joconnell@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - The tension was so unbearable that Della Jolley found it difficult to even breathe throughout the program as she watched from her home television Tuesday night.

Contestants in the Fox network's reality show, "So You Think You Can Dance," draw their choreography and dance style assignments from a hat. Judges assign their partners.

The tense Pocatello woman knew her grandson could pull off Latin and ballroom routines flawlessly. But she gasped when he stepped onto the stage dressed as a monster, with unkempt hair and black rings surrounding his eyes.

It appeared Ryan Di Lello, a muscular and handsome Pocatello native more accustomed to dancing in a tuxedo, had drawn the short straw. Yet somehow, Ryan and his random partner performed as if they'd both grown up together studying the "monster" style of dance.

"Because of his strength and his ability, he took this poor girl, and she was treated like a rag doll," said a grandmother who jokes she doesn't wear shirts with buttons any more because she's so filled with pride they'd all pop off. "He did all of these lifts above his head and threw her around, and they both made it to the next round."

Though the show ranks dancers individually and pairs them with strangers, Ryan and his wife, Ashleigh Di Lello, both made the cut Tuesday and are in the top 18 dancers of the competition. They're the only married couple ever to make it into the show's top 20.

Ryan, who attended Pocatello's Gate City Elementary School, lives with Ashleigh in Springville, Utah, where his family moved just before he started high school.

"It started out in six major cities across the United States that Fox TV network held auditions, and there were thousands in each of these cities, and from this they chose 150 to compete in Las Vegas, and Ryan and Ashleigh were both chosen," Della said. "In Las Vegas, they cut it down to 38 to go to California. The first competition in California cut it down to 20."

Ryan took up dance to provide focus in his life after his father died. He started his lessons at Dance World, the Pocatello studio owned and operated by his mother, Tresa, in the basement of Joulet Plaza. Della bought the facility for Tresa's business and started a reception hall in the upstairs portion. She continues to host events in Joulet Plaza.

"It was the largest studio at that time in town. She had about 300 students. She took them to competitions then and did well," Della said. "Ryan entered many competitions. I won't say he was always the very first, but if he wasn't, he was the second."

Upon moving to Utah, Tresa opened another studio, called Charisma, where Ryan continued to train.

Ryan went on to dance at Brigham Young University, where he competed in competitions throughout the country and abroad. He had to pass on a dance scholarship at BYU in order to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More important than any individual accolades, Ryan met his life-long dance partner at BYU.

As a youth, Ashleigh Ingersal contracted a serious illness during a tour of the South Pacific that rendered her bedridden for six years. Doctors worried she wouldn't live.

"During this time she was bedridden, but she dreamed of dancing," Della said. "Although her feet couldn't do it, her mind did, and she practiced steps in her mind."

They competed together at BYU and beyond. At one competition in Florida, they were noticed by a talent scout, who hired them to be entertainers on a cruise line for two and a half years.

"They are magnificent together," Della said.

The first live elimination show of "So You Think You Can Dance" is scheduled for Nov. 11. The last dancer standing will receive $250,000.

"I want you to know I don't breathe through the whole program," Della said. "To wonder whether he's going to make the cuts is a nightmare. In fact, I have never experienced anything that so overwhelms both me and my husband."