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The internet has been abuzz with reports that Mary Murphy is en route out of “So You Think You Can Dance,” and Mia Michaels is returning to replace her.  Don’t believe

them, according to Murphy.  “Whatever you hear this entire summer, it’s probably going to come from my ex-manager,” she tells us.  “And you’re probably going to keep hearing things too, because we’re in a legal matter and it’s all about money.  It has nothing to do with Fox, nothing to do with Mia Michaels.”

The ebullient dance icon with the 20 megaton laugh isn’t laughing when she adds that “managers taking money from people is the oldest story in the book in this business, but I never thought it would happen to me.”

She’s determined not to be “one of those people who pay someone to go away.  That’s not me.  I’m Irish.  I’m in it for the long haul.”  She talks about taking her case to court, where, she declares, she is confident she would win.

But in the meantime, Murphy says she won’t be surprised if there’s some sort of new flap every week just before she goes on the air on “SYTYCD” — which is now into this season’s live performance episodes.

As far as any friction between her and Michaels, “There’s never been anything between me and Mia Michaels, my goodness!  I certainly admire her unbelieveably, and I tell her that every chance I get.  Her work is inspirational, and the bench piece she did is one of my favorites.  You can see it on line, where Fox did our Top 10,” adds Murphy, referring to a Michaels-choreographed number with a couple dancing over, around and atop a park bench.

Murphy does laugh her huge laugh when the topic of her relationship with exec producer and fellow judge Nigel Lithgoe comes up.  Sometimes the two toss zingers at each other like an old married couple.  “Yeah!  I’m glad you noticed that because we truly do have fun and love what we do.  We love being dancers.  We’ve been dancers our whole life and we just have a ball up there.  We love what we’re seeing!

“I can’t be more excited because this season truly is the best season, I think we’ve ever had.  We always say, ‘How can we beat that?’  But it’s true, these dancers keep getting better and better, just like athletes keep getting better and better.”  And that’s not just hype:  we’ve seen some of the most breathtakingly creative, amazingly executed dances ever in Season 9.

Mary Murphy

Mary Murphy, enjoying her return to the “So You Think You Can Dance” judges’ table after a year away, would like to perform again herself.  However, since surgery to remove a thyroid tumor in December, she candidly tells us, “My body has changed dramatically…I’m still navigating the whole hormonal change thing. I would still like to exit dancing, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen this season until we situate my hormones, you know?”

The champion dancer and choreographer, who successfully battled thyroid cancer while away from the show, points out that the thyroid regulates one’s metabolism, among other things. Thus, she reveals, “I cannot get my body.  I’ve been working so hard.  I’m fighting for it every day with a few hours of exercise — exercising like a crazy person, and nothing is happening with this body. I would love to come out at the finale and dance one more time to top it off, but I don’t think that will happen.”

Murphy is glad she was able to dance on Broadway last Fall in Burn the Floor, “and in my home town of San Diego. So, if I never get to dance again, you know, I ended it in a place where I felt really great, in my own home town.

“But I am going to really fight to dance at least one more time.”

Mary Murphy Fox photo

The unsinkable Mary Murphy is basking in the love that’s been coming her way since the announcement of her return to “So You Think You Can Dance” — including a seven-point ratings jump on her return show and a collection of critic and blogger comments that “SYTYCD” is better with her at the judge’s table.  Murphy’s year away from the show, as fans know, included her successful battle against thyroid cancer.

She notes, “I feel very lucky and extremely grateful to be in this position.”  The buoyant dance champ-choreographer with the outsized laugh also realizes that she’s become a role model.   “I don’t think anybody plans to be that — you know, to have to deal with so much.”

When asked her prescription for getting through such times, Murphy is quick to answer, “Laughter.  I will say that laughter is really key in a person’s lifetime.  Certainly I’ve had my share of tragedy.  Last year I lost three friends of mine that passed.  It was a roller coaster year for me.  Everyone has those roller coaster times.  But I keep laughing.”

Another key, she says, is “to keep moving forward.  You know, I’ve been down for the count, like most people when tragedy hits, and I might cry for three or four days, but eventually I pop back up and think, ‘What am I going to do about this?’

