So You Think You Can Dance 2012

Just after concluding that I would never hear from this show again for tickets to their tapings, they changed their format back and started emailing people again.  I was able to get 4 tickets to the show for the season premiere and reveal of the Top 20.  Our regular crew were off camping or in England (yes, England trumps SYTYCD), so Angie and I decided to take Heather and Daisy.  The instructions say that anyone who doesn't "look" 14 will be turned away.  We decided our tall-as-mom daughters could pass.  They were so cute!

So the short story is...it was a great show!  We were sworn to secrecy.  Tune in Wednesday night.  It was a great experience to be there, and the girls had so much fun.  They were on the floor in the side pit, and had a front row view of everything.  The guest judge was Zoey Deschanel from New Girl (and Elf).  We also saw some friends from church who were in our show, and I'm pretty sure we'll see them on t.v. due to their awesome seats.

The long story is...we waited in line a looooooong time.  We arrived at 1:15PM, were escorted to the studio lines at 4:30PM and didn't get inside until closer to 5:30PM.  The taping started after 6PM, and we were released at 8:45PM.  Angie and I were in the seats toward the back and had a great view of the stage, but the girls continued to stand.  Thinking that they were young and most likely okay wasn't really true.  Heather has been fighting off a sinus infection, and the girls are only 12.   They did a great job of being mature, but Heather paid for it.  She felt awful and slept most of the way home.  Now I have guilty mom complex.  I hope when she feels better that this will be a great memory for her.  Maybe by the time the show airs and we can sit and watch together we'll be able to reminisce and have some fun memories.

There are some negative, naggy things we could dwell on about the experience, but I keep reminding myself that we were there! In the studio!  It is ultimately a really awesome experience.

So You Think You Can Dance Tour

Saturday evening was the Los Angeles performance for the So You Think You Can Dance? tour at the Nokia Theater. This year I went with my friends, Michelle, Kim, and Trish. The evening was so exciting. There is something about going in person to see our favorite dancers that is really amazing. I ran into Joshua who was the winner a couple of seasons ago, and he stopped for a picture. The high points of the night included watching Melanie and Marco dance their statue routine, Melanie dance her solo, Tad dance his solo, and seeing the two tappers tap it out live. Tad was hilarious and his B-Boy tricks were phenomenal, and Jess, who specialized in Broadway as well as tap, was amazing; it was a real treat to watch them perform. We had fantastic seats and had a blast being there together to watch our favorite dance show performers.

So You Think You Can Dance - LA Auditions

Angie and I attended the first ever audience taping of the So You Think You Can Dance auditions in Los Angeles. They were held at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles. This theater was built in 1926, and the architecture of the theater and surrounding buildings was stunning. Click on the link if you are interested in looking at the theaters photo gallery with its 360 degree viewing capabilities. Very fun.

We arrived early and were able to get excellent seats. Of course the ticket holders were divided--this time it was, "kids through one door and adults through the other door" which was, so far, the kindest way they've been able to say, "young, hip looking people through one door, old wrinkly people through the other door." The "kids" got to be on the side behind the dancers in the theater, but we still got to see everything. Nigel, Mary Murphy and Tyce Diorio were the judges, and there were only five or so people turned away from the group of auditions we saw. There are some excellent dancers going to Vegas, and it was really, really, fun to see them do their thing right in front of us.

Some highlights from the evening were being able to sit in the theater with some of the past seasons finalists - Legacy, Twitch, Ade, Katie, Brandon, Jakob, Comfort and last seasons winner, Lauren, were a few of the dancers there. I went up to the bathroom during a break and got in line just behind Lauren. I geeked out and told her that I voted for her. She immediately exclaimed, "Oh, thank you!", and then threw her arms around me for a hug. Very cute. We chatted for a minute about what she'd been up to (working at a dance convention, taping a Glee episode, doing a promo with Gatorade) before being ushered back to our seats.

We were all invited to stay for the choreography portion of the evening which began at 10:30 p.m. We stayed for about 30 minutes to watch Katie and Brandon teach the choreography, but needed to leave before the group dances. We had no idea we were going to be there that late and Angie had a full day of teaching and meetings the next day. So we'll be watching along with the rest of America to see who makes it through choreography when Season 8 begins, May 26.

So You Think You Can Dance - Tour 2010

Tuesday night was the So You Think You Can Dance Tour show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Due to a surplus of tickets, we were able to expand our original group of four partygoers to twelve. Here are some snapshots of our extremely awesome and most phenomenal dance show ever!

Our carpool - Lauren, LeAnn, Heather, Me, Daisy, Angie

Heather and Daisy got to come with and use some extra tickets. They sat together in the section LeAnn and Lauren were in, and they did such a great job of being all grown-up.

Our original foursome, Trish, Michelle, myself and Angie, found each other near our seats on the floor. The floor seats ended up not being so great. They were close to the stage, but not leveled so there were just too many heads trying to see around each other.

This is the view from where we sat with me holding the camera way over my head.

After the show, we found the other carpool of friends, Rachel, Trish, Michelle, Hannah and Trisha's sister Sara and their niece. We didn't get to be together much inside, and as you will see in the next grouping of photos, carpool number two scored big time.

They ran into a few people in the lobby. Here are Hannah and Tyce Diorio.

And Trisha, Rachel, BRANDON (season #5) and Hannah. You might remember Brandon from this blog post .

Then, apparently within minutes after we left from our group photo, Adam Shankman came along. What lucky girls they were! Carpool number one was jealous upon hearing of the celebrity sightings, but very happy for carpool number two. What an awesome evening!