SOT: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Orange Fringe Pants (DWTS: The Next Pro 101)

Danielle Fishel is a professional podcaster. Valentin Chmerkovskiy is a professional dancer. And together, they are now…dancecasters.

This exciting duo is taking on a challenge beyond any ballroom: they’re recapping the newest Dancing with the Stars competition spinoff - The Next Pro.

Danielle and Val introduce the cast in this inaugural episode, we hear their first impressions of who may be stepping foot in the ballroom next season and we find out why the most tender hug a person can experience involves eye contact with Robert Irwin. 

Plus, Val shares a Russian phrase that’s all too relatable, and we hear firsthand why making a mistake mid-routine makes you feel like you’re in The Matrix. Get ready for the first episode of Stepping on Toes!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to Stepping On Toes. I am professional dancer Danielle Fischell,
and I.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Am a professional celebrity podcaster balancing.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Guys. This is our very first episode.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I just always wanted to do this.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
You just want to play with it. You want to
play with the microphone. Listen, don't you dare respectfully you
want to play with the microphone.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Not anymore, but you did want to.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
You had to get.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Now now I can't get.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Honestly, this is why I wanted to work with you.
I I wanted a co host that would come in
and go, can I play with the microphone?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Maturity, poise, professionalism, That's what I bring.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I truthfully adore you. I am so excited that you
agreed to do this with me. I think you have
such an important voice in this community and in this world,
and you're so good at being able to explain yourself.
You can stay diplomatic, but you also are always very honest,

(01:14):
which is what people want. You're authentic through and through.
I guess the shorthand is you are truly who you
are at all times, and I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thank you so much. Here, you and my mom, that's it.
Everybody else has something to say about that, but no,
I appreciate the opportunity. Obviously I have a lot to
say about a lot of things, but dance is something
that I committed my life to. So yeah, I'm excited
to speak on that. I'm excited to use my voice too,
oh soo not just inform people of the things that

(01:44):
I've experienced, but also to celebrate those that are in
my community. I think that's really wonderful that and we'll
get to what was the the beginnings of this podcast,
but stepping on toes, you know, Next Pro, the the
shows that are kind of growing around the idea of
ballroom dance. I think that's wonderful.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
There's such a big spotlight on ballroom dancing. Like you said,
something you've committed your life to. It almost would be
a shame to have this kind of a spotlight on
it and to not be a part of it and
to celebrate it and to not help build it up.
So thank you for letting me do that with you.
So we are recapping the inaugural season of a brand

(02:26):
new addition to the Dancing with the Stars universe. It's
the competition reality show The Next Pro, hosted by our
beloved Pal Robert Irwin. They have brought together twelve up
and coming dancers to live and train together. They're going
to compete in an audition process along the way, and

(02:46):
one winner will join the show for season thirty five.
As your competition, I was going to say, as my castmates,
but I know, and I turned it to competition.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
No, totally, because that's what it is. Yeah, I could
tiptoe around that, but the truth is it is still
a competition. And but we'll get to that. I just
want to say, yeah, so fun, such a great show,
such a great concept. Like I said, the world of
borehom Dance continues to grow as far as uh, you know,

(03:18):
broadcasting it to the world. So it's a beautiful thing.
I am so proud of our cast, the current cast
of Dancing with the Stars. And having said that, there
are just so many other characters in our world that
I love. I do have experience with a lot of
these kids. Yeah, I do know quite a few of them,
and so to see these stories come to light, to

(03:41):
see them get their spotlight, it does mean a lot
to me.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
You're like a proud uncle. You literally have goose bumps.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, I just thought of again, I don't want to cut.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Let's just get to it and know, let's take one
step at a time. That one step at a time.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
There's gonna be a lot of dance ponds in this.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yes, at least in the first episode. We got to
get him out of our system, just like the mic.
You know. So the show is judged by legendary dancer
and the world's most accomplished Latin instructor at ten times
US champion, whose fingerprints are all over almost every pro
currently on the show, Miss Shirley Ballas yep.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Val.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
For those who are unaware of the Shirley Ballast law,
what should they know about her?

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, first of all, she's she's just a superstar educator
in the space of barm dance. Yeah, she has pedigree
as a competitor, and she was a superstar when she competed.
But I think she really came into her lore, if
you will, as a teacher obviously through the works of

(04:51):
Derek Huff famously and Mark Ballas obviously and Julianne Huff.
But she's been an influence on my career and and
like you said, had a fingerprint on so many successful dancers. Yeah, yeah,
Charley Ballast is our you know, she she's our founding mother. Yeah, yeah,

(05:15):
I want. I didn't want to be disrespectful too. It's
all she's been in the game.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
It's about stature.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Her stature is and the fact that she's still doing
it at a very high level. I know that strictly
sees her dance once in a while. The American audience
hasn't seen her perform yet, but she's a star still
dance floor and so I love Shirley. She's got I
love that she has the pedigree to speak on dance,
but also she's just so sassy, I know, classy at

(05:43):
the same time and so well spoken, and she just
says it how it is, which I love.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah. We also have three time Mirror Ball winner and
Shirley's son, a ballroom legend in his own right, Mark
ballas as the other contestant, judge, someone you know very well.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah. We reflect on that from from time to time. Actually,
especially last season when we both kind of had really
strong seasons and along the way as the body started
to ache, you know, we just reflected on the fact
that we've been doing this alongside each other for thirty years. Yeah. Wow,
And that's again, but but it means a lot, you know, again,

(06:23):
to pursue something that you're passionate about, and to pursue
something so niche and small and then find yourself on
such a huge platform years later when you pursued it
really because because you loved it, not because of like
a financial land goal or anything like that.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
You know, never predicted where it would have ended up.
It's not why you got started.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
And if I would have known in middle school that
my New Yorker and my pursuit of ballroom dance is
going to land me a podcast with one and only
time to Panga, I would have practiced harder.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
If you went to a podcast with Tapega versus one
of the most formidable pro dancers on Dancing with the Stars,
That's where.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
I thought we were going with this.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Respectfully to my employers, Yeah, no, definitely podcast with a panga.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well thank you. I take that as the highest compliment.
There are a ton of familiar faces who flew out
to Australia, which is where this show was shot, and
so we expect to see all of our favorites get involved.
When did you first hear about the next pro show?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
We were on tour with Dancing with the Stars and
for those unfamiliar, we do our season and then we
go on this tour around the country and we got
a chance to do ninety seven shows. You're a big
part of that.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I was, and it was incredible.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
It's interesting that was the first time I I found
out about the next pro but also that was kind
of the times when we got to know each other
on tour and even have the prospect of doing a
show together. But yeah, no, I found out on tour.
I think we were just wrapping up tech and we
were like a day removed from the very first show,

(08:10):
and we had a conversation about the show happening and
that we were going to be kind of some of
the pros will be used to mentor some of these guys,
and what that meant was that our tour is going
to be reshuffled quite frequently, which is what happened. But again,
it all worked out and we were just excited again
that this project is happening. We heard of some of

(08:33):
the names that were potentially being considered we got excited
about and so yeah, I mean, like I said, there's
so much unknown with this That's why I'm excited for
our audience for our fans because it is a different angle.
I think it's a perfectly adjacent show to Dancing with
the Stars, not just because it kind of showcase. It's
like the not the Little League World Series. Yeah, but

(08:56):
it's like when you watch collegiate sports and you know
that these are the future pros, potentially pros in the
big leagues. Yeah, and so I don't want to remove
myself as some sort of authority figure away from this talent.
But yeah, they are fighting for the big leagues, and
it's fun to see. It's fun to see the different
talent come up, and so we were just excited.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
How difficult do you think it is to come into
the world of Dancing with the Stars without having a
history of being on Troop and then to become a
true contender in your first year? Like how difficult? Is that?

