So You Think You Can Dance (Season 3)

infobox television
show_name = So You Think You Can Dance (Season 3)


caption =
rating = TV-G
format = Interactive reality game show
runtime = Varies
creator = Simon Fuller
Nigel Lythgoe
executive_producer = Simon Fuller
Nigel Lythgoe
Barry Adelman
director = Don Weiner
starring = Cat Deeley
Nigel Lythgoe
Mary Murphy
country = United States
filmed =
network = FOX
first_aired = May 24, 2007
last_aired = August 16, 2007
num_episodes =
website = http://www.fox.com/dance/
imdb_id = 0472023
tv_com_id = 35810

"So You Think You Can Dance" is an American television reality program and dance competition airing on the FOX network. Season three premiered May 24, 2007.

Cat Deeley returned for her second consecutive season as host. Nigel Lythgoe returned as a permanent judge, joined this season by choreographer Mary Murphy. ["TV Guide" (March 8, 2007)] The remaining third—and during Vegas Week, fourth—judging spot is filled by a guest judge ("see main article").

After 16 million votes were cast, Sabra Johnson was announced on the 16 August finale as the winner of $250,000 and the title of "America's Favorite Dancer."

Auditions

Open auditions were held in the following locations: [cite web | last=Mitovich | first=Matt | title=Really Now, So You Think You Can Dance? | publisher="TV Guide.com" | date=2007-01-30 | url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Todays-News/Really-Think-Dance/800007248 | accessdate=2007-06-11]

*The Manhattan Center Theatre in New York City, New York—March 1-3
*The Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois—March 8-10
*The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California—March 22-24
*The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia—April 5-7

Vegas week

As in the previous season, those making the cut moved on to an intensive week of dance training in Las Vegas, Nevada. This season, Vegas week included hip-hop choreography taught by Shane Sparks, samba choreography taught by Mary Murphy with assistance from season two finalist Dmitry Chaplin, and contemporary choreography taught by Mia Michaels. The contestants that survived the cuts following those rounds were divided into groups, asked to randomly select from a box a CD containing one of five possible music types, and choreograph a routine to the song on their chosen disk. The dancers remaining after the group choreography round were asked to perform one last solo, following which the group was whittled down to 34 contestants—17 male, 17 female. From this 34, the judges chose their top 20.

Finals

Format

As in season 2, the finals began with 20 contestants, ten male and ten female. After partners are assigned, couples pick a dance style out of a hat, are rehearsed by a choreographer, and perform their routine, which is taped two days prior to airing. Following the airing of the performances, home viewers vote for their favorite couple. The bottom three couples (six dancers overall) are then liable for elimination by the judges on the live, or broadcast on tape delay in the western United States, results show. All six dancers perform a solo, after which the judges eliminate one male and one female contestant. If the eliminated dancers are not from the same couple, their respective partners form a new pair for the following week's performances. Once the field of dancers is narrowed down to the top 10, permanent partnerships dissolve and contestants draw their new partners from a hat each week. The judges no longer have any say in the elimination process; viewers call in to vote for their favorite individual dancer, and the male and female with the lowest number of votes are eliminated each week.

Recurring theme

Mary Murphy's loud, high pitched scream, reserved for performances she liked best, made a reappearance this season, along with the added element of the "hot tamale train." On the first performance show, Murphy enjoyed Anya Garnis and Danny Tidwell's jive performance so much, she made a metaphor of a "hot tamale train" having "just pulled up and let Anya off the train, special delivery." [cite episode | title = Episode 307 | series = So You Think You Can Dance | serieslink = So You Think You Can Dance (US) | airdate = 2007-06-13 | season = 3 | number = 7] [cite web | title= Recap, Season 3, Show 307/308 | publisher=FOX.com | url=http://fox.com/dance/recaps/307-308.htm | accessdate=2007-08-17] Two weeks later, she gave Sabra Johnson and Dominic Sandoval "two tickets on the hot tamale train" for their outstanding rumba performance. [cite episode | title = Episode 311 | series = So You Think You Can Dance | serieslink = So You Think You Can Dance (US) | airdate = 2007-06-27 | season = 3 | number = 11] The phrase was regularly referred to by Murphy throughout the rest of the season, sometimes with an added distinction of being in "first class" for truly extraordinary routines. On the week before the final performance show, she brought the metaphor to a close by noting that the "hot tamale train was entering finale station." [cite episode | title = Episode 321 | series = So You Think You Can Dance | serieslink = So You Think You Can Dance (US) | airdate = 2007-08-08 | season = 3 | number = 21]

