So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. season 9)
| Broadcast from | May 24 – September 18, 2012 |
|---|---|
| Judges |
Nigel Lythgoe Mary Murphy |
| Host(s) | Cat Deeley |
| Broadcaster | Fox Broadcasting Company |
| Venue | United States |
| Website | www |
| Eliana Girard Chehon Wespi-Tschopp |
|
| Origin |
West Palm Beach, Florida Zurich, Switzerland |
| Genre(s) | Ballet |
| Tiffany Maher, Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer | |
So You Think You Can Dance, an American television dance competition, returned for its ninth season on May 24, 2012 on FOX Television. Fox and series creator Nigel Lythgoe have each independently confirmed that the weekly results show, a staple of the series in seasons 2-8, has been cut from the show format and that only one episode will air each week for the show's ninth season. This season has marked three firsts in the series history: this season had two winners (one male and one female), as opposed to the single winner format used in previous seasons, a contemporary dancer was not amongst the contestants remaining in the competition in the finale, and lastly, a ballet dancer is the winner of the competition.
Open auditions for this season were held in the following locations:
The Las Vegas callbacks were held at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the first time in nine seasons, contestants were allowed to choose their own groups for the group choreography round, in contrast to previous seasons where the groups were assigned. With cuts made following each round of choreography, thirty-five dancers remained at the close of the week, prior to the selection of the Top 20.
* Only participated on the judge's panel on the round they choreographed.
In January 2012, Fox announced that So You Think You Can Dance would be returning for its ninth season in a format similar to that seen in season one; a single two-hour episode per week, eliminating each week's results show. In an interview shortly thereafter, Lythgoe hinted at a format where each week's episode is ended with the revelation of the bottom three couples (based on the votes from the previous week) but after all dancers had performed the new week's routines, giving the judges an additional routine to take into account when deciding which dancers (from amongst the bottom three couples) to save and which to send home for that week. This contrasts with the season one format where judges would nominate a bottom three couples and home viewers would vote out two dancers, the results being pre-taped and shown at the beginning of the next week's episode. Lythgoe also hinted at which elements of the results show were likely to be carried over into the new format, suggesting the group and guest dance routines would be shown priority over guest musical acts.
These above changes all proved to be in place once the season's performance shows began airing but were also accompanied by a number of other format tweaks. These additional changes most notably include the fact that the season will crown two winners (one male and one female) and that voting for individual dancers (as opposed to couples) began with the first week of the Top 20 competition with 1-855-GO-HIM## for the guys and 1-855-GO-HER## for the girls as opposed to half way through the performance show phase, as in previous seasons. Additionally there have been tweaks to the format of the "dance for your life" solos, the last chance efforts which dancers are given to impress judges and remain in the competition if the at-home-viewer votes put them in the bottom 6 dancers. In previous seasons, all dancers who were in danger of elimination were automatically assigned to perform such solos but in season 9 the judges, taking into advisement the dancers' previous performances and the advice of the choreographers who have worked with them, will decide each week which (if any) dancers will perform solos. For example, in Week 2, the first week of the competition to feature eliminations (in this case a double elimination), the judges decided which two of the six dancers in danger they wished to save without asking for additional solos. By contrast, in week 3 they decided that Lindsay Arnold and George Lawrence Jr. would be safe without being required to perform a solo but the remaining four dancers were required to perform, with two ultimately eliminated.
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