Preliminary auditions are held in selected locations. Participants who display a good degree of potential to them are recalled to the Callbacks (if their skills are debatable) or qualify directly to the Boot Camp (if they greatly impress the judges during the auditions).
Callbacks
Those who qualify for the callbacks are required to undergo versatility and cohesiveness tests while vying for remaining places in the Boot Camp where there have been participants who have qualified directly from the Auditions. In this sense, versatility discusses participants' ability to project as many styles and techniques of dance as possible.
Boot Camp
Again, contestants who have qualified to this point are given a tougher versatility and cohesiveness which explores their preparedness for the next stage – the live competition. The Boot Camp will be divided into group and individual test sessions. Their emotions and mental strength may be tested as well throughout in preparation for the live competitions. A proportionate number of male and female contestants (usually 10 and 10, respectively) will qualify for the live shows.
Live shows
The most anticipated part of the show witnesses the performances of those who qualified from the Boot Camp live on television. Each show is divided into three sub-events: contestants perform in pairs (one male and one female) to entertain viewers, and at the same time, to be evaluated by a panel of three or four judges; the judges then selected the (four or six, gender-proportionate) worst-performing finalists to vie for survival in the competition by public voting; the one male and one female with the lowest votes leave the competition. Later shows will witness the pairs performing more than one dance routine as the number of finalists decimate along the way.
Grand Finale
At this point, two male and two female finalists remain to vie for public votes and ultimately, the grand prize which only the champion takes home. They may have to perform more routines in a night, including two solo routines and one same-gender pair-up. Guest dancers and singers are also invited to perform. The night closes ceremoniously with the winner announcement.
The inaugural season of So You Think You Can Dance took off with one audition session in Kuala Lumpur on 16 and 17 March 2007. Out of about 500 people auditioning, seven skipped into the Boot Camp while 80 qualified for the Callbacks. From the eighty, thirty-three joined the Boot Camp to fill in the Top 40 before the judges only allowed 20 to proceed into the live competition.
Live shows were held for nine weeks from 3 May till 29 June 2007. Initially, the judges in this stage picked a bottom four for each of the first four weeks, after which the judges decided to select a bottom six to address finalists' competitiveness until the penultimate live show. Noor Fatimah and Mohd Yunus were notably the only contestants to avoid the danger zone until they were cut out of the Grand Finale on week 8.
In the Grand Finale on 29 June 2007, Muhammad Haslam Abdul Rahman Rubaee, fondly known as Alam, was declared the winner and clinched RM50,000 cash and a role in one of Tiara Jacquelina's theatre roles. Dennis Yin, Suhaili Micheline and Brancy Tan filled the second, third and fourth places, respectively.
On 9 March 2008, a day after the Malaysian general elections, auditions for season 2 kicked off in Kota Kinabalu, to be followed by Kuala Lumpur on 18 March. Telecast is scheduled to commence on 1 May.
