Melanie and Anthony eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance Canada

From a media release:

MELANIE Buttarazzi and ANTHONY Grafton are Eliminated From So You Think You Can Dance Canada Leaving 16 in the Running for Canada’s Favourite Dancer

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

It was announced tonight that MELANIE 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, 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, 19, 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.