End of Fox’s ‘Dance’ contest brings start of tour

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The TV season is ending for Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” but the curtain is going up on a 40-city tour.

The nationwide tour begins Sept. 19 in New Orleans and will feature contestants from this season and favorites from the past, including last season’s winner, Russell Ferguson of Boston, Mass.

Kent Boyd, 18, of Wapakoneta, Ohio; Lauren Froderman, 18, Phoenix, Ariz., and Robert Roldan, 19, Thousand Oaks, Calif., the trio competing on Thursday’s seventh-season finale (8-10 p.m. EDT), also will be on stage.

Original routines as well as pieces seen this season will bring a “new dimension” to the show, said Jeff Thacker, co-executive producer for “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Nigel Lythgoe, series creator and co-executive producer, said he continues “to marvel at the raw talent discovered” by the contest. Lythgoe, Mia Michaels and Adam Shankman are the judges.

The audience-chosen winner of “So You Think You Can Dance,” which is produced by 19 Entertainment and dick clark productions, receives $250,000. The contestant also gets a place on the tour that will visit more than two-dozen states and Canada before it ends in Arizona in November.