‘Dancing With the Stars’ injects ballroom dancing with style, grace and a bit of sexiness. The show comes to Borgata 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14.
There was a time not long ago when ballroom dancing seemed a relic of another era. It was the stuff of stuffiness, of old black-and-white movies and pre-war romantic traditions, much of which had long been either shrugged off by younger generations or forgotten entirely.
Then came “Dancing with the Stars.”
Premiering on ABC in 2005, the TV show quickly became a huge hit for the network with its winning formula of pairing professional dancers with untrained celebrities from all walks of life in an elimination–style ballroom dance competition. The show first aired 17 years ago, but it’s still going strong and just finished airing its 30th season in November.
Springboarding off the popularity of the TV series, “Dancing with the Stars” also has a touring version of the show that heads to Atlantic City for a live performance 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. We had a chance to speak with Emma Slater, a professional dancer that appears regularly on both the TV show and the tour, and she was nice enough to give us the inside scoop on what the experience is all about.
RYAN LOUGHLIN: What drew you to want to be a dancer originally?
EMMA SLATER: I had a lot of energy when I was a kid. And when I was about 10 years old I went to see a (dance) demonstration, and the girl that was performing dropped into splits, and I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world. So that is what started my love for ballroom dancing. But for dancing in general, I think it was just that I had so much energy. You know when it’s very clear that a certain kid was meant to be a performer? That was me.
RL: You have done the TV version of “Dancing with the Stars” and now the live version as well. What are some of the major differences between the two? Is there a host?
ES: For me, personally, the major difference is that when we are on tour we get to go from city to city, and we can see the different audiences. When we are filming in the ballroom, we are in only one location so the travel aspect isn’t there.
On the tour we don’t bring all the celebrities along, either. We are actually touring right now with Kaitlyn Bristowe (from the ABC reality show “The Bachelor”), but aside from that, we dance with other professional dancers on the tour. So the performances are more slick, more professional, have more energy, are a bit more creative, and we are able to just push the boundaries a little more to give the audience a really exciting show. And, of course, there is no winner at the end of it, so it’s just a two-hour, high-energy performance with all the dancers from “Dancing with the Stars.”
RL: Who was your favorite dance partner to work with on the TV version and why?
ES: My favorite partner was Rashad Jennings, who was an NFL running back for the New York Giants. He was just the nicest guy, and we ended up winning, which of course makes it so much better. We really clicked, and we became fantastic friends and still are today.
RL: In the touring version, do you stick with one dance partner?
ES: We dance with multiple people. There are six male dancers and six female dancers, including our celebrity guest Kaitlyn. And we dance with everybody on the tour. It’s really fun, actually.
RL: When you go to a wedding are you horrified by the dance moves of the average person?
ES: Oh my God, no! When I go to a wedding and I see people dancing, if they are dancing with their heart it doesn’t matter how crazy they look, I always smile. I think it’s fantastic. I always love to watch people dance.
RL: What is the hardest part about working with an untrained celebrity as opposed to a professional dancer?
ES: It’s the very simple things that you take for granted when you are dancing with a professional dancer. They know how to lead you, they know how to move you or how to adjust if the balance is wrong. They just know how to hold you. But with an untrained dancer, at first you don’t realize how little they know about holding somebody and the way that you need to move someone. As professional dancers, we have a way of listening with our bodies. It’s body language, but it needs to be completely amplified when you are dealing with a regular person or a celebrity who doesn’t know how to dance. They find it hard to become comfortable holding you in the right way.
RL: The show has brought attention to dancing in a way that had not really existed in recent memory. How important has the show been to the art of dance as a whole?
ES: I think “Dancing with the Stars” has been a really good form of representation for young kids to watch and think, “Oh, I could be a ballroom dancer!”
It’s really brought ballroom dancing into the mainstream and sort of made it cool, when before it really wasn’t considered cool. It used to be something your grandma and granddad did, but now it’s a little bit sexier. People are starting to see it for what it is.