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Very? Very difficult? Nearly impossible? Right again unless unless and
again I'm only talking from my experience. I was one
of the most decorated competitive ballroom dancers coming into the show,
and I was trash my first season.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
First.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, it was awful because there's so many other elements
at play, and we'll get to those elements. But Yeah,
it's very challenging because a lot of it rides also
on the on the partner that you get, the celebrity
partner and your compatibility right, and a lot of it
is in the moment you know you gotta pivot, and

(10:15):
especially when you meet your celebrity partner, and I think
it's really hard to do when you don't have the
context of going the full distance, right, you don't have
the experience of what are my options when it comes
to pivoting. And then the other thing is you've got
to have experience teaching as well, not just performing, not
just choreographing for another pro You gotta have the experience

(10:36):
of dissecting the information and really conveying it to another adult,
and and and being able to communicate to a whole
plethora of adults. Not all adults are are made the
same and learn the same and so these are all
the different nuances that come with experience. And I don't
think that's just reserved for the ballroom dance world. I

(10:58):
think that's that goes for every single profession you pursue.
It's all about experience.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, absolutely, getting those ten thousand hours before you really
feel like all right, I'm a pro in this. I'm
an expert in this now.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Totally, because then you also got to earn another ten
thousand hours on TV. Yeah, doing TV? Right, So this
show combines both your ability to be a dance professional
and you're also stepping into show business. Right, those are
two different different things. A lot of the skills are
obviously transferable, but you gotta again, you gotta start from beginning.

(11:31):
You gotta have the humility to do so, and you
got to learn.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Right. So you mentioned that you are familiar with a
lot of the contestants on the show. Yeah, how many
did you know before watching this first episode? And how
did you know them?

Speaker 2 (11:45):
There's only there's only like two that I didn't know really, Yeah, okay,
and again there's degrees in which I know them, But Alan,
I've known the longest, and I feel like most not
an intimate way about I'm saying like intimately in the
sense that I in the closest proximity, right I. Selena

(12:06):
is another one you know, but but from a completely
different angle. Selena somebody I've seen grow up as a
convention superstar. I don't want to say convention kid, because
she's an extraordinary talent superstar in the in the contemporary jazz,
you know, and now translating into commercial work. But man,
her her range is just crazy, but a complete rook

(12:31):
when it comes to ballroom. But again, some of those
things are transferable. And so we'll get into the nitty
gritty of the show and I'll talk more about those things.
But yeah, I mean again, our show is now evolved
to be in a little bit more than just a
strictly ballroom dance show, but at the core is still
partnering and elements that you can't just dismiss. Yeah, that's

(12:55):
why I love Shirley. Yeah, I love Mark as well,
and all the mentors that come into to give feedback.
But I think Shirley really really hits on those points.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, she focus. She tells you right off the bat
how important technique is to her. I'm going to run
through some of the contestants. All of the contestants. So
for our dear listeners, I'm sure you've watched the show
by now, but we have Benji, who was a top
seven finalist on season sixteen of So you Think you
Can Do?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Okay, So this is the one that I wasn't familiar.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
With Okay, you did not know Benji Alan you mentioned
he's a ballroom instructor and a professional dancer out of
San Jose. Selena again the other person you mentioned. She's
very cool. She was one of the dancers in the
iconic Gap commercial with Kat's Eye to Milkshake by Caalise.
It was a viral sensation and now she could be
the next ballroom pro. We have Natalie. Her instagram bio

(13:47):
reads eight time US National Champion, six time UK Open,
four time International, and four time World Smooth Champ, which
sounds all of this is very impressive to me.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it is impressive.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's quite a bio Mine says like if your mima
had TikTok or something. And then there's Eric who's in
La based ballroom and Latin dancer who has competed and
appeared on TV numerous times. Nina a professional dancer who
also owns the Ittelier at Vibe in Philadelphia, which is
a dance clothing line that includes practice wear, competition attire, shoes,

(14:23):
and pro tanning supplies. Yes Nina with the ad we
love an entrepreneur pro dancer.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yes, we're all entrepreneurs. This is all where it was.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Self Employedly, we're all self employed. Keep them coming, get
these trademarks going. And then Jake, no stranger to the
Dancing with the Stars universe. He appeared on Dancing with
the Stars Juniors back in twenty eighteen.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Which I judged.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yes, a lot of pros started on Juniors.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Right, you mean as the kids or the men's horses,
the mentors. Well, yeah, no, there's a lot of our pros.
Well they were, but the kids, yeah, yeah, yeah, Hayley,
Riley and Jake.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
And Jake yeah, and potentially Jake over here. Then there's Brier,
who is a former World of Dance competitor and a
bit of a social media star. She has over a
million TikTok followers already, which would really help you on
a show if there was voting, But her TikTok followers
can't really help her in this situation. But it is
cool that she already has a following.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Super cool and she's so sweet, and I give her
so much props. You know, these are the people that
I really want to champion, because you don't have anything
to lose putting yourself out there ever. Yeah, correct, But
it is incredibly vulnerable that she's putting herself out there
and is working.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Feels like you have a lot to lose. That's when
you feel like that, even though I agree with you,
the more risks you take, the better the rewards are tenfold.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah. No, totally everything you just said. But I just
want to champion that even more so, that spirit that
she is pursuing something that is in her skill set,
while she has an elite skill set somewhere else and
she's putting that aside, but she's so passionate about this
goal that she set for herself. I just love the
way she pursues it and she's doing it right, and

(16:14):
she's doing it with dignity, and I really admire that.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, you're right, because it would be so much easier
to just be like, oh, I don't know how to
do that, but watch how great I am at this.
Instead of being like, I'm going to put myself in
a place I'm not the top dog, I'm still going
to pursue it and I'm going to give it my all.
We have aj, a former Britain's Got Talent semifinalist who
was a pro on Strictly Come Dancing, which is the
British version of Dancing with the Stars for our dear

(16:38):
listeners who are not familiar.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
As the original show. Actually, we bored the rights to
that show and spun it off in America, okay, and
made it better.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
I mean, I don't think I don't think you're talking
out of turn. And then we have Tristan, a dancer
slash choreographer out of Atlanta. He specializes in hip hop
and ballroom, a combo that could come in handy on
the show or at least on social media during the season,
you know, having that like hip hop background, being able

(17:07):
to do fun totally different tiktoks.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Totally and Tristan. So Tristan's someone I know very well
because Tristan has managed and taught at my Dance with
Me studio in Bucket, Atlanta. Yes, his boss I technically
Tristan took some time off for this job.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Did you get that? Did you run that?

