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Shafeek Westbrook may be a street breakdancer, but he had a clear mission when he turned up for New York's "So You Think You Can Dance" auditions. He wanted to prove to judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Tyce Diorio that breakers can cross genres. Mission accomplished.

Fans of the show know it's true. We've seen hip-hoppers like Tadd Gadduang make it not only to Las Vegas, but to the final rounds of the competition. And it looks like 22-year-old Shafeek, a Philadelphia native, may be another contender to take his game from the streets to the highest echelons of the dance world.

His routine combined classic breakdance moves with a contemporary, interpretive flow that left the judges breathless. And not only was his dance amazing, so was his inspiration:

"A friend of mine died in 9/11," he said. "My dance was supposed to be him climbing out of the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Melanie Moore won So You Think You Can Dance's eighth after getting almost half of viewer votes, but she expected that she'd follow in previous front-runners' footsteps and lose because people thought she'd win. After complimenting Sasha Mallory, who received 32 percent of viewers' votes compared to 47 for Melanie (and just 21 percent for both third place Marko Germar and fourth place Tadd Gadduang combined), Melanie noted that "they've been calling me a favorite...

"So You Think You Can Dance" has a new champion. 47 percent of viewers picked Melanie Moore as "America's Favorite Dancer." The 19-year-old contemporary dancer from Marietta, Georgia was the front-runner all season long, and was never placed in the bottom group. Watch Moore's winning moment below and some of her amazing routines: Second place went to Sasha Mallory of Bakersfield, California. Marko Genmar and Tadd Gadduang were third and fourth, respectively. Moore had plenty of celebrity fans, too. "You're so energetic and I believe the story that you're telling," guest judge Katie Holmes told her during the first part of the finale. "I would push myself to the front of the line to work with you, " "High School Musical" director Kenny Ortega told Moore. Could we see her in the "Dirty Dancing" remake he has planned? The champion told Us Weekly that she'll use the $250,000 prize to go back to school.

To the uninitiated, the parting words of So You Think You Can Dance‘s Season 8 third-place finisher might have sounded at best a little hokey, and at worst, like a last-ditch attempt at maintaining composure after discovering it would be another contestant who would take home the title. But as Marko Germar tearfully explained that, in his mind, the show was so much more than a matter of winning or losing, it drove home the deeply emotional reasons why these contestants battle so ferociously to try to make it in a physically draining profession where prospects for national fame and...

After nine weeks of dancers shedding their blood, sweat and tears on stage, America has chosen it's favorite dancer! After a lukewarm finale show on Wednesday from visibly exhausted dancers, it all came down to one last night of voting to crown the winner of So You Think You Can Dance! So who won? How did the results show compare to the final performance show, and what did the winner have to say after the show?  It's hard to believe, just like that (insert finger snap), season eight of So You Think You Can Dance is over! It was whirlwind summer of stiff competition that, in the end, left Melanie Moore, Marko Germar, Tadd Gadduang and Sasha Mallory dancing their hearts out to win America's...

"So You Think You Can Dance" has selected a winner tonight. Nigel Lythgoe predicted that the competition would come down to the two women: Sasha Mallory or Melanie Moore. Tonight saw the two men, Marko Germar or Tadd Gadduang, edged out by the ladies. With 11.5 million votes, Melanie Moore was crowned America's Favorite Dancer with 47 percent of the Top Four vote. "You two are both exquisite dancers, you have both been amazing," Emmy-nominated host Cat Deeley told the two female finalists. With 32 percent of the vote, Mallory came in second; Germar, third; and Gadduang, fourth. Georgia girl Melanie Moore, 19, takes home the $250,000 prize and a sponsorship deal.

The final result of "So You Think You Can Dance" season 8 did not fall from predictions. Having been judges' favorite since her audition, Melanie Moore was announced as the champion on the Thursday (August 11) show, with 47 percent of total vote.

Another female dancer on the top four, Sasha Mallory, was placed second. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Marko Germar, who once made Lady GaGa cry with his routine on Top 8 performance night, and 25-year-old Tadd Gadduang were the third placer and fourth placer respectively.

On the final result show, all top 20 dancers from this season returned to stage to perform. The judges, that include Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Robin Antin and Lil' C, picked the routines that were performed by the contestants that night.

Later, the top 10 dancers from the season are scheduled to embark on a 32-city tour on September 17. The stops include Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City...

Fox Tadd Gadduang and Sasha Mallory on “So You Think You Can Dance”

Who will be crowned America’s favorite dancer?

Judging from the comments here and the rest of the blogosphere, people seem to have little doubt that it’s going to be Melanie.

