Thousands flocked to Boston University’s Agganis Arena last week where the “So You Think You Can Dance” Tour gave its final performance in Boston.
The tour, headlined by the top 11 dancers from the show’s fourth season, consists of the best and favorite routines from last season.
“I like the fact that they have the best dancers and the best routines,” said Barry Cosloy, an audience member at the show.
The show was emceed by video recordings of Cat Deeley, the show’s host, and Nigel Lythgoe, one of the show’s judges, as well as by the cast themselves.
One of the dancers, Katee Shean of San Jose, Calif., said that each of the dancers on tour had to come up with their own lines to host the event. Shean was the favorite female dancer from the fourth season of “So You Think You Can Dance.”
“So You Think You Can Dance” is now holding auditions for its fifth season on the air. The show was created by Simon Fuller, creator of the “American Idol” franchise. “SYTYCD” is organized similar to “Idol” – it airs twice a week and the American public vote the first night for their favorite performers and tune in the next night to see who didn’t make the cut. While the show has judges, it is the viewers of the show who decide who stays and who goes.
“I changed a lot [on the show] personally I guess,” said Mark Kanemura of Honolulu, Hawaii, another one of the show’s dancers. “[You realize] you’re capable of so much more than you thought you’re capable of.”
The show tests the versatility of each dancer by forcing them to perform outside their comfort zone. Of the 11 dancers at the performance Thursday, eight said that they were trained as contemporary dancers and two said they were trained as hip-hop dancers, with dancer Gev Monukian of Utah the only one who was a break dancer. However, “SYTYCD” made the dancers perform dances that they were not familiar with under limited time frames. Each contestant only had a week to learn their routines in the television show, so dancers who were unfamiliar with ballroom dancing or the samba or Broadway dancing had to apply themselves even harder.
For the tour, the dancers and show producers took the best routines from the show and chose those as the ones to perform. Monukian said that the dancers practiced for three weeks before the tour began.
“I think [the tour] is better because they have more time to practice and perfect the routine,” said Cosloy.
The tour has been traveling around the country for over a month now. The troupe performed at 28 venues previously and has 12 performances left, as shown on Ticketmaster.
“It just goes by so quickly,” said Monukian.
Dancer Will Wingfield of Nashville said that each set of dances changes night by night, so that each venue gets a different performance than the one previous.
One of the most memorable performances of Thursday’s show was the Bollywood routine, where Shean and Wingfield came out and performed a classic Indian dance, and then were followed by the rest of the cast as they performed an impressive and beautiful ensemble Bollywood routine.
“I think in real life it makes you appreciate how athletic it all is,” said Holli Roth, another audience member.
Roth, who has watched the past three seasons of the show, was at the performance with her mother, who does not watch the show.
“It’s different. It’s fun,” said Roth about the show. “It does make you appreciate the camera work [on TV].”
The dancers hold an optimistic view of their futures after the conclusion of the tour and the end of their time with “SYTYCD.” Each expressed the sentiment that they expected to continue dancing after the tour ended.
“Who knows what the future holds,” said Wingfield.
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