A typical season of
So You Think You Can Dance is divided between a selection process, during which expert judges select contestants from a wide pool of applicant dancers, and a competition phase, during which these "contestants" (more typically referred to as the "Top 20") compete for votes from home viewers. Although it is produced over months, the selection phase is highly edited and usually constitutes only the first 2 to 4 weeks of aired episodes with the competition episodes forming the remaining 7 to 9 weeks of the season.
Open auditions The open auditions, the first stage in determining a season's contestants, take place in 2 to 6 major U.S. cities each season and are typically open to anyone aged 18 to 30 at the time of their audition, although season 13 focused on a younger class of contestants, ages 8 to 13. The cities where auditions are held change from season to season but some, such as
Los Angeles and
New York City, have featured in most seasons. During this stage, the contestants perform a brief routine (typically a solo, but duet and group routines are allowed as well) before a panel of dance experts usually headed by series creator and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. This panel then decides on the spot whether the dancer demonstrated enough ability and performance value to proceed further. If the contestant exhibited exceptional ability in their performance, judges award "a ticket to Vegas" (or in more recent seasons "a ticket to the Academy"), moving them instantly one step forward in the competition. Alternatively, if judges are on the fence about the contestant, they may ask the contestant to wait until the end of that day's auditions to participate in a short test of their ability to use professional choreography.
Callbacks The second stage of the selection process is referred to as "the callbacks" (this round was referenced as "Vegas Week" for much of the show's run, as it was held in
Las Vegas, but was called "Academy Week" from season 13 to season 16, later called the "Choreography Round" in season 17). The callbacks consist of a several-day-long process in which the remaining hopefuls are tested for overall well-rounded dance ability, stamina, creativity, and ability to perform under pressure. The contestants are put through a battery of rounds that test their ability to use various dance styles; these are typically some of the more well-represented genres that are later prominent in the competition phase, such as hip-hop, jazz, ballroom, and contemporary. Additionally, the contestants may be asked to perform further solos in styles of their choosing and participate in a group choreography round in which small teams of contestants must display their musicality and ability to communicate professionally by choreographing a performance to a randomly selected piece of music. This challenge is notable as being the only time contestants are asked to choreograph themselves, aside from solos. The callbacks are often collectively portrayed as one of the most exhausting and stressful stages of the competition; each successive round sees cuts in which a significant portion of the remaining contestants are eliminated from the competition and are given a limited amount of time to adapt to styles they are sometimes wholly unfamiliar with while being physically taxed by the rapid progression of rounds and a limited amount of rest. At the end of this process, usually less than 40 contestants remain in a pool the top contestants are chosen. Most seasons have featured 20 "top" contestants for the competition portion of the show, but season 1 was represented by a Top 16, season 7 saw a Top 11, seasons 13 through 16 and 18 have featured a Top 10, and season 17 saw a Top 12.
Contestant stage Following the contestant selection process, the show transitions into its regular competition phase, which lasts for the rest of the season. The competition stage is typically divided into eight weeks, generally with two contestants eliminated per week. Contestants are paired up into female-male couples that will sometimes stay paired for much of the remaining competition if neither is eliminated (since season 7, contestants have also been occasionally paired with "All Stars", returning contestants from previous seasons who pair up with the contestants, but who are not themselves competing). These couples perform 1 or 2 duets per week in different styles which are typically, but not always, randomly selected. These duets, as with all non-solo performances at this stage in the competition, are choreographed by professional choreographers. Before most duet performances, a video packets of clips of the couple preparing to perform the routine is shown. These packets are intended not only to demonstrate the couple's efforts to master the routine, but also to give glimpses of the personalities and personal histories of the contestants, as well as insights from the choreographer as to the thematic, narrative, and artistic intentions of the piece. Following each duet performance, the week's panel of judges gives critical feedback, often emphasizing the two key areas of technique and performance value. Duets and their accompanying video packets and critiques typically take up the majority of an episode but are often supplemented by solos, group numbers, and occasionally guest dance or musical performances. is co-creator of the
