| Season 9 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season Run | May 24, 2012 – September 18, 2012 |
| Judges | Nigel Lythgoe Mary Murphy |
| Host(s) | Cat Deeley |
| Winner(s): Eliana Girard Chehon Wespi-Tschopp | |
| Origin | West Palm Beach, Florida Zurich, Switzerland |
| Genre(s) | Contemporary Ballet Ballet |
| Runner-up(s) | |
Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer |
Animation |
| Chronology | |
| Previous Season | Season 8 |
| Next Season | Season 10 |
Season 9 of So You Think You Can Dance premiered on May 24, 2012. Nigel Lythgoe announced that the results show had been cut from the format, meaning that only one show aired each week. Chehon Wespi-Tschopp and Eliana Girard were crowned America's Favorite Girl and Boy, with Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer and Tiffany Maher as runner-ups.
Production[]
In January 2012, it was announced that season 9 will only have one two-hour show each week, similar to the first season's format. Series creator Nigel Lythgoe stated that each week's episode will end with the reveal of the bottom 3 couples after every couple (bottom or safe) has performed the new week's choreography. This gives the judges an additional dance to judge prior to deciding who they will eliminate and for the bottom 3 couples to get a chance to redeem themselves in hopes of getting saved. He also announced that there will be two winner this season, one girl and one boy. This season's live shows began with a Top 20, however, Nigel mentioned during the results of the Top 16 show that Fox originally was only to allow sixteen dancers to the live performances. This explains why the season had, not one, but two double eliminations.The finale and the Week 8 episode aired on Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays.
Auditions[]
| Air Date | Venue | City | Audition Date | Guest judge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2012 | McFarlin Memorial Auditiorium | Dallas, Texas | January 13, 2012 | Lil' C |
| Manhattan Center | New York City | January 23, 2012 | Tyce Diorio | |
| May 30, 2012 | Orpheum Theatre | Los Angeles, California | March 2, 2012 | Jesse Tyler Ferguson |
| June 6, 2012 | The Fox Theatre | Atlanta, Georgia | January 5, 2012 | Debbie Allen |
| June 13, 2012 | Capitol Theatre | Salt Lake City, Utah | February 23, 2012 | Adam Shankman |
Vegas Week[]
The Vegas callbacks were held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. For the very first time, the dancers were allowed to choose their own groups for the group choreography round. 35 dancers remained after judges made cuts following each round of choreography. The judges were Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Adam Shankman, Tyce Diorio, and Lil' C. Sonya Tayeh, Jason Gilkison, and Travis Wall only participated in panel on the round they choreographed (jazz, ballroom, and contemporary, respectively).
| Task/style | Music | Choreographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Individual solo | Dancer's choice | Dancer |
| Hip-Hop | "B.O.B" OutKast |
tWitch & Comfort Fedoke |
| Broadway | "Must Be The Water" Marc Broussard |
Tyce Diorio |
| Jazz | "Freak Out (Gold Chains Panique Remix)" My Brightest Diamond |
Sonya Tayeh |
| Group routines | Chosen at random by the dancers from a selection on songs | Dancers |
| Cha Cha | "Let's Get Loud" Jennifer Lopez |
Jason Gilkison |
| Contemporary | "I Won't Give Up" Jason Mraz |
Travis Wall |
| Individual solo (last chance) | Dancer's choice | Dancer |
Finals[]
Top 20[]
Female Contestants[]
| Finalist | Age | Home Town | Dance style | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eliana Girard | 21 | West Palm Beach, Florida | Contemporary Ballet | Winner |
| Tiffany Maher | 19 | Plantation, Florida | Jazz | Runner-Up |
| Witney Carson | 18 | American Fork, Utah | Latin Ballroom | Top 6 |
| Lindsay Arnold | 18 | Provo, Utah | Latin Ballroom | Top 8 |
| Audrey Case | 18 | Edmond, Oklahoma | Jazz | Top 10 |
| Amelia Lowe | 18 | Butler, New Jersey | Contemporary | Top 14 |
| Janelle Issis | 24 | Vestavia Hills, Alabama | Belly Dancing | Top 14 |
| Amber Jackson | 21 | Atlanta, Georgia | Contemporary | Top 16 |
| Alexa Anderson | 19 | Chandler, Arizona | Contemporary | Top 20 |
| Janaya French | 20 | Aurora, Colorado | Lyrical Contemporary | Top 20 |
Male Contestants[]
| Finalist | Age | Home Town | Dance Style | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chehon Wespi-Tschopp | 23 | Zurich, Switzerland | Ballet | Winner |
| Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer | 22 | Atlanta, Georgia | Animation | Runner-Up |
| Cole Horibe | 26 | Honolulu, Hawaii | Martial Arts Fusion | Top 6 |
| Will Thomas | 19 | Troy, Michigan | Contemporary | Top 8 |
| George Lawrence II | 19 | Atlanta, Georgia | Contemporary | Top 10 |
| Dareian Kujawa | 20 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | Contemporary | Top 14 |
| Matthew Kazmierczak | 21 | Phoenix, Arizona | Contemporary | Top 14 |
| Brandon Mitchell | 27 | Kansas City, Kansas | Stepping | Top 16 |
| Daniel Baker | 24 | Newcastle, Australia | Ballet | Top 20 |
| Nick Bloxsom-Carter | 20 | Oak Park, California | Ballroom | Top 20 |
|
All-Stars[]
Just like Season 8, Season 9 featured a combination of the Top 20 format and the All-Star format from Season 7. During weeks 5, 6, 7, and 8, different All-Stars from past seasons came and partnered up with a contestant for that week. Some All-Stars danced in more weeks than others.
