I loved auditioning for Season 5 in Seattle

My episode featuring Los Angeles and Seattle auditions originally aired on 5/28/09 at 8pm local time.

During the course of filming, I have met some amazing people and witnessed how a major TV show gets produced. I keep secrets well. To the best of my knowledge, no one leaked anything about tonight’s battle.

I would like to thank you for watching the episode featuring me vs. Sex in a dramatic dance-off battle.

I hope you found it as hilarious as I did when the producer suggested it would be fun to shoot.

At the time I initially declined the offer, that was a genuine non-staged answer. It took a little bit of convincing on the part of producers for me to agree to such a battle.

Then again, there I was in another city, effectively off the show, and ready to fly home. What did I have to lose? I agreed to delay my flight back and you saw the result earlier tonight.

A side benefit was that I got to watch some amazing dancers make it through to the choreography round.

I’d like to give special thanks to Virgin America airlines for accomodating my needs by rescheduling my flight not once but twice in the same day without charging me a single dollar. You can follow Virgin America on Twitter as @VirginAmerica.

Why did I do this in the first place?

As you no doubt have figured out by now, I am someone who craves spotlight.  Moreover, I probably dance better than you do. You heard that right.

Just as most contestants, I wanted to see how far I can get on the show. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you about the behind the scenes events, but suffice it to say it’s a very busy day.

I honestly did not expect to get as far as the judgement day by industry professionals whose opinion I deeply respect. I am referring to, of course, Mary Murphy, Mia Michaels, and Nigel Lythgoe (also known as @DizzyFeet).

What was that song I chose?

The song that I chose for my dance solo is incredibly complex and, for most of you, impossibly fast. It is a very powerful song that I first heard at DJ Tiesto’s performance in San Francisco. He used it to open the second part of his set. I was very worried that it would not clear the music department because of its multi-part complexity. I intend to record a video to show you how it should have looked, but I need to find space where to do it.

For those of you who would like to listen to it in its entirety, it is available as a bonus track on the “Elements of Life” album by DJ Tiesto. My dance is cued to the 3:24 time point.

You can also listen to it on Blip.FM. I love getting props for my songs and feel free to make me your favorite DJ.

I reviewed the video, and it would appear that my song was replaced by another track. I will re-edit the video and post it with the correct soundtrack. While I love the replacement music, it destroys the concept.

You get airtime if you are either awesomely good or awesomely bad

Believe me, it’s not easy to be either one. To be awesomely good, you must outdance thousands of dancers who believe the same thing. To be awesomely bad and not just an anonymous person who can’t dance, you have to create what amounts to a self-scripted TV character.

I can tell you that speaking on camera is not the easiest thing in the world. Speaking on camera in extremely close proximity of the lovely Cat Deeley is a whole other story. Every word you say will be heard by 10 million people. Last week’s ratings were 8.8 million, for example. That realization really shapes your perspective. I made friends with the producers quickly as I tend to be an interesting person. That is likely why I wound up being judgement material for Nigel and his crew.

If you decide to audition on the show, you must resist snapping at any attacks the judges may throw at you. For instance, I deflected the anti-rave comments by explaining that I don’t need to do drugs to relax to the point where you would think I was under influence. Many ravers are completely sober when they go to such events. At all ages events, alcohol is not sold. I see more happy sober ravers than I do ravers under the influence.

Did I simply want to be on TV?

No. I wanted to be on a #1 rated TV show in USA. I also realized that the show needs interesting characters and thought I could add to its value. The producers evidently agreed with that thought.

Had I gone through to choreography and gotten sufficient rest before, you would see a significantly different performance. However, without sufficient rest it would have been a disaster.

Did I have any ulterior motives?

Yes. I am an entrepreneur and also have interest in film and TV work. I look great, I can move, and I am an eloquent trained public speaker with zero stage fright. What can be a better demo tape than a prime-time special that 10 million people have already enjoyed? Agents who are nodding their heads in agreement while reading this article are encouraged to contact me now.

As an entrepreneur, I got the opportunity to talk about a couple of my businesses. You may have noticed that I deliberately did not use their names.

One of my areas of expertise is personal branding. I wanted to see what can happen if a personal brand, which in my case is “Wiseleo” gets exposed to 10 million people. How many of you would actually be curious enough to look me up. Unfortunately, Fox decided to not show my nickname at the bottom of your screen, which actually significantly derailed my plan. However, they were kind enough to produce a nice special feature for me. The recap blogs partially corrected that problem. I got some fun and not so fun reviews from all over the Internet and thank their writers.

