michelle says

You can say this is true of most reality competition shows, but SYTYCD is different for me. Why does SYTYCD make me cry when American Idol does not? Part of it is the nature of dance; unlike singing competitions, which are as much about fame as they are about skill, the hopefuls of SYTYCD are not striving to become a massive, universally recognized rock star. Many are simply striving to dance behind a much more famous person on tour, or to choreograph that tour behind the scenes.

They follow this path because they love it beyond all reason, not because it is a path to riches and reknown. There is something compellingly pure about that, about individuals fighting to succeed at an art form because they believe it is magical and expressive and transformative and they would give anything, anything, to go on doing it forever. In most cases, we abandon such intrinsically creative pursuits in favor of a practical living, and I admire those who refuse to give up.