The hugely popular television program, So You Think You Can Dance, is back for a 13th season with a bit of a twist and one young Calgarian is hoping to dance her way into the finals.
So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation premiered on May 30th and has a new format that focuses on younger dancers this year.
Contestants between the ages of 8 and 13 are fighting it out on the dance floor for the chance to become the show’s next big star and they will be judged on their skills and styles by Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, and Jason Derulo.
Auditions for the show were held in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in February and March and the youngsters performed for a chance to move on to “The Academy” for further coaching and mentoring.
The best-of-the-best from ‘The Academy’ will then be selected for the next round and the top ten will be paired with one of the shows All-Stars to learn the routines for the rest of the competition.
One contestant will go home each week until a winner is named and a 12-year-old Calgary girl is hoping she will be the one at centre stage on finale night.
Tate McRae has been dancing since she was six and successfully made it past the audition stage on Monday’s episode of the hit reality show.
“It’s incredible. It’s actually such a strange feeling because I’ve never done something like this before so it’s actually incredible and such a surreal feeling seeing myself on TV and just experiencing this but everything that’s going on right now is amazing,” said Tate. “At that time I was in shock, I couldn’t even process what the judges were saying.”
“It was surreal. The whole weekend was quite overwhelming, just being in New York, and all of the people, like all of the kids that were auditioning, it was crazy, and just knowing that it was national TV and there’s interviews going on everywhere,” said Tate’s mother, Tanja Rosner. “When we found out that she was moving on, it was quite exciting.
The young dancer and singer is enrolled at the School of Alberta Ballet and also trains with the YYC Dance Project.
Tate talked to CTV News about her success and says she couldn’t wait to audition for the show but that it almost didn’t happen.
“When it first came out I was like, oh my goodness, I have to try this out and I have to go for it but the only thing that was stopping me was that I was Canadian and that I couldn’t work in the U.S. and so a week before the New York auditions, I got my O-1 visa so we rushed to New York and made it but it was really tight and really crazy,” she said.
“She found out and yes, immediately, she’s been watching the show forever and she said this is definitely a dream of hers,” said Rosner. “It was about a week before the last audition, her visa came in the mail.”
Tate will now go on to ‘The Academy’ and is excited to work with the show’s choreographers and judges.
“It’s so exciting, I love them all and I’ve always loved watching them on previous seasons,” she said.
Tate watched the show on Monday from Calgary before rushing off to the Saddledome to dance on stage with Justin Bieber.
“She auditioned online and we found out two weeks ago that she was going to be able to perform with him here in Calgary. So they learned the choreography online and then we arrived yesterday at five and they ran it with all the dancers a few times and then they were treated like royalty. They got to go in a VIP room and hung out with some of the dancers and then got to perform with him halfway through the show so it was pretty exciting,” said Tate’s mother Tanja.
“I went to Justin Bieber and I danced on stage with him, which was insane because he’s one of my all-time favourite artists,” said Tate.
Tate is hoping to be a professional dancer, singer, actress or all three and her mother says her dream is to eventually land a part on Broadway.
