Will Schwimmer ‘Dance’ away with title?

Danny Tidwell (27 percent)
If the goal was to find the most gifted dancer in the competition, Danny would win.

He's both graceful and athletic, and showcased both of those traits on Wednesday's dance-off; battling with Neil in a Mia Michaels contemporary routine after gliding across the stage with Lacey in a Viennese Waltz. He's been flawless for the past month, and even when he spent three weeks among the bottom three vote-getters the culprit was his perceived arrogance rather than any technical flaws.

Since he managed to erase that perception, he's soared past his rivals in the eyes of the judges. "There are no words. (Season one contestant Blake McGrath) and you have been the two best dancers ever on this show. Every young man on this show should aspire to be as good as you," Nigel said after his Wednesday solo, which rated a standing ovation from all three judges.

The judges love him, and have loved him for a long time. But the voters were slower to warm up to Danny's style, and he may have been too far behind Lacey to catch up.

Neil Haskell (23 percent)
If the teenage girl fanbase for this show is similar to what it is for "American Idol," Neil is a big threat to capture the title.

As fellow finalist Sabra Johnson pointed out before their pairs dance, the shrieks that greet Neil whenever he hits the dance floor are audible even with the mute button. It gets so loud it almost drowns out Mary Murphy's screams from the judges' stand.

Much like the similarly-named Eddie Haskell of "Leave it to Beaver" fame, he can play both the straight-faced graceful contemporary artist as well as the jokester rebel. Perhaps because of that personality, it seemed to take him longer than most to get the judges to really take him seriously. He's gotten better as the weeks have passed, and peaked at the right time to make the final four.

However, he's not quite as skilled as Danny, and is much clumsier at playing to the audience than Lacey. His expressions while dancing have tended to be more over-the-top than necessary, but if they get the tweens burning up the phone lines, that won't matter.

Sabra Johnson (20 percent)
All the judges agree that Sabra is an inspiration to those who take up an interest in dance late. She's only been dancing for four years, but that's been enough to bring her to a point where it looks like she was born with her dancing shoes on.

Sabra was among the bottom three vote-getters during the first week of eliminations, and looked like she was going nowhere. Dan Karaty said Wednesday that he felt early in the competition that Sabra was being carried by her partner, b-dance Dominic Sandoval. But the longer she's stayed on the show, the better she's looked, and the judges have been eager to give her advice on what dance styles to concentrate on when her commitment to the show is over.

It's a testament to how good the competition is that all of her progress still makes her the underdog. She needed to outshine the competition Wednesday to have a legitimate shot, but everyone else danced equally well. The judges praised her lavishly, but they did the same to everyone else as well.

She probably had too much ground to make up for that to be good enough, but like all the other finalists, she won't have to worry about finding work anytime soon regardless.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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