Lauren Froderman had all the right moves on “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Viewer votes awarded the 18-year-old recent high school graduate from Phoenix the title of “America’s Favorite Dancer” and the $250,000 grand prize. Froderman bested 18-year-old runner-up Kent Boyd of Wapakoneta, Ohio, and 19-year-old third-place finisher Robert Roldan of Thousand Oaks, Calif., on the Fox dancing contest’s live finale Thursday.
“I have been working my whole life for something like this,” Froderman said.
The bubbly contemporary jazz dancer was best known for her ability to pick up other styles, effortlessly taking on hip-hop, ballroom and Bollywood routines throughout the seventh season. She also deftly tackled a wardrobe malfunction – a dangly broken dress strap – while performing a Broadway number during the third week of competition.
Before Froderman’s crowning, the finale featured performances from dance troop Quest Crew, 7-year-old tap dancer Luke Spring and a duet between hip-hop dancer Stephen “tWitch” Boss and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. The former “American Idol” judge held her own in the fast-pumping, therapy-themed routine set to “Outta Your Mind” by Lil’ Jon and LMFAO.
“As a joke, I said this would be fun to do,” said DeGeneres.
The seventh season was plagued with injuries that forced a few dancers out of the competition. It also introduced several switch-ups to the format, including narrowing the finalist field from 20 to 11 dancers, adding past contestants as partners and replacing screaming ballroom maestro Mary Murphy on the judging panel with cool choreographer Mia Michaels.
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