So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 Premiere: Auditions

So You Think You Can Dance, Fox's hit summer dancing show, began its fifth season May 21 with auditions filmed in Brooklyn and Denver. Although the auditions are only half over, the talent for this season appears to be strong.

The New York City auditions featured judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo.

Gabi Rojas started the episode with a strong routine. She told the camera she suffered from joint pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, although you would never have known it from watching her smooth modern moves. Nigel praised her as having performed "one of the best auditions I've seen in five years." She was offered a ticket straight through to the final auditions in Las Vegas.

Peter Sabasino, a tap dancer, was also a standout who was sent straight on to Vegas, despite an interesting wardrobe choice - tap shoes, athletic socks, baggy shorts and a wife-beater shirt. Sabasino declared his glee at being "the first tapper in the top 40!"

Maksim Kapitannikov, a ballroom dancer, auditioned with Faina from season 3, and was also sent straight to Vegas, as was Nobuya Nagahama, a Japanese "locker." We learned from judge Napoleon that "all the best lockers are from Japan." The things you learn on this show!

Of course, no audition show would be complete without those who don't make it through but are colorful nonetheless: a pair of self-described "mutant" dancers called storyboard whose moves looked painfully contorted; or Tiffany Geigel, born with only 3 vertebrae, who danced beautifully despite her deformities.

New York also featured Arielle Taylor, a contemporary dancer who tried out during season 3. Mary declared her "stunning," and she was straight on to Vegas.

Ballroom pair Igor Zabrodin and Nina Estrina showed "good arms and hands" according to Nigel, and did a signature spinning move which Mary described as "the longest pot stir I've seen." (Did you know that a spin like that was called a "pot stir?" Me either!) The pair advanced to the choreography round, after which Igor went on to Vegas but Nina was eliminated.

Kellen Stancil was another highly-praised contemporary dancer. He danced with an umbrella, which he said was a symbol of protection reminding him of his recently-deceased aunt. His performance moved the judges, and he was straight through to Vegas as well.

Hip hop dancer Chimezie Nwosu was "thoroughly entertaining" according to Mary, and was sent to the choreography round to see whether he could do more than hip hop. Apparently he could, as he is advancing to the next round.

At the end of the New York auditions, 41 dancers had either qualified outright for the final round in Las Vegas or had survived the choreography round (led by Lauren Gottlieb from season 3).

Then, it was on to Denver for more auditions. Mary and Nigel were joined here by a mohawked Sonya Tayeh. Tayeh was an enthuasiastic judge, and so great were her praises that a montage was shown of them at one point.

Kayla Radomski, a contemporary dancer, was the first featured in Denver. Nigel praised her "great angles" and her grandparents, who had sacrificed to send her to dance classes, were featured as well. You'll see her in Vegas ...

A first for the show was the audition of a pair of same-sex male ballroom dancers. They performed a samba, and while they weren't bad technically, Nigel didn't like the overall effect, and Mary proclaimed her confusion over which dancer was performing the female role and which the male (for the record, they said they were switching off throughout the routine). They were sent on to the choreography round, but failed to advance beyond that.

Perhaps the oddest audition (and thankfully this episode seemed to focus less on the odd and awful than past seasons' auditions) followed. Allison Moist, made up as a cat (or lion as she corrected Nigel), danced with light sabres to Star Wars music. Mary commented, "You've seen the show; you've got to know that that wasn't good." But as you might expect, Allison didn't know that.

The night ended with two standouts: Natalie Reid, who famously auditioned with last season's Katee. All the judges loved Reid, especially Sonya who enthused, "You're one of my favorite dancers I've seen." Contemporary dancer Brandon Bryant was impressive as well, leaving Mary in tears. You'll see them both in Las Vegas.

19 Denver dancers are headed to Vegas. Tune in next week for more auditions, from Miami and Memphis!