Speaker 3 (17:29):
By h.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
It was so funny. I was on tour and yeah,
our general manager called me just like, do you know
about a show? Tristan want some time off because he
said he made it. So you know what's funny is
I would have thought it was outrageous, Like a day ago,
but yesterday we got to call it. There's a spinoff happening,
and yes there is a show. I cannot believe he
made the top ten. That's incredible. Yeah, and I was like,

(17:55):
of course we got he's gotta go do it.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
I mean, that's so great.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
No, he's a really awesome young man. Again, being a
teacher is not an easy craft, and at a young
age especially, you know, he committed himself to being of
service to others through dance, and he's built an amazing
student body in Atlanta. He's done a great job running
that studio. So I love Tristan. I am so happy

(18:19):
that he gets to experience this. This isn't his forte
once again, just like Brier, you know, he's really good
at other things, but he is very committed to Malone
and he wants to do a great job.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
We have Stephanie, who is current pro Ezra Soosa's sister.
She's an incredible dancer who did appear on season thirty
three on Troop and is already a bit of a
dance star herself. She most recently appeared with Bad Bunny
at the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, yeah, so good. Nah, she's again just looking at
the roster. I'm like, you know, she's one of the
most qualified I think for the job. Obviously she already
had true, but she's also excellent, got a great look,
great personality.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah yeah, and Adele a professional dancer and teacher from
Los Angeles. I know, is it you?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Ahead, don't ever excuse me here. You're here for the
good looks, for the jokes. Yes, Now, Val, if you
were a judge on this show, what would you say,
you know, when the when Robert looks to you and says, Val,
what are you going to be looking for? What would
you say?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
I would be Rob, I'm still not over last season,
to be honest, you got a bone to pick with him?
What am I looking for? I What am I looking for?
I mean, there's the reason why I'm not a judge
on that show. I mean, first of all, I'm looking
for your you know you it's it isn't fair sometimes

(19:56):
and I don't want to, you know, sound the wrong way,
but like, if you ain't got it, there's no way
you're going to teach it, you know, And so like
I'm looking for if you got it at least right,
what is that? What is that your understanding of the fundamentals, right,
and the fundamentals start with technique. This is a dance
that is really much built from the ground up. The style,

(20:21):
it's really about the connection of your feet and legs
to the ground and all the hips and body that
you see created. It's all manufactured from your relationship to
the floor, to the ground, whether you see. Again, there's
different textures throughout the different styles, but all of them
start with your relationship to your legs and to the floor,

(20:44):
and then obviously your relationship to music and all these
other things. But again, that's why you hear surely constantly
talk about the legs, legs and feet, legs and feet
because there's a certain quality that you when you watch
our pros, you know Daniella or or Jen or any
of our pros, there's certain quality in that technique that

(21:05):
you know that creates that velocity I told about it.
You can't create that velocity if you don't have that
quality in your range of motion. So for me, that's
that's like big Now that varies. You know, you could
have that quality. That doesn't have to be your biggest attribute,
but it's got to exist. It can't just be like
you're all personality you're all feel good. That's great, but

(21:29):
like I'll enjoy you on another show. Like if we're
looking for the qualities for this show, there's certain like
not I don't want to say boring qualities, but there's
certain quintessential qualities that have to be there.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
You have to be there.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, And so that it starts with technique. How sound
are you with your boom dance technique?

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Surely is thrilled to hear you say it, that's for sure.
Let's jump into the show. We open with a beautiful
drone shot of Australia. Robert Erwin current Dancing with the

(22:12):
Stars Champ is standing on what I have to assume
is the highest peak of Australia. Looks like one step
and he's going to fall to his death. Before we
get too deep into this, I just want to say,
up top, Robert Irwin is an international treasure val. Do
you love him as much as I do? Even though
he did technically put you in second place this season

(22:34):
thirty fourth Dancing?

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, I ran into the Irwin. Yeah, No, I think
he is extraordinary right Like again, he leads with his
as do all special people. They lead with just their
authentic aura and just his energy and his enthusiasm for
what he's doing. And typically I see that enthusiasm in

(22:56):
regards to nature and animals. To see that enthusiasm translate
into a real and now he has the experience a
real fan of dance ballroom dance in particular. Again, I'm
just proud. I'm proud to have someone like that, especial
as that, you know, really champion the thing that I
love so much.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, he is the perfect host for this.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And again, especially with those kids, I think he I
just think that it's very intimidating to go out there
and perform in front of a Shirley or a Mark
or whoever else is sitting there. I like that He's
a bridge that eases that gap totally.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
And he is so real and authentic even though he
is international celebrity Robert Irwin. When you're face to face
with him, he makes them feel like a peer. He doesn't,
you know, he doesn't feel like internationale to scare him.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
In the eyes, it feels like a hug.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
It's every single time I'm telling you to know him
is to love him. We get a little montage of
our contestants in rapid manner with a reminder of what
is on the line. We also get a quick rundown
of some of the pros we are going to see
stop by at some point, and once our opening credits
come to a close, the contestants meet Robert, and Robert
meets the contestants. He quickly informs them whatever close connection

(24:12):
they have with Dancing with the Stars now means nothing.
I guess we're looking at you, Stephanie. He then introduces
our judges, Surely and Mark Ballas and I think it
is worth noting that Mark does the little gen Z
heart symbol. He does it so fluid and so fast.
He just walks out and immediately knows how to do
that heart. And I had to practice this about seventy

(24:34):
five times before you got here, just in anticipation of
doing it today.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Do you know how to do that? Gives me the heart? Okay?

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Sorry? And I just did it seventy five times. Looks
like a potato potato heart.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Okay, But I'll forgive them. I haven't. I'm going to
make sure you're gonna get over that well.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Shirley says she is expecting technical excellence and the ability
to cope with extreme pressure. Mark wants to see imagination
and heart that can stun the TV audience, not just
an expert, which I feel like it would be easier
to stun the audience more so than to stun an expert.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
But oh, totally yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
But I but I think maybe he means that emotion
that you can feel, because sometimes I think the audience
doesn't necessarily know what they're looking for.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
No, but again, I mean, first of all, dance is
a vehicle to connect, so he's right. Yeah, Ultimately, the
technique is there to support your ability right to tell
a story, to connect, to express yourself, to to showcase
the music. When I say I want technique, I want
not because that is a challenge I want you to

(25:42):
to to tackle. Is because without that you're just not
equipped with the tools that can give you the ability
to perform on the level that you can. So it's
you know, one of my teachers said, like, technique is
not there to to get in your way of performance
and create ativity or artistry. Technique is there to enhance

(26:03):
it and give you the tools to be able to
do all those things right.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Robert reveals that every week's challenge will be led by
the people who know dancing with the stars better than anyone,
and that is the pros. So for episode number one,
they are going to be getting their marching orders from
the one and only four time Emmy winner and a
six time Mirror ball Chance, Derek Huff and right off

(26:28):
the bat we get some of that BBC, ABC, Hulu,
Disney plus magic because Derek doesn't just walk into the ballroom.
He puts on a dramatic, impressive performance alongside a partner
who is wearing some very familiar orange fringe pants. I
love those.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Fringe pants everybody does.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
They're just the best? Are those the pants Alex wore?

