Packed Wells Fargo Center hosts 'So You Think You Can Dance' tour

With a blast of athletic energy, some of national television’s current darlings of dance put on a fast-paced show for their local fans Saturday night. A sold-out crowd of some 1,600 followers of the Fox TV talent contest series “So You Think You Can Dance” packed Santa Rosa’s Wells Fargo Center for the Arts to see last season’s top dancers onstage.

Feet flew and bodies soared, and the fans loved it. The program included about 40 pieces, some choreographed for the TV show and others created for the tour, ranging in style from contemporary and hip-hop to Latin and tap. The crowd cheered the strong young performers, all familiar faces to the series’ fans by now, and the dancers’ relentless energy rolled off the stage in waves.

The tour features the top 10 finalists from season 11 in 2014, including the winner, Ricky Ubeda of Miami, and runner-up Valerie Rockey of suburban Indianapolis. Ubeda and Rockey performed a featured duet to Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got the World on a String,” a popular number from the TV series.

The other finalists are Bridget Whitman, Casey Askew, Emilio Dosal, Jacque LeWarne, Jessica Richens, Rudy Abreu, Tanisha Belnap and Zack Everhart. The entire troupe performed in a rapid-fire stream of solos, duets and ensemble numbers.

Some fans paid from $270 to $320 for special tickets that included a meet-and-greet session with the performers in the center’s lobby before the show. The dancers - far from road-weary - cheerfully posed for pictures with fans and doled out autographs and hugs.

Gina Tarry got to attend the informal mixer for the dancers and their fans as a present for her recent 15th birthday, coming from El Dorado Hills near Sacramento with her mother, Jacqueline.

A serious dance student, Gina said she hopes to make dancing her career.

“That’s the dream, but it’s hard to do,” she said. “Tonight is an inspiration.”

Alan Moore, 72, an avid fan from Fairfield, said he admired the physical prowess of the dancers.

“They leap across the stage into each other’s arms,” he said.

The tour features video commentary from the TV show’s choreographers and even a few dance lessons, shown on a large screen upstage. The screen doubles as a backdrop, with cityscapes, starlit skies and other scenes projected behind the dancers.

The first leg of the troupe’s 70-city tour of the United States and Canada began in New Orleans last October and ended in December in West Valley City, Utah. The dancers hit the road again in January for the second part of the tour, starting with a performance in Bakersfield.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.