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DALLAS -- Sweat still beading on his forehead, Plano's Valentin Hernandez had just finished a callback audition for Fox's So You Think You Can Dance when he entered the lobby of Southern Methodist University's McFarlin Auditorium, where reporters already knew that he'd just received the bad news that he wouldn't advance.
"I don't disagree with the judges 100 percent," said Hernandez, one of about 500 to audition for the show Wednesday and one of the dozens called back Thursday. "More like 60/40. They said I needed to showcase other styles. I am strictly hip-hop, so I didn't think I would've had that disadvantage."
Hernandez had taken classes in lyrical dance and salsa in preparation for the show, in which amateur dancers show off their skills in various styles.
(In 2008, Fort Worth's versatile Joshua Allen won the show's fourth season.) Hernandez said he's good at learning routines and steps, so he's disappointed not to be on the show. But he took it well.
"I don't let things like this hold me down," said Hernandez, 22. "I know I'm a better dancer than what they say. ... My future plans were to move out to L.A., anyway, to do dancing, and I still might stick to that."
Hernandez's audition was one of several that media members got to observe Thursday, getting a peek at the upcoming season.
Head judge/executive producer Nigel Lythgoe was joined by choreographers Toni Redpath and Tyce Diorio, part of the show's rotating crew of dance-savvy judges.
During a lunch break from Thursday's callbacks, the judges seemed to have slightly different opinions on how things were going for the Dallas auditioners.
"They've been very diverse," Redpath said. "We've had all levels of dancers. It's been very, very interesting. The talent level is wonderful. There's some people here who have a terrific shot of going all the way."
Lythgoe was a little more guarded. "There were parts [Thursday] morning where I was disappointed," he said.
But Lythgoe added that things brightened.
Cat Deeley, the show's host, was also at the auditions but had not done any observing as of early Thursday afternoon.
She did greet aspiring contestants who lined up Wednesday.
"The biggest thing I noticed is how enthusiastic they are and how welcoming they were," Deeley said. "Sometimes it's difficult to get anything out of anybody, but here, it was, 'Hi, how are you!' and giving me breakfast and feeding me Froot Loops and dancing away."
So You Think You Can Dance's seventh season premieres at 7 p.m. May 27 on KDFW/Channel 4.
ROBERT PHILPOT, 817-390-7872