There’s an opening group number to “Wanna Get Hype” by District 78. They’re in bondage/futuristic looking outfits and big hair and leap around a lot. It is kind of interesting when they crawl on their heads.

Despite strong performances by all four finalists, head judge Nigel Lythgoe predicted that the winner of So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday night would be one of the two remaining women: Sasha Mallory or Melanie Moore. Was he right? Or did the victory go to one of the men, Marko Germar or Tadd Gadduang? Read on to find out. Related: So You Think You Can Dance Winner Was 'Ready to Take Second'Spoiler Alert: Winner to be announced.With 11.5 million votes, Lythgoe was right: The competition came down to the two women. Melanie Moore was crowned America's Favorite...

The competitive portion of So You Think You Can Dance‘s eighth season ended not with a “Woohoo!” but rather, with the bang of Nigel Lythgoe’s harsh-truth gun — and we didn’t even have Tyce Diorio to blame. Yes indeed, midway through the proceedings, Uncle Nigel, the man behind the curtain (and at the head of the judges’ table), abandoned the “best ever” hard sell we’ve come to expect and admitted the evening’s trajectory had been “a little disappointing.”

So the question looms: What went wrong? Maybe our final four dancers — Melanie Moore, Tadd Gadduang, Sasha Mallory,...

So You Think You Can Dance's final four contestants for season eight took to the stage last night for the first part of the two-night season finale. Sasha Mallory, Melanie Moore, Marko Germar and Tadd Gadduang performed with each other, an all-star and delivered a solo routine for judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and special guests Katie Holmes and Kenny Ortega. > So You Think You Can Dance season finale recap - part one

> So You Think You Can Dance's Mary Murphy talks Top 4 The winner of the $$250,000 and title of America's Favorite Dancer will be revealed on tonight's live results show, which airs from 8/7c on Fox. Sasha, Marko, Tadd and Melanie shared their thoughts with fans on their official Twitter and Facebook accounts after their performances on Wednesday: Sasha: "Ahhh I'm so happppyyyy!! Doesn't (more)...

So You Think You Can Dance airs the first half of its Season 8 finale Wednesday night, and with Melanie, Sasha, Marko, and Tadd in the mix, you know we’ll be witnessing tears, standing ovations, and possibly even tickets for the not-referenced-as-frequently-as-it-used-to-be Hot Tamale Train. (Woo-hoo!) What better time to review the 12 best routines from the show’s previous eight weeks of performance episodes? Without further ado, let the countdown begin…

12. Iveta and Nick (Top 20, Quickstep: Jason Gilkison) Yeah, it’s a little cray-cray that in Week One of competition, our World Champion in Quickstep drew…the Quickstep! But a...

It all comes down to this.

After more than two months of competition and the elimination of 16 dancers, only four remain to dance in the So You Think You Can Dance season 8 finale. Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory and Tadd Gadduang all have a shot at the title of America's Favorite Dancer. And tonight's dances will help decide which contestant will win.

Filed under: Features, TV News

In tonight's two-hour episode of 'So You Think You Can Dance,' Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory and Tadd Gadduang will duke it out in an attempt to be crowned America's favorite dancer.

So, who are you rooting for during part one of the summer hit's two-hour finale? Are you a hip-hop person or more of a contemporary fan? After the jump, watch videos of the final four's performances and then cast your vote for who you think should win season 8 of 'So You Think You Can Dance.'

 

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Travis Wall is sad to report that you will not see him in this week’s So You Think You Can Dance two-part finale. The Emmy-nominated choreographer, and season 2 Sytycd runner-up, tells EW, “I was supposed to do the finale, but I had to cancel because I got the movie.” Indeed, Wall is currently in Miami creating contemporary pieces for Step Up 4, starring season 6 contestant, and season 7 and 8 All Star, Kathryn McCormick. “It’s my first movie to choreograph,” he says. “I’m really excited.”

But back to Sytycd: After getting his first shot on the judges’ panel this year,...

The season finale of “So You Think You Can Dance” is finally here! The final 4 — Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory and Tadd Gadduang have already expressed their excitement to Fox All Access as we inch closer to the end. Judge Mary Murphy, on the other hand, expressed her anticipation. She cannot wait to see what dance numbers they come up with this week. She told us the last one’s standing are hard at work and they’re really exhausted but their adrenaline will carry them all the way through. We caught up with Mary as she walked the red carpet last week to find out what we can expect on the finale, she shared her words of encouragement and she talked about how dance will always be something she cherishes for the rest of her life. Who will you be rooting for on Sytycd? Watch the season finale...