“And I keep exercising,” she adds.  “I also think that’s key.  I knew in September that I would have surgery in December, so I gave myself the best chance — trying to change my diet, trying to work on my lung capacity.  To get ready for the surgery I did hot yoga.  I have to say, I came feeling out of that surgery feeling pretty good.”

As far as her health now, “I’m staying on top of it…I am definitely not  being, well, an idiot, I have to say is what I was being before.  I was so in denial.  I knew I had a tumor on my throat and I was supposed to keep a close eye on it.  And I just got so busy.  After my first six months, I was supposed to keep an eye on it.  The first checkup, I was right there, ready, on time.  But after that, I just — I don’t know, I guess I thought, oh, it would never happen that it would turn to cancer.  The tumor started to grow.  I was getting increasingly tired.  I was supposed to choreograph and I was having a hard time doing that, and I was having a hard time swallowing.  I lost my voice all the time.

“All my friends were just on me, you know, they were like, ‘You’ve got to stop this, you know.  We think we can see the tumor.’  They were right.”

She’s hoping others benefit from her hard lesson.

MEANWHILE:  Murphy points out that at this stage in the “SYTYCD” game, it’s too early to tell which talents will break out.  “You can’t tell until a couple of weeks into the season, when you see how well they do outside their own styles.  Everyone is great working in their style.  Some people start getting better every week that have been underdogs.  After last week’s love fest, this week is a whole different animal, isn’t it?” asks Murphy.

This week, with the show going live, “It’s finding a partner and not knowing if you’re necessarily going to get along with that person, or if you’ll have instant chemistry.  It’s not knowing which choreographer you’ve gotten, what your music is. There are so many variables now.”

She’s thrilled with the talent level this year — exemplified by truly thrilling performances in this week’s show.

Derek Hough, Julie McDonald

Yes, there are a lot of “Dancing With the Stars” fans missing popular pro Derek Hough this season.  However, “He’s off to Canada to film a movie, ‘Cobu 3D.’  He’s starring.  He’s dancing and acting,” notes Julie McDonald of the dance romance in which Hough’s leading lady is Asian star BoA.  “He wants to do other things, and this is a wonderful opportunity for him.”

Hough is among the elite group of dance talents represented by McDonald’s MSA agency — so she knows.   The former dancer (whose own career was cut short by injury) has more than 20 years’ experience in working with dancers, stage director and choreographers, including “So You Think You Can Dance” choreography faves Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo.  Tabitha and Napoleon happen to be choreographing “Cobu,” in addition to assignments like Fox’s “Mobbed” and “The Kids Choice Awards,” plus the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, “Chipwrecked.”

“People’s careers are extending longer and longer in dance,” McDonald observes, “but those who want to have even longer careers have to expand.  Some go into choreography, some into acting.  Then you see a lot of choreographers going into producing and directing, like Kenny Ortega, Adam Shankman and Rob Marshall.”

McDonald adds that today, with mass exposure including social networking making dance stars into household names, there are even more opportunities for branching out.  “Dancers are often trendsetters.  A lot of them are into fashion and design.  Tabitha has a store,” she notes.

The explosion of dance and musical show popularity in recent years has made things both easier and more difficult for McDonald, a pioneer in exclusively representing terpsichorean types.  The business, she notes, has become much more complicated — and crowded.  “There are a lot more people out there calling themselves choreographers.”

Still, there’s obviously demand for the cream of the corps.  In a sampling of McDonald’s clients, Swany (Mark Swanhart) is the choreographer for Celine Dion’s new Vegas show and Gilles Papain is their video designer.  Sonya Tayeh is directing and choreographing Miley Cyrus’s new tour.  Marguerite Derricks is choreographing Broadway’s Wonderland, and Jamie King is directing the forthcoming Michael Jackson Cirque du Soliel show with Travis Payne choreographing.  That show is so huge, in fact, McDonald says that multiple choreographers are contributing their talents.

There’s also Steven Spielberg’s new pilot, “Smash,” starring Debra Messing and Katharine McPhee as part of a troupe getting ready to mount a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, with MSA client Josh Bergasse serving as choreographer.

Mia Michaels

Look out, Broadway.  “So You Think You Can Dance” judge and choreographer extraordinaire Mia Michaels has started taking her first few steps toward formation of the show she’ll be bringing to New York next year, including, she reveals, talking to Sting about doing the music.  She also has had discussions with a couple of noteworthy actors, and we might see some of our favorite faces from “SYTYCD” in her stage production.