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Those are like, what was that movie The Traveling Pants Sis?
That's what it feels like with these.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Honestly, all the costumes are a little sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants. My costumes for a couple of times in
the show just said Emma's name in the boom and
then it be crossed out someone else's name in It.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Literally looks like one of those trees at the park
withoud the It would be like the girl fromd Boyfriend Hart.
Because I see my shirt's also gleb crossed out alt
and crossed out I'm like, how does this even fit?

Speaker 1 (27:19):
I know the crossout is aggressive too. It's like it's like, Okay,
I guess I don't exist in this shirt anymore. How
would you describe Derek when it comes to the dance
floor Dramatic? No, yeah, flair for the drama.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
I mean he's excellent, you know, again allowed that exuberance,
and that flair is only it only exists because of
years of work into his foundation and mechanics and technique.
And you know the fact that he was able to
choreograph a piece on the partner that was in Australia
and do so in like two days. You have to

(27:54):
tap into that two box to do so. So anyway,
I'm not even going to champion this technique obviously, that's no.
He's incredible, yeah, And I love that performance and again
that's it's very vintage Derek Hoff. And also it's perfect
for the kids to see because that is the standard. Ultimately,

(28:14):
obviously you got to find your individuality, but that is
the standard, right he you know, kind of the Michael
Jordan of our world, at least the Dancing with the
Stars world, not just in his accolades, but also in
just the body of work. Because there's a lot of
people that win, but it's how you win and with
with what kind of work do you win with? And
so you know, I have incredible respect for all the

(28:37):
work that he's produced, and he's also you know, there's
some work that he didn't win with that in my eyes,
were also winning a couple. So he's the he's the
he's the standard. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
He gets into the first challenge, which will be all
about technique, which brings a big smile to Shirley's face.
So the boys are going to be paired up to
dance the jive, girls are going to be paired up
to dance the samba, and Derek will also be at
rehearsals giving advice which they are advised to listen to
because at the end of the episode they will have
a double elimination right off the back, I know, which

(29:16):
is exactly how it is. Well, I guess I'm Dancing
with the Stars last week.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
First week.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Everyone goes through the first week, and then the second week,
two of you are gone.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's probably like an agent favorite Nation, like negotiation, like bro.
No one's signing up exactly if.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
They're gonna everyone can say I made it to at
least week two to exactly.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Don't worry about who got eliminated a week one.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
It's not important. So one guy and one girl will
be going home. But before the competition heats up, they
are sent off to see their new digs because, in
case you forgot, they're also going to be living together.
They are staying in a sprawling mansion that also has
bunk beds. So cool, such a beautiful place.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Right, Love Island meets Dancing with the Stars.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
That's crazy, That's exactly what it felt like. It was amazing.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
They never put me up in a mansion.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
No, you've never been in a mansion because of Dancing
with the Stars.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
No, wow, I don't think so I have to.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
I have to go back. I mean no, you're right
the HULU Get Real event. Yes, that's in a that's
in a gorgeous mansion. Yeah, so you don't get to
live there.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
No, No, And it felt like it was. It was
had really great amenities too.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
I think so, although I was I was a little
confused by the bunk beds. I get it they want
them all together all the time, but I'm like, you
have this huge what are we doing with all the
other bedrooms?

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Right? No, it's a cool twist. I think it also
reveals them in a in a more again just some
more relaxed wayback space, which which also is a great
look into the process. Right, Like, so much work happens
at home, even on our show, you know, even like
like we obviously work in the studio and we rehearse

(30:56):
and all this stuff, but we go home and we
stress and torment ourselves about the creative choices all the time.
So the fact that we get to kind of see
that part with the kids that I.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Love that, Yeah, that's pretty great. We just recently did
the Dancing with the Stars tour together, and so although
I was not on your bus, we do know what
it's like to live with people in close quarters. So
I did it did make me wonder if you have
looks like That's.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
What made me wonder I have a policy. I mean,
my bunkmates got really not frustrated, but you know, they
had to address this issue with me.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
One time about your fridge habits.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
My habits are like, if it's in the fridge, it's
our food. Oh you know what I mean, if it
got your name on it, then you made the effort.
I won't touch it. But if it doesn't have a
name on it.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Right, So like, if somebody makes something and then puts
it in a Tupperware container and puts it in the fridge,
if they don't have their name on it, you're opening
that up and eating it for lunch.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well the tuppleware kind of okay, puts the name on
it for itself, right, I mean it's in the tup.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
What did you eat that? Some?

Speaker 2 (32:00):
But he was mad about everything. Really, my munching game
is crazy everything. It's mostly snacks. Yeah, I'm not going
to touch your right leftover meal, but it's uns sings, okay,
or pizza. I will microwave the pizza and eat it.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
You don't like cold pizza?

Speaker 2 (32:18):
No, okay, not on the bus, but anyway, Yeah, somebody
to be like bro I was saving that dessert.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
It's a fair game, you just like that came from Jenna.
Jenna's a dessert person.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Came from a few people. It was like an intervention.
They sat around.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
So it made me wonder if you had to pick
someone other than your lovely wife Jenna, someone from the
current cast of Dancing with the Stars, who would you
be roommates with?

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Brandon?

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Brandon? Yeah, okay because in this In this episode, we
find out just how small the pro dancer community is
when we find out that Alan and Nina were even
roommates at one point. Oh yeah, you guys all know
each other.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Oh totally. Well, so Alan and Nina, Well, Alan resigns.
I don't know. I don't know since when he's been
in the Bay Area, but he grew up in Philly, Okay,
and I think she's also from the South Jersey Philly area.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
So they you know, they and you could see it
in the pictures. They've known each other since they were
teenagers and kids. So yeah, it is a small world.
That's why I keep talking about how great it is
that you know it's being broadcasted. It's the world.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
The dancers then get to see their rehearsal space for
the first time, which is beautiful, and then the dancers
are joined by Derek to break down what is expected
for week one. They are split up into pairs, and
these are the pairs we get. We have a j
and Jake Brier and Stephanie, Eric and Tristan, Adele and Nina,
who also appear to know each other and have some

(33:45):
interesting history. Alan and Benji and Selena and Natalie and
Derek jumps right into work the way only Derek can,
jumping in with the women and whisking. It was like
whisking immediately. I thought it was so great. When it
comes to the samba, what should contestants know?

Speaker 2 (34:07):
You hear the word bounce a lot, uh huh, So
the action of maintaining that continuous bounce and then again,
but that's kind of the foundation. And then you build
different rhythms and I mean it's a dance inspired by
the carnival from Brazil, so a lot of shimmys and
shakes and rhythms. Again, it's all about the rhythms that

(34:29):
you create in your body.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Colorful, very colorful fringe pants.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
For orange fringe pants perfect for the samba. For this challenge,
Derek explains that each pair's performance will feature a solo
section that they will choreograph on their own and a
side by side section choreographed by Derek, and then over
with the boys. Derek finishes out day one with the jive.
What do people need to know about the jive?

