606: Salt Lake City East Coast Live-Blog and Recap!

8:27 Hey folks, sorry for getting this thread up so late. I just got out of class, but I'm looking forward to the last night of auditions. Mainly because it means, Thank God, no more audition shows! Seriously, it feels like it's gone on forever at this point. Are you as excited as I am to finally be moving on?

8:40 Still 20 minutes till the show, but I just want to warn you guys now, I'm probably not gonna be on my A game tonight. I've got an art history "quiz" (which manages to have multiple sections including an essay, "quiz my behind" I say) tomorrow that I have barely started studying for. I'm gonna do my best, but I'm a wee bit preoccupied. Homework/Evaluative Experiences suck(s).

8:55 Five minutes. Maybe a dose of Cat will energize me? Here's hoping.

8:59 As the "Gordon Ramsay Yelling Hour" wraps up, I'm hoping for greatness out of SLC. Utah's supposed to have wondrous dance stuff, isn't it? Isn't that where Denise Wall's studio is? Even so, if this is the final auditions show, I can only hope for greatness. And that it is devoid of Sex (the person). I would LURVE if we didn't have to endure him this year. Pretty please, show?

9:00 As always, we see dancers jumping in SloMo in front of buildings as Cat gives us the spiel, naming SLC as one of SYTYCD's favorite places. Cat asks if Salt Lake will sizzle again? All I know is that Salt lowers the boiling point, so they might have an easier battle. Punnery!

9:01 Dancing in line. No one teaches Cat the Stanky Leg. I honestly think that moment spoiled any future line moments from Cat for me. Jidging tonight are Nigel, Mary, and Mia. As we all know, Mia likes to cut. I'm hoping she brings the bitchy tonight. I will be thoroughly upset if she doesn't.

9:03 Bryan Boyer is our first auditioners, and he does breaking with lots of power moves. Cat chides him for doing some ridiculous concussion-worthy moves without a helmet. It's energetic, and there are some ridiculous moves in there. I'm not a breaking expert, but it actually seemed a wee bit light on power moves, but its one of the better breakers we've seen this year. Nigel agrees, calling it one of the best hip-hops. Mary loves his spirit up there. Mia says it looks like there's no gravity going through his body. Mia, I hate to spoil it for you, but that's not how gravity works. He goes to choreo.

9:05 Tristy Mirci was in 25 car accidents in the span of 3 years. When that happens, find another way to get around would be my stance. I'm pretty sure this is terrible, but something on the jidge's face, makes me wonder. But no, I stand by my assessment, this is awful. She's got no flow or grace. So was it really worth it for her little factoid? I don't. I'm pulling a Mia tonight. I'm not suffering fools tonight. Nigel tells her someone is taking her money under false pretenses. Mia is gentle. Boo Mia!

9:09 Coming up video package shows Nigel perving it up hardcore. Oh joy.

9:12 Hayley Cloud is up next. She's herniated a disc in her back dancing in the past, but she's overcome her injury thanks to accupuncture. Her audition features some impressive acrobatics, but otherwise, it seems to be a fairly standard contemporary girl solo. Good. I don't think she'll be memorable. Mary opens with "Wow" though, so she thinks otherwise. She gets lots of confidence from her. Mia tries to get her to do her jidging bit in a handstand, and she obliges for a while. Nigel brings up her injury which chokes her up a bit. He gives off some pervy vibes before sending her to Vegas, and she runs over to get her ticket before Nigel informs her that the other two need to say yes too. But they do, so she's Vegas bound.

9:16 Megan Kinney (sister of Caitlin) auditions again, and it makes me question why Caitlin made the top 20 and not Megan again? Genise Ruidaz is also really strong. They both go to Vegas.

9:17 We get a package of Nigel being enthralled by female dancers, which leads into Ariana Rowley, who is a burlesque performer. She comes across like a cartoon version of sexy and basically does a striptease routine. At least there's no question of whether or not she's wearing panties! Mia seems to want to jump on stage and throw her off. I think. She's watching intently and with credulity, that's for sure. Nigel asks to see it again and has her shake her ass for him. Thanks Nigel. Way to keep your creepy uncle rep up. All Mia can get out is "It was..." Mary asks "So you thought we'd like to see some stripping today?" Mary riffs on Nigel's drooling. Mia calls it weak and trashy, but votes yes to choreo. Mary says no, but Nigel sends her to chroeo. Mary actually seems a bit upset by this development.

