Asuka Kondoh and Ricky Sun on So You Think You Can Dance

For those of you kinda over American Idol — and really, after eight seasons, who isn’t — there’s So You Think You Can Dance. This year’s auditions included some Asian American latin ballroom dancers: Irvine’s Asuka Kondoh and Glendale’s Ricky Sun, both of whom who tried out last year but didn’t make the finals. But their audition this markedly better; the judges love Asuka’s TV-friendly sexiness, but Ricky’s performance is a lot sharper than previous — and judging from YouTube commenters — is the stronger technical dancer. And with the extra camera time before their performance, that can only mean one thing: at least one of the two will be one the final Top 20 contestants. (Knock on wood.)

And for the people out there not content with seeing an Asian person dance on national TV unless it’s hip-hop, you can always watch this YouTube performance of locker Katie Lee from last year’s SYTYCD Canada, at least to tide you until the next season of America’s Next Dance Crew. (Okay, this clip is six months old; I’m from California, this is new to me.)

Update: The latest episode has been broadcast, and Asuka is one of the Top 20 contestants for the public to vote on every week; Ricky was eliminated in the final round leading up to the broadcast.