“Absolutely I would use them,” she says.

Up ‘til now, Michaels’ has had the current season of the hit Fox show at the forefront of her mind.  With tonight’s (8/12) final episode of summer 2010 – and either Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman or Robert Roldan being named the winner – she’s psyched up to “make it all about celebrating the kids and their journey, how far they’ve come from day one.  It should be fun-filled.  There’s going to be recaps.  There’s going to be surprises.  I’m so looking forward to it.”

Sting

Viewers already got a preview of sorts of Michaels’ upcoming stage extravaganza.  “The last group number I did was kind of like a little bit of a seed of exploration of what my Broadway show is going to be,” she reveals.  Mounting of the yet-untitled theatrical production, which she’ll direct as well as choreograph, is being followed for a Bravo series about the ultra-hot dance talent.

“Yes it is a doc series – a ‘making of’ – but it’s going to have my Mia twist in there, so it’s not going to be typical.  It’s going to have some other elements,” she says.

Everything will pop in 2011, if all goes according to plan.  Potentially, she’ll be doing both new projects and “SYTYCD” simultaneously.

Michaels is definite that she wants to continue as a judge on the competition show, and says the criticism she and fellow judges Adam Shankman and Nigel Lithgoe have taken this season has not dampened her enthusiasm.

“I love being back on ‘So You Think.’  I love being a part of it.  I feel like my title has become so Mama Mia, and I love that.  I think that next season, if they ask me back, people will start getting used to me and knowing where my heart is and where my words come from,” she adds, referring to knocks she’s been getting for her harshness toward certain dancers.  “I think now people are a little like little taken aback, but I think in time they’ll see I’m coming from a good place.”

Stephen"tWitch" Boss

“So You Think You Can Dance” All Star Stephen “tWitch” Boss admits that it took some doing for him to get used to working on a movie set while making Disney’s “Step Up 3D” feature that opens Aug. 6.

The dancer is used to grueling physical workouts and learning routines fast, under high pressure.  However, “filming is a very, very tedious process,” he notes.  “I’ve learned to really respect the process, how it’s all about ultimately setting up the best shot.  There is a lot to learn on a set.  And if you’re not in the mood to learn, there is a lot of down time to take a nap.  You could have a 12-hour shoot day, but you spend the first 10 hours sitting around and then maybe the last two hours on camera.  Or your time could be split up in little sections throughout the day spread over 13 hours.  I found that it worked best to bring a couple of different books, a couple of playthings – and keep my interest by switching up throughout the day.”

The popular tWitch says he’d love it if in, say, three years’ time he’s “still teaching dance – traveling around teaching – and doing movies, not so much dance performance any more.  I want to get more and more into acting, playing characters that way.”

He also has a fashion line in the works, but it isn’t as close to being ready for unveiling as has been reported elsewhere.  “We’re still in the grassroots phase.  A lot of people have fashion lines.  Right now, I want to make sure I’m using my voice for what I want to say.”

Stephen "tWitch" Boss

“So You Think You Can Dance” breakout star Stephen “tWitch” Boss is going to be doing some mad dashing this month, between the demands of being an all-star performer who’s returned to the Fox hit this summer — and his traveling and promotional chores on behalf of Disney’s “Step Up 3D” feature that opens Aug. 6.

“We’re just going to try to work it out to do both.  It’s all a matter of scheduling.  It’s going to be a whirlwind,” he says.  “But it’s okay.  I’m very excited about the movie getting out there.”

tWitch got the chance to show off some acting chops, in addition to his dance moves, in the movie set amid a world of New York street dancing.  “I’m getting more into acting, taking that more seriously as an art form,” says the amiable performer, who also stars in “Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming,” due out on DVD in September.

