Janet Manrara Could Go All The...Way!

OK, so I'm not a sports nut like Chris Berman. But after I saw Janette Manrara's amazing performance on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance Wednesday night, I had to call upon my inner sports commentator to find the perfect phrase to sum up my feelings about the terrific Cubana contestant.

Anyway, in case you haven't been watching, let me tell you all about Janette, and why I think she could win the competition. She's a 25-year-old fellow Cuban, and a salsa dancer from the most Cuban place on earth.  She studied at Florida State University, and just before she auditioned for the show in Miami, two life-changing things happened to her: she got into a car accident, and her boyfriend of four years broke up with her. Janette's got legs for days, and her split would make even the Karate Kid's sensei Mr. Miyagi proud! She's also elegant, poised, confident, and charming. Also, when she dances she never stops smiling from ear to ear, which is refreshing. Not to mention that she's quite fond of acrobatics: she flips, twirls, splits, gets thrown in the air, slides in between her partner's legs and over his back, and gets lifted in the air on a nightly basis, like Mario Lopez's heavy weights!

I'm not at all surprised that Janette can dance, (she's Latin, after all), and we all know that we Latin people can dance (see Ricky Martin, Shakira, Rita Moreno, and J-Lo). What did surprise me was when Janette admitted that she has no training whatsoever as a dancer: What I do, I learned at home. I never studied it anywhere. It just came, that's natural to me. The home-schooled dancer first impressed me during her first audition for the show when the judges called her solid salsa dance sexy, hot and strong, and head judge Nigel Lythgoe added: We have been waiting for some spicy salsa in Miami. Some moves I've never seen, which are fabulous!

The salsa audition (that's her preferred genre of dance, so it's no surprise that she rocked it) earned Janette a spot in the Top 20 last week, and she came to prove herself in an altogether different genre: the Fox Trot. Dancing to Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me,в Janette literally flew all over the dance floor, prompting judge Mary Murphy to declare: You are Miami, fire and spice. And while last week was impressive, it was this week's performance (in the Top 18) that has impressed me the most so far. This week, Janette and Bryan danced a disco number, and at first it seemed like Janette was going to have a really difficult time with the dance (she was in tears during rehearsals because the song was difficult for her). Thankfully, her mentor, Doriana Sanchez didn't let Janette give up, and gave her these encouraging words: Mira, YOU'RE LATINA! You're strong, you're strong. That's what I'm talking about! In the end, Janette's performance was spunky, sensual, brilliant, young, hip, crazy, stylish, glamorous, and had tons of Latin and Black flavor, compliments of the Latin and Black pairing! There is no doubt in my mind that Janet Manrara Could. Go. All. The. Way!