Hannahlei Cabanilla is America’s favorite dancer.
During the Season 15 finale of the Fox series “So You Think You Can Dance,” the 18-year-old Anaheim Hills native was named the winner.
“It was the best moment of my life,” she said facing a line of reporters following the show on Monday, Sept. 10.
Cabanilla is Orange County’s second-consecutive winner. She joked “there’s something in the water down in Orange County, so watch out.”
Last season, Irvine’s Lex Ishimoto took the “America’s favorite dancer” title along with the grand prize.
The prize this year includes $250,000 in cash, some of which she plans on using to take her parents on a Greek getaway “because they’ve supported me through this whole experience and throughout my whole dance career.
“I just owe it to them for helping to make my dreams come true,” she said.
Cabanilla also gets to grace the cover of Dance Spirit magazine and appear in a guest role in the live adaptation of “Rent” on Fox in 2019.
Cat Deeley called the season finale a close race, with Jensen Arnold finishing second followed by Genessy Castillo in third. Slavik Pustovoytov, the only male in the Top 4, came in fourth.
The night opened with encore performances chosen by both the judges – Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Vanessa Hudgens and Twitch – and Top 4 finalists’ favorite routines of the season.
Murphy reunited Cabanilla and her one-time partner, Cole Mills, for what she said during the night’s broadcast was “the sexiest cha cha I think we’ve ever had on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’” to “Sing It Back.”
For her pick, Cabanilla and “So You Think You Can Dance” All-Star Marko Germar recreated their contemporary routine to “Welcome Home” because the eventual winner said “the performance felt really genuine.
“It felt like I wasn’t even dancing,” she said.
After the show, the judges heaped on the praise.
Lythgoe, who early on dubbed Cabanilla this season’s “warrior princess,” said the show has “often had young, small, strong young ladies that have been successful on this show.
“For me, Hannahlei just fit into that mold,” he said. “Not only was she strong, she was a great performer, and not just at one style but across the board.”
Murphy described Cabanilla as “one of the most technically sound dancers that we’ve had on the show.
“On top of that, what I think is the key factor, is she has this amazing spirit and light inside of her; it comes out of her in spades through her eyes,” Murphy added.
But Cabanilla said her win was still sinking in.
“My brain is going crazy right now,” Cabanilla said. “I’m for sure still in shock but I’m really proud of myself for making this happen because I worked my butt off to be here.”