Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon was an aerial silks act from Season 5 of America's Got Talent. The pair was eliminated in the Vegas Round, but it returned for the Wild Card Show. It was later eliminated again in the Semifinals.
Background
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon are quite the duo. They met just four years before the audition, while Michael was training on the beach in Santa Monica. A very flirtatious Ashleigh approached him. Hoping for a date, the couple got a lot more than they bargained for. They hit it off instantly, as they both shared similar performance styles. Michael and Ashleigh were both born in California, and came full circle back to California after moving several times around the country.
Ashleigh moved from California to Pennsylvania, when her mother moved back to her roots to care for her dying father. While in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, Ashleigh landed her first role in a major motion picture, playing the daughter of James Gandolfini, and the niece of John Cusack as a 12-year-old child. As a hometown girl, Ashleigh was a cheerleader for her local school, which paid off when her family moved to Hollywood, Florida, and Ashleigh tried out for Miami Heat's Extreme Team and made the cut. Ashleigh's experience in performing major tricks and stunts for the NBA really made her aware of her love for performance arts. With great perseverance, Ashleigh has taught herself most of the tricks and stunts you see today. It hasn't always come easy for Ashleigh, though. She had to stop her training altogether for over a year, and thought she would never perform again when she was injured while training. On top of that, her house burned down to the ground last Christmas Day with all of her belongings in it, including her dog. Ashleigh stayed positive and moved back to Los Angeles, knowing that someday her dreams would come to fruition.
From a young age, Michael loved putting on performances for family and friends. He would perform in mini-circus routines and dream of running away with the circus. Michael, too, was self-taught, with dreams of a future in the performing arts always just beyond his grip, until he landed a job at Disneyland. From there, his next job was performing on a cruise ship, which took him all around the globe. His worldly travels were great while they lasted, but when Michael hit land again, his car was his home for a while. He found out that working towards his dream wasn't always so easy. Michael has done odd jobs from delivering cookies to working the graveyard shift in the early hours of the morning. Michael never gave up, and his experiences along with his perseverance led him to a spot on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." 1
Audition
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon's audition consisted of performing acrobatic tricks such as spinning using aerial silks to "Bad Romance." Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandel, and possibly Piers Morgan voted "Yes," sending them to the Vegas Round.
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Vegas Round
Michael Lipari & Ashlleigh Dejon were one of the Judges' Favorites in the Vegas Round. They were sorted into the "Acrobats" category. Their performance consisted of the two swinging on ropes hanging on the ground and performing aerial feats. At one point in their performance, however, Ashleigh became tangled in the rope and the two visibly struggled untangling her. Their audition was not strong enough for the judges to send them to the Quarterfinals, eliminating them from the competition.
Wild Card (Quarterfinals)
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon were brought back by Sharon Osbourne for the Wild Card Show in the Quarterfinals. The pair's performance consisted of hanging on an elevated harness and performing aerial tricks to "Rude Boy." At one point in their performance, it appeared liked Michael had dropped Ashleigh; in reality, this was staged and Ashleigh was okay. The pair finished in either fourth or fifth place in America's Vote. In the Judges' Choice, although Piers Morgan did not vote for it, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel did, sending it to the Semifinals instead of Harmonica Pierre
Semifinals
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon's Semifinals performance consisted of performing acrobatic feats on the aerial silks to "Bleeding Love." They did not receive enough votes to be sent to the Finals, eliminating them from the competition.
After the Show
On the Season 5 Final 4 performance episode of America's Got Talent on September 14, 2010, Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon performed as one of six of the "hottest variety acts from America's Got Talent 2010."
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