<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> External links </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Website </Td> </Tr> <P> So You Think You Can Dance is an American televised show dance competition show that airs on Fox in the United States and is the flagship series of the international So You Think You Can Dance television franchise . It was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment, Dick Clark Productions, and Conrad Sewell Productions . The series premiered on July 20, 2005 with over ten million viewers and ended the summer season as the top - rated show on television . The first season was hosted by American news personality Lauren Sánchez . Since the second season, it has been hosted by former British children's television personality and game show emcee Cat Deeley . During its second season, the program remained the No. 1 rated summer show (people aged 18--49). </P> <P> The show features a format wherein dancers trained in a variety of dance genres enter open auditions held in a number of major U.S. cities to showcase their talents and move forward through successive additional rounds of auditions to test their ability to adapt to different styles . At the end of this process, a small number of dancers are chosen as finalists . These dancers move on to the competition's main phase, where they perform solo, duet, and group dance numbers on live television, attempting to master a diverse selection of dance styles, including classical, contemporary, ballroom, hip - hop, street, club, jazz, and musical theatre styles, among others . They compete for the votes of the broadcast viewing audience which, combined with the input of a panel of judges, determines which dancers advance to the next stage from week to week, until a winner is crowned as "Americaa's favorite dancer". </P>

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