by Gina Scarpa

 

This May, So You Think You Can Dance will return for season 7 with big changes in store for both its contestants and viewers. Instead of a Top 20, only 10 dancers will move on from Vegas and they will be partnered by previous So You Think You Can Dance contestants, who have now earned the title of "all star". Only one dancer will go home each week and only the Top 10 will be judged. Today, Executive Producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe spoke to reporters and elaborated on the changes and exciting things to come on season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you decide on the all stars that you would be using in season 7?
A. Nigel: They had to be dominant in their genre of dance. They are the ones who are going to dictate what the competitors are going to dance. If you had Twitch, you wouldn't want to do ballroom with him.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Can you comment on the decision not to have the season 6 dancers tour?
A. Nigel: The season 6 tour wasn't done because of this whole January/February situation. We've never done that before. Most of the theaters were taken, the weather was terrible, and we couldn't do it. Now we look and say, "Do we bring some all stars on the tour? Do we put 6 and 7 on the tour?" As for not putting season 6 out there, a lot of that was to do with it being the second tour in a year. It's gonna pose a hell of a question for the season 6 and 7 dancers for the tour this year.

 

Q. Will the contestants be changing partners every week?
A. Nigel: They are changing partners every week. We're going to put together a pool of ex-So You Think You Can Dance all stars, some of our favorites. The competitors, instead of drawing a genre, they'll draw a photograph of one of the all stars. That will dictate the genre that they will be dancing. I will not be revealing the names of the all stars today. The all stars will not be judged but the pairs will change every week. This is not like Dancing With The Stars. Every week, they'll change and every week their style will change.

 

Q. What made you make the changes to the show now, after so many seasons?
A. Nigel: We do a tour each year and then we can't ever reinvest in our dancers. We try to bring some of them back as our choreographers. T o be able to do this and use our own stars is a fabulous dancer. The reason we're doing it now is because it's a great idea that no one's ever thought of before. We were back to back two shows, we've been seen for 7 seasons. I don't believe in letting things get stale. I don't believ in allowing the audience to know what's going to happen and be bored by it;. It's a great idea and one that will benefit the show.

 

Q. Will Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels be returning this season?
A. Nigel: Mary is judging and choreographing this year. She can't be on the panel if she's choreographing. She will be on the panel and she will be choreographing. Mia will be back as well.

 

Q. Will the all stars be judged?
A. Nigel: No. They will leave the stage. This will be the first time that the dancers, apart from their solos, that they will walk forward alone to be judged.

 

Q. Will the contestants dance with the all stars all season, or will they dance with one another?
A. Nigel: They'll be partnering up with the all stars all season long up until the finale, when we go back to the original format, where they dance with each other, dance solos, and so on.

 

Q. Do you think that this new format will bring back viewers, who perhaps watched the earlier seasons and then drifted away?
A. Nigel: All I think it's going to do is make the show more exciting. Whether people find it more exciting, we'll find out. It'll give a pool of viewers that loved them in the past, have seen them disappear like we all have... it's frustrating. It's not like Idol, where you get a contract and become a multi millionaire and you're in the public's face. To have this show use it's own talent is fabulous. From that point of view, whether we've lost them as viewers or are getting them back, it makes the show more exciting.

 

Q. Can you tell us whether or not season 6 dancers will choreograph?
A. Nigel: I can't, to be honest with you. We haven't really decided on the choreographers yet. We're not in that period. We're constantly trying to improve the standards of dance and think, without question, we have. I can't tell you though, not because maybe they are and maybe they're not, but because I haven't thought about it at the moment.

 

So You Think You Can Dance premieres Thursday, May 27th, on Fox.

 

(Image courtesy of Fox)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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