"From breathtaking ballroom..." "I've been competing since I was six years old." "To stunning contemporary..." "I put in my heart, my soul, and thousands of hours." "Hardcore hip-hop... everything I know, I learned from battling in the streets." "And every style in between." "Cue music!" "Whoa!" "Wow." "No matter the dance style, you're going to see spectacular moves." "Aah!" "Incredible talent." "And nonstop action." "That was one of the hottest performances I have ever seen!" "Who will be America's favorite dancer?" "Naughty, naughty, naughty girl!" "The journey begins tonight." "You're going to Vegas!" "I used to be a stripper." "So that's where my booty popping come from." "So you think you can dance season eight starts right now." "Atlanta!" "It's on!" "To kick off season eight, we've headed south." "And our audition tour has landed in the a.T.L." "Thousands of southern dancers have brought their best moves and are ready to compete." "Atlanta!" "It's hotlanta, baby." "It's time for Atlanta to bring the heat." "Making up our first judging panel of the year, we have, of course, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe." "And joining him, krump legend lil' c." "Plus, returning to her rightful place as our queen of ballroom, we're excited to welcome back our very own hot tamale, Mary Murphy." "Good morning, everybody." "Have the time of your life today." "Good luck." "Here's how it's going to work." "If the dancers fail to impress the judges, they'll be sent straight home." "Sorry, it's a no for me." "If the judges are on the fence, they'll be asked to learn some choreography at the end of the day." "Yes to choreography." "I'd like to see what you can do." "But if they're amazing, they'll get tickets straight to the next round in" "Vegas!" "Whoo!" "Vegas!" "Are you ready?" "You are representing Atlanta!" "The first dancers of season eight were fired up." "And opening the proceedings is Latin dancer bianka hinkle with her non-competing partner, 17-year-old giovanny." "Today for the judges, we will be doing a salsa." "But we're doing something different." "We're doing a style that's Colombian style." "The feetwork is just very fast." "Very intricate." "And cue music." "He's got lovely line, hasn't he?" "Lordy, that is fast." "Come on down." "Okay." "So, um, obviously we can't judge you, giovanny, but I have to say from my point of view, I can't wait for next year, 'cause I thought you were absolutely excellent." "And the pair of you-- the pair of you have the-- it's like you've got ants in your pants." "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh." "Uh, I loved it." "I love that Colombian, uh, salsa." "Terrific fun." "I thought you were tremendous." "Thank you so much." "Bundle of personality up there as well." "But let's look at the technical side and ask Mary what she thinks." "Well, I really have to say, I thought that was fantastic!" "Whoo!" "Hot tamales!" "Oh!" "Hot tamales!" "Holy smokes." "You guys, your feet were on fire." "That was the fastest salsa I've ever seen." "And man, I'm telling you, the lifts and everything, the tricks that you performed also, you just nailed." "They were right on time, and to get on time after tricks like that, uh, it was really insane." "You guys nailed it today." "I really, really loved it." "Thank you." "Thank you so much." "I follow suit." "Um, when tempo is that fast, you can't really see what's going on." "And people tend to lose focus on staying in unison." "You guys achieved that." "And I was very impressed with that." "Thank you." "C, yes or no to-- that would be a yes for me." "It's a ye--definite yes for me." "Love to see you do choreography now." "Giovanny, love to see you next year." "Okay, I will." "Okay?" "Yeah." "I'll be here." "Good luck." "We'll see you later, huh?" "Thank you." "So season eight kicks off with a red-hot Latin number." "But bianka will have to cool her heels until the choreography round at the end of the day." "Meanwhile, outside the theater, the waiting dancers limber up and make the most of their time in line." "A-t-l!" "A-t-l!" "College student Melanie Moore was taking it all in." "I go to school at Fordham university in New York." "What are you studying?" "I'm, um, an art major." "Oh, okay." "So you're not studying dance, it's-- no." "Normally I sketch with pencil and then go over it with oils." "Those are my favorite because of how they move and how they work across the page." "And my favorite subject matter is people." "I think everyone has a lot of beauty in them, and when I paint people, it's really easy to show that." "It's actually really nice to be back in Georgia." "I get to see my mom." "My dad died when I was 12 years old." "He had a liver transplant, and usually people don't live, like, around five years after that." "But he was wonderful." "My mom and I are super close." "And she is one of the biggest, like, advocates of me going for my dreams." "I was not good at dance, like, really, I was--I was terrible." "And it gave me an outlet, really, to sort of throw myself into." "And that really translated into becoming a better dancer and becoming who I am today." "I know that he's with me and that he's watching out." "He definitely would be extremely proud to know that I was pursuing my dreams." "I don't think that he would have wanted it any other way." "So... what's your name?" "I'm Melanie Moore." "From marietta, Georgia." "Melanie Moore." "From marietta, Georgia." "I'm a little excited." "You know, I can't help it." "It's all right." "Let's see you perform right now." "That is... they're the cutest people down here this time." "Oh... and cue music." "Wow." "My goodness." "That's..." "Um, do you do competitions?" "Yes, sir." "How--how--how-- how do you normally get on in competitions?" "I do pretty well." "Yeah?" "Yeah?" "Yes, sir." "You are amazing." "Thank you so much." "Amazing." "Um, now every now and again, and every year, I--I get to see somebody like you that I fall in love with." "And I go wow, this--this person is going to walk away with the competition." "They're absolutely fantastic." "And they get to Vegas, uh, and somehow it doesn't