Our dancers set to step up

So You Think You Can Dance Canada's hoofers have everything their American counterparts have -- and more -- according to host Leah Miller.

Turns out along with being just as talented as the southern folks, the dancers competing in the new reality TV competition debuting tomorrow night on CTV are, like, totally hot.

"They're better looking than the American dancers," states Miller, whose perky mug you'd recognize from MuchMusic. "Wait until you see them -- they're all super cute and sweet."

Miller should know -- she sat in on the show's auditions in Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal and Calgary back in the spring. Along with their camera-ready looks, she was impressed with how graciously the Canuck dancers accepted criticism from the judges.

"Canadians are so polite compared to the Americans. They're just like, 'OK, thanks for the opportunity'. "

More than 2,500 professional and amateur dancers with backgrounds in everything from ballet and tap to hip-hop, Lindy Hop, contemporary, popping, belly dancing and even parkour ("When people do flips off walls, without the walls," Miller explains) turned up to audition -- and, in some cases, audition again -- for permanent judges Tre Armstrong and Jean Marc Genereux, along with a handful of alternating panelists.

Miller says there were more amazing dancers than there were bad ones, but even those who were dismissed were rather endearing.

"There was a boy in Montreal and his nickname was Fairy. He was a belly dancer and he had all these little bells on his outfit -- my heart went out to him."

Whether Armstrong -- an urban mover who starred in the dance flick How She Move -- or Genereux -- a ballroom pro whose choreography with wife France Mousseau was featured on the last season of So You Think You Can Dance -- will turn out to be the brutally honest, Nigel Lythgoe-sort of judge remains to be seen, but Miller admits Armstrong isn't afraid to speak her mind.

"She would never be mean to someone, but she would do it in a constructive criticism kind of way," she says.

Laying claim to the third judging seat throughout the season are Mississauga-raised SYTYCD Season 1 finalist Blake McGrath, Toronto hip-hopper Luther Brown, ballet man Rex Harrington, choreographers Melissa Williams, Sean Cheesman and Paul Becker along with frequent SYTYCD judge Dan Karaty and last but definitely not least, the U.S. version's "Queen of Scream" Mary Murphy -- who will undoubtedly be handing out tickets aboard her Hot Tamale Train at some point.