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From today’s Extra section, here’s the story about the Virginia Tech dance troupe Fighting Gravity, performing tonight on “America’s Got Talent.” The video of their first performance is embedded below.

Today, 13 may prove a lucky number on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

That’s how many members are in the dance troupe Fighting Gravity, which is composed of fraternity brothers from Virginia Tech’s Pi Kappa Alpha chapter. The group will appear on tonight’s episode, airing at 9 p.m., as it competes in the semi-finals to keep alive its shot at winning $1 million and headlining a Las Vegas show.

Fighting Gravity performs on stage in total darkness, using blacklight effects to create the illusion that the dancers and the objects orbiting around them are levitating.

The group has declined to be interviewed by The Roanoke Times, citing contractual obligations with NBC. But according to its website, the men in Fighting Gravity come mostly from Virginia hometowns, though one is from as far away as South Africa. One member, industrial and systems engineering major Caleb Sharp, hails from Roanoke.

They formed in early 2009 to participate in a talent show competition held at the university to benefit Service for Sight, a charity aimed at funding research to cure blindness.

“The group never expected to reach an international audience,” the website reads.

The New York Post has reported that the troupe, a bunch of engineering and business majors ages 19 to 22 with no dance experience, became a viral video phenomenon after the Virginia Tech debut and soon after performed at an ESPY Awards after party in Los Angeles.

They’ve clearly struck a chord with audiences. A video clip containing their first routine for the show has garnered more than 2 million hits on YouTube. In the clip, Howie Mandell tells the troupe, “Not since watching the Blue Man Group have I seen something this exciting.”

For more info, visit www.fightingravity.com or the Fighting Gravity page on Facebook.

Blogger’s note: In case you can’t get enough, here’s Fighting Gravity’s debut 2009 performance at Virginia Tech.