I Auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance and My Performance Was Whack

It was June of 2009, and I was still thirsty to make it big. I was going to Atlanta every other weekend to find an agent. I auditioned for movies and for background dance opportunities. This particular time in 2009 was a perfect opportunity for me, so I thought. Auditions for the show, So You Think You Can Dance was coming to Atlanta. I was ready and I was excited. I had my songs picked out, some choreography put together, and I had the approval from my leaders at work to take the time off. Early that Monday morning was the first day of auditions. I remember it being a cool morning for June.

The auditions were held at the Woodruff Arts Center and there were dancers there from all over. It was time to line up to go in for the first part of the auditions. Before we were allowed in, the camera crew came around to hype us up for some B-roll. Finally, the host of the show came out, her name was Cat Deeley. Cat Deeley walked through the line to interview selected people. She came to me and asked me where I was from and what kind of dance I would be doing. I told her that I was from Columbus, Georgia and my style of dance was hip-hop choreography and some C-town Yeeking (Four Steppin). She then asked me to demonstrate what C-town four steppin was. I had the chance to show the host of So You Think You Can Dance how to do the Four Step. She actually did it, and I was super amped.

Time passed and I finally made it in for my first audition. I made the first cut. The next day I had to return to the same place and go through a second audition. I made that cut also. The final audition that was held in Atlanta would be the one that would be aired on television. This meant everything. Every other audition was a freestyle audition but this audition would be the audition that I would use to do some choreography. I was ready, so I thought. The judges for that day were, Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Lil' C. It was my turn to hit the stage. I was able to make some friends while I was there and many of my friends were there cheering for me when I took the stage. Nigel then asked me a few questions and then gave a signal for my music to start. A song came on but it wasn’t my song. They were playing the wrong song!

I signaled for them to stop the music. They apologized and I got set to start again. Another song played and it still wasn’t my song. After that, Nigel himself apologized and the audience also chimed in to show their frustration. I got set again and this time it was my song. I started dancing. It’s hard to explain, but I knew while I was dancing, the moves I was doing were indeed whack. It wasn’t all of the choreography I worked on. It was some of it, but a lot of the moves were foolish. I felt foolish. I was just moving across the stage with no definition, and it felt like torture. It was frustrating and embarrassing. My performance was whack! When the song finally ended, you could hear a feather drop.

The judges didn’t even know what to say. Nigel finally broke the silence and said, “Lil C, I’ll let you handle this one.” Lil C then said, “That was horrible, you were all over the place.” Mary then said what she had to say and Nigel finally finished up with a little encouragement to end it with a “It’s a no for me.” Everyone else finished with, “It’s a no for me.” I walked off the stage crushed. My performance was whack. I did one last interview before leaving the building. Afterwards, I went to my 82 Chrysler New Yorker and headed back to Columbus, Georgia. The ride home was rough. I wrestled with myself the whole way home. “Why didn’t you do this and why didn’t you do that?” It was bad. My performance was whack and I was embarrassed.

What did I learn?

I’m sitting here thinking about this six years later, and I can’t help but think about the gospel. Our performance outside of Christ is whack in front of the eyes of God. We’re all on the stage of life and the judge is Jesus. He’s righteous. He’s holy. Our choreography is sin, every count and every step. The only way we’re able to walk off the stage without shame and guilt is to sit down and let Jesus take the stage in our place. He took the stage in our place without any choreography of sin. He did it in our place. Since it’s in our place, He is judged as if He was whack (our whackness), but ultimately His performance is flawless.

At His resurrection He is seen as the best and we get to walk off the stage with Him as if our performance was flawless. We make the final cut because of His performance. He’s judged and condemned for our whack performance but we walk off stage with the applause and acceptance of the judge because of Jesus’ flawless performance. All of our performances for right standing with God is whack, no matter how good we think we are. The true and awesome performance of Jesus is what counts. He’s the one who made (makes) the cut in our place. Amen. Let us turn and trust in Him.

For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin (our sin) who knew no sin, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)