The countdown is on…we’re getting closer and closer to the “So You Think You Can Dance” season finale this Wednesday and Thursday night on Fox. We caught up with the Top 4 contestants – Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory and Tadd Gadduang on the red carpet as they hit up a party to find out what is going through each of their minds days before their last dance on the show. They describe what they’re feeling as we inch closer to finding out who the winner will be, they talk about how the ”So You Think You Can Dance” experience has left an ever-lasting impression on them as well as their friendships and more! The nerves are certainly there, but will they break or make them? Make sure to tune in to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” and find out who walks away the winner this...

Tadd Gadduang, Marko Germar, Sasha Mallory and Melanie Moore are all that remain.

Following weeks of dancing and judging, this quartet of contestants have advanced to the final four on So You Think You Can Dance. But it wasn't an easy journey. Were you happy with last night's results? How did we arrive here?

Visit The Hollywood Gossip and read through my detailed review of every last performance right now!

Finally, the So You Think You Can Dance finale happens next week, and I find myself a little torn over what to feel.

For one, I'm sad that another season is going to end -- this show never wears me out, at least not as much as American Idol, where it can just get oh so frantic. But the finale looks pretty good: the four dancers remaining -- Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory and Tadd Gadduang -- all deserve the win, and I don't mind whatever happens. (Although I'd love it if Melanie wins.)

The fun doesn't have to end at the finale. BuddyTV has a pair of free tickets to each city on the Sytycd Tour! Enter to win now>>

Also, the finale gives me another opportunity to scream "Froderman!" at my TV -- but I feel a little scared, thanks to that little dark cloud hovering behind me named Katie Holmes.

Fox dance phenomenon "So You Think You Can Dance" sees Tadd Gadduang, Marko Germar, Sasha Mallory and Melanie Moore selected to compete August 10 on Fox. Out are Miami's Ricky Jaime and Washington State native Caitlynn Lawson, who were eliminated from Sytycd Tonight.s show also featured performances by "American Idol" finalist Pia Toscano, who sang her new single, .This Time,. and dance troupe the Bad Boys of Dance. Next week, the Top 4 battle it out for America.s vote on the season.s final showdown in hopes of winning the competition on a two-hour, live performance show airing Wednesday, Aug. 10 (8:00-10:00 Pm Et live/Pt tape-delayed) on Fox. Tune in the following night, Thursday, Aug. 11 (8:00-10:00 Pm Et live/Pt...

It doesn’t matter who made the So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 finale, executive producer and head judge Nigel Lythgoe declared during Thursday night’s results-show telecast: “The only winner is dance.” Roll your eyes all you want, but the man kind of has a point, doesn’t he? As we come to the end of a sensational summer of hip-hop, contemporary, jazz, ballroom, and not enough offbeat stuff like African jazz and Bollywood, it’s time to put your hands together one more time, as the glamorously attired Cat Deeley instructed, for the week’s evicted hoofers,...

When this season of So You Think You Can Dance wraps up and America's Best Dancer is named, the Top 10 go on tour! Like every other year, really.

And this year's no different, as the Top 10 (nope, no All-Stars this year... so far) go across the country to perform this season's best routines live. Which means you'll see the Top 6 -- Caitlynn Lawson, Marko Germar, Melanie Moore, Sasha Mallory, Ricky Jaime and Tadd Gadduang -- alongside last night's eliminees, Jess LeProtto and Jordan Casanova, and last week's eliminees, Clarice Ordaz and Mitchell Kelly.

This week’s So You Think You Can Dance results show telecast was brought to you by the physically impossible. The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers flew through the air with the greatest of ease, leaving Cat Deeley gasping in shock and delight. Jess LeProtto pirouetted for so long and with such intensity that he may have left a dent in the Sytycd stage. And Tadd Gadduang turned his arms into metal rods and fused himself at a perpendicular angle to a standing pillar. It was all rated TV:im (for I Mean…)

When it was all said and danced, though, the...

So You Think You Can Dance delivered surprising twists aplenty on Wednesday night. Nine of the 10 remaining dancers scored rave reviews from the judges. One choreographer got spanked rather harshly by this week’s guest panelist. And an All-Star dancer bled (rather sexily) for his art. But nothing will be more shocking than seeing one of Season 8′s fabulous female contestants head home on this week’s results show. (Shouldn’t the FCC step in and threaten Fox with a hefty fine for denying us another week of one of these singularly fierce ladies? And doesn’t that sentence make...

