Ballroom Fantasy recently caught interviews with professional dancers Mark Ballas, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, Derek Hough, Chelsie Hightower, Anna Trebunskaya and Louis Van Amstel. A bonus interview with Bristol Palin, attending the ballroom celebration for no obvious reason, appears as well.
In addition to your standard ballroom banter, each of the pro-dancers offered commentary with regard to their celebrity partners. While most gave an extensive listing of each partner’s merits (or lack thereof), some highlights deserve special mention.
And Bristol’s biggest fan is…
Turns out that Bristol Palin’s “number-one cheerleader” is her mother. Who knew? Meanwhile, Bristol’s partner, Mark Ballas was cautiously optimistic about Bristol, even if she had “never done anything to do with performing.” No, two years constantly in the tabloids doesn’t count.
Brandy and her work ethic
Maksim Chmerkovskiy has a decent shot at dancing Brandy to a win. However, Maksim played it safe with his praise, claiming that the singer “has a natural ability” and “a great work ethic.” I guess we’ll have to wait to see if she can dance too.
Hopefully, Audrina will learn how to stop.
Tony Dovolani was excited to praise his star, Audrina Patridge, and found no shortage of semi-complimentary things to say about the young lady. Viewers will be happy to know that Audrina “comes in with the right attitude” and that “whatever she lacks in talent, she makes up for in drive.” Tony also points out that “she doesn’t know how to stop.” This is possibly dangerous for a dancer.
Sweet, scattered Jennifer
Derek Hough finds himself partnered with the pre-season front-runner. Not that any of us have seen Jennifer Grey dance (or do much of anything) since **Dirty Dancing, but that still gives her the advantage. Derek called his partner “a really sweet girl” but worried that she had “a little trouble remembering things.”
At least Michael is a good person.
Chelsie Hightower may be in love with Michael Bolton but not because of his dance moves. Chelsie quickly made it clear that “he’s not a dancer” but is instead “such a good person.” Chelsie is fine with this, however, since “What does dancing matter?” Not a thing, Chelsie. Not a thing.
Kurt packed groceries?
Anna Trebunskaya seems to have spent a lot of rehearsal time just getting to know her celebrity. Not that learning Kurt Warner was once a lowly supermarket bag-boy isn’t enough, but it’s good to know that “he kind of has his own groove” as well.
Surprise! Margaret’s dirty!
Louis Van Amstel is actually a fan of his celebrity. So much of a fan, in fact, that Louis imitated Margaret Cho’s “raunchy” style in much of his commentary. As he put it: “That woman is so dirty, foul, profane – I love it!” He was fairly excited about her dancing as well, feeling that Margaret’s passion and dedication are “going to surprise a lot of people.” Margaret Cho, the new front-runner? Now that would be surprising.
Click here to see all of the dancer interviews.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
