A local dancer looks to impress a national audience as he moves forward in the "So You Think You Can Dance" competition.
Pono Aweau has something in common with last year's Hawaii contestant who made it to the top six.
His full name didn't exactly roll off smoothly from host Cat Deeley's tongue.
But the judges saw that Kuponohiipoi Aweau's moves were smooth enough to move him to the next round.
Aweau will fly to Las Vegas on Tuesday to make the next cut, and be one of the 20 finalists.
"It's not even an option to not get this to not win it I'm going in for the kill it's a battle it's a war and I'm gonna come out the victor," he said.
Donning less hair but full of determination, the 23-year-old dancer from Kailua already has plenty of local support.
He's a member of the group 24-7 Dance Force, which gave him a send off on Sunday.
Judges were impressed enough to compare Aweau to Mark Kanemura, who was also from 24-7 Dance Force, and made it to the top six in last year's show. He's also been an inspiration for Aweau.
"Seeing him up close and seeing him do it you just don't think that you can and then because we are so close he's a really good friend of mine it made me think oh if he can do it oh I really could."
Aweau says the dancing bug bit him when he was a fifth grader at Kamehameha Schools.
And he's had a passion for it since.
His thoughts on being a finalist and performing in front of a national audience?
"I know it's a wide audience, a huge audience but it kind of excites me it gets me all amped to do this."