I interacted with just about everyone who liked my battle in the #sytycd discussion taking place over Twitter. You will need a Twitter account to participate in that link. While I have lots of followers on Twitter who primarily follow me because of business and marketing advice, I was curious how many non-business fans I could find as well. By the way, I didn’t do it just to find some new followers. I find many new friends every day through my normal Twitter use and a quick check of my history on Twitter Grader will confirm that my pattern is largely the same.

Did you know that I was the most mentioned person in that conversation in a positive context? That was encouraging.

What would I change for my audition?

Mia caught me looking at the floor.

I think that remark wasn’t on the air. I can’t believe I did it. What a rookie mistake! Then again, being so tired as I was, everything was a blur. I literally could not make my feet move. While you didn’t get to hear most of the critique, I remember it quite well.

Get PLENTY of rest!

The day before my audition I flew in late and had to reschedule my initial audition for the following day. I was late because my Alaska Airlines flight had a mechanical failure and we had to swap aircraft.

I wound up taking a walking tour of Seattle. It’s a gorgeous city and seemed like a great idea at the time. If you have not been to Emerald city, I encourage you to visit it. When I re-traced my steps, that was about 17 miles. I completed my initial audition on Day 2 and they invited me to return for Day 3. My feet desperately needed rest, but I also had a slight problem with my bank, which required me to walk another 10 miles. Not solving that problem, which I ultimately did, would have prevented me from staying at a hotel.

On judgement day, I was as tired as if I had just danced 8 hours in a nightclub. My song is incredibly fast and requires a lot of stamina to perform correctly. Even when well-rested, I still can get worn out from it in about 3 minutes, but an audition rarely lasts more than 2 minutes. Had I been well-rested, however, I probably would not have had this opportunity to entertain you in the same way as I did earlier tonight.

Get my hair done.

It would have taken two minutes to apply some Tresemme mousse to keep my hair in-check. Unfortunately, I overslept the 3rd audition day. When I arrived at the venue, I had literally less than a minute to find my seat among the dancers. That will explain the hair.

Squint less.

The TV lights are quite bright and that simply doesn’t look good on your screen. I wish the producers directed me to stop doing that.

Am I disappointed that I failed?

No. From the perspective of a competitive dancer, sure I failed.

From the perspective of making a comedy appearance on a #1 rated TV show, I definitely succeeded beyond my expectations.

Unlikely many contestants who do not understand that they are entertainers on a reality show, I did not argue with judges in any way that can be considered disrespectful. That includes the offscreen dialog that you did not get to see. I was there to entertain you. If getting cut was entertaining you well, I’ve done my part.

I understand they didn’t show brilliant Vegas-worthy performances. I trust that FOX will make sure those dancers will be given plenty of spotlight time in future episodes.

Did I take up someone’s spot in front of the judges?

It’s a widespread misconception that those of us who don’t go through to choreography round count against some “quota”. Some viewers believe that we deprive someone of a chance to go in front of judges. I can’t talk about the show secrets, but I can tell you that there is no limit to the number of people the judges are willing to judge. They have to endure very long days while casting the show.

Please see Nigel’s @DizzyFeet tweets for some veiled insights into how this really works.

Will I be returning for Season 6?

I will definitely not be returning for Season 6 as I have to grow my businesses, but coming back for Season 7 could be fun. I am thinking of a more traditional routine. It would be easier if I found a partner brave enough to go with me. I would love to dazzle you with a highly complex Argentine Tango performance, but I am also considering hip hop elements mixed with Rumba. Doesn’t that sound cool?

Don’t worry, this one will be a world-class awesome performance if I can find enough time to practice the choreography.

I mentioned earlier that I can probably dance better than you

So you think YOU can dance?

Here is an open challenge to you, my friend. Any time, any place, any music. What counts is how dazzled the crowd is.

Please, take me up on my challenge. I’d like to have a harder challenge than battling Sex. I am in San Francisco Bay Area.

How to reach me

You can create or respond to an event on my Facebook Fan page. Oh, and please do be my fan.

Follow me on Twitter and you will see that I am a fun person and maybe even discover a few new things.

If you think this story should be shared with your friends, click this whole big link to re-tweet it.

Thank you very much for enjoying my contribution to So you think you can dance Season 5. I look forward to discovering our new stars as they head off to Las Vegas and we get to watch them improve by the day.

If you intend to republish information from this article in whole or partially, please notify me.

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So you think you can dance by Leonid S. Knyshov