So You Think You Can Dance, an American dance competition show, returned for its twelfth season, titled So You Think You Can Dance: Stage Vs. Street, on Monday, June 1, 2015. Seventeen episodes were broadcast on the Fox Network, including episode nine on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, which was a special celebrating the tenth anniversary of the show titled "A Decade of Dance Special Edition". The sixteen regular episodes aired each week on Mondays, rather than Wednesdays as it had been in recent previous seasons. On September 14, 2015, Gaby Diaz won the competition and made history by becoming the first tap contestant to win the title.
Auditions were held in Dallas TX, Detroit MI, Los Angeles CA, Memphis TN and New York NY.
Judges Series creator and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe returned as a member of the permanent judging panel, along with new permanent members Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo.
The Team Captains, Travis Wall for Team Stage and tWitch for Team Street, were consulted on the selections for each team during the Vegas Call Backs.
Mary Murphy, who was a permanent judge in seasons 3 through 6 and seasons 8 through to 11, has not returned. Host Cat Deeley returns for her eleventh consecutive season.
Format Season 12 featured a significant shift in format in that it was the first season where contestants were not selected based on their gender. Contestants were selected based on whether the contestant considered themselves a "Stage" contestant or a "Street" contestant. Stage styles included ballet, contemporary, jazz and tap, while the Street styles included freestyle, break dancing, hip-hop, and krump. Previously, the contestants were selected across all genres and were divided by gender, with ten women and ten men being selected for the Top Twenty. This new format allowed the judges to respond to the strong number of female street contestants, and resulted in the Top Twenty, being eleven female contestants and nine male contestants.
Once the "Top 20" were selected the public voted on their favourite contestants and the three stage and three street contestants with fewest votes were in danger of elimination. The mediums through which the public could vote continued from the previous season's methods of online through the So You Think You Can Dance website on fox.com, the Fox Now app, and SMS. Voting via telephone was once again not available.
The judges selected one stage contestant and one street contestant from the remaining four contestants to be eliminated from the competition. When ten contestants were left in the competition, contestants were then eliminated purely on the votes from the public.
Season 12 saw the introduction of the ability for the audience to save one contestant from the stage and street teams from elimination, but only for the first four eliminations. When the Bottom 6 contestant were revealed during the live show, a five-minute period for Twitter voting was announced with one vote allowed for stage and for street per Twitter account. Once those contestants were saved, the judges were allowed to save one more contestant from each team for the first three eliminations; since the fourth was a double elimination, the Twitter vote was the only save; the judges had no say that week.
Once Top Ten were revealed, neither the audience nor judges were allowed to save any contestants.
Auditions Open auditions for season 12 were held in five cities beginning on January 24, 2015. Lythgoe, Abdul and Derulo were the three judges for all the auditions.
In a change from previous years, the city auditions no longer had a "choreography round," where contestants whom the judges thought might not be able to handle someone else's choreography were taught a routine they then had to perform.
Air DateAudition VenueCityAudition Date June 22, 2015 Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom & Hammerstein Ballroom New York, New York January 24, 2015 June 1, 2015 Southern Methodist University, McFarlin Memorial Auditorium Dallas, Texas February 14, 2015 June 8, 2015 The Fillmore Detroit Detroit, Michigan February 22, 2015 June 1, 2015 Orpheum Theatre Memphis, Tennessee March 8, 2015 June 15, 2015 Orpheum Theatre Los Angeles, California March 15, 2015
Callbacks Callbacks were held in Las Vegas for season 12, a return to previous practice after season 11's were held in Los Angeles. A total of 219 contestants were given tickets at the five audition cities to the Las Vegas callbacks: 114 were selected for Team Stage, mentored by Travis Wall, and 105 were selected for Team Street, mentored by Stephen "tWitch" Boss. The first callback episode was scheduled for June 29, 2015, and the second callback episode, during which the Top 20 of 10 stage contestants and 10 street contestants is revealed, aired on July 6, 2015.
