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Philly-based ballroom dancer advances on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’

Philly-based ballroom dancer Allen Genkin is moving on to the next round on So You Think You Can Dance.

Allen Genkin is a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance
Allen Genkin is a contestant on So You Think You Can DanceRead moreFacebook

Philly-based ballroom dancer Allen Genkin is moving on to the next round on So You Think You Can Dance.

Genkin, who owns Beat Dance Sport Academy in Huntingdon Valley, made it through the first round of Academy Week and will be featured on the show's second Academy episode this Monday.

A former competitive ballroom dancer, Genkin, 27, began his dance career at age 12, according to an online biography. As Genkin told So You Think You Can Dance on a previous appearance in 2015, he began dancing as a kid because his mom told him he might meet a lot of pretty girls. His mother died when Genkin was 15, inspiring him to pursue dance more seriously, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Following his retirement from professional competitions, Genkin went on to appear on ABC's Dancing with the Stars in 2012, and toured the country as part of the show's Ballroom with a Twist live show. In addition to his 2015 appearance on So You Think You Can Dance, Genkin, a testicular cancer survivor, returned to the show last year. He was eliminated two days into Academy Week, which he told dance blog Dance Network was "tough to let go of" at the time.

"I have to keep pushing it. I'm going to try my best to make it somewhere next year," he said. "We'll see what happens."

So You Think You Can Dance airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.