So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series) in Encyclopedia

So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance reality show and competition that airs on Fox in the United States.

The series first premiered on July 20, 2005 and has a similar premise to the American Idol series of singing competitions, with nationwide auditions leading to the discovery of the next big star. The show was created by Idol's Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions. A mixture of contestants are chosen for the show, ranging from unknown street dancers to winners of national championships. All contestants have to work their way through a rigorous audition process, and, over the course of the show, are assigned different dance styles and partners each week to test their versatility.

It was the #1 rated show in summer 2006 for adults aged 18?49, and in July 2007, while the fourth season is over, it was renewed for a fifth season.^[1] The first season was hosted by Lauren Sánchez; the show is currently hosted by former British children's television personality, Cat Deeley. In August 2006, it was also announced that there are now spin off versions of the show in New Zealand, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Germany, Greece, Poland, Malaysia, Norway, The Netherlands, South Africa and Australia, with several other countries in the works.

So You Think You Can Dance holds auditions in major cities across the U.S., looking for the top dancers in each city. All types of dance backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Salsa, ballroom, hip hop, street dancing, contemporary, jazz, ballet and many other types of dancers can be seen auditioning for a chance to win the grand prize?which, in the past, has included a new Hybrid SUV, $100,000 in cash, and a dancing role in Celine Dion's Las Vegas show?of US$250,000 and the title of "America's favorite dancer." In its four seasons, the winners have been Nick Lazzarini, Benji Schwimmer, Sabra Johnson and Joshua Allen.

Show format

Dancers audition for a ticket to go on to the next round. During season 1, the next round was held in Hollywood. From Season 2 going forward, the next rounds occurred in Las Vegas. Due to time constraints, most auditions are either cut or edited.

During season one, the 50 top dancers were assigned to groups, each of which spent time working with five different choreographers for a week, at the end of which the choreographers chose the top 16. Every season after the first has been of a format where the competitors at the Vegas callbacks dance choreography in front of the judges who pick the top 20 based on their performances.

After the first season, the format changed from dancers switching partners every week to one where the top 20 keep the same partner until the show has reached ten finalists. Between the top 20 and the top ten, viewers vote based on the couple, rather than the individual. Once the show has reached ten dancers, the dancers randomly pick their partner's name from a hat as well as their style(s) of dance. As well, during the top ten finals, each dancer does a solo, and the viewers have an opportunity to vote on competitors individually, rather than in pairs.

When the season finale comes around, everyone dances with everyone. Both guys dance with each other, both girls dance with each other, and both girls dance with both guys. In the results show of the season finale, the judges pick their favourite dance of the season and the dancers re-enact it; (obviously not a dance that that judge choreographed). There are special guest-star performers, and surprise appearances. So You Think You Can Dance has been a success for 4 seasons and season five is currently in the Top 20 phase.

Seasons

Season	Year(s)	Winner	Finalists^?			Host	Judge(s)
1	2005	Nick Lazzarini (contemporary)	Melody Lacayanga (contemporary)	Jamile McGee (hip-hop)	Ashlé Dawson (contemporary)	Lauren Sánchez	Nigel Lythgoe
2	2006	Benji Schwimmer (latin/swing)	Travis Wall (contemporary)	Donyelle Jones (hip-hop)	Heidi Groskreutz (latin/swing)	Cat Deeley	Nigel Lythgoe
3	2007	Sabra Johnson (contemporary)	Danny Tidwell (classical)	Neil Haskell (contemporary)	Lacey Schwimmer (latin/swing)		Nigel Lythgoe Mary Murphy
4	2008	Joshua Allen (popping/hip-hop)	Stephen "Twitch" Boss (freestyle/ hip-hop)	Katee Shean (contemporary)	Courtney Galiano (jazz)
5	2009	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
6	2009-2010	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

^? In Season 1, the percentage breakdown for the final vote was announced and contestants are listed in the order they finished in the competition. In every subsequent season, only the winner was announced; as such, official final placements are unknown and contestants are listed in the order they were eliminated from the competition. In Season 4, Katee Shean was named "America's favorite female dancer," indicating she received more votes than Courtney Galiano.

Season 1

The final show aired on October 5, 2005. The winner was Nick Lazzarini, who received over 37.6% of the vote. Lazzarini won $100,000 and the use of an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City for one year. Melody Lacayanga was named runner-up.

Season 2

The show premiered on May 12, 2006, leading audiences through the audition stages. Cat Deeley became the new host. The top 20 finalists were revealed on June 8, and the winner, Benji Schwimmer, was named "America's Favorite Dancer" on August 16, 2006 after 16 million votes were collected for the season finale. Travis Wall was named runner-up.

Schwimmer almost did not make the show's top 20?he was officially first runner-up dancer in case any of the male dancers ran into unforeseen difficulties prior to the start of filming. As it happened, for the second year in a row, Hokuto "Hok" Konishi was unable to get his visa cleared to work in the US in time for the first taping, and he was cut. Schwimmer came in and proceeded to routinely wow the judges and the audience on the way to victory.

There were several changes to the show's format in the second season (see above). New styles of dance were introduced, and the prize for the second season was increased from $100,000 to also include a new car and a one-year contract to perform in Céline Dion's show in Las Vegas.

Season 3

Open auditions for Season 3 began early October 2006, held in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Like the previous season, those that made the cuts moved on to Las Vegas. The taped auditions premiered on the Fox Network on May 24, 2007, and the subsequent shows were taped and broadcast live for a 12-week season. Cat Deeley returned as host, and Nigel Lythgoe returned as permanent judge. Joining Lythgoe permanently at the judging table was Mary Murphy; her promotion was reported by TV Guide on March 8, 2007. The prize for the winner was increased to $250,000 cash. On the performance finale show (August 16, 2007), it was announced that the series had been picked up for a fourth season. Sabra Johnson was named "America's Favorite Dancer", while Danny Tidwell was named as the runner-up.

Season 4

Auditions for Season 4 began in Texas on January 17 and took place in six locations through March 2008. The show kicked off its two-hour season premiere on May 22, 2008.^[2] Cat Deeley returned as host and Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy as permanent judges. This season saw the introduction of new dance styles, including Bollywood, and some new choreographers, including hip-hop choreographers Tabatha and Napoleon. The prize for the winner was again $250,000 cash, the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" and an offer for a role in Step Up 3D. In the finale, viewers voted Joshua Allen as the overall winner, while Katee Shean was given a surprise award of $50,000 for being the top female dancer.^[3]

Season 5

Season 6

FOX has announced that there will be a sixth season of Dance, which will premiere on Wednesday, September 16 2009.^[4] Auditions have already been held in Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, with future dates planned for Phoenix, and Salt Lake City.^[5] This marks the first time that two seasons of the show will run in one year and transitions the show to regularly air in the fall, as opposed to the summer, season.

Ratings

Ratings for So You Think You Can Dance in Season 1 made it the #1 summer show for the summer of 2005. However, when NBC's America's Got Talent premiered in the summer of 2006, it took key demographics away, and America's Got Talent became the #1 summer show in the summer of 2007. In the summer of 2008, Talent held on to the title and broadened its lead, while FOX started competing with CBS's Million Dollar Password on Thursdays and even drama reruns on CBS on Wednesdays. In summer 2009, the show premiered strong with a 3.4 rating in its target demographic.^[6]