So You Think You Can Dance

We must know more about this bubbly little Southern girl who wowed the judges at the Atlanta auditions!

Petite and endearing, Melanie Moore was one of the first to take Atlanta’s Fox Theater stage in front of judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Lil’ C. From the get-go, the judges were cooing over Melanie’s adorableness. Please, please, please let her dancing be as sweet as her personality... and it was!

She arched, pirouetted, and extended her limbs gracefully to music from Twilight's New Moon movie. According to Nigel, she was “Amaaaaaaazing!” Lil’ C felt, “Zesus himself [would] invite you to come and dance.” Well, that seems a little extreme, but she does resemble an ethereal creature when she takes the dance floor.

Melanie is 19-year-old art student at Fordham University — visual art, not dance. She’s from Metro Atlanta. She trained at Rhythm Dance Center in Marietta, GA. Her style of dance is contemporary, but more specifically, Melanie comes from a competition dance background. Last year, she took the title of Senior VIP for the JUMP nationals. Through the competition circuit, she became friends with a certain dancer we all know and adore: Season 7’s Billy "Gumby" Bell.

It will be interesting to see her do other styles of dance. Competitions dancers can blow us away with a penché into a forward roll or crazy side-tilts, but the true test comes when you take all of that away, strap on a pair of heels, and say, “Now do a samba.”

You would never guess that behind the smiles and giggles is a tragic past. Melanie's father unexpectedly passed away after a liver transplant when she was only 12 years old. From then on, dance became her emotional outlet, turning her into the strong technician and lyrical mover she is today. Her mom, who has been her "rock" ever since her father’s death, was at the SYTYCD audition, cheering her on from the Fox Theater auditorium.

Let’s hope she can survive the rigors of Vegas week. Nigel promised to “hunt her down” if she struggles and doesn’t make the Top 20. We want this Georgia Peach to be around for many, many more weeks.

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