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They think she can dance

Friends and family gather every Wednesday to cheer on their favorite contestant on TV's Idol-esque dance show.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published July 9, 2006

CARROLLWOOD - Getting a table after 7 p.m. on Wednesdays is a feat at Winners Sports Grill on Anderson Road.

Nearly 100 locals gathered there this past Wednesday - as they have for the past month - to watch teacher, friend and kin Natalie Fotopoulos do fancy footwork on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance? television show.

Deafening applause filled the air from the bathroom to the bar as the show's host announced Fotopoulos, who lives in Carrollwood, and her partner Musa Cooper.

Screeches rose from a pack of preteen prima ballerinas from All American Dance Factory where Fotopoulos teaches.

Their mothers yelled.

Fotopoulos' uncle Jimmy Allen whistled.

Her aunt Terri Howell, who owns a Carrollwood dance studio, clapped.

Many in the crowd, with their eyes gazing up at a half-dozen TVs, wore "Vote for Natalie" T-shirts.

All went quiet watching Fotopoulos dippin', poppin', twerkin' and droppin' in a sparkly, flesh-toned micro-minidress with copper-colored embellishment.

Fotopoulos' and Cooper's Wednesday disco dance won enough viewer votes to keep them safe from last Thursday's elimination and push them into the next round.

The couple's next performance is scheduled for this Wednesday at 8 p.m. on FOX where they'll compete against five other couples remaining on the show. There were 10 couples at the contest's start. Thousands from across the nation auditioned.

Last Wednesday the couple danced to Hot Stuff by disco queen Donna Summer, and the judges said the two were definitely on fire.

"If sex sells, you all just made a million dollars," said judge Dan Karaty.

Judge Nigel Lythgoe, So You Think You Can Dance?'s answer to American Idol's Simon Cowell, directed the only mild criticism toward Fotopoulos' partner Cooper, a 28-year-old hip-hop street dancer from New Jersey.

Everything Cooper lacks in technique, Lythgoe said, Fotopoulos made up for with her performance.

Dancing Dynasty

Fotopoulos, who lived in Memphis before moving to Carrollwood last year, definitely has the pedigree. At age 22, she has 20 years of dance training.

"My mom was a dancer so basically I started in the womb," Fotopoulos told FOX of her experience.

Fotopoulos is the third generation of a kind of dancing dynasty, if you will.

Her lineage goes like this: For the past year, she's been teaching at All American Dance Factory, 13139 N Dale Mabry Highway, which Howell, her aunt, owns and operates.

Fotopoulos' mother, Annette Wilson of Memphis, co-owns a dance studio there.

And Fotopoulos' grandmother, Rosemary Bramuchi of Dade City, once ran Rosemary's School of Dance in the Carrollwood area years ago where Fotopoulos first started dancing.

While Fotopoulos' grueling rehearsal schedule keeps her off the phone with her local fans, Howell said Fotopoulos' mom relays messages from Tampa to L.A.

Proficient in lyrical, jazz and acrobatic dance, Fotopoulos, while admittedly a bit scared of the whirls and twirls, showed off those skills on last Wednesday's show. Holding onto Fotopoulos' one hand and one foot, partner Cooper swung her into an airplane spin and hoisted her into mid-air splits.

While sipping out of soda straws at a Winners booth, some of Fotopoulos' dance studio students - 11-year-olds Gabrielle Nissalke and Lindsey Norton, Gabrielle Kirby, 12 and Courtney Kirby, 13 - imitated her more mild-mannered shoulder shimmies.

"Enthusiasm," said Andrea Ryttse, of Odessa, is the one word she'd use to describe "Miss Natalie." Her daughter Emily Ryttse, 11, has attended All American Dance Factory for nine years.

"Miss Natalie can execute everything she wants them to do," Andrea Ryttse said as other dancers' mothers from Westchase, Carrollwood Village and Northdale nodded in agreement.

A winning combination?

Fotopoulos' Carrollwood fan base feels she has the total package: dancing skills, a glowing personality, a beautiful face and body.

And they're doing just about everything within their power to vote her through round by round each Wednesday when the TV show's phone lines open for America to vote.

Each week, single members of the three couples who receive the fewest votes vie to continue on the show by dancing for their salvation.

But one man and one woman are eliminated during a results show each Thursday.

Fotopoulos and Cooper have yet to be in the bottom three.

And perhaps her family's deep roots in Tampa Bay will keep the streak alive, said Terri Howell.

In addition to using three phones to vote for Fotopoulos, Howell sends a mass e-mail to dance students, family and friends reminding them to watch and vote.

Fotopoulos' dad, Andy Fotopoulos, owns ABC Pizza restaurants throughout Tampa Bay.

Friends in Memphis, where Fotopoulos spent much of her childhood, are holding watching parties too.

And then there's Uncle Jimmy Allen.

"I figured that it takes about 10 seconds to connect for a re-dial, so within the two hours that phone lines are open to vote, I can log about 720 calls if I do it right," he said.

Allen never quite caught the dancing bug. He's a CPA.

If local folks have their way, a crowd of nearly 100 will be only the beginning for their bright-eyed, bubbly firecracker Fotopoulos.

"If she's in the final two couples we want it to be like American Idol," said Winners Sports Grill general manager Laura Marquis.

Marquis is planning an outside event with tents, refreshment, food and a jumbo screen at Winners, 12060 Anderson Road.

"We want the whole community here," she said.

The ultimate winner of So You Think You Can Dance? will receive $100,000, a new car and a one-year contract to appear with Celine Dion in her Las Vegas show.

Amber Mobley can be reached at 813 269-5311 or amobley@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 8, 2006, 22:50:56]