In “Step Up 3D,”  “My character is a comic book nerd.  He’s very excitable, loves life, loves dance, and loves his crew.  He’s a good guy.”

tWitch and contestant Alex Wong brought the house down on last week’s installment of “SYTYCD” with a brilliantly imaginative hip hop number as a psychoanalyst and patient, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D’Uomo.    “I think we shut down the phrase that ‘ballet dancers can’t do anything but ballet,’” he says, referring to Wong’s primary dance form.  “I didn’t know what to think going in there.  I thought they were joking when they first told me Alex was going to be my partner…He works so hard, his work ethic is absolutely ridiculous – which makes him perfect for the competition.  We had basically a grand total of three days to get that together.”

tWitch loved the idea of “returning to the show in this capacity.  We’re there not just to partner with the contestants, but to help them as well.  At those moments when they think it might be best to freak out, we’re there to remind them that everything’s cool, that it’s a day-by-day process, and that things go much quicker here than for your average show.”

Cat Deeley Fox photo

“So You Think You Can Dance” hostess Cat Deeley certainly has her own dance card full – not only with the popular Fox show, but also with her jewelry line. The Birmingham, UK-born fashionista started a slow roll-out of her line with a bib necklace in December. She’ll be introducing viewers to a new range of pieces on QVC today (6/18). She’d like people to know, “The thing is that I love it, I absolutely adore fashion and have since I was a little girl. It’s not like I’m taking something and slapping my name on it. I’ve really worked hard on this.”

Deeley describes her Cat Deeley Vintage line as “basically, vintage-inspired jewelry. Lots of times you’ll hear someone say, ‘Oh, it’s vintage’ when they’re asked about a piece of jewelry. If you flick through fashion magazines, you’ll see vintage all the time. But what vintage, what style? The normal, average woman does not have time or inclination to go out searching for great pieces. My whole idea was, bring all these treasures that I’ve found on my travels, adapt them, change their shape, size, color.”

Treasures? “When we’re out on the audition trail, I always go on the hunt for hidden treasures,” she explains. “I go into a city and – I always do research before we go, and find the best vintage places — then I out at five in the morning and by lunch time I’m finished. Or I hit the shops when we finish work on the show early. I always, always find treasures. New York to New Orleans, Miami to Memphis.”

Which cities are the richest to mine for such baubles?

”I like going to the cities where maybe people aren’t so clued up on vintage,” she answers. “If you go to New York or Los Angeles, there are a lot of people looking in the same places. But if you go to Salt Lake City or Memphis, or New Orleans, not everybody is looking for the same things.”

Busy Cat – who serves as her own stylist on “So You Think You Can Dance” — says “I might move into other articles as well, but this is a good starting point for me. When we presented ideas to the QVC guys, they said, ‘Okay, let’s start with jewelry.’”

MEANWHILE:  Cat admits that ‘SYTYCD”  revolutionized her view of the art form of dance.   “I’d get taken to the ballet to see ‘The Nutcracker’ at Christmas time and things like that, but I never fully connected with it before,” she says.  “On the show, you know, occasionally something really, really magic happens with the right choreography, the right music, the right dancers and you watch and your hair stands on end.  I didn’t know dance could do that.  I can’t tell you why in technical terms.  I don’t know the names of the movements.  Like any great piece of art, it gives you the chills.”

Deeley makes it clear she has no aspirations in the dancing realm herself.  Her talents lie in hosting.  “I do a lot of prep, yes, I’m a big old square about all that,” she says.  If she seems ready for anything, it’s due to experience:  “I did so much live television when I was back in England – a three-hour daily show, live, 52 weeks of the year for six years.”  As far as whether things ever went out of control on her old show, she recalls, “Slash once came on and, it was a morning show, and he said very inappropriate things.  But we moved on.”

Cat Deeley

“So You Think You Can Dance” host Cat Deeley is psyched up over the changes and additions on this season of the hot Fox summer show.  She’s especially happy about the addition of “all stars” — top competitors from seasons past the likes of Lauren Gottleib, Stephen “Twitch” Boss and Comfort Fedoke – coming aboard to partner with the newbies and help them do their best.

“It’s lovely to see them back – they’re my babies,” declares the effervescent Brit.  “I’ve been following their careers, seeing who is in what movies, who is going out on tour.  It’s like they’ve been out of college and now they’re coming back.”

She adds, “It’s really going to be beneficial for our top 10.  Their friends, their families, the judges – nobody can quite understand the pressure cooker that is this show as well as those who’ve been through what they’re going through.”  Of the newcomers, she says, “I keep reminding them to keep enjoying themselves.  Yes, it’s a competition.  Yes, there’s one winner.  But it’s also about having an amazing life experience and friendships that could last the rest of their lives.”

