Dancing With The Stars

Last night I attended “Dancing with the Stars the Tour” which was playing at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. A friend works for a large company which has a corporate box which was not being used. He got the tickets for free and invited me and Steve and another couple to join him and his wife. Unfortunately, Steve was out of town on business and could not attend. We all met at the Gallery Place Metro Station and had a nice Mongolian Barbeque dinner at a local Chinese restaurant before the show. The show was great. It featured some of the celebrities and professional dancers from the television show. The celebrities were Harry Hamlin, Drew Lachey, Joey Lawrence, Joey McIntyre, and Lisa Rinna. The professionals were Cheryl Burke, Alec Mazo, Karina Smirnoff, Louis Von Amstel and Edyta Sliwinska.

Immediately before the show began - local dancers from Arthur Murray Dance studios competed in groups to the same song. Alec Mazo, the winner from the first season and official judge, reviewed their performances and executed the first round of the elimination. The remaining semi-finalists returned to perform again in groups during the second song, and again were eliminated down to four finalists. The two couples performed later in the live show, dancing the Tango or the Cha Cha. After each couple danced, they received scores via Audience Applause Meters, which determined the ultimate Dancing With The Stars Slim-Fast Challenge Champion. The winner received a trophy.

The show itself was full of wonderful dancing by the professional dancers as well as the celebrities. Lisa Rinna and her husband Harry Hamlin danced a beautiful Waltz together. A couple of the many other memorable dance numbers were the Paso Doble danced to the song “Thriller” by Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke and a free-style dance by the same couple to “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”

This is the "Thriller" Paso Doble video.

Both of these numbers were performed on the television show and were even more spectacular in person.