Jeanine Mason IS America's Favorite Dancer

CONGRATULATIONS, JEANINE!!!

Jeanine is viewers' pick on Fox dance competition
By FRAZIER MOORE (AP) – 19 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Viewers said Jeanine Mason can dance best as they crowned her the winner of Fox network's "So You Think You Can Dance."
Jeanine beat out Evan, Kayla and Brandon on the dance competition's fifth-season finale, which aired live with the results Thursday.
More than 21 million votes from viewers had been submitted following the broadcast the night before.
Mason, an 18-year-old native of Pinecrest, Fla., wins $250,000 and the title of "America's Favorite Dancer."

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Why am I so emotional about this?

Go back around 75 years to Korea where my grandfather chose my mom to be his musical protegee. Mom had 5 sisters and a brother and was a middle child. That meant the rest of the family had to work at whatever they could just to live during the time of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.

Mom's youngest sister Tae-Mi had dancing in her soul. But she was unable to fulfill that creative impulse as her profession. When I first met Aunt Tae (who would soon become our most favorite auntie because we got to see her a lot when we all lived in Hawaii), I was around 5 years old. She had two daughters at the time- SueAnn and Tamie. I remember that Sue loved ballet and could draw better than I. She could draw Cinderella while I loved to draw horses.

Sue could dance too but made her career in something else. She and her husband Sato had one daughter. Amanda Tae. When Amanda Tae was very, very little, she became the dancer. Her parents made sure that her dreams could be fulfilled.

Amanda Tae excelled not only in dancing but as a teacher and choreographer. Her Focal Point Dance Studios has become one of America's finest and many of its students have been able to fulfill their dreams of becoming dancers.

Jeanine Mason is one of those students.

In her, I see the love of dance and the sacrifice of my auntie and cousin's own dreams of dancing fulfilled in spades. This is a perspective and love that being a grandmother brings. It is a special treat to see the dreams of generations fulfilled in your own lifetime.