Jeanine Mason wins 'So You Think You Can Dance'
Photo credit: FOX Photo | SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE: Ade Obayomi, left, and Jeanine Mason perform a samba choreographed by Louis van Amstel.
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'So You Think You Can Dance'
For contemporary dancer Jeanine Mason timing was everything - and not just in her footwork. According to "So You Think You Can Dance" executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe, the 18-year-old from Miami peaked at just the right moment to snag the title of America's favorite dancer, winning the fifth season of the Fox series Thursday night and the $250,000 prize. A record-breaking 21.6 million votes were cast Wednesday to determine the winner.
When she won, the personable and exuberant Mason, laughing with tears in her eyes, told host Cat Deeley, "I never thought I'd be giving an acceptance speech at the Kodak [Theatre], but thank you Academy."
On Wednesday's finale performance show, Mason gave a series of strong performances, including a pirouette-filled solo to "Por Una Cabeza," that judge Mary Murphy called the best thing that Mason had ever done, while Lythgoe predicted her solo would land her in the final two along with fellow contestant Brandon Bryant, who finished in second place.
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Mason and Bryant, 20, also a contemporary dancer from Miami, brought the 3,000-seat venue, as well as the judges, to their feet with Wednesday's show ender, a compelling Louis Van Amstel-choreographed paso doble.
Finishing in third place was Evan Kasprzak, 22, a Broadway-style dancer from West Bloomfield, Mich., while Kayla Radomski, 18, from Aurora, Colo., came in fourth.
Thursday night's two-hour finale also included encores of the judges' favorite routines from this season, as well as hip-hop dance team The Rage Boyz Crew and Talia Fowler, the second-season winner of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia."
But it was judge-choreographers Lythgoe, Murphy, Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen and Tyce Diorio who brought down the house, when they all unexpectedly appeared onstage to dance the last minute of "One," from "A Chorus Line."
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