work out." "If you are given the opportunity of going to Vegas, and it disintegrates there because you haven't done work in other areas that you need to work in, I promise you, I will hunt you down." "In eight seasons, I don't remember having this much damn fun." "And, uh, it's because of extraordinary dancers like yourself." "It's--whoa." "Thank you so much." "I'm getting overwhelmed over here on this side of the-- the desk, I tell you." "I think that Zeus himself would invite you to come and dance on Olympus." "Like, that was phenomenal." "I have nothing--I can't even clap." "Like, I--I clapping would do it no justice." "I have nothing to say to you." "At all." "That was buck extra." "Thank you." "I--I'm gonna say, I love that little quirky personality of yours." "Thank you so much." "It--you know, that's all part and parcel of what makes you the person you are." "And we can't wait to see that person" "yes!" "Yes!" "That was insane." "So season eight has barely begun, and already we're discovering unbelievable talent." "I'm going to Vegas!" "This is my mom." "She's going to Vegas." "We're going to Vegas." "Later tonight, our auditions head to California's bay area, where the moves are out of this world." "Aah!" "The judges are on cloud nine..." "But one contestant puts Nigel over the moon." "I don't think we've ever had a stripper on the show." "Wha-hey!" "First, two friends in the a.T. L. With one thing on their minds." "You're looking good, girl." "You are looking great." "And it's not a ticket to Vegas." "If, by chance, you need a frnd to talk to atight... at night?" "As day one hits a record-breaking run." "Yes for Vegas!" "Get over here!" "Get your ticket!" "Wow." "Yay!" "Yeah!" "This is getting obnoxiously incredible." "Welcome back to a brand new season of so you think you can dance." "Atlanta is the first stop on this year's audition tour." "The Georgia peaches are out in force." "It's no surprise that our next two contestants were trying to score more than a ticket to Vegas." "I'm Deon." "And I'm Damon." "And we're d-day." "We like to pick up ladies." "Hey, excuse me, how you doin'?" "People actually think we're brothers." "You know, even when we dance, we do things just alike." "And we're totally opposite." "I'm cool, he's shy." "Hey, what you trying to say?" "It's okay." "I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some numbers." "I saw cat checking me out earlier." "No, I really did." "I know you laughing, but I really did." "So I'ma--I'ma get that one, though." "Miss cat, you're looking very lovely today." "Mm-hmm." "Um..." "If, by chance, you need a friend to talk to at night, or just somebody to-- at night?" "I've heard you've been walking around getting numbers off loads of girls." "How you doing, ladies?" "Y'all doing good?" "Yeah, pretty good." "How many numbers do you have?" "Well, see, the thing is with that, they took our phones." "You looking good, girl." "You're looking great." "Keep it like that." "So what's your number?" "Okay." "678-- hold on." "Whatever she did this morning it worked, you know what I'm saying?" "That's--create this magic work." "Look, sorry, just sit right here." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I'm going to stay out of the way." "You've got your phone." "Oop, you got caught." "You tricked me, cat." "You tricked me!" "And..." "Cue music." "Great, guys." "Guys, where--I don't know anybody that watched that that would not be entertained by it." "Really fabulous." "Bravo." "Really good." "I just love the both of you." "You know, you really came and thought that out." "You really came with a plan, you know." "You had the comedy mixed in with everything." "You had some fabulous movement going on." "Uh, you're well synchronized." "I mean, you had it all going on." "I loved it." "You can't even buy that kind of connection." "And that is great." "Like, to see you guys showcase your friendship." "That's as authentic as it gets." "And--and at the end of the day, you guys can dance." "Like, y'all can really bust." "So I respect that." "Thank you." "I love that." "For me, I've got to say that Deon, you really brought an extra bit of personality to it." "So what I'm going to suggest is Deon, I'd like you to go straight through to Vegas." "Come and get your ticket." "Thank you very much." "Well done." "So, thank you so much for all the work you've done." "Thank y'all." "Damon!" "Damon!" "Get over here and get your ticket!" "And as morning turned to afternoon, hotlanta really started to live up to its name." "Wow!" "Oh!" "Wow." "Vegas!" "Yeah!" "I've said "I loved it, I loved it, I loved it" so much in a row." "I can't believe this." "Oy." "You dancers are absolutely fantastic." "By late afternoon, records were about to be broken." "I don't think we've ever had so many Vegas trips consecutively." "But it looks like you're the next one." "And by 6:00, they'd been shattered." "This is getting obnoxiously incredible." "Come and get your ticket." "Yeah!" "Sounds like a broken record." "Come and get your ticket!" "Yes to Vegas!" "It was a run unmatched in the previous seven seasons." "Ten dancers in a row sent straight to Vegas." "Yeah, whoo!" "Coming up, with the bar raised high already, one dancer isn't going to let anything get in his way." "Is the bullet still in there?" "Yes, it is still there." "I said that I'm going to come back even stronger." "I'm gonna be a beast." "But will he be shot down by the judges?" "You didn't open up the bag of tricks." "If that was your best, you've got a long way to improve." "And later, will day two hit the same highs, or will it come crashing down?" "As the a.T.L. Gets painful." "Welcome back to Atlanta." "Whoo!" "Where, after an incredible run of dancers being sent straight to Vegas... yeah!" "The pressure was really on for the final soloist of the first day." "But after what he'd been through, nothing was going to scare Marko germar." "Back in 2009, there was a robbery and I was working front desk at the time, and I was at gunpoint." "And I decided in a split second to just fight back." "I don't know why." "It was my instincts." "I remember seeing the smoke, smelling