Studio Shows
Top 20 Contestants
Team Stage ContestantAgeHome TownDance StyleElimination datePlacement Gabrielle "Gaby" Diaz 19 Miami, FL Tap September 14, 2015 Overall Winner Hailee Payne 20 Roy, UT Jazz September 14, 2015 Stage Runner-Up James "Jim" Nowakowski 26 Rochester, NY BalletAugust 31, 2015Top 6 Derek Piquette 18 Chicopee, MA Contemporary August 24, 2015 Top 8 Edson Juarez 24 Mission, TX Contemporary August 17, 2015 Top 10 Alexia Meyer 19 Orem, UT Lyrical JazzAugust 10, 2015Top 14 Kate Harpootlian 27 Columbia, SC Contemporary Marissa Milele 20 Nashville, TN Jazz August 3, 2015 Top 16 Moises Parra 18 Garden Grove, CA Contemporary July 27, 2015 Top 18 Darion Flores 19 Hartford, CT Ballet July 20, 2015 Top 20
Team Street ContestantAgeHome TownDance StyleElimination datePlacement Jana "Jaja" Vaňková 23 Děčín, Czech Republic Animation/Krump September 14, 2015 Overall Runner-up Virgil "Lil O" Gadson 28 Philadelphia, PA Hip Hop September 14, 2015 Street Runner-Up Megan "Megz" Alfonso 29 Long Island, NY Hip Hop August 31, 2015 Top 6 Eddie "Neptune" Eskridge 25 Dallas, TX Freestyle August 24, 2015 Top 8 Jessica "JJ" Rabone 30 Kawasaki, Japan House/Waacking August 17, 2015 Top 10 Ariana Crowder 22 Somerset, NJ Hip HopAugust 10, 2015Top 14 Yorelis Apolinario 19 Tampa, FL Freestyle Asaf Goren 23 Tel Aviv, Israel Breakdance August 3, 2015 Top 16 Burim "B1" Jusufi 29 Baden, Switzerland Breakdance July 27, 2015 Top 18 Lily Frias 23 Durango, Mexico Waacking July 20, 2015 Top 20
Note Alain "Hurrikane" Lauture had to leave the competition due to injury. Thus the judges brought back Asaf Goren who was number 11 in Team Street.
Elimination chart +LegendFemaleMaleTeam StageTeam StreetBottom 6 contestants Bottom 4 contestants Eliminated Week:7/207/278/38/108/178/248/319/14ContestantResultGaby Diaz WinnerJana "Jaja" Vaňková Runner-UpVirgil Gadson ElimHailee PayneBtm 4 Jim Nowakowski Elim Megan "Megz" Alfonso Btm 4Btm 4 Derek PiquetteBtm 4 Btm 6Btm 6Btm 4Elim Eddie "Neptune" EskridgeBtm 6Btm 6 Edson Juarez Btm 4Elim Jessica "JJ" Rabone Btm 6Alexia Meyer ElimYorelis Apolinario Kate Harpootlian Btm 6Btm 4 Ariana CrowderBtm 4 Btm 6Btm 4 Marissa Milele Elim Asaf Goren Btm 4 Moises ParraBtm 6ElimBurim "B1" Jusufi Darion FloresElim Lily Frias
Performances
Meet the Top 20 (July 13, 2015) Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo Performances: Jason Derulo Contestants Style Music Choreographer(s) ResultTop 20Hip-hop"Revolt"—Nathan LanierChristopher Scott N/A Megan "Megz" AlfonsoJessica "JJ" RaboneEddie "Neptune" Eskridge* Hip-hop "The Illest"—Far East Movement feat. Riff Raff Dave Scott Eskridge Bottom 6* Gaby DiazDerek PiquetteMoises Parra* Contemporary "Luminous"—Max Richter Stacey Tookey Parra Bottom 6*Piquette Bottom 6 Lily FriasJana "Jaja" VaňkováAsaf GorenBurim "B1" Jusufi Hip-hop "Easy"—Son Lux feat. Lorde Christopher Scott Frias Eliminated Hailee PayneAlexia MeyerMarissa Milele Jazz "New Dorp New York"—SBTRKT feat. Ezra Koenig Brian Friedman Safe Jim NowakowskiDarion Flores Ballet "Blood and Stone"—Audiomachine Benoit Swan Pouffer Flores Eliminated Ariana CrowderYorelis ApolinarioVirgil "Lil O" Gadson Hip-hop "Locked Out of Heaven"—Bruno Mars Christopher "Pharside" JenningsKrystal "Phoenix" Meraz Crowder Bottom 6 Kate HarpootlianEdson Juarez Contemporary "Shaped Like A Gun"—Tailor Travis Wall Safe Team Stage Broadway "Body Language"—Queen Warren Carlyle N/A Team Street Hip-hop "Ready or Not Here I Come"—District 78 feat. Cheesa Tabitha D'umoNapoleon D'umo N/A