So You Think You Can Dance franchise and has been executive producer of the American and British productions for their entire runs. He also served as a permanent judge for the first sixteen seasons of the American production as well as the entire run of the British production. In season 1, each week of the competition featured a single episode, with contestants' eliminations pre-recorded the week they occurred and then broadcast at the beginning of the next week's episode. In seasons 2 to 8, the show's weekly format was split between two episodes, a performance episode, as described above, and a results show which revealed the outcome of the at-home-viewer voting following the performance show of the same week. More recent seasons have returned to a one-show-per-week format, but with each week's episode typically reflecting the results of voting for the previous week's performances, with these results revealed at the end of the following week's performances. Depending on the stage of the competition, each week may feature eliminations that are based entirely on an at-home viewer vote, or the vote may simply create a group of bottom contestants from which the show's judges will select the final eliminations. Voting has also varied by season (and often within seasons) regarding whether the voter selected individuals or couples. Following the announcement of their elimination, contestants are typically given a brief send-off video packet. Each competitive episode ends with a quick recap of the night's routines accompanied by voting prompts. Episodes typically last around two hours, commercials included. There has also been variability in how long couples are kept together and how the at-home-viewer votes are balanced against judge decisions, though ultimately at some point in every season, the judges stop using their power to save contestants, and eliminations are determined exclusively by viewer votes. The total number of hours shown in a given week during the performance phase of the competition has varied from two to four hours. The finale episode is often the most elaborately produced show of a season and features the last performances of the contestants, encore performances of many of the season's most acclaimed routines, guest dancers (including returning contestants from previous seasons and cast members from other international versions of the franchise), musical performances, and multiple video packets chronicling the course of the season's events, all culminating in the announcement of the winner of the competition. Most seasons have featured a single winner, while seasons 9 and 10 featured both female and male winners. Following the closure of the season, the Top Ten contestants often go on tour for several months, performing hit routines from the season among other performances.
Judges A typical season of
So You Think You Can Dance is presided over by a panel of 2 to 4 permanent judges, supplemented by occasional guest judges, with the panel sometimes expanding to twice or more its normal size for callback episodes or season finales. Executive producer and co-creator of the show Nigel Lythgoe was the only judge to have sat as a permanent member of the panel across the first 16 seasons, although ballroom specialist
Mary Murphy has also sat as a permanent member of the panel for the majority of seasons; Lythgoe was set to return as a judge on the show's eighteenth season, but left the show in January 2024. Other permanent judges have included film director and choreographer
Adam Shankman, contemporary choreographer
Mia Michaels, pop music and dance icon
Paula Abdul, dancer and actress
Maddie Ziegler, actress and singer
Vanessa Hudgens, music and dance artist
Jason Derulo, choreographer and television personality
Laurieann Gibson, actress, dancer and singer
JoJo Siwa, actor and singer
Matthew Morrison and successful show alumni
Stephen "tWitch" Boss and
Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval. Many earlier seasons frequently featured guest judges in occasional episodes, although this practice has become increasingly rare. These guest judge positions have typically been filled by choreographers who regularly work on the show (who in rare cases may also be former contestants themselves) as well as by iconic names from the entertainment industry. Guest judges for the show have included:
Debbie Allen,
Christina Applegate,
Robin Antin,
Toni Basil, Cicely Bradley,
Kristin Chenoweth,
Misty Copeland,
Alex Da Silva,
Ellen DeGeneres,
Tyce Diorio, Joey Dowling,
Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo,
Carmen Electra,
Brian Friedman,
Jean-Marc Généreux,
Jason Gilkison,
Neil Patrick Harris,
Hi-Hat,
Katie Holmes,
Dan Karaty,
Lady Gaga,
Carly Rae Jepsen,
Lil' C,
Rob Marshall,
Mandy Moore,
Megan Mullally,
Kenny Ortega,
Toni Redpath,
Debbie Reynolds,
Wade Robson, Doriana Sanchez,
Shane Sparks,
Sonya Tayeh, Olisa Thompson,
Stacey Tookey,
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and
Travis Wall.
Overview of format and presentation by season ==Dance styles and choreographers==