So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) recently completed its tenth hit season on the FOX Network and has been renewed for an eleventh. Since July 2005, hundreds of dancers have graced our television screens. Beginning with a solo audition in front of three judges, dancers who are chosen to move on in the competition are given a ticket to Vegas. From there, it’s more rounds of dancing for the judges and eliminations until we reach a Top 20, in most seasons. From there, dancers are paired together for duet dances choreographed by professionals in a variety of styles. After each episode, viewers and fans vote for their favorites to remain in the competition until we reach a winner (or winners, as the past two seasons have both a male and female winner).
With this show focusing on one of the triple-threat attributes, there have been almost twenty performers who have gone on to share their talents on the Great White Way. Here they are in order of appearance on So You Think You Can Dance:
SEASON ONE
Artem Chigvintsev – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Latin Ballroom
- Season Ranking: Top 8
- Broadway Credits: Burn the Floor
SEASON TWO
Jaymz Tuaileva – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Jazz
- Season Ranking: Top 14
- Broadway Credits: Donny & Marie – A Broadway Christmas (Dance Captain)
Ryan Rankine – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Ballet
- Season Ranking: Top 8
- Broadway Credits: Fela!
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: 2nd place
- Broadway Credits: The Music Man (pre-SYTYCD)
SEASON THREE
- Dance Specialty: Latin Ballroom
- Season Ranking: Top 12
- Broadway Credits: Burn the Floor
Pasha Kovalev – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Ballroom
- Season Ranking: Top 6
- Broadway Credits: Burn the Floor
Neil Haskell – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: 3rd place
- Broadway Credits: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (pre-SYTYCD), 9 to 5, Bring It On: The Musical (Steven; Randall understudy)
Danny Tidwell – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: 2nd place
- Broadway Credits: Memphis
SEASON FOUR
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: Top 14
- Broadway Credits: Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark (current cast)
Thayne Jasperson – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: Top 12
- Broadway Credits: Newsies (Darcy) and Matilda (current cast)
Will Wingfield – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: Top 8
- Broadway Credits: In the Heights (Graffiti Pete)
SEASON FIVE
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: Top 14
- Broadway Credits: Hot Feet (pre-SYTYCD) and West Side Story
Evan Kasprzak – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Broadway
- Season Ranking: 3rd place
- Broadway Credits: Newsies (Elmer – current cast)
SEASON SIX
Ariana DeBose – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Contemporary
- Season Ranking: Top 20
- Broadway Credits: Bring It On: The Musical (Nautica; Danielle understudy) and Motown: The Musical (Mary Wilson; Diana Ross understudy – current cast)
Phillip Attmore – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Tap
- Season Ranking: Top 18
- Broadway Credits: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (pre-SYTYCD), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (pre-SYTYCD), and After Midnight (upcoming)
- Dance Specialty: Latin Ballroom
- Season Ranking: Top 12
- Broadway Credits: Burn the Floor
SEASON SEVEN
- Dance Specialty: Ballet
- Season Ranking: 8th place (had to drop out due to injury)
- Broadway Credits: Newsies (Sniper)
SEASON EIGHT
Jess LeProtto – watch me dance
- Dance Specialty: Broadway
- Season Ranking: Top 8
- Broadway Credits: The Boy from Oz (pre-SYTYCD), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (pre-SYTYCD), Bye Bye Birdie (pre-SYTYCD), and Newsies (current cast)
As you can see, these performers have gone into SYTYCD from a variety of backgrounds and have gone on to strengthen and show off their dancing talents on Broadway. I’m sure we will see more alumni from the show tread the boards in the future and I am looking forward to the talent we will discover on the show next season.
Photo via UnReality TV