Speaker 2 (34:53):
You know, it's so funny that those are the two dances,
because the jive also has a bounce like yeah, feeling
to it, but completely differently and with a lot more rebound,
if you will, especially in the legs and kicks and
flicks and stuff like that. But again it's a dance
inspired by the rock and roll era, so you have
a lot of you have touches of the Charleston and

(35:15):
the Lindy in there. But just like the music inspires,
it comes from fifties rock and roll, and so the
movement is this is the only dance that is native
to America. So this is born in America, if you will,
from you know, the rhythm and blues of the music

(35:37):
that comes here. Other Latin styles, they all come from
South America.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Well, we enter rehearsal day number two. The contestants are
hard at work with their side by sides, but focus
now on their solo pieces, which they will choreograph. A
lot has been said over the past year about how
much traditional old school ballroom experience, how much of that
should a pro have coming onto the show, But it
also seems like attention on TikTok and keeping up with

(36:17):
modern trends is just as if not even more important.
Exactly looking at you, Hayley.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
I'm looking at everybody born after two thousand and whatever.
You know, it's like, but.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Yeah, so where do you go going into season thirty
five of Dancing with the Stars. Where do you stand
on that? How much do you think in your mind,
if you had to break it down percentage wise, how
important is it to be hip and modern and in
with the kids of the TikTok and how much of
it is that old school ballroom experience?

Speaker 2 (36:54):
To me, I use that as a common ground. Okay,
you know I would put that in if it allowed
for it. Obviously I wouldn't force it, kind of yeah,
it would be blasphemy in the rumba, if you will,
And there's other genres that that would just not sit
well with. But I use that as as as a

(37:16):
common ground with with with eyeballs that would otherwise never
watch Dancing with the Stars or or ballroom dance, you know.
And so yeah, it's silly, but that is what's familiar.
And so I'll use familiarity to to get you in
and then I will feed you the excellence of ballroom dance.
But you got to get them in there somehow, right,

(37:39):
because if it's just straight up ballroom excellence, you know,
you might not you might not have the same reception,
but you got to meet them in the middle. And
I do so with with that. So it's a it's
a balance and and it's a it's a balancing act.
It's got to be authentic to you as well. Thankfully
I'm hip. Just so.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Your finger on the pulse of cool. No matter how
old you get, you did just turn forty, thanks forty five.
So we're here.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Just I don't look that agent. If you're listening to this.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
You're not a day over thirty. That's true. Derek gets
someone on one time with Natalie and after checking out
her samba, he wants to see more wildness and moments
of energy, and she admits that her weakness is flexibility,
so she's nervous.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, that was a weird comment that she made because
I'm not sure if she meant flexibility. So all those
accolades that you read off, yeah, very much, you know,
very deserving of those titles, Yeah, because you never know.
Sometimes I'm the world champion of you know, the middle
school Orange County affair.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
That would be what my bio.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, Like these are credible trophies that she earned. Yeah,
in the discipline of smooth and ball room. I'm not
sure if her excellence was in the Latin genre. Okay,
so I think that's what she was trying to say,
is that, you know, she's more of a master of
the ballroom craft. Okay, but the Latin part, Yeah, it

(39:09):
was a little charm, but I thought she nailed it.
I mean, she definitely again wasn't as expressive and wild
as she could have been. But I didn't think that
that was the weakest samba quality of the episode for sure.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
Well, next we stop by Briar's practice and she admits
she's only been doing ballroom for two years, but she
has over a million followers online. So here is that
dichotomy we're talking about. In the flesh, Derek sees her
routine and wants her to find that heel, but overall
he is impressed with what he's seeing, especially with a
hard dance like the samba, and for the guys, he's
looking for some sharp kicks and flicks, and he starts

(39:47):
off with Tristan, who flubs immediately forgetting his routine in
front of King Derek, and I it felt I was
I wanted to hide for him like that is such
a nightmare feeling to have your mind just go completely blank.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
I mean that was you know, when your mind goes blank,
if you get enough reps in, then your body takes over. Yeah,
and that's that's what's so important about practice.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
And so I'm not gonna say that he didn't practice enough.
I don't know if that was even available to them.
Obviously he's in over his head in a lot of ways.
It is a lot of pressure with Derek coming in.
But yeah, I think that was just an intense amount
of fear slash uncertainty of like, what is the movement

(40:37):
that I Here's the thing about this is like as
we build their solos, it's incredibly challenging for the male
and and again it's just you know, it's also challenging
for the female. But just the roles that we play
when we ballroom dance, we present our ladies, we kind
of we have to showcase in the in the masculine

(41:01):
side of Bonham dance. The whole point is to the
presentation of your partner as the receiver of that you
are more prone to being forward facing, if you will.
Like even when we stand side by side, the man
stands and we call a shadow position, and that's just
you know, we're side by side, but we're not actually
you're actually half a step behind, right. That's that to

(41:25):
me kind of really showcases what this whole thing is about,
at least culturally or traditionally. And having said that, my
long story short is that it's really challenging to build
solo choreography in these dances, especially for the men, because

(41:46):
as soon as you take away our partner, we don't
know what to do now, yeah, exactly, And so I
think that was another challenge that all the guys faced obviously,
But one of the reasons why Tristan was kind of
like stumped for, like, what other jive moves can I
do in this moment of solo?

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Is there also more a bigger dichotomy between two dances
other than hip hop and jive. I feel like, on
your own, you know, on your own, you're like, now
do a jive solo if when I don't know, the
jive to me seems very staccato and not a whole
lot of.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Like yeah, like Michael Flatley would really translate in the
jive more than like erect like a crumper or something exactly.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Totally well overall, Derek is not feeling too impressed with
the guys. He thinks they don't understand the gravity of
the solo moment and the boys are shook by this name.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Again, he visited the boys, at least the order of
which on the episode was after the girls. Yeah, And
like I said, I think when it comes to solo impact,
the girls just have more in their toolbox to use
and play with traditionally than the boys. And I think, yeah,
I mean, I'm not making excuses for them, but yeah,

(43:04):
he definitely felt it. Difference came out from there where
they're you know, sambaing it up. Yeah, they got the
skirts and the hair and the you know, the energy,
and then the boys were like, what do I do
with my right right?