9:25 Ballroom dancer Iveta Lukiesote (sp?) is a ballroomer who grew up under Soviet rule, but who made her way to the USA, and loves it here, because it's given her opportunity. Her audition is actually fantastic. Maybe the best ballroom we've seen all season. She's got grace, poise, and can tell a story with her movements, which is not something I always get out of ballroom auditions. Nigel calls her vivacious, and says its not a word he uses often. He says its the most enjoyable couple audition since Anya and Pasha. Mary says "Wow, what can I say?" and then she says some things before getting flustered to tears by how good she was. Mia calls her magical. Mary then pipes in with "She's got hot tamale written all over her." She goes straight to Vegas.

9:29 Anya and Pasha's choreo round is putting Bryan and Ariana to the test. Except not Bryan, since he quits after 15 minutes because he's just not getting it. Ariana is a hot mess up there. And she gets cut. At least Mia gets to do it. That ought to make her happy. Ariana says she needed a few more moments of training. Suuuuuuuuuuuure... Someone who looks scarily like Amy from SYTYCDC2 seems to get a ticket as well.

9:35 Day 2 in SLC starts out with ... more people jumping in SloMo in front of buildings. When did that become the show's new go-to shot? Pascal Nayigiziki feeds off the energy of the music/musician. For example, if it's a Pink song, he turns into an angry woman asking why are you leaving me. It's an interesting idea. If only his audition were better. Because it's nothing in any way decent. It's a hodgepodge of bizarreness with little dancing in between. But for some reason, they let him keep going. Thanks for making me endure that show. Mary claims demonic possession. That would explain a lot, folks. Nigel describes the opening as bad food poisoning, and tells him there was no dancing there. Mary wouldn't call that dancing either. She describes it as having a conniption fit by himself. Nice use of "conniption", Mary. He describes himself as a great investment. That sways none of the judges. He's going home.

9:44 Apparently, there are lots of really good couples in the SLC auditions. Enough for a video package at least. Ashleigh and Ryan Di Lello are one that gets prominently featured. They are married and met while competing against themselves. They're auditioning to PokerFace, which I have to hold, against them. But it's the only thing I can, since they're really good. Good footwork, good snapshot moments. I mean, they're not the best ballroom couple we've ever seen, but they're good enough to move forward. Mary loves the way they portray the roles, but Mary found Ashleigh fake. She didn't feel real chemistry and didn't feel the magnetism. Mia also felt a missing link, but calls Ryan fabulous and "everything". Interpret that how you will. Nigel agrees that she was fake and he was awesome. Watching the recap bits, I actually agree. It's artificial. But he thinks their dancing was great. They go to choreo. Cat describes their wait as "awkward". Cat, I heart you for that.

9:52 Leigh Asay and Joshua Murillo are our last audition couple. She's auditioned before, but he hasn't. And again, it's to Lady GaGa. They're young and cute, and are connecting better than the previous couple, but the footwork is not as impressive as other ballroomers we've seen, even tonight. Maybe that's because she apparently lost a toenail during the routine. It doesn't hurt though, she wants her critique. She cutely hides her foot, and its giving the jidges all the heebie jeebies. It's also starting to hurt her, and it's not fun to watch any more. Josh goes to choreo, but, since they can't ask her to do choreo on that foot, she goes straight to Vegas.

9:56 Josh, Ashleigh, and Ryan all do Anya and Pasha's choreography. Josh doesn't get through, which I'm surprised by. Ryan gets a ticket, which surprises no one. Ashleigh, who is the wild card, also makes it through.

9:58 That's it for auditions, so now the top 152 are heading to Vegas. Tomorrow night sees "the most talented group we've had" go through rough times in Vegas, get yelled at by the jidges, and try to make the top 20. Vegas Week begins tomorrow, but I probably (almost definitely) won't be able to live-blog it. So until I get the recap up for that (likely by Thursday morning), I'm Nate Levy, good night Ameriker!