I was starting to feel my leg cramp up just watching it!

Tonight’s So You Think You Can Dance auditions took place in New Orleans. Nigel is off getting an honorary degree, so Adam Shankman and Lil C join Mary Murphy as judges.

Tonight we see mostly amazing dancers with a few bad ones thrown in to remind us that we’re watching reality television. And then we have the montages and the sob stories and the bad puns. In other words, it’s great fun as usual!

Shelby “Skip” Skipper introduces us to the “New Orleans bounce.” I like it – and so do the judges. There’s a lot of jumping and shaking, and he shows an amazing amount of strength and energy. Straight to Vegas.

Jonathan Litzler also gets a ticket to Vegas after showing off his acrobatic skills. He reminds me of Neil from season four, and that’s a good thing.

Eric had a last name, but I missed it. He’s a hip hop dancer, but more importantly, a fan of energy drinks. And it shows. I’m not sure why they sent this guy to choreography. As expected, he didn’t make it through.

Justin Kenney is a hip hop dancer with our first sad story of the evening. After a car accident, he’s now grateful to be able to dance. His legs looked really long when he was doing the spin on the floor breakdance thing air flares. Lil C says they’re taking a risk and sending him on to Vegas.

Kimalee Piedad gets my vote because she danced to a Kris Allen song. Also, her theater arts dancing (theatrical ballroom with a bunch of crazy lifts) was impressive. Shankman voted for choreography, but Mary and Lil C said, “Vegas, baby!”

Growing up, Micah Mixon didn’t have much to eat. The only good thing he had was dancing, and I think I’ve seen this movie. I really liked Micah, but he couldn’t handle choreography. He’s not going on, but the judges were kind and encouraging. I like it when they’re nice.

Best line of the night: I’ve gotta be honest with you. This is the point when I really wish Nigel was here. It just . . . went all wrong. (Shankman)

I’m not even going to bother with the montage of bad dancers, but Mary and Shankman cracked me up with their Rules of What Not To Do. Between Shankman acting out each rule and the examples from actual contestants, I was rolling. Hilarious!

Jakob Karr is a contemporary dancer, and he was amazing. As Shankman said, “You freaking rocked out there, are you kidding me!” ‘Nuff said. Straight to Vegas.

Our last sad story came from Diana Drexler. Her grandpa died the day before the audition, and she made us all tear up. But her dancing was beautiful and the judges loved her. After a round with Pascha’s choreography, she’s headed to Vegas.

Next week we’ll see auditions from Salt Lake City. Am I the only one who’s glad to reach the end of the audition phase?

photo credit: The Television Beat