, Ratings 1.8m] ]

References

External links

* [http://ten.com.au/dance/ So You Think You Can Dance Australia official website]
* [http://ten.com.au/ten/dance-auditions-Hosts-and-judges.html So You Think You Can Dance Australia official information on the host and judges]
* [http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/e-news/uploads/1/SYTYCD_Top_20.pdf So You Think You Can Dance Australia Top 20 Finalist biographies]