America picks Utah performer as nation's 'favorite dancer'

The self-proclaimed underdog is now the top dog of the TV dance world. Sabra Johnson, who grew up in Roy, was the big winner Thursday night on the hit Fox show "So You Think You Can Dance," taking home the $250,000 first prize and the unofficial title of "America's favorite dancer."

Johnson even looked a bit surprised when she was announced as the winner — just before she burst into tears.

It was the second time in three months that a Utah dancer won a TV competition. Speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and his Utah-born partner, Julianne Hough, claimed the "Dancing With the Stars" title in May.

The show's judges had proclaimed Johnson one of the dancers to beat in the final four but nonetheless expressed some surprise because she is a relative novice as a dancer. But that wasn't anything Johnson herself wasn't thinking — she had expressed some surprise herself when she made the final 20 and then when she made the final 10. And it was Johnson who used the term "underdog" to describe herself.

"Most of (the other contestants) have been dancing for give-or-take 10 years. Me, I've been dancing for four years," Johnson said. "I worked really, really hard the last two."

Hard enough to finish first when the 16-million phone-in votes were tallied after the final four contestants performed on Wednesday.

And it was a "really weird" but "fantastic" journey from the Dance Impressions studio in Bountiful.

"I loved it there," Johnson said. "That's really where I got started. I didn't even really know that this is what I wanted to do until I started there."

"I never would have thought I'd go from there to here."

Johnson's immediate plans call for a bit of a break — but only a bit. She and the other nine dancers who made the "So You Think You Can Dance" top 10 begin a 49-city tour on Sept. 21. The tour, which won't be making any stops in Utah, continues through Nov. 30.

After that, she's "not really sure." She's thinking about moving to Los Angeles because "it's better business out here." But she knows that, even for the "So You Think You Can Dance" winner, there's nothing waiting like the big recording contract that "American Idol" winners get.

"They can sing for the next however many years if they're amazing," she said. "But, honestly, for us dancers ... this really is our only chance for people to know our names."