Top 20 (July 20, 2015) Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo Contestants Style Music Choreographer(s) Result Top 20 Hip-hop "Baila Como Yo"—District 78 Christopher "Pharside" JenningsKrystal "Phoenix" MerazN/A Hailee PayneYorelis ApolinarioDarion Flores Salsa "Blucutu"—Saamara Jonathan PlateroOksana Dmytrenko Safe Ariana Crowder*Derek Piquette Jazz "Cry Me a River"—Michael Bublé Ray Leeper Crowder Bottom 6* Virgil "Lil O" GadsonMegz AlfonsoAlexia Meyer Contemporary "Until We Go Down"—Ruelle Dee Caspary Safe Lily FriasBurim JusufiGaby DiazEdson Juarez Bollywood "Dhol Baaje" from Ek Paheli Leela Nakul Dev Mahajan Jusufi Eliminated Juarez Bottom 6 Asaf GorenKate Harpootlian*Eddie "Neptune" Eskridge Broadway "All About That Bass"—Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox featuring Kate Davis Spencer Liff Goren Bottom 6 Harpootlian Bottom 6* Jana "Jaja" VaňkováJim Nowakowski Lyrical hip-hop"No Woman, No Cry (Live Version)"—Bob Marley and the Wailers Christopher Scott Safe Marissa MileleMoises ParraJJ Rabone Jazz "I'm So Sorry"—Imagine DragonsRay Leeper Parra Eliminated Team StreetHip-hop "Time"—Nathan Lanier Christopher ScottPhillip Chbeeb (season 5) N/A Team StageContemporary "Stabat Mater"—Woodkid Travis Wall N/A
Top 18 (July 27, 2015) Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo Contestants Style Music Choreographer(s) Result Top 18 Afro Funk "Let The Groove Get In"—Justin Timberlake Reina HidalgoAsiel Hardison N/A Alexia MeyerDerek PiquetteJana "Jaja" Vaňková Contemporary "All Waters"—Perfume Genius Stacey Tookey Piquette Bottom 6* Megz AlfonsoJim NowakowskiMoises Parra Hip-hop "Whuteva"—Remy Ma JaQuel KnightSafe JJ RaboneEdson JuarezYorelis Apolinario Jazz "Restart"—Sam Smith Tovaris Wilson Rabone Bottom 6* Asaf GorenMarissa Milele Club cha-cha "+1"—Martin Solveig ft Sam White Jean-Marc Genereux Both Eliminated Gaby DiazBurim JusufiAriana Crowder African Jazz "Gorilla"—Lord Kraven Sean Cheesman Crowder Bottom 6 Kate HarpootlianEddie "Neptune" Eskridge Contemporary "Promise"—Ben Howard Justin Giles Harpootlian Bottom 6 Hailee PayneVirgil "Lil O" Gadson Hip-hop "Runnin'"—Noahplause Christopher "Pharside" JenningsKrystal "Phoenix" Meraz Safe Team Stage Contemporary"For My Help"—Hayden Calnin Jaci RoyalN/A Team Street Hip-hop "Break Ya Neck"—Busta Rhymes Marty Kudelka N/A
Top 16 (August 3, 2015) Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo Contestants Style Music Choreographer(s) Result Top 16 "Love is Free"—Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique ft MalucaNick FloresRJ DurrellN/AHailee PayneJana "Jaja" Vaňková Jazz "Endangered Species"—Dianne ReevesRay LeeperSafe Eddie "Neptune" Eskridge Alexia MeyerHip-hop"Flex (Ooh Ooh Ooh)"—Rich Homie QuanDave ScottEskridge Bottom 6* Meyer EliminatedJJ Rabone*Leonardo Barrionuevo++Argentine Tango"Duo de Amor"—Astor PiazzollaMiriam Larici Leonardo Barrionuevo Piquette Bottom 6*Ariana Crowder Jim Nowakowski Contemporary"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"—LordeSean CheesmanCrowder EliminatedVirgil "Lil O" Gadson Gaby Diaz Broadway"Where or When"—Sammy Davis Jr.Al BlackstoneSafeAsaf Goren Kate HarpootlianPop JazzBraveheart—Neon JungleSean CheesmanHarpootlian EliminatedMarissa MileleYorelis ApolinarioHip-hop"Let Go"—Kezwik ft. Mimi PageChristopher Scott Apolinario EliminatedEdson JuarezMegz AlfonsoContemporary"You There"—AquiloTalia FaviaSafe Team StreetHip-hop"Commas"—FutureLuamN/ATeam StageContemporary"Beautiful Friends"—Helen MoneyTravis WallN/A