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The New Audition Map.
A six-city tour without the franchise's original stop, and a guest judge's own conflict-of-interest call, make season four a quiet test of how fairly the format can referee itself.
A rhythm worth tracking.
Season four drops New York from the audition tour for the first time, replacing it with stops in Dallas, Charleston, Salt Lake City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Milwaukee. Ten men and ten women reach live shows through the same hat-drawn pairing system season three established. A guest judge with a dance academy of her own steps back from the panel while a contestant who trained there is still competing — a fairness call rare for the format.
The #05 slot.
Slot #05 of 18 in the So You Think You Can Dance Editor's Canon. Season four lands in the upper-middle of the canon for doing the unglamorous work of format maintenance well. New York drops off the audition tour for the first time, replaced by Dallas, Charleston, Salt Lake City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Milwaukee — proof the open-audition premise doesn't depend on any single city. The season also handles a real fairness question with unusual transparency: a guest judge with a dance academy of her own steps back from the panel while a contestant who trained there is still competing. Ten men and ten women move through the same hat-drawn pairing system season three established, keeping the live-show format stable while everything around it shifts.
5 moments, no spoilers.
- Ep 1 · a new map
New York drops off the audition tour for the first time, replaced by stops in Dallas, Charleston, Salt Lake City, D.C., LA, and Milwaukee.
- Ep 6 · a judge steps back
One contemporary dancer's ties to a guest judge's own dance academy prompt the show to keep that judge off the panel while he competes — a fairness call worth watching for.
- Ep 10 · the Top 20 stage
Ten men and ten women move into live shows, drawn into pairs the way the format has run since season three.
- Ep 16 · the style rotation
Couples work through an expanding range of genres as the season's middle stretch tests versatility over specialty.
- Ep 21 · the final weeks
The surviving pairs take on the broadest style range of the season as the competition heads toward its close.