the gunpowder, hearing the sound." "I didn't feel anything." "It was just adrenaline kicked in so much, I didn't even know I was shot until afterwards, when the guy was able to run away." "Is the bullet still in there?" "Yes, it is still there." "Near the joint, but not quite." "Right, okay." "So obviously, that posed a lot of problems, you know?" "I have to go to physical therapy three times a week." "Um, do what I can to recover." "As a dancer, not being able to do anything, it takes a toll on you." "Makes you really think back whether you should be doing what you're doing, or doing something else." "And I just realized the more I saw dance, the more I wanted to dance." "It's my passion, so..." "I said that I'm gonna come back even stronger." "I'm gonna be a beast." "Now I'm here." "Being a beast." "So watch out." "And cue music." "Oh, wow." "Okay." "Wow." "You were robbed at gunpoint, weren't you?" "Yes." "And you were shot." "Yes." "Is the bullet still in your arm?" "Yes." "Where?" "Wow." "Right in there." "Right there, it's in there." "Oh, my goodness." "Yeah." "They can't get it out, though." "Well, I mean, if they take it out, surgery, they have to break the bone that was already healed, and... yep." "And risk of hitting a nerve and losing mobility-- right." "That was absolutely fabulous." "Thank you." "Yeah, good job." "Yeah, Marko, I'm so impressed about your athleticism." "And also, the speed you did some of those movements." "That leg rond de over here to the right-hand side." "It was like lightning fast." "Um, so I'm very impressed with you." "Thank you." "This is what we're talking about." "Excellent audition." "Great performance." "Thank you." "Looking good." "I'm going to say yes to choreography." "Yes for me." "Yes for me as well." "Absolutely." "With evening approaching, Marko barely had time to catch his breath before joining salsa dancer bianka hinkle and 23 other dancers for the season's first choreography round." "One... teaching everyone the routine were two former stars of the show, season four's katee and season six runner-up Jakob." "And after an hour of rehearsal, it was time to get down to business." "Cue music." "Was bianka." "We've discussed it, and..." "We're looking forward to seeing how you're going to be in Vegas." "You're going to Vegas!" "After that, the good news kept coming." "Come and get your ticket to go to Vegas too, so come on." "Whoo." "Vegas!" "Come get your ticket." "Come get your ticket to Vegas." "Oh, my God." "By the end of the day, 11 more dancers..." "We're taking you to Vegas!" "Were on their way to the next stage of auditions." "Oh, I love you, mom." "I love you so much." "Eventually, only Marko and his partner were left on stage." "What are you two doing there?" "Come and get your ticket!" "After the break, day two in Atlanta has a lot to live up to." ""We can dance" on three." "One, two, three!" "We can dance!" "And the judges are hungry for more." "I hope there are a lot more stars, because I had the time of my life yesterday." "But they might just lose their appetites." "That was a waste of time, wasn't it?" "Man, I really thought I had it this year!" "Jeez!" "It's our last day here in Georgia, and the final chance for Atlanta's dancers to claim a ticket to Vegas." "After the historic highs of day one, it's not going to be easy." ""We can dance" on three." "One, two, three!" "We can dance!" "And the judges were still feeling hotlanta's fire from yesterday." "First on stage, with her non-competing partner Jesse, was kimalee piedad." "And cue music." "Um... it really was fabulous." "Uh..." "You're very, very good indeed." "Mary?" "Yeah, absolutely spectacular." "Beautiful dancing." "Wow." "There's no stopping you." "Uh, really terrific today." "Really good." "Potential to be excellent." "You might have to pick a different song, 'cause gravity's not an issue for you guys, I see." "You're gonna need a ticket." "So after a record-setting first day, Atlanta continues to impress." "It was almost enough to leave the judges speechless." "But over the last couple of days, they've had words of wisdom for hundreds of dancers, including a couple we've never heard before." "You bring this--this really "organtic," amazing passion." "But when it comes to verbal verbosity, there can only be one Victor." "Our very own prince of prose." "I love when dancers are absent, yet they're present." "Very..." "Oxymoronical." "You're like gracefully clumsy." "Very internally spiritual." "Um, hard to ingest, even harder to digest." "Your body is a cup." "Energy." "You can't--you gotta act like you don't want to spill it." "You were very submissive unto your own dominance, and I don't really see that a lot." "I don't either." "If I knew what it meant, I wouldn't have seen it a lot." "She--she gets it." "She gets it, she gets it." "She gets it." "By lunchtime on day two, even we weren't sure what was going on." "A-t-l!" "What?" "A-t-l!" "Outside in line, another hip-hop legend was impressing the crowds with his own verbal gymnastics." "All my life, people have been surprised about a white boy doing hip-hop." "Just put the music on." "And let me move." "I want to prove that I can do this and I belong here." "That my heart is powerful, that my soul is unshakeable, unbreakable, unfakeable." "That you can't break me, you can't fake me, you can't take me, you can't bake me." "Hi." "Hello." "What's your name?" "My name's John, a.K.A." "White chocolate." "John white chocolate." "Yes, sir." "Have you got a surname?" "Sorry?" "Do you have a surname?" "Um." "I mean, white chocolate is my nickname." "No, that's a nickname." "What's your second name?" "John." "Your last name." "Right." "You're called John John." "John palermo." "Oh, palermo." "Okay." "John palermo, a.K.A." "White chocolate." "Great, thank you." "Let's do it." "White chocolate." "Cue music." "Whoo!" "Man, she working that hat." "Here." "Whoopsie." "Oh, you nearly dropped off-- that's what I was aiming for." "I know." "Um, it's--it was very juvenile." "It really wasn't strong enough for this competition." "Okay." "Yeah, John, have you seen this show?" "Yeah." "I only get