So You Think You Can Dance eliminated two more dancers last night--Ryan Ramirez and Alexander Fost--and arrived at its top 10, who will compete with all-star dancers, who were also announced during the results show. The returning all-star dancers are Brandon Bryant, Comfort Fedoke, Chelsie Hightower, Allison Holker, Pasha Kovalev, Melody Lacayanga, Kathryn McCormick, Robert Roldan, and tWitch. They'll be paired with this season's finalists: Jordan Casanova, Tadd Gadduang, Marko Germar, Ricky Jaime, Mitchell Kelly,...

Heading into tonight on So You Think You Can Dance, there were six couples left—half of them safe, the other half in danger of not making it into the top 10 and the ensuing Sytycd live tour. Following last night's 12-routine performance show, it seemed pretty obvious who would be picked to dance for their lives: Jordan Casanova and Tadd Gadduang, Ryan Ramirez and Ricky Jaime, and Caitlynn Lawson and Mitchell Kelly. Right?! Almost. Clarice and Mitchell made practically no impact with their opening lyrical hip-hop routine (a bummer of a miss from Christopher Scott), so even though they steamed up the stage with their lady-rocker-scorned contemporary number in the latter half of the...

Will there be a more stressful day this year for So You Think You Can Dance fans than Thursday, July 14? No, that’s not a reference to Bastille Day — Nigel Lythgoe is a Brit, after all! — but it will mark the brutal moment when the final two dancers are sent home just short of the Sytycd Season 8 touring Top 10, and the 2011 Emmy nominations are announced. And as far as I’m concerned, there can only be one satisfying conclusion: Ryan Ramirez and Ricky Jaime must get the boot, and Cat Deeley must finally score herself a nod in the Outstanding...

It was dog-eat-dog competition at So You Think You Can Dance tonight as the top six couples danced together for the last time, fighting for a spot in the top 10 in hopes of inching that much closer to nabbing the title of America's best dancer. So who was hot, who was not, and what couple sparked rumors of a summer romance? This week is crucial for the top 12, who are desperate to stay in the competition and be judged as individuals in the top 10. After two rounds of  routines, it was mixed bag of reviews, where sugar-coated critiques were nowhere to be found as the judges were to-the-point and brutally honest with every performance. While Tadd Gadduang and Jordan Casanova received a standing...

So You Think You Can Dance sees Nicole Scherzinger and Jason Samuels Smith performing on the next results show on Thursday, July 14 Celebrate .National Dance Day. Saturday, July 30 With Three New Dance Routines at Fox.com/dance Finalists Ashley Rich, 22, a contemporary dancer from Antioch, CA; and Chris Koehl, 21, a hip hop dancer from Garland, TX, were eliminated tonight on So You Think You Can Dance. The three couples who received the fewest votes tonight were: Chris Koehl and Ashley Rich; Tadd Gadduang and Jordan Casanova; and Ryan Ramirez and Ricky Jaime. Judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy, along with choreographer Travis Wall, asked the six finalists to perform solo routines and then eliminated Rich and Koehl. Tonight...

Tears flowed faster than the footwork of the dreaded quickstep during tonight’s So You Think You Can Dance results-show telecast, but ultimately the right two dancers went home. (No, I’m not talking about Carmen Electra, though she was conspicuously absent from the judges’ table after guesting in the “gentle celebrity” spot on Wednesday.)

To be honest, I’d have been okay if Ashley and Chris had done the one-two step back to obscurity in Week 1 of the Season 8 finals — following that “cheating couple” hip-hop routine the judges loved but I didn’t get at all — a development that...

So You Think You Can Dance continued a Season 8 tradition on Wednesday night of bringing us an inoffensive guest judge who lobbed softballs and/or followed the Nigel Lythgoe party line. The latest variation on this theme, Carmen Electra, brought a supple, new-age-y twist to the role, but she might have been just as effective if she’d held up placards with emoticons conveying her feelings about the various dances: “Happy,” “sad,” “sexy,” and “I’ve run out of vocabulary words.” The one thing that confused me about Electra’s judging stint, though, was her response to Cat Deeley’s question about her dance credentials.

On Wednesday night’s Top 16 episode of So You Think You Can Dance, highly entertaining guest judge Kristin Chenoweth declared that the night’s final two-person routine was “a dessert — and I liked every bite!” But if you think about it, her metaphor could’ve (and maybe should’ve) been expanded to describe the entire two-hour telecast, which offered one sweet treat after another, to the point where I was practically waving my arm at the TV screen and shouting “I’ll take one of everything!”

When it comes to confectionary indulgence, however, there’s always a price to pay.