Will Beach dancer win it all on ''So You Think You Can Dance''?

By Larry Bonko
The Virginian-Pilot

AS TRAVIS WALL of Virginia Beach wonders if he has enough fans to vote him America's favorite dancer, his hometown supporters are confident he'll finish first in the "So You Think You Can Dance" competition on Fox tonight at 8.

"He's a wonderful, classically trained performer who should win. We're

100 percent behind Travis. He's a source of pride for all local dancers," said Janina Bove, director of the Virginia Ballet Theater Academy.

Bove refers to Wall, 18, as a "competition kid," a youngster who's been learning the techniques of dance while competing against other talented dancers for years.

"He is so good," said Bove.

Good at what, exactly? At doing spins, leaps, leg extensions, elevations and the other moves of pop/contemporary dance.

Bove has watched Wall dance on TV but couldn't specify a particular move that sets him apart: "It's hard to pin point Travis' skills because he's so well trained. He's the complete package."

"Travis is so polished," said Donna Wilkins of the Wilkins School of Dance in Virginia. "He dances from the heart."

Susan Boyette, director of the Virginia Beach Conservatory of Dance Ltd., also believes Wall could and should win. Boyette and her 30-plus students have manned the phones in support of Wall. They delivered plenty of votes after last week's performance.

"He's a natural talent with a passion and love of dance. He's committed to perfecting his art. I sincerely hope that the viewers have taken a cue from the judges and voted for Travis," said Boyette.

The judges on the

Aug. 9 show - Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Brian Friedman - were unanimous in their praise of Wall, who as the son of a dance teacher was introduced to the art when he was 3.

"Travis, you're a standout," said Murphy.

"You're dance elegance," said Friedman.

"You're terrific," said Lythgoe, who's been impressed with Wall since he first saw him dance.

Entertainment Weekly wrote that Wall moves like a leaf tumbling in the breeze and that he is the best dancer on the show.

Ah, but did TV America agree with the judges and the magazine? Did they vote Wall in ahead of Benji Schwimmer, 22, Donyelle Jones, 27, and Heidi Groskreutz, 24, with whom Wall did a terrific disco number last week?

Wall was no less impressive in dancing with Schwimmer in the nerdy number "Gyrate."

Wall, in a phone interview after last week's show, said his choice to win is Schwimmer, the gawky, geeky guy from Redlands, Calif., who emerged as a natural entertainer.

"I feel great. I feel that I've done well to have reached the final four. I feel good about my performance in the finale. I went out with a bang, but I'm not sure that my fan base is large enough to give me the victory," said Wall.

Wall's mother, Denise, doesn't see how her son can lose. "He was amazing," she said of Travis' work on the Aug. 9 show. Mom was in the audience at the taping in Los Angeles, holding up a great big "Vote for Travis" sign.

She revealed that Wall had been rejected in his first audition in Los Angeles. Calling on that passion and drive that is so much a part of him, Wall auditioned again in South Carolina and made the cut.

Wouldn't it be something if Travis Wall, the kid the judges cut in his first audition, won this thing?

Wall comes to the end of the competition with pains in the hip, knee and back.

After the last taping, the producers gave the finalists a day off. "I slept and slept," said Travis, who for the first time since this season's "So You Think You Can Dance" began airing is totally relaxed. Before the finale, he was pressed to learn five routines in two days.

"Today, I'm stress-free. The votes are in. I've done all I can do. There's nothing more," said the kid from Virginia Beach who has been more or less dazzling in doing disco, the paso doble, hip-hip, ballroom, tap and contemporary dance.

(The show, which has been averaging 9.5 million viewers nationally, posted a 7.0 household rating in Hampton Roads on WVBT last week. That's more than a respectable number).

"You're captivating," said Murphy to Wall after he and Groskreutz brought back disco for a moment or two last week. Did the millions of viewers who voted last week agree with Murphy? We'll know tonight.

Be advised that Wall and the 19 other finalists will appear in Norfolk at Chrysler Hall on Oct. 21.

Also, the Cinema Caf? will open its doors at 6:30 p.m. and broadcast tonight's finale on one of its screens. The theater, at 758 Independence Blvd. in Virginia Beach, will not charge for admittance.