one shot." "Um, yeah." "What did you think was going to happen here today?" "I don't know." "I just wanted one shot." "You came here, you did what you wanted to do." "Hey, you love to dance." "Continue dancing in the clubs." "You obviously have a great time doing it." "Mm-hmm." "I can keep a rhythm, yeah." "Not--no." "No." "Your transitions are--are bad." "Sloppy." "You know, no fundamentals." "No mechanics." "Is that a yes or no for-- it's a no for choreography." "It's a no for me as well." "Thank you for coming today." "Can I get a hug?" "From all y'all?" "Who--who do you want a hug from?" "All of y'all." "I'm a humble guy." "I'm a southern gentleman." "Well-- of course, yeah." "Come and get a hug." "John, take care." "So after a bittersweet ending for white chocolate, we're going to take a break." "Coming up..." "Day two continues to decline." "Yeah, it's frustrating." "And everyone is feeling the pain." "I don't understand!" "But perhaps no one more... no!" "She's taking her belt off now!" "Than lil' c." "Welcome back to so you think you can dance." "It's late afternoon in Atlanta, and after a great start, day two is falling flat." "I don't understand!" "That was a waste of time, wasn't it?" "Would've been nice..." "I don't know what you guys are looking for." "It's obviously not talented people." "By 6:00 P.M., it was up to our final soloist to try and turn things around." "Hi." "Hello, hello, hello." "What is your name?" "My name is kyre batiste-lofton." "How old are you?" "I'm 18." "Um, so your parents support you in this project?" "Yes." "My parents, my mother and my stepfather." "My grandmother, she's the original dancing machine." "So, uh..." "She's actually here today." "Where is she?" "Where is she?" "She's back there." "Hey." "What's her name?" "Her name is Mandy." "Miss Mandy." "Miss Mandy?" "Grandma." "Miss Mandy, you were a dancer?" "I still am." "Still am?" "Are you a good judge of dancing?" "Pretty good." "Miss Mandy, come on up here." "You could be sorry about this." "That was a spin, the spin!" "Watch out for the spin!" "We could be in trouble here, kyre, I'm telling you." "Come next to me, girl." "Okay." "Miss Mandy, we're going to be totally honest about this, yeah?" "Please, let's get on with it, huh?" "Did you teach him this move?" "Oh, I didn't teach him that one." "Are you okay to begin, kyre?" "All right." "Okay." "And cue music." "Okay." "Okay." "Uh, let's..." "Let's start with the main judge today, a special guest judge." "Would you please tell us what you think?" "What I think is, kyre did well." "But he didn't use his eyes in the right places sometimes." "He got to look at us, and he got to win our support." "He got to show us he--we gotcha." "Supposed to be on my side, grandma." "You got to bring it on." "You gotta remember, gotta look." "See how the audience are agreeing with this?" "They--you know, she's not just here to say you were fantastic." "You're right." "Okay." "Lil' c, do you think grandma was right?" "I actually..." "I actually disagree with grandma." "I actually do." "You know, I--I'm sitting kind of far away from her, but I know grand--grandparents got the longest belts, so she can--she can reach over and get me real quick." "You're right." "Real quick." "Get--no, no, no, no!" "No!" "She's taking her belt off now!" "See, exactly." "Oh, my God!" "You see?" "Look... no, it's coming off." "I'm from the old school." "Oh, like-- old school?" "You have to agree with me." "You have to agree with grandma." "Now was I right?" "You know what?" "I don't know what I was thinking." "I think she was right." "I don't know what I was thinking." "Whoa!" "What do--what do I know?" "I don't know--I don't know anything, tell you the truth." "Kyre, what on earth did we start here?" "Mary." "I thought you were very entertaining." "I didn't think it was great." "But I think you're good." "I dig, I dig, I dig." "Yes or no for you, lil' c?" "Like, I think you got a great audition, to be honest." "Like, you're--to me you're amazing." "So is that yes to choreography?" "So that's a yes for me." "And Mary?" "What are you?" "You know, I'm sorry." "It's a no from me." "'Kay." "It's cool, it's cool." "I've gotta say, I was disappointed, too, with the way you did it." "It's a no from me." "Grandma, you are a yes or a no for him to go through to choreography?" "You know I'm a yes." "Oh!" "Yes!" "There he goes!" "Well, that's two yeses." "That's positive." "You're going through to choreography." "Well done." "So kyre is off to choreography." "And as Nigel helps himself to another hug..." "He joins 14 others on stage learning the steps." "Go one, two, three." "Hit four." "After an hour of practice, it was time to perform for the judges." "And cue music." "Then it was decision time for kyre." "Even when your nerves get to you, you just have this pleasant way about you." "I'm sorry, we're not going to be asking you to go to Las Vegas." "But you did a tremendous, tremendous job." "Yeah." "'S cool--I mean, I'm only 18." "So I can come-- you are." "And we hope to see you again." "Next year." "Good job." "Who didn't let him go to" " I'ma have to take my belt off again." "You think I need to take my belt off again?" "Meanwhile, the rest of the dancers were getting the news." "You've done very well today." "I hope you're proud of yourself." "I hope you're going to continue." "Yes, sir." "You'll see me next year." "Okay, will I see you in Vegas?" "No." "I--I was--I was--no, no." "Hold on--no, no." "No, no, no, no." "I was just asking you, will I see you in Vegas?" "Yes." "Yes, yes." "I--I will?" "Yes, sir." "Oh, well, come and get your ticket then." "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "By the end of the day, a lucky seven dancers were moving on to sin city." "From the deep south to the wild west!" "Vegas, baby!" "Coming up, the audition tour heads west to San Francisco... bay area, yeah!" "Whoo, yeah!" "Where the talent is golden." "Come and get a ticket for Vegas." "Oh, my God!" "I almost my pants." "Plus, are these two b-boys the best we've ever seen?" "Stunning." "Absolutely stunning for b-boying." "But will they both be flying to