I have to give a Galaxy-sized thank you to Disney & Marvel Studios for hosting me during the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Event.
When I found out that we were going to be getting a dance lesson from Dancing with the Stars troupe members, I literally screamed. LITERALLY. I immediately packed a workout outfit because dancing is serious business, you guys. My teammates, (bless ’em), didn’t think dance was serious work until we started shaking our rumps and they started sweating. It’s the real deal, people. Dance is the REAL. FLIPPING. DEAL.
Although they could have been sweating because the Dancing with the Stars dane troupe is full of really beautiful people.
We were supposed to interview the troupe before we got a dance lesson, and we did, but I think we all wanted to just jump into the dance lesson.
We met up with Hayley Erbert, Brittany Cherry, Britt Stewart (who is gluten free and was amazing enough to talk to me about it afterwards), Brandon Armstrong, Artur Adamski, and Alan Bersten who has been subbing for Maksim Chmerkovskiy as a pro while he nursed an injury.
The troupe are the team of dancers who dance in the opening numbers and other special routines on the show. They also fill in for the pros (like Alan did for Maks in the video below), and many of them become pros themselves in later seasons!
They answered our questions about being troupe members, like how they got on the show, how three of them were on “So You Think You Can Dance” together, and how they have pretty rigorous schedules during Dancing with the Stars, but are forced to take Tuesdays off. You see, when you’re a dancer, it’s not just what you do, it’s what you ARE, and it’s hard to take a day off. I get it. It’s like asking me not to be a writer for a day. SO hard.
We got to work pretty quickly, with Alan Bersten leading the charge. The group of us learned the dance routine then broke off into smaller groups to fine tune everything.
My group consisted of Tara from Trippin’ with Tara, Kathy from A Mom’s Impression, and Rebecca from R We There Yet Mom. Our fearless leader was Brandon Armstrong, who was a tall drink of hot cocoa. The shimmying got a little out of control with Tara and I, but Kathy and Rebecca reeled it in for us, and Brandon had us doing fun formations and movements in no time.
When it came time to present to the group, I totally lost it on the last 8 count. I’m only pointing that out to you because WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?!? I looked someone in the eyes while I was dancing and – BOOM! Movements gone. I know better. Always spot the wall. Always.
Needless to say, I won’t be joining the pros on Dancing with the Stars any time soon, but I had the absolute BEST time during our short Q&A and Salsa lesson. It was definitely a highlight of the trip, and I’m suddenly jonesing to watch Dancing with the Stars every Monday on ABC at 8:00pm EDT.
THIS WEEK – 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. Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter joins the regular season judges as a guest judge. “Team Boy Band” is dancing to a medley of Jackson 5, New Kids on the Block, and One Direction. “Team Girl Group” is dancing to a medley of The Chiffons, TLC, and Fifth Harmony.
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 http://bit.ly/2cdE4PL 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.
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