Fox has renewed “So You Think You Can Dance” for a 12th season, and this one comes with a twist.
Next summer, stage dancers — those trained in styles such as contemporary, ballet, jazz or tap — will be pitted against street dancers — hip-hop, animation or break dancers — on the 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions series.
Here’s how it will go down: The judges, along with each team’s All-Star Mentor, will eliminate dancers until only the Top 20 — 10 Street Dancers and 10 Stage Dancers — remain. When the competition goes “live,” one dancer from each genre will be eliminated every week leading up to the finale.
“‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is a rare jewel. It combines high art with mass entertainment in a seamless, sophisticated and hugely satisfying way,” said Simon Andreae, executive vice president, Alternative Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “It’s produced and consumed with tremendous passion and it’s developed one of the most deservedly loyal followings in all of unscripted television. We are immensely proud to be returning it to the schedule with a thrilling new twist that will bring it up to date and introduce a whole new set of rooting opportunities.”
“The competition is going to be much more exciting for viewers and even more demanding for the dancers,” added co-creator and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. “Dancers from different genres have always been competitive with each other and we’ve found a great way to harness that to bring out the absolute best performances in the best dancers across the country.”
Audition cities and dates will be announced soon.
Over the course of its 11 seasons, “So You Think You Can Dance” has received 44 Emmy Award nominations, taking home 13 trophies.
“SYTYCD” was created by Simon Fuller and Lythgoe. The series is executive-produced by those two; Allen Shapiro, Barry Adelman, James Breen, and Jeff Thacker.