Vegas?" "Then later, the bay area shows us its own style of dance." "It's from Oakland, California, for like 15 years strong." "Whoa!" "And it's not always pretty." "From the picture-perfect skyline to the golden gate bridge, we've moved on to one of the most beautiful cities in America." "These are the San Francisco auditions." "Are you ready?" "Come inside!" "So our second city was under way." "And kicking things off on the judging panel:" "Broadway choreographer tyce diorio, ballroom expert Toni redpath, and, of course, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe." "Let's do this, shall we?" "The dancers were fired up and ready to go." "Amber Williams could barely contain herself." "Whaaaa!" "Whoo!" "I'm a person that, you know, I don't really care what you think about me." "I just am like, "whaaaaa!"" "All the time." "And people are like, "are you on something?"" "I'm like, mm-mm." "This is all me." "All natural." "I'm just ready to just dance my little tusher off." "Yes." "For sure." "Cue music." "Yeah, girl." "Wow." "Yeah, girl!" "Amber." "Tyce." "This is really great, because you are this person that gets on the stage and you command attention." "And your body does some fantastic things, right?" "And you've got this quirky personality." "It's amazing." "Yeah, you're not afraid, you do what you want to do, your personality comes out." "It's like, and this strong dancer, jumps for days." "Rolling on the floor, getting up." "All of it." "It's really, really great." "Thank you." "I love this mix." "I love it." "We got the attitude." "We got white girl freaky with ghetto funky." "We've got the physicality." "We've got the awareness." "You've got the focus." "It's like, oh, thank you." "You've made my day." "Thank you." "Good job." "Thank you, Toni." "Thank you." "There was a little bit of magic in the '60s with performers." "The Shirley maclaines, the Juliet prowses, the Ann-margrets, had this zany quality to them you've got it." "You've got this little bit of magic." "And sexy." "And--and sexy." "There's--you can't bottle it." "You can't give it to anybody." "You either have it inside you or you don't." "You've got it inside you." "If we look at traffic lights, red means stop." "Amber means get ready." "So Amber, get ready, because green means go and you're going to Vegas." "Come and get this ticket." "Oh, oh, oh, oh!" "Oh, my God!" "I love you so much!" "Completely crazy." "Completely crazy." "Yeah, that was--nuts." "Wow." "She was super fun." "I'm not sure what we just let out of the cage." "Oh, my God!" "I am going to Vegas!" "Whoo!" "We've never begun a city with this much energy and excitement." "And b-boy Timothy Joseph was going to make sure the flying start continued." "I'm gonna be doing some crazy, high-flying, suicide stuntman-type stuff." "I get on stage." "I'm gonna kill it." "Cue music." "Yeah." "Wow." "Whoa, wow." "Whoo!" "Whoo." "Stunning." "Absolutely stunning for b-boying." "You just didn't stop." "From the minute you went, right, there was no toprock going on." "There was nothing--it was like, "I'm going for it."" "I don't know what else you can do." "It's going to be interesting." "I don't know if you can pick up choreography." "But if you come here and hit me with something like that, I have to say fabulous." "Yeah." "You have a really good sense of character, 'cause in between, when I could tell you were getting your breath, you didn't stop, and you used those moments to show your personality." "So that was really smart." "Yeah, I'd really be interested in seeing you do a viennese waltz." "Ouch." "Yeah, see?" "Ouch!" "That's all I can say-- I'm a stuntman." "Everybody says, like, Jackie chan, he gets hurt and we say wow." "Yeah, you're just, like--like full of strength and muscle and--and athleticism." "All over the stage." "All right." "Um, yes or no to moving on to a--a more of a conservative choreography." "It would be interesting to see." "I say yes." "You didn't give me anything to see that you could dance." "It was just tricks." "And that's not enough for me, so it's a no today." "Totally understand what--what you're saying there, Toni." "But those tricks were absolutely stunning, some of them, so it's a yes for me today." "Thank you." "Okay, see you later." "So after showing us some of the most spectacular tricks we've ever seen, Timothy is on his way to choreography." "Still to come, after an amazing start, San Francisco heads downhill." "It's a bucket today." "Freak show today." "It's one big hot cup of vomit." "Not everyone can take it." "Where are we going with this?" "You can dance, where it's a beautiful day here in San" "Francisco, and the hundreds still waiting for their season eight shot..." "Bay area, yeah!" "Hoo-yeah!" "Have made us the talk of the town." "Right now, auditions for season eight of so you think you can dance are underway at Paramount theater." "People are lining up because they think they dance." "All for a chance to prove to a panel of judges they can dance." "Ieshia moss was desperate to see what all the fuss was about." "I woke up at 6:00 on the dot." "I turned on the channel two news, and I saw the reporter outside." "If you are watching this and going, "oh, my gosh, I didn't know so you think you can dance auditions were going on right now, and I want to go," they said, "come on down."" "I got up and got dressed and ran out the door." "And as soon as I got here, my personality just shined." "My style is hip-hop and freestyle." "Mostly freestyle." "All my life I've been called "the black Barbie."" "When people see me dance, they get inspired." "They love it." "They love watching me, 'cause they say I look like I'm so comfortable and relaxed, and it just come natural." "I'm just doing what he's doing 'cause it look good." "Hey!" "Wow, look at those boots!" "I know, they're wonderful." "So what style of dance do you do?" "Um..." "Well, I have secrets." "I used to be a stripper, so that's where my booty popping come from." "I don't think we've ever had a stripper on the show." "Well, hey!" "I'm in a league of my own then." "Yeah!" "Represent!" "Representing strippers!" "Great." "All