If “So You Think You Can Dance” isn’t enough hoofing and pirouetting for you, you’ll be happy to know that “SYTYCD” producer Nigel Lythgoe has another dance-oriented series for you. The 7-part series “A Chance to Dance,” which premieres Friday, Aug. 17 (10 p.m. ET) follows two former ballet dancers Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn as they travel across the country to put together a dance troupe in just four weeks.
Why four weeks? “Because the theater was booked,” said Lythgoe, who said this isn’t so much about eliminating dancers but putting Trevitt and Nunn to the test. “It isn’t a competition show; it’s a challenge show.”
Nunn, who noted that it usually takes three to six months to put together a company, said that he and Trevitt were stuck looking for talent wherever Lythgoe sent them. “He sent us to Salt Lake City, and all we knew about it was Mormon…” Adding that the pair also looked for talent in Austin and Washington, they weren’t just looking for cities off the beaten path. “We went to a pole dancing class,” said Trevitt.
“I’m in the editing room… and I see this entire pole dancing thing going on, and BIlly up the pole having taken his trousers off,” said Lythgoe.
Levitt did have a good reason for losing the pants, however. “Otherwise, you slip right off,” he shrugged.
Though Lythgoe could complain about all of the other dance-oriented programming on the air, he’s not complaining. “Everyone wants to repeat a successful show,” he said. “My big wish is that when ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ [aren’t] there anymore, that dancing will come in and replace it. [Dancing]’s only been eight years back,” he said, adding that he’d like dance to become “a staple of the American diet.”