MELANIE Buttarazzi and ANTHONY Grafton are Eliminated From So You Think You Can Dance Canada

- Sean Cheesman and Melissa Williams join the panel as Guest Judges, Sept. 8 and 9 -

It was announced last night that MELANIE B. and ANTHONY would be leaving the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA stage, after more than one million votes were cast. The results were revealed live during tonight’s broadcast after host Leah Miller revealed the three couples with the lowest number of votes, and the competitors danced for their lives. Sixteen dancers are now in the running for the chance to be crowned Canada’s Favourite Dancer. Last night’s Top 18 Performance show averaged 1.43 million viewers*, a season high for the program.

The bottom three couples who performed their solos for the country this week were CORYNNE Barron, 18, Edmonton, AB, and ANTHONY Grafton, 24, Calgary, AB who danced a passionate Paso Doblé routine; JENNA LYNN Higgins, 18, Toronto, ON, and NICOLAS Bégin, 24, Quebec City, QC who danced a bumpin’ hip-hop routine; and MELANIE Buttarazzi, 22, Woodbridge, ON, and AUSTIN Di Iulio, 20, Mississauga, ON, who performed a flowing Smooth Waltz. Following the reveal, each dancer had the opportunity to dance for their lives before the judges deliberated and decided that MELANIE B., a Latin Ballroom dancer and ANTHONY, a Ballroom dancer, would be the next dancers to be eliminated from the competition.

Before the results were revealed, the Top 18 opened the show with a Bollywood group number choreographed by Longinus Fernandes, the choreographer behind the Academy Award®-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Tonight’s Canadian performance marks the first time that Fernandes has choreographed for any SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE show in the world. Dressed in white and silver with bright colour accents and silver rhinestone jewelry, the Top 18 opened the number with a carrousel of bright coloured scarves and continued with fast but flowing movements across the stage.

Performing in front of judges Jean Marc Genereux and Tré Armstrong as well as guest judges Sean Cheesman and Melissa Williams for the third Performance episode of the season on Tuesday, September 8 beginning at 8 p.m. ET on CTV (go to CTV.ca to confirm local listings) are:

AMY Gardner, 21, a Contemporary dancer from Calgary

AUSTIN Di Iulio, 20, a Contemporary dancer from Mississauga

CODY Bonnell, 19, a Hip-Hop dancer from Unionville

CORRYNNE Barron, 18, a Classical Contemporary dancer from Edmonton

DANIEL Dory, 23, a Hip-Hop/House dancer from Montreal

DANNY Lawn, 21, a Contemporary dancer from Brockville

EMANUEL Sandhu, 28, a Contemporary/Ballet dancer from Richmond Hill

EVERETT Smith, 25, a Tap dancer from Glen Morris

JAYME RAE Dailey, 21, a Contemporary dancer from Montreal

JENNA LYNN Higgins, 18, a Jazz/Lyrical dancer from Toronto

KIM Gingras, 23, a Hip-Hop dancer from Montreal

MELANIE Mah, 19, a Contemporary dancer from Richmond Hill

NATALIE Lyons, 23, a Hip-Hop/Krump dancer from Halifax

NICOLAS Begin, 24, a B-boy/Hip-Hop dancer from Quebec City

TARA-JEAN Popowich, 20, a Contemporary dancer from Lethbridge

VINCENT Desjardins, 20, a Ballroom dancer from Trois-Rivières

Next week, the Top 16 will work with returning choreographers Stacey Tookey and Pierre Allaire, as well as SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Season 2 winner Benji Schwimmer. Choreographers Flii Stylz and Gustavo Vargas make their first appearance this season. The Performance show will also feature choreography by judges Luther Brown and Blake McGrath.

The weekly Performance and Results episodes will air back-to-back Sundays at 6 p.m. ET beginning September 6 on MuchMusic (go to ctv.ca and muchmusic.com to confirm local broadcast times).

Highlights from each week’s SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA episodes are available on demand on the CTV Video Player at CTV.ca. For exclusive footage and clips, information on dancers, judges and choreographers along with image galleries, videos, forums, blogs from the judges and more, visit dance.CTV.ca.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA was created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, and is produced in association with CTV by Danse TV Productions. Sandra Faire and Trisa Dayot are Executive Producers. Susanne Boyce is President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc.

Source: CTV Press Release