right." "Shall we watch you strip?" "I'm sorry, shall we watch you dance now?" "Yes." "Okay." "She's gonna be great." "Look at that." "One more thing, though." "I forgot my routine, so I'm starting from scratch." "And..." "Cue music!" "Thank you." "Sweetheart, I don't really know what to say to you about-- about your dancing." "Yeah." "Um, which is" " I totally understand how that works great in gentlemen's clubs." "Yeah." "But on this stage, I almost needed a little more." "And when I say-- when I say that, I meant of dance style." "You've got your own thing going on, and that's spectacular." "We just love you." "Thank you." "Your spirit is fantastic." "I was, like, yeah!" "Yeah!" "I couldn't do anything else but say I love you." "Oh, I love you too." "I think I love you." "Thank you." "Everything about you." "It's no to carrying on in the competition, though, from me, I'm afraid." "It's a no from choreography." "Well, it's okay." "It was great to meet you." "Thank you guys." "Thank you." "Thank you." "So ieshia won't be moving on to Vegas, but she did hang around to encourage the next dancer." "Give 'em all you got!" "You are very bright." "Yes!" "And..." "Cue music!" "Unfortunately, it didn't help." "That was, like, a Grande cup of not so good." "Thank you very much indeed for coming on today." "Thank you." "After an amazing start... whoo!" "The shine was starting to come off the golden gate city." "It's a no from me." "Tyce?" "I'm sorry." "Whew!" "It's a bucket today." "It's a freak show today." "It's one big hot cup of vomit." "It hadn't been the most appetizing couple of hours." "On that note, we should take lunch, 'cause anyone following that is not gonna have a good time." "Trying to contain herself over the break, Danielle ihle was hoping her audition would leave a better taste." "Dance means so much to me." "It's helped me at the worst times in my life." "It was my sophomore year in high school." "My dad pulled me out of class, and he told me that we needed to be out of our house." "That next morning, we lost our house, our car." "We basically lost everything, and we had to pack up in a couple hours." "My husband, unfortunately, lost his job, and kept it from the family." "So we were homeless, and out on the street." "He abandoned my whole family." "And I no longer have a father figure." "And my mom had to do every single thing by herself." "I've had such hard times, and this would be so amazing for me to get this." "I want this so bad." "And..." "Cue music." "Thank you." "Toni." "You obviously have strengths." "You're a great spinner." "Yeah." "You have a really good center for that." "The dancing was nice." "The emotional content, it left me a little bit flat." "And just the level-- season eight is elite, baby." "We need to be just fantastic this time." "Okay." "Um, yeah, I kind of agree." "I think your strength is definitely in your pirouettes, not all over." "It's definitely solid." "You know, I like you, but I think I could get more from you in terms of your performance." "There's always something to work for." "Always." "Absolutely." "It's a shame for me that it was so angst-ridden." "And seeing that lovely smile on your face now, I would have liked to have seen that somewhere in the routine because" "I didn't understand the story of it, so I didn't know why you were angst-ridden, or what had happened." "And I just wanted to enjoy the movement of it." "I'm a yes to choreography." "Thank you." "I'm gonna say" " I'm sorry, I'm gonna say no." "And it doesn't mean I don't think you're good." "Okay." "Well, she's-- the dancing was good." "I just feel-- yeah, but gray area." "Physically, there's a lot going for you, but this needs to be fixed." "But yes to choreography." "See you later." "Thank you so much." "Coming up, one dancer takes things to a whole new level." "It's time for me to rise." "The rise of the underdogs-- whatever you want to call it, it's time for a rise." "But can the bay area get back on track?" "Plus, Oakland's very own style takes center stage." "Turf dancing is taking up room on the floor." "Aah!" "00 P.M. on day one, and the dancers still waiting to audition are getting to know each other..." "What is this?" "It's going backwards!" "Hello." "And introducing themselves." "I'm Ashley Nicole rich." "R-I-c-h." "Don't forget that." "Today I'm gonna do, like, a modern, contemporary..." "I like to call it "Ashley style"" "'cause I really don't know what category I fit in." "Everything I do, like, is dance." "So it's just, like, who I am." "That's how I feel." "I don't think I could, like, be in an office." "That'd be a little scary." "Definitely." "And..." "Cue music." "Ooh, hey." "Are you kidding?" "Wow." "Wow." "Okay." "Wow." "Where did she come from?" "This is like dessert." "If anybody ever saw the worst in you, they'd be crazy, because" "I only saw the best in you, baby." "Thank you." "You were absolutely beautiful then." "Thank you." "Great, great feeling for your movement." "Beautiful light on that stage." "Very, very nice indeed." "Thank you so much." "The feeling that you get when you wrap yourself up in a blanket on a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside, and there's a fire..." "I don't know, you just-- it feels like that to me when I watch you dance." "However, I am gonna say this-- you can give me rainy Sunday afternoon cozy." "Can you give me Saturday night crazy?" "Of course." "Good answer, girl." "Of course." "Yeah, when you're that beautiful..." "Thank you." "Physically and in the dance, that's a hot ticket." "You move like this deer, just flying and jumping through the forest, you know?" "You have this incredible facility, so I'm a fan." "Thank you so much." "Yes to choreography?" "Oh, yeah." "Yes to choreography?" "Uh, yeah!" "I've got to disagree with them." "What?" "What?" "But I'll say yes to Vegas!" "So after a difficult morning, Ashley lit up the afternoon..." "And even had the judges singing." "Aah!" "I did it!" "I did it!" "Judges:" "Oh, baby!" "I'm so proud of you." "Judges:" "And as the afternoon turned to evening, things just got better." "Wow." "Girl, you are good." "I'm just so happy to