Controversy

The sixth week of competition marked controversy surrounding Emmy-nominated choreographers Wade Robson and Mia Michaels. [cite web | first=Deborah | last=Starr Seibel | title="So You Think You Can Dance" Backstage Report | publisher=TV Guide.com | url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/think-dance-backstage/070727-03 | date=2007-07-27 | accessdate=2007-08-19]

The controversy regarding Wade Robson was due to the anti-war solo routine he created for the top 10 contestants. His choreography was meant to be a dance promoting peace, but was considered by some viewers as a political statement against the Iraq War. The dancers wore t-shirts on which they painted words of their own choosing, such as "compassion", "understanding", "unity", and "peace." [cite episode | title=Episode 317 | series=So You Think You Can Dance | serieslink=So You Think You Can Dance (US) | season=3 | episode=17 | airdate=2007-06-25] The following night, Nigel Lythgoe addressed the controversy by stating that the choreography was not in any way meant to be against the troops fighting in the war. He did not wish anyone to be offended by a routine that had words such as "peace" and "compassion" in it. To make light of the moment, Lythgoe joked that he was more upset to have seen the same routine ten times. [cite episode | title=Episode 318 | series=So You Think You Can Dance | serieslink=So You Think You Can Dance (US) | season=3 | episode=18 | airdate=2007-06-26]

The controversy surrounding Mia Michaels was regarding a jacket she wore during the performance show. The garment was a United States Marine Corps Blue Dress jacket with red piping, which only enlisted Marines are able to wear. In addition, a Marine Corps rank insignia was sewn upside-down and in the wrong location on the sleeve. Michaels addressed this by apologizing and stating that a friend of hers had given her the jacket, and that she wore it as a fashion statement, noting that she had no idea of its tradition or that it would offend anyone.

Elimination chart

The song played for the females' elimination is Ryan Cabrera's "I Will Remember You". The song played for the males' elimination is Audio Adrenaline's "Goodbye".

Contestants are in reverse chronological order of elimination.

Week 2 (20 June 2007)

"Judges": Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Mia Michaels

Week 5 (18 July 2007)

"Judges": Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Wade Robson

Week 8 (8 August 2007)

"Judges": Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Debbie Allen

*Order of elimination
**Lacey Schwimmer
**Neil Haskell
**Danny Tidwell

*Winner
**Sabra Johnson

Live tour

As in season 2, the top 10 contestants embarked on a live tour of the United States. Due to the success of the previous tour, this season's engagement was extended to 10 weeks and visited 50 cities. Tickets went on sale 11 August. [cite web | title=2007 Tour | publisher="FOX.com" | url=http://www.fox.com/dance/showinfo/tour2007.htm | accessdate=2007-07-26] On the season finale, Hokuto "Hok" Konishi, Shauna Noland, Anya Garnis, and Jesús Solorio were named as alternate performers in the event of injury to any of the top 10. Noland, Garnis, and Jaimie Goodwin had been replacing Lacey Schwimmer in some of her tour routines because of an injury to her meniscus.

Broadcast outside of the United States

Australia is currently only the country outside of the United States that airs So You Think You Can Dance on Network Ten which premiered on 27 September 2007. Before the show was aired, commercials were shown with Cat Deeley wearing the same blue dress she wore on the 19th of September's result show with long earrings and her hair tied back, started to broadcast the show to the Australian audience saying "Coming on Ten". Other footage that was shown included Nigel Lithgoe doing a little dance and wearing the same suit on that result show. During the show with the top 20, after the last couple danced, Cat Deeley (still wearing the same dress on the 19th of September's result show) says "Will your favourite dancer make it through to the next round? Don't go anywhere Australia (Deeley doing a little head shake), because the result show is coming up right after this break" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwJejvpJu3M | footage exclusive to Australia ] . During this time, Australia started to do auditions for So You Think You Can Dance Australia. It has been discovered by fans of the show that Channel 10 has been showing a heavily edited version of SYTYCD Season 3, with the audition shows compressed into two episodes and even leaving whole dances out of the some of the finals shows (the We Will Rock You Paso Doble for example).

The series is currently shown on DSTV Channel 104 across Africa. Currently in the top four. It will finish on 22 November 2007.And it is also being shown in Canada on Muchmusic.In the Middle East, it is being shown on MBC 4. It premiered on 24th of October.

It is also shown on the FOX network in Japan without any editing with the performance and elimination round being shown on the same night. Following the show, Japanese amateur dancers are also shown, usually 4 dancers per week. It is currently showing the top 12 dancers as of 2007 December 30.

SYTYCD was also currently being shown in the UK on LivingTV every Wednesday at 8pm and was repeated throughout the week.

References

External links

* [http://fox.com/dance/ Official "So You Think You Can Dance" Website]
* [http://www.puresytycd.com/tag/so-you-think-you-can-dance-music/ So You Think You Can Dance Music]