|
All-Stars Dance Pool[]
The All-Stars Dance Pool features some of the best and most popular dancers that have been featured on previous seasons.
| Dancer (Season) Dance Styles |
Partner | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
Week 8 | ||||||||
| Nick Lazzarini (1) Contemporary |
Witney | ||||||||||
| Allison Holker (2) Contemporary |
George | Cole | Chehon | ||||||||
| Benji Schwimmer (2) Swing |
Tiffany | ||||||||||
| Anya Garnis (3) Ballroom/Latin |
Cole | Chehon | |||||||||
| Jaimie Goodwin (3) Contemporary |
Cyrus | ||||||||||
| Lauren Gottlieb (3) Contemporary/Jazz/Hip-Hop |
Chehon | Will | |||||||||
| Comfort Fedoke (4) Hip-Hop |
Cyrus | ||||||||||
| William Wingfield (4) Jazz |
Tiffany | ||||||||||
| tWitch (4) Hip-Hop |
Audrey | Witney | Eliana | Cyrus | |||||||
| Ade Obayomi (5) Contemporary |
Tiffany | ||||||||||
| Brandon Bryant (5) Contemporary |
Tiffany | ||||||||||
| Jakob Karr (6) Contemporary/Jazz |
Lindsay | ||||||||||
| Kathryn McCormick (6) Contemporary |
Will | Chehon | |||||||||
| Ryan Di Lello (6) Ballroom/Latin |
Eliana | ||||||||||
| Alex Wong (7) Contemporary/Jazz |
Eliana | Lindsay | Eliana | ||||||||
| Marko Germar (8) Contemporary/Jazz |
Witney | ||||||||||
| Melanie Moore (8) Contemporary/Jazz |
Cyrus | Cole | |||||||||
Legand[]
| Color | Code |
|---|---|
| This dancer was eliminated this week. | |
| This dancer was in the Bottom 4 this week. | |
| This dancer was Safe. | |
| All-Star did not perform this week. | |
| Runner-Up | |
| Winner |
Elimination Chart[]
Contestants are listed in reverse chronological order of elimination.
- The song for the eliminated female contestant is "Free" by Haley Reinhart.
- The song for the eliminated male contestant is "Counting On You" by Mikey Wax.
| Female | Male | Bottom 4 contestants | Injury | Bottom 6 contestants |
| Week: | 7/18 | 7/25 | 8/15 | 8/22 | 8/29 | 9/5 | 9/111 | 9/18 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contestant | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Eliana Girard | Btm 6 | Winner | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chehon Wespi-Tschopp | Btm 6 | Btm 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tiffany Maher | Runner-up | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cole Horibe | Btm 4 | Elim | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Witney Carson | Btm 6 | Btm 4 | Btm 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Will Thomas | Elim | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lindsay Arnold | Btm 6 | Btm 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| George Lawrence II | Btm 6 | Btm 6 | Elim | |||||||||||||||||||
| Audrey Case | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matthew Kazmierczak | Elim | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Amelia Lowe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dareian Kujawa | Btm 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Janelle Issis | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brandon Mitchell | Elim | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Amber Jackson | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daniel Baker | Elim | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Alexa Anderson | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nick Bloxsom-Carter | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Janaya French | ||||||||||||||||||||||
^1 This week had no elimination.
Performance Shows[]
- Main article: Season 9/Performances
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