see good Latin dancing." "You have made my day." "Thank you." "How happy are you?" "I'm Vegas happy!" "Oh!" "What?" "Oh, all right." "We're going to Vegas!" "Judges:" "Aah!" "Oh, my gosh!" "I'm going to Vegas!" "I can't believe it, I'm going to Vegas!" "Whoo!" "By 7:00 P.M. , the mood in the theater was upbeat." "But d'on-que Addison wasn't feeling it." "So why do you want to be on the show?" "Dance--I have a story, and it's time for my story to be heard." "Right." "Excuse me..." "I've always been the underdog, and it's time for me to rise." "The rise of the unknown, the rise of the underdogs-- whatever you want to call it, it's time for a rise." "It's time for my story to be heard." "Okay." "I'm here-- no, don't get me wrong." "I'm here for dance." "My story is in my dance, but yeah..." "I'm here for dance." "No doubt." "Sorry." "And..." "Cue music." "It's really hard to-- it's painful." "Hmm..." "Where are we going with this?" "Don't start." "Okay." "No, no, no, we're good." "Just take a deep breath." "Take a breath." "Okay, okay, okay." "Calm--calm down." "Deep breaths." "Um, every artist that is tortured uses their life to draw upon." "But to open yourself up, as you've done this afternoon, does not let people come close to you." "It backs them away." "An artist can't go out there and be that vulnerable, to be honest with you." "I'm sorry." "Can I say something?" "I came here so everyone can see that." "I wanted to be vulnerable." "If I don't make it on the show because of this performance that" "I did, I came here, and I accomplished what I came here for." "So let me get this straight-- that was a performance?" "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "Okay." "You can say whatever-- no, no, I just-- no, no, I'm trying to understand what just happened." "That was a performance." "Mm-hmm." "Okay, fine." "It's a no for me, thank you." "Okay." "It's a no today." "Okay." "I'm not gonna really critique." "I came and accomplished what I came here for." "Congrats." "That was a complete waste of time." "If you like it, you like it, you don't, you don't." "Yeah!" "So d'on-que's story has been heard." "Where am I going?" "But back inside the theater, the day-one solos were over, and 22 dancers were left to take on the choreography round..." "Including b-boy Timothy Joseph, and contemporary dancer Danielle ihle." "Teaching everyone the steps was season 4's katee and will." "Moments into learning the routine, Timothy has a problem." "I tweaked my knee to where when I put weight on it or try to stand on it, it hurts a little bit." "And he's made a decision." "Hi." "So what's happening?" "Well, I tweaked my knee after my photo." "I can't-- going down to this side..." "Right, right, right, right." "Well, don't do any more." "I don't want to make it unfair on the female that I'm with." "No, I understand." "Thank you very much for the work you've done today, then." "And good luck with everything that you're doing." "Thank you." "I had fun." "Thank you." "I stayed to try to do choreography, but I can't lift anyone, so I didn't want to make it unfair to any females that are there." "So I chose to" " I had to drop out." "I didn't want to, but I had to." "And..." "Cue music." "Back onstage, it's time to perform for the judges..." "This is a strong group." "She is ." "And Danielle's in the first group." "First lady." "Um, I don't want you standing up there too long, darling." "Come get a ticket to Vegas." "After the first day in our second city, 14 more people were headed to Vegas." "Catch me in Vegas!" "Oh, my God, I've gotta call my parents!" "Coming up, day two brings another incredible b-boy." "Is he even better than Timothy?" "I loved it." "I did too." "I loved it." "Then, a familiar face is back for redemption." "But will things go as planned?" "I'm not trying to crush anyone's dream, but I have a job to do." "Francisco auditions." "It's day two, and the new set of dancers are pumped up and ready to go." "And so are the judges." "You've gotta bring it!" "Ready to kick things off is our first contestant of the day." "My name is Jeffrey "machine"" "mccann." "I'm from Sacramento, California, and I'm a b-boy." "I've been b-boying now for 18 years." "I first got into b-boying when I was, like, four years old." "Life for me growing up was kinda crazy." "I was on my own when I was actually 15 years old." "Day-to-day life for me was actually trying to hustle to get money, trying to go to school as much as I can, you know, but also trying to survive." "You had to become a man at, you know, a younger age." "It's either that or bad things could actually happen to you." "At the turn of a corner, a friend of mine actually gave me a chance to dance." "After that, I didn't want to stop." "I didn't want to, you know, go back to a life of living on the street or trying to hustle." "You know, I had this dance, and I wanted to do something with it." "And..." "Cue music." "He's built to b-boy." "Yeah, huh?" "All right." "Hello." "Oh!" "Right now." "Nice." "Nice." "Heck yeah!" "Heck yeah!" "I mean, heck yeah!" "Heck yeah!" "That was awesome." "You are in it." "You are in it!" "I'm looking for the puppet master with the strings pulling out..." "Despite getting the shortest critique of the season so far... aah!" "B-boy machine is headed to sin city." "I see you, boy." "You going to Vegas!" "Even though Ryan Ramirez has been there before, she's taking nothing for granted." "Why are you so nervous?" "'Cause it's an audition, and it's it's for Nigel and tyce and stuff." "Yeah, but you've done it before, for goodness sakes." "I know, but it doesn't make it, like, easier." "So I'm back to audition for season eight, and I brought my mom again." "It means so much to me that she's here." "I really wanted her here for me because she is my biggest support." "I made the top 24 last season." "You are a very, very, very talented dancer." "I was, you know, getting ready to find out whether I made it or not, and lil' c shows up at my door." "And I found out that I was so close to making it, but I didn't get to the show." "Not this time around, but please, I want you to come back." "Everybody