Speaker 1 (43:15):
What do I do with my arms? So that night,
the contestants, especially the boys, rehearse all through the night
right up to the big day. We see costumers and
makeup artists getting them all ready while Mark, Shirley, and
Derek take their seats in a traditional judges table formation,
and soon after Robert welcomes them all now in full costumes,

(43:36):
to the battleground and reminds them one girl and one
guy are going home. He wishes them luck, and the
first pair up are Eric and Tristan. Eric and Tristan
perform the jive to a version of apt apt by
Bruno Mars and Rose. What was your feeling on our

(43:56):
first look at the contestants put on their dance? Of course,
you can check your notes. I love a podcast through
who takes notes.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
I mean I didn't want to, but I got an email. Yeah,
I said, Eric, so sound great. Look you can tell
he's really got quality. Tristan good energy, fun to watch,
but looks but lacks the quality. I think that's necessary.
So yeah, I mean again, because there is no uh

(44:28):
partner to to create that like full full body partner jive.
I think they did some partnering, but for the most
part it was side by side, which again just lends
itself to direct comparison, you know, And so I think,
like I said, Tristan came through he did. I think

(44:48):
he did like a back handspring, did some tricks, which
again always translate on our show, on any show, people
love that and it's hard and it should be impressive. Yeah,
definitely to get the credit. But again that's that's the
cherry on top of a cake that has to look
like quality ballroom dance, right, And you just saw that

(45:09):
in Eric. Eric to me first first like impression, I
could see that, Yeah, like I could see that on
our show. I could see that with our fans. I
like his energy, I like his swagger. Like he's understated.
Again I yet to see the show. Maybe he's an
awful person, but hopefully now his first impression has been

(45:30):
like quality in the crafty and then also looks like
a quality person in the room, right.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
I was. I thought it was very impressive to have
just seen Tristan go blank face where he was like,
I don't know what I wanted to show you, and
I thought what I saw was very impressive. So even
if you know, I mean, the difference between him not
knowing what to do, the working all night very clearly
paid off for him in my life.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Totally totally, And that's what I was going to just
piggyback and say, yeah, that look like practice.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
The practice overnight.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
And we also at this point then get to see
that the fellow contestants and Robert are going to watch
on and cheer from another room via the TV, so
you're also aware that everyone's watching and then also benefiting
being that in this situation, at least for this episode,
the dancers, all the boys are dancing the jive and
all the women are dancing the samba. So every piece

(46:23):
of advice those judges are giving about what they're looking for.
If you get to go last, you have the benefit
of hearing that feedback. No, too late, you can't change it.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
We have a phrase in Russian. It's like, it's a
very very depressing phrase.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Oh, I can't wait to hear it. If you don't
have potatoes, you will die? Is that it?

Speaker 2 (46:42):
No, It's like, uh, this medicine in Delicious is like
if you're gonna die, death was going to be a
part of it for sure, the ultimate you know, and
then goal here and what are you doing? But you
know you can't. Doesn't matter how many breaths you'd take
if death comes here, you could just breathe all you want,

(47:05):
but you're dead anyway, right, beautiful? Yeah, it really inspired
young man.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
I feel crazy.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yeah. Yeah, But basically what I'm trying to say is
it's too late, too late at that point. If you're
starting to run with these advice, then you're just gonna
complicate your own performance.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay, that's a good point. Maybe I should have learned
from that. So once they are finished, Derek tells them
it was a major improvement from rehearsal, and his eyes

(47:43):
go to Tristan in the side by side. He wants
to see more risks from Eric. Surely was impressed, mentioning
Eric's fantastic posture, but she didn't think Tristan had enough jive.
In his solo. Mark says he's conflicted because he loves
the jive, but he also likes breaking the rules, which
I know firsthand. Mark does have a, you know, a

(48:05):
bit of a reputation for being kind of a rule breaker,
which I always love, honestly, But he thinks Tristan could
have benefited from some more jive. And he also thinks
Eric may have made it look too easy.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Right.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Have you ever thought that by looking at someone like,
I wish it looked more. I wish that dance looked
more difficult for them.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
No, I think he said it made it look easy.
I would say sometimes things can look a little too polished,
especially in the jib. Again, with the essence of rock
and roll, there's a looseness and a wildness to it
that you need, and I think that's more of what
the sentiment was makes sense, was that like, you were

(48:43):
so clean and polished, but I felt nothing because this
dude was not clean and polished. Just got I think
Mark even mentioned is like yo, my eyes, Yeah, still
going to Tristan. That's because there is strength and imperfection
as well. Right, So again I don't want to promote ignorance,
but the difference between you know, creativity and ignorance is

(49:06):
knowing the rules and then choosing to break and not
knowing them at all. And so I'm not going to
give that much credit to Tristan. I think he was
breaking rules that he didn't know he was breaking. But
like I said, that lack of perfection but the energy,
yeah made a bigger splash for those judges than Eric's
like perfectly nailed.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
That makes sense. It definitely seemed like Tristian's had more
of his personality.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Well he had to, yeah, put more of everything in
there to it.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Yeah, especially after the feedback from the day before. So
overall a very positive response.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Next up, well, again, I think both did their thing,
oh yeah, in their own separate ways. Like I said,
it's also very challenging to dance side by side especially.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
In the job and kind of a perfect way then
of doing the first episode where you have to eliminate
one male and one female put him side by side.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Oh, the producers are just geniuses.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Genius. In next up, we have AJ and twenty two
year old Jake dancing the jive to a cover of
What I Like About You. Yep, do you want to
check your thoughts again on this one? This was Jake,
Jake and aj.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
AG is my favorite. Quickly JA good clean, versatile you
can see as other styles and his repertoire AJ great quality,
great look. I thought he did a great job. It
was crisp and he ended really stronk. Yeah, because again
the format for those of you that didn't watch it
is one comes in does a solo, then the other
one comes out, they dance side by side, and then

(50:41):
the second one finishes it off with the solo. That's
why I said his finish was very strong. Again, AJ,
you could just you could just tell, yeah, you know,
It's just there's certain for anybody that pursues any sort
of sport or or some sort of craft that that
includes their bodies. Uh understands those tiny nuances that you

(51:03):
could tell when someone has done this for a while
versus not. And that doesn't mean that that's the only
thing that's important. But you could just tell when someone
has sound technique versus a little weaker than that. So
I thought, as Aj nailed it, Jake is awesome. Again.
He did Dancing with the Stars Juniors. He is authentically

(51:24):
that he's a wonderful young man. Yeah. Yeah, and again
we're looking for the next young star, so I guess
it all lines up. He felt a little too young,
okay for me, I don't even know if like again,
if I'm casting for the show. You know, when I
said Eric, I could see that. Yeah, Jake felt just

(51:47):
a little yeah, but yeah he felt but again twenty two,
but he felt like twenty two going on to eighteen. Okay,
there's there's I think Adele is twenty two as well. Yeah,
you know, so it's it's not about it's.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Not about the a.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah, it's just again your tone. But but he's got
a bright future. Again, we're just talking about a prof
for dancing with the Stars. We're not talking about Billy
Elliott on Broadway like he's a star. Yeah, We're talking
about can he be a prone dancing with the stars.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Derek says once again, this was better than their rehearsal,
but he does think it lacked oomph and energy and
that they danced a little below the music. Mark tells
Aj there will be more pressure on him now than
his prior time on Strictly. He says, there are killers
on the show now, like a guy named Valschmerkovsky.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Come on, Mark pandering handering to your boy. Yeah, but
he's right, there are killers on a show. And I'm like,
just this concept is also fun because again we get
to mentor these kids into that role. But then I
just want everybody to be aware that once we get
into the major leagues, like, oh yeah, it's a different

(52:53):
pace and it's a different approach and to quote Mark Ballace,
we're going for the neck. Yeah, it's a competition, just
like you said, so can you compete with that ferociousness
that you know? He mentioned my name, but I'm going
to mention his name right back, like uh and and

(53:16):
and so on down the list, Like like I said,
you know, it's it's a tough arena to be in,
so you gotta you gotta really bring it.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Sureley says that Eric was a little off when it
comes to musicality and aj needs to take some risks,
and then it's Benji and Allan who are dancing to
the Weekends Blinding Lights.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Alan to me seems like a star. I just I
thought I thought it was great. Did you have any thoughts?