Deeley remains super enthusiastic about her role.  “I love my job, I just love it!  I absolutely love this show.  It gets better every season.  The changes refresh and reinvigorate it.  I love going live, seeing what’s going to happen.  There will be ‘must see’ moments and undoubtedly moments that go off track that will make for water cooler conversation the next day.”

Her delight in doing live TV began in England, where she honed her skills doing a  morning show where she put in “three hours live, 52 weeks a year for six years.”  Now it seems Deeley could pop up anywhere – like guest hosting Simon Cowell’s “X-Factor” when that British hit competition show makes its way to these shores.

Indeed, some pundits have all but signed her up for “X-Factor” duty.  But she says, “At the moment, it is actually a case of crystal ball time” as to whether she could turn up on that show.  “It’s not coming on this year, not even next year, but the year after that,” she reminds.  “Of course it was a massive success in the UK.  It’s a brilliant show.  I’m sure it will be equally as triumphant here.”

Lauren Gottlieb

Talk about hot!  “So You Think You Can Dance” All Star and “Glee” performer Lauren Gottlieb found herself having to turn down the soon-to-begin “Glee” four-city live tour last week due to her overloaded schedule.  And while she was making that decision, she was busy helping prep Katie Holmes for her dance performance over the weekend at the The Motion Picture & Television Fund’s “A Fine Romance” benefit on the Fox lot.

The super-talented 21-year-old wants us to know she considers Katie a terrific dancer.  “I’m working with Tom as well.  I can’t really talk about that yet,” she told us before the event.  But she could say that the Cruises “are the most amazing, adorable family.”

Especially Suri.  “She’s dancing on the side and I keep trying to teach her little things.  [Holmes] likes it that she’s growing up sort of in-studio, thinking, ‘This is what you do when you grow up.’ She’s four years old and she talks like she’s older than I am.  She’s so grown up already.  She respects everybody and she doesn’t really cause too much chaos in the room.”

But getting back to her “Glee” decision – “I was kind of bummed,” admits Lauren, who plays a member of the rival glee club.  “The dates probably would have fit, but I feel I know what is about to happen with ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’  You’ve got to be in the best shape ever, to be on top of it.  I had the gut feeling that going out on the road and all that involves wouldn’t have been the best thing to do now, and I’ve learned to go with my gut.  Still, I hated to turn it down.  I hope I made the right decision.”

MEANWHILE:  With the premiere of Season 7 of “SYTYCD” coming up May 27, Lauren expects to be caught up “24/7” as she and the other returning All Stars work with the Top 10 new contestants.  “I’m stoked.  I think it’s going to be totally amazing.  We’ll be with the top five guys and top five girls only – the best of the best, training and really getting into it like a boot camp.”  And, not unlike the pros on “Dancing With the Stars,” the All Stars “don’t get kicked off, which is a plus, and we don’t get judged.”

It will be demanding.  “Just knowing how it was when I was on the show in Season 3, the pattern that we had with an 8 a.m. rehearsal for two hours, then going for wardrobe fittings and something to eat, and then rehearsals for anther dance number and then another costume fitting, all definitely with the same partner.  Now all the All Stars may be dancing twice in one episode, but not necessarily with the same person.”  Stay tuned.

NOT SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE:  Daniel Sunjata tells us that he’s certainly game to continue portraying Patricia Cornwell’s Wil Garano, since he enjoyed bringing the popular Massachussetts State Police detective character to life in back-to-back TV movies that aired last month on Lifetime.  “But it’s just speculation at this point whether or not there will be more,” he notes.

The actor has been busy working on the final two seasons of “Rescue Me” as firefighter Franco Rivera.  They’ll wrap for good this month, and “I wouldn’t even say I have mixed feelings about that.  My feelings are very clear:  I’m happy for the opportunity to do ‘Rescue Me,’ but I’m definitely ready to move on and show my range,” he says.

Sunjata, who attained his master’s degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, says his heart’s desire is to return to his acting roots.  “It’s often been said that if your training is in the theater and you stay away too long, your acting muscles start to atrophy.  If I could make the same amount of money on stage that I do on television or film, I would probably only work on stage.”

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster