Ballroom dancing isn’t something I’ve ever tried unless you count waltzing in “Carousel” in high school. I’m a super klutz. I trip over my own two feet and walk into walls. You’d never know I was a gymnast, ballerina, and cheerleader growing up. My friends and I would joke that the reason we were all klutzes is because all those moves were choreographed; if someone didn’t tell us where to be and when we couldn’t maneuver through the day.
with Alan Bersten
In college—um, a lot of years ago—I took a modern and a jazz dance class. They weren’t really my cup of tea. But they were easy AE credits (and by ballet instructor wouldn’t let me take ballet classes and have them count).
with Artur Adamski and Carol Jones
This past week, we had the opportunity to take a dance class with the dance troupe from Dancing With The Stars (DWTS), and we learned to SALSA! Thanks to ABC for this fun opportunity! The dance troupe, among other things, fills in for the DTWS dancers if they are sick or injured. Here’s a clip of Alan Bersten dancing with Heather Morris while Maksim Chmerkovskiy was injured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZkSnxOeP4Y&feature=youtu.be
It’s literally been over two decades since I’ve thought about dancing or took a single dance class. The last theatre production I was in was I 1996, and even that involved minimal dancing.
But back to DWTS. The 6-person DTWS troupe showed is the dance we’d be doing, taught us the basics, and then we split up into groups of 4 with an individual instructor to get a deeper lesson. At the end of the 20ish-minute lesson we had a friendly competition.
with Britt Stewart
Our instructor, Britt Stewart, was so patient and fun. She broke down our dance steps into segments and then we brought those segments together to do the whole number. I generally like to think of the steps as coherent pieces so it’s easier for me to count the steps (more like someone who’s had some training) rather than to think of them as independent moves we then bring together as a whole, so we did it that way, too.
with Brandon Armstrong
We had a blast. Here’s some video footage of the afternoon!
About Dancing With The Stars
About Dancing With The StarsTHE EIGHT REMAINING COUPLES DANCE TO SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC SONGS FROM FAMOUS BOY BANDS AND GIRL GROUPS THROUGHOUT MUSICAL HISTORY, ON ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS,’ MONDAY, APRIL 24
The Celebrities Compete Against Each Other in Team Dances – Men vs. Women
Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter Is a Guest Judge
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Returns to the Ballroom Floor
One Couple Will Be Eliminated at the End of the Night
“Episode 2406” – The eight remaining celebrities will dance to songs from some of the most popular boy bands and girl groups throughout history, and the men and women will also compete against each other in team dances, on “Dancing with the Stars,” live, MONDAY, APRIL 24 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network. Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter joins Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Julianne Hough as a guest judge.
Some of the iconic boy bands and girl groups, whose songs will be danced to, include Simone and Sasha performing a samba to Destiny’s Child, Bonner and Sharna dancing a rumba to Backstreet Boys, Nick and Peta jiving to The Beach Boys, Normani and Val dancing a salsa to The Pussycat Dolls, and David and Lindsay performing an Argentine tango to *NSYNC, among others. Also, after being injured, Maks makes his return to the ballroom floor, where he and Heather will perform a rumba to TLC.
To add some spice to the competition, it’s Team Dances with men vs. women:
TEAM BOY BAND
Bonner Bolton, Nick Viall, David Ross and Rashad Jennings will dance to a medley of “Dancing Machine” by Jackson 5, “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids on the Block and “Best Song Ever” by One Direction.
TEAM GIRL GROUP
Simone Biles, Nancy Kerrigan, Normani Kordei and Heather Morris will dance to a medley of “My Boyfriend’s Back” by The Chiffons, “No Scrubs” by TLC and “BO$$” by Fifth Harmony.
Each celebrity will perform a samba, rumba, tango, paso doblé, salsa, Argentine tango, or jive.
At the end of the night, based on scores and votes from last Monday, one couple will be eliminated.
Each Couple Will Dance to the Following Songs (in alphabetical order):
Simone Biles & Sasha Farber – Samba – “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child
Bonner Bolton & Sharna Burgess – Rumba – “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys
Rashad Jennings & Emma Slater – Tango – “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” by The Four Tops
Nancy Kerrigan & Artem Chigvintsev – Paso Doblé – “Free Your Mind” by En Vogue
Normani Kordei & Valentin Chmerkovskiy – Salsa – “When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls
Heather Morris & Maksim Chmerkovskiy – Rumba – “Waterfalls” by TLC
David Ross & Lindsay Arnold – Argentine Tango – “I Want You Back” by *NSYNC
Nick Viall & Peta Murgatroyd – Jive – “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys
Hosted by two-time Emmy-winning host Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews, “Dancing with the Stars” is the hit series in which celebrities perform choreographed dance routines that are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts, including head judge, Len Goodman, dancers/choreographers Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Julianne Hough.
For week six, viewers may cast their votes for their favorite couples via phone during and up to 60 minutes after the end of the “Dancing with the Stars” broadcast in each time zone. Online voting at ABC.com at http://dwtsvote.abc.go.com/ and on Facebook at is open for 24 hours, beginning from the start of each episode on the East Coast at 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT and closing at 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday evenings.
I’ve been invited to an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles. As always, all opinions are my own.
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[…] This time around, we spent time with the mentors of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.” The “Dancing with the Stars” mentors are entertaining and while this was the first time meeting Gleb Savchencko, it was the second time working with Alan Bersten and Brandon Armstrong. […]