Speaker 2 (53:44):
This is Alan and Alan and Benji Benji? Yeah, uh yeah,
no Alan. I would say Alan has the most experience
and the most like He's definitely the most refined when
it comes to like what you're looking for. He's very
emotionally available, which is fun to watch. He's got the

(54:05):
mechanics and all the all that stuff, and he has experience.
I mean again, he's he's done a lot of shows.
He's performed in a lot of spaces, you know, big audiences,
small audiences. He's really put in the work, you know,
like this is a guy that's that's really put in
the work. So and it looks that way. He looks

(54:27):
very ready for the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Mark called it the most dynamic performance so far. He
loved the technique, and Shirley said she got goosebumps during
the dance and wanted to dance with both of them.
She loves their energy, the relevant content using the words
highest level in her industry, and Derek was left wanting
to see more, which is the most you can ask for.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
And then we have Benji. I want to say shout
out to Benji too.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
I think he killed it in the job totally.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
I think this is Yeah, he really shined in the JIB.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
I liked the song choice a lot.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Yeah. Yeah, they were great and you could see that
they're like they had great chemistry together. Yeah, they probably
came up with that stuff very easily in the studio
and so like you just saw that. I think chemistry
really translates on stage and in the lens as well. Yeah,
we could see that when people really feel comfortable in

(55:19):
each other's space. Was was man woman and men men,
whatever the case may be. You could see when people
have chemistry. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
Yeah, and then we're into the girls, starting with Selena
and Natalie and their samba to Daddy Yankees Gas. Selena,
what did you think of the first female performance? This
was Selena and.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Natalie Selena and Natalie.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Yes, surely called Selena a superstar. She loved the fluidity
of the tricks. She does note that Natalie needs to
work on her flexibility, but was impressed by them both.
Derek felt like Natalie kept it a little safe and
as a result, seems stiff and Mark a greed. He
wanted more of a wildness from Natalie, especially in the
belly roles, but he calls Selena fire and says he
couldn't keep his eyes off her.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
I disagreed with them judges on that. Yeah, I think
Selena is definitely a star. Yeah, she's got it. She
just now needs to upload the ballroom information and she's
gonna be you know, she's got everything else. So and
you could see that right.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Away, and you thought did a great job.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
I just didn't think that Natalie was that underwhelming. Again,
like they made it sound like her technique was kind
of like you not not technique was, but but it
made it feel like it was a lackluster performance, and
I didn't I didn't think it was. I thought that
she did a good job. I thought that she was
crisp and tight and had all that energy. I just think, again, yeah,

(56:46):
you're dancing next to that other person, and that other
person found camera. You know, they found a way to
connect to those judges and also to to the people watching.
But the little nuanced things like that's why I said,
I think Selena, and in general, as we're looking for

(57:06):
the pro like, performing arts is very important and it's just
as important as the mechanical excellence of ballroom dance the
performing arts. And so when you talk about performing arts,
a lot of us ballroom dancers that just are technical
ballroom dancers. We don't have experience in the performing arts.

(57:29):
You know, I graduated in business and took statistics in math,
and like my arts was you know, playing the violin.
It wasn't to perform. And again I just I just
had that energy about me. But it wasn't something that
I studied in school. I learned how to run track
metaphorically speaking. As far as ballroom dances concerned, same thing

(57:52):
for anybody. You know, it's about how much tighter, quicker, sharper,
stronger you can do it than the guy next to you,
not about how much more personality you could showcase. So
I mean it is, it is. It's still a performance,
but not to the degree that performing arts kids learn
to perform and connect. Those are real mechanics involved. And
so you could see, like Selena comes from a background

(58:14):
of performing arts, whether there's jazz, theater, arts, ballet, hip,
hop though she's super Bowl, I haven't made whatever she's done,
you know, whereas you see, Natalie does not come from
a world of performing arts, and at the end of
the day, we are in the performing arts on the
backdrop of competitive boram dancing. So it is a nuanced

(58:37):
kind of little, you know, partner work that we're working
with here.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Second up, we had Brier and Stephanie who danced to
me hente and even before the music surely had a
note about her starting leg pose being inca. I can't
even imagine what she was doing watching me last season.
I literally was the first thing I thought of was,
oh my gosh, I'd love to be a fly. I

(59:15):
don't want to be actually, I would hate to be
a fly on the wall at her thoughts of me
last season. But maybe she was right. Because Briar slips
in the beginning move, which is a tough way to start.
She does pull it together, she gets through the routine.
But I mean, this has happened to everyone. Walk us
through what happens when a mistake happens mid routine?

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Time slows down. Yeah, it's interstellar. Is the matrix matrix?
Your leave your body all down, You're like, are you crazy?
You fly back into your body, you pick yourself up,
you keep going. You know. I talked to my celebrity
I partners on the show. I tell him you got
to have short, short term memory, you know. If things happen,

(59:59):
we now we have a choice to either compromise everything
else that's coming after that, or we could just keep
it moving, right, and we could address that maybe afterwards
if we want to. But in the moment, you just
can't let that jeopardize the rest of the wonderful things
that you can offer, right, and there's ways to turn
it around, definitely, So yeah, I mean shout out to

(01:00:23):
her for trying to Yeah, getting up and going for it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Mark does mention the slip, saying everyone slips, and he
was impressed with how she gets up and kept going.
He didn't love Stephanie's transitions, but he liked that she
was locked in surely doesn't like Briar's walk or stand.
Her body needs to be a technical machine and suggests
going back to the drawing board. She really liked Stephanie, however,
and felt like she was right there in Brazil, and

(01:00:50):
Derek says, with the focus being on technique, he is
concerned for Briar. How did you feel overall?

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Sureley's a savage. I love it. That's a superstar by
the way. Every Yeah, anyway, Yeah, it's just she ran.
It's like the worst case scenario for you know, like
if they did the jive, she would have shined a
lot brighter. They're doing the samba. There's really not that

(01:01:17):
many acrobatics that you could add to a samba that
you can to the jive or the realm. Like, I
just think that that couldn't have been a more challenging.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Yeah, definitely the hardest dance for her that way.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Yeah, because there's a certain quality to the balance. It's
it's also the ladies are not wearing French pants everyone needs,
but the fellas do wear pants. So again it's not
it's not an equal playing field. So there's constant like
different challenges for men and women, different challenges. So but

(01:01:52):
that's one of them. Like her legs are out there,
you're doing the bounce right, because again, you could do
a ballroom dance and have a beautiful and she would
tap into her contemporary background, the range that she has elsewhere,
and she would have smashed that, especially in a solo moment,
but the samba doesn't give you those things, and so

(01:02:12):
you got to really anyway, So it was hard and
I agree with them. I mean again, like everything I
said about her is true. I give her so much props,
the courage that it takes to put yourself out there
in a different style on such a big stage. You know,
she she's doing the work backstage as well, Like I know,
she's been taking lessons and she's been really pursuing this

(01:02:35):
the right way. She's not just tapping out I'm a
social media start. No, she's like put in the work,
which I love it. She just needs to keep going.
It's not there yet.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Yeah, what did you think about Stephanie?

