Kick up your heels. The 16th season of “So You Think You Can Dance” has arrived on Fox with a few fresh twists up its leg warmers. There is a cool new set in Hollywood and no more traveling from town to town for auditions. There is a flashy 360-degree camera that freeze-frames dancers in mid-flight. But, most notably, there are two new judges on board.
One is a familiar face to old-school “SYTYCD” — third-season contestant Dominic Sandoval aka D-Trix. The 33-year-old B-Boy, who was also an All-Star on Season Seven, was known for his infectious sense of humor, his crush on host Cat Deeley and for regularly dropping his partner, Sabra Johnson, including at least once on her head. He earned judging cred on the seventh season of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” after his Quest Crew won the third season of the show.
Then there is Laurieann Gibson, 49, who has choreographed dance numbers for Michael Jackson, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. When she name-dropped Alvin Ailey during the season premiere and declared an 18-year-old male contemporary dancer “Baby Baryshnikov,” I personally was quite impressed.
SEE Exclusive video interview with ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ host Cat Deeley
As for their predecessors,”High School Musical'” star Vanessa Hudgens was easy on the eyes and a sweetheart, but she rarely added much constructive criticism other than gushy compliments. As for Stephen “tWitch” Boss, one of the best freestyle hip-hop artists ever to appear on “SYTYCD,” he seemed to run out steam last season now that he is tied to the Ellen DeGeneres train.
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So how did you feel about how Dominic, a good sport who performed spontaneously with an all-mom hip-hop crew, and Laurieann’s passionate summations of the contestant’s performances? Take our poll and leave further comments below.
