SYTYCD Season 7: Top 10 Means Top 11; Lucky 11 Billy Bell; New Format

SYTYCD, Season 7. June 2010. What makes So You Think You Can Dance unique and puts it in a rarified league is the exceptional caliber of the dancers and the choreographers -all are a combination of raw talent, professional training, and genius. These brilliant performers are always showing us something that's never been done before- pushing their own genres of expertise, other genres, and themselves beyond what seems humanly possible. The choreography is typically earth-shattering and often mind-blowing.

This season, So You Think You Can Dance got right down to business with its new format and the welcome return of Emmy-winning choreographer Mia Michaels. Without ado, the judges chose the Top 10 plus one other dancer from the Vegas tryouts. In past seasons, twenty dancers were chosen from the Vegas auditions and sent to Hollywood to appear live on the stage. This season, after narrowing down the Vegas competitors to twenty-four, the judges- originally planning to choose just ten- sent eleven dancers, five girls and six guys, to Hollywood. Billy Bell was Lucky 11.

As is the case with every season since the show's inception, this season's Top 11 dancers are splendid. They are listed with their ages, hometowns, and dance expertise at the end of this article. Part of the new format is that the Top 11 are performing with some of the most popular dancers from previous seasons-called the all-stars. To read about the June 10 premiere performances, click here.

Format Changes to SYTYCD Season 7

The All-Stars Dance Pool; How a Dancer Gets His Partner and Genre: Next week starts the fierce competition when the Top 11 will perform and garner enough votes to stay on the show or go home, one dancer per week. There's an exciting new way that the competitors will learn which genre they will be dancing. Instead of pulling a genre out of a hat, each will pull out a photo of an all-star from the All-Stars Dance Pool. The competitor will partner with that all-star and dance in a genre of that all-star. (The All-Star list is at the end of the article).

The Voting: This season, the votes of the American TV viewing audience will as usual determine the bottom three each week. The difference is that the dancer with the least votes will not necessarily be eliminated. The judges will decide who will leave the competition.

The Judges: Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman will remain as regular judges. Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels will rotate in and out of the judging panel. Mary and Mia will occasionally choreograph routines, a new function for Mary this season. So, the panel will still consist of three judges. Yet, if Paula Abdul joins the show, as Nigel still hopes for, the judges' panel will expand to four.

About One Third of Season 7's Top 11 Dancers Are Here on a Second Chance

Billy Bell: Last year, during Season 6, Billy's luck was bad. He made it into the Top 20. Then an illness and doctor's orders forced him to withdraw from the competition. Once a dancer makes the Top 20, he can never audition for SYTYCD again. Yet, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe announced he had obtained special permission to allow Billy to compete for this season. It's great to see this dancer back and moving his body in ways that one judge said he's never seen anyone move.

It was a close call for Billy because the guy who took the fifth male spot- the #10- was super-talented Robert Roldan, this year's main hunk. Billy will be partnering at some point with another member of the Top 10, Cristina Santana, who accidentally bopped him on the nose during Vegas week rehearsal last year in Season 6. He was unable to continue rehearsing until the blood stopped gushing. He missed most of the rehearsal time. But Cristina helped him with the moves. They danced well together and the judges praised them. Both made the Top 20.

Cristina Santana: So, why was Cristina was allowed to compete this season-unless the Top 20 rule has changed. After all, there is no Top 20 this year, just a Top 10. I believe last year, Christina anglicized her name to 'Christina'. (This author has updated Season 6 articles to reflect this change). Cristina is a fabulous Salsa dancer and hot, hot stuff. I hope to see her do Bollywood this year, especially since one of her areas of expertise is the Middle Eastern art of belly dancing-which excited Nigel last year when she did a brief demo. Her others are ballet and jazz.

Alex Wong: Alex tried out for Season 6. The judges wanted to give him a ticket to Vegas but when Nigel called the Miami City Ballet, with whom Alex was under contract, he was told that the Alex would not be allowed to break it. The dancer broke into tears when he heard the news. This season, Alex gave up his position as a principal soloist, bestowed in 2009, so that he could compete. He knew he might not get his position back with the ballet company. His dream hinged on making it through Vegas and on to Hollywood.

^{The Top 11 Dancers (with age, hometown, & dance expertise)}

^{AdéChiké Torbert, 23; Brooklyn, NY; Contemporary.
Alexie Agdeppa, 23; Rowland Heights, CA; Jazz.
Alex Wong, 23; Vancouver, Canada; Ballet.
Ashley Galvan, 19; Visalia, CA; Lyrical.
Billy Bell, 20; West Palm Beach, FL; Contemporary.
Cristina Santana, 24; San Diego, CA; Salsa.
Jose Ruiz, 21; Miami, FL; B-Boy.
Kent Boyd, 18; Botkins, OH; Contemporary Jazz.
Lauren Froderman, 18; Phoenix, AZ; Contemporary Jazz.
Melinda Sullivan, 22; Thousand Oaks, CA; Tap.
Robert Roldan, 19; Thousand Oaks, CA; Contemporary.}

^{The All-Stars (with season & dance styles)}

^{Allison Holker, 2; Brooklyn, NY; Jazz/Contemporary/Broadway/Cultural.
Anya Garnis, 3; Ballroom/Latin.
Dominic Sandoval, 3; Hip--Hop/Breakdancing.
Lauren Gottlieb, 3; Hip--Hop/Jazz/Contemporary.
Neil Haskell, 3; Jazz/Contemporary/Broadway/Cultural.
Pasha Kovalev, 3; Ballroom/Latin.
Comfort Fedoke, 4; Hip--Hop/Krump.
Mark Kanemura, 4; Jazz/Broadway/Cultural.
Stephen 'Twitch' Boss, 4; Popping/Locking/Krump.
Courtney Galiano, 4; Contemporary/Jazz.
Ade Obayomi, 5; Contemporary/Classical.
Kathryn McCormick, 6; Jazz/ContemporaryBroadway/Cultural.}

Related articles:
^{Top 11 and All-Stars Premiere Performances June 10 2010;
Cristina Santana & Nathan Trasoras Are Hot Stuff;}