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
I mean, she killed it. Stephanie was excellent and samba
couldn't have been a better right exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
So to have the two of them side by side, yeah,
it may.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
Have been better for her, you know obviously as far
as being a Latina and representing that and having the
samba as it's kind of your jumping point, and she
has the hair, the look and the quality, So it
was like the qualities there, That's what I'm saying. That's baseline.
You know, if you can't speak the language. Then you're

(01:03:17):
competing in the wrong show, so you got to speak
the language. And then now now start reciting some poetry
and so like, I think she has that she knows
the language, and she she had a lot of fun
and did a great job. The last kind of transition
on the floor was I agree with Mark, a little weird,
but it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
It was a choice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Yeah, it was a choice and she did a great
job executing it well.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
Finally we have Adele and Nina performing to Shakira and
Why Cleft's Hips Don't Lie. Derek loved Nina's connection with
the audience and in tradition with the Ferrari nickname he
gave Daniella, he calls Adele a rolls Royce because she
dances expensive. What does that mean exactly to dance expensive?

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
What are expensive things?

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Rolls royces? Nice watches?

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
What are some of the common ground between high quality?
High quality? Yeah, okay, craftsmanship.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Things you can't stop thinking about.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Well, that's for me, she's a status no.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Like when I see something of great quality, like thinking
specifically about a car, I will keep going back to it, Like, man,
that car was beautiful, Man, that drove really well. Like
I keep being brought back to the thought of it
because of how nice it was.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Yeah, it's a feeling as well, right, the craftsmanship of
an expensive bag. Yes, a lot of it is branding,
but a lot of it is the quality of the
work and it will last you a long time. And
so again, her quality is that it's so obvious and

(01:04:50):
it's so incredible high level that you could see it.
And I love that you can see it. Yeah, because
that's important because although she is what justifies all of this,
you know, to a non ballroom dancer, like well, she's
talking about technique surely, talking about the leg or the

(01:05:11):
footplate like seeing her, Ah, this is what you do
when you do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
All those things. This is what it'll look like.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
Yeah, and then you could see it clearly. Why that's
substantially different quality of doing that same dance. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Well, Adele gets emotional at that comment from Derek and
she is very thankful for getting this opportunity. Mark thought
Adele was a killer, super fierce and assassin. He loved Nina,
but he did note that she was ahead of the
music at times. And Shirley agrees with Derek about Adele
and thought they were both amazing, and she actually thinks
they could learn from each other with their individual strengths.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Yeah, I think Nina is a great personality. She knows
how to talk on cameras. She's like, you know, she
you could tell yeah, But she grew up in the
Tri state New York area, so she's going to talk
a lot of smacks, but where Adele is a little
bit more reserved. But under that hood, obviously there's a

(01:06:08):
lot of energy, a lot of She's a powerhouse. I
will say, you know, the tears come from, yes, the acknowledgment,
but also the opportunity to be validated on a bigger
stage by a different set of eyes because the work
is done in isolation for many many years. Like what

(01:06:31):
you see there is a result of many many years
of no one really validating your work outside of yourself,
or at least in the sense of what we're talking
about in this show. Right, it's a huge accomplishment. That's
a validation of sourts right to accomplish that. So the
fact that she's here on this stage and getting that
type of feedback, I think it was overwhelming for her

(01:06:53):
because for Bormed answers, again, it's such a tiny world.
We rarely have this type of exposure with Dancing with
the Stars. Obviously we get to a select few of
us get to enjoy kind of the mount the Mount
rushmore right of of what you can do and show business.
I love that these kids are feeling a bit of

(01:07:15):
that well.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Adele becomes an early favorite. But for now, the judges
must eliminate one male and one female. So Shirley announces
the bottom two women, Brier and Natalie are in jeopardy,
and then Mark reveals the two men on the chopping block,
Tristan and Jake. Would you have selected those same two

(01:07:38):
males two females? M I felt like I knew. I
thought that's what I would have picked based on what
we saw, based on I thought that with my very
limited knowledge, that's also what I would have selected.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Yeah, I feel like they got that right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
No, totally yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Now cued by dramatic music, it's time to make the decision.
Our first two eliminated dancers were Jake and Bryer. The
contestants hug their fallen comrades and Robert gives them some
of his signature words of encouragement, and then they say goodbye.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Yeah, I will say, I mean it's a really well
produced show. It really is revealing of the people that
I'm watching, Like I really got to know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
All of them, especially in just one episode.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Yeah, and I know that I have some obviously background
a lot of them, but you can speak on that
you don't know them, and now I felt like, oh man,
I really got to know them. And they also allowed
themselves to open up. You can see that they were
all very open, very vulnerable, which again makes it very

(01:08:52):
hard for them but really fun for us to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
I know, like you said, the fact that they were
all willing. It seems as though they all are very
aware of this what a big opportunity and what is
at stake?

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Life changing?

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
Yeah, truly life changing, And so it makes you want
to You're rooting for all of them, You're getting to
know all of them. Truly an incredible job of getting
to know not only twelve dancers someone like myself is
completely unfamiliar with. But even if you are unfamiliar with
Shirley and Mark and then whoever the rotating judge is,
you have a lot of people to service. And I
felt like I got to know every single one of them.

(01:09:27):
I got a snippet a taste of who they are.
So there are now ten dancers remaining going into episode two.
Do you have if you had to pick one favorite
right now? Do you have a favorite after episode one?
Not a clear not yet okay, not a fair favorite.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Definitely Adele stood out.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
I mean yeah, this episode was her shining.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Mouth flying out. Of the guys, there's a few, so
I don't want to Okay, you know, there's like a
tie for for three. Three dudes to me stood out
quality enough. But and there's still so much competition left,
and there are different challenges, and I think for challenge
number one there were some clear favorites, but that's just

(01:10:08):
challenging aspect.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Yeah, so well everyone, That is episode one of Stepping
on Toes. We will be here every Tuesday recapping the
next pro ready to find out who will be joining
the Dancing with the Stars cast for season thirty five.
And in the meanwhile, if you want to come hang
out with Val and me and like fifty of our
friends like Pasha Pashkov, Jenna Johnson, Daniela Karagoch, Whitney Lovett,

(01:10:32):
Jojo Siwa, as Risosa, Haley Bills. The list goes on
and on. You can join us at Dancing with the
Stars Fan Convention and live show July thirty first through
August second in Palm Springs. There are limited tickets still
available at dwts con dot com. Thank you guys for
joining us. This was so fun.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Val, Thank you. Yeah, yeah, you're one star. If you
want to come and tell me how awful I am
on this podcast, you could do it in person at
this com.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
What other chance do you have to do something like that.
Thank you all for listening. We'll catch you next time.