wants you to come back." "It was hard." "Especially having my family there next to me." "I know that they were proud of me no matter what." "It was disappointing that final day, but I was really encouraging and supportive of Ryan coming back for season eight." "I was questioning whether I should come back or not, just because I didn't know if it was the right thing for me to do." "But in the end, I really want to do it, so I'm going for it." "How are you, Ryan?" "I'm great." "How are you?" "I'm good." "You came so close last year." "Yes." "So what's happened from last season to this season?" "Well, I think that I've found myself more as a dancer." "Well, we'd love to see how you're getting on." "And..." "Cue music." "Beautiful girl... beautiful dance..." "Beautiful performance." "Thank you." "Thank you." "If there's such a thing as controlled abandon, that was it." "It was miraculous." "Just beautiful." "Thank you." "Yeah, you've worked." "You can tell you've worked." "Your legs are straighter and have a lot more power in them." "There's no denying that you're a stunning dancer, and you have a great little voice inside." "And so yes or no?" "Yeah." "Oh, yes." "Yeah, you're a definite--yes." "Come back and show us more." "Thank you very much." "Thank you." "Oh, come on!" "Thank you." "I'm going to Vegas!" "Whoo, yes, this is it!" "So San Francisco continues to deliver." "And as the day goes on, it seems there's there's something special about the bay area." "I think you're-- you're terrific." "Great dancer." "Great." "Your legs, your feet... beautiful." "Wow, lilly, you are bringing something new and fresh." "And I don't think we've had anybody quite like her." "At one point she was-- like she was flying." "Yeah." "Yeah, flying all the way..." "Oh, my God!" "All the way..." "Come and get a ticket." "Oh, God, look what I got!" "I can't scream." "I lost my voice." "Aah!" "Still to come, the boys from the bay introduce a style all their own." "Oh!" "Whoa!" "And it looks like the judges..." "My signature move is called "the insect."" "Are going to need bug repellant." "Oh..." "You can dance." "It's the final day of auditions here in the bay area." "And since arriving, we've seen all types of dance... from the good..." "Nice." "Nice." "To the bad... if your thing, though, is gonna be balance a sword on your head, it really shouldn't fall off." "And the bugly." "My signature move is called "the insect."" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "If they ever, ever do the exorcist:" "The musical, you're in, kid, I'm telling you." "But there was one dance style that originated right here in Oakland." "Turfing." "Turf dancing is an acronym." "It's taking up room on the floor." "It's from Oakland, California." "It came up out of the mid-90s, like '95." "So, like, 15 years strong." "Why do you think people are so into it?" "Um, it's the music." "You feel it." "Turf dancer "I dummy" took us through the basics." "When you see turfing, there are four key points that you must know." "Swagger is when you add your own finesse on it, you know." "Feetwork is when you make it look like you're gliding on ice." "Pantomiming, where you make it look like something's there." "Storytelling-- you tell a story with your dancing." "If you know those four concepts, you know what turfing is." "And..." "Cue music." "Nice, huh?" "Cool." "He's unique." "He's cool." "He's definitely cool." "Spin it out." "Yeah!" "Oh, whoa!" "Whoo!" "What I like about him is he's actually dancing when he dances." "Wow." "Cool." "Really cool." "Yes." "Really cool." "I've honestly got to compliment you kids and say you've taken this, and you're doing sort of new things with it." "And it's very exciting." "Whether I like it as a visual thing-- to be Frank, I think I'm gonna have nightmares tonight." "But to do what you've done, I'm so impressed." "I like your musicality there as well." "Thank you." "I think you were dancing well at the beginning of it, before you went into the complete contortionism." "But your gliding coming on was superb, beautiful." "It's amazing." "It was like watching a feather floating on water." "It's like you weigh nothing when you glide on-- it's incredible to watch." "The only thing that's a tiny bit lacking for me is the performance aspect." "I don't know if you're just concentrating so hard on not dislocating yourself for good that, you know, you just forget this part." "But that's the only thing that's lacking." "Everything else was phenomenal." "Thank you." "Yeah, kinda spectacular." "Kinda filthy and spectacular." "For sure." "So... yes from me." "I say yes too." "I just worry..." "It's gonna be tough." "Right." "Right." "Just get your head together, 'cause I think it's gonna be tough for you." "Okay." "Good luck." "We'll see you later." "Right on." "Thank you." "So as the sun sets on our bay area auditions..." ""I dummy" joins 23 other dancers for the choreography round." "Hop step, one, and two, and three, four." "And after an hour of learning the steps, it's judgment time." "Cue music." "I love that number on her foot." "I love that number on her foot." "That was so--that was..." "First one down." "Come on, squiggly legs." "You've gotta learn to do more choreography, I think." "Get people to give you stuff to do." "Yes." "It just--you didn't get it." "Yeah, I know, I know." "Yeah, yeah." "But thank you very much for sticking around." "Thank you for trying so hard." "And thank you guys." "Take care." "Thank you." "So there'll be no turfers joining us in Vegas this year." "But for seven other dancers, there was a reason to celebrate." "So you're coming to Vegas." "Aah!" "Yes!" "Vegas, baby!" "Mom, I made it to Vegas." "Next week, our auditions head to salt lake city and New York." "It's our sixth trip to the big apple, and still we discover untapped talent." "There's your ticket!" "Brooklyn brings its attitude, but so does Nigel." "This is the worst in eight seasons that I think I have ever seen." "I'm so mad!" "In Utah we find some of the most confident dancers yet." "Can this small city deliver big talent?" "Break it down now!" "We all say we have a twin in life."