By Sandrine Milet
With "American Idol" in the rearview mirror, it's time for the reality competition that really pushes competitors to the limit and rarely disappoints. "So You Think You Can Dance" kicks off its seventh season with a two-hour premiere tonight (May 27) at 8 p.m., and with this new season, producer Nigel Lythgoe has shaken things up a bit by bringing in some new twists.
There are a handful of new rules that will switch up the competition entirely. The most notable one sees the jettisoning of the top 20. Instead, they're choosing 10 dancers right away (five guys and five girls) from the audition rounds in Las Vegas. The show will be augmented by a team of 12 "all-stars" — past contestants from different seasons who are "experts" in their particular dance genre. These dancers won’t be judged, and won't be choreographing.
There are a few other twists in store as well, including a new way of determining dances from week to week. Instead of drawing a dance style from a hat, the season seven dancers will draw a photograph of one of the all-stars, which then determines who they're paired with for the week and the style they'll be dancing. Rather then two eliminations every week, only one dancer will go home. And at the finale, the show will go back to the original format. This means that the remaining dancers will be paired up with each other and will dance solos to prove themselves to America.
Of course, the most notable change this season is the arrival of Mia Michaels. The opinionated, Emmy-winning choreographer is returning as a permanent judge on the show, replacing always-unpredictable Mary Murphy. Her outspokenness will definitely bring some interesting dynamics to the judging panel, which will also consist of regulars Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman.
Hopefully these new twists will mean that we'll get to know the contestants a little more (with only one being eliminated each week), but what about these all-stars? Will they help or hinder the dancers? I can see it going both ways. When dancing with an expert in his or her dance genre, sometimes the stronger dancer can outshine the weaker one, especially since it's so hard not to compare the two. But on the flip side, dancing with a stronger dancer can push you in the right direction and make you a better dancer.
And speaking of those all-stars, the returning group includes Stephen Boss, aka Twitch (a freestyle dancer and the runner up in season four), Comfort Fedoke (a hip-hop dancer from season four), Courtney Galiano (contemporary dancer from season four), Anya Garnis (a Latin ballroom dancer from season three), Lauren Gottlieb (contemporary dancer from season three), Neil Haskell (contemporary dancer and top three in season three), Allison Holker (contemporary jazz dancer from season two), Mark Kanemura (contemporary dancer from season four), Pasha Kovalev (Latin ballroom dancer from season three), Kathryn McCormick (contemporary dancer from season six), Ade Obayomi (contemporary dancer from season five) and Dominic Sandoval aka D-Trix (b-boy from season three).
What do you think of these new changes? Let us know in the comments!