Video from Dancing with the Stars & Swing Routine

Here is the video that Ann's friend Seetha took at the Allstate Arena.




Also, here is the Lindy/Swing routine we did a few months ago.
This is here to show that we actually do know some advanced dancing!

And a photo with the Michael, the dance instructor who helped us with the Lindy routine.

More Photos from Dancing with the Stars

Here are 2 photos taken by Ann's friend, Seetha.
She was sitting on the opposite side of the stage from us.

Here are 5 of us from the Schaumburg Studio waiting before we go on.

(L-R: Ben, LaShaun, Don, Ann & John)

Here we are on stage after dancing.

Dancing with the Stars -Chicago Tour Stop

Last night we were on the dance floor in front of 15,000 people before the sold-out performance of Dancing with the Stars-The Tour.

It was a mini-competition with the 10 couples from Wednesday night’s try-outs.
The competition was 3 rounds 45 seconds each.

45 seconds!

We were eliminated in the first round. We have a lot of excuses but the main reason is that we had no idea how quick 45 seconds would be!

We did some basic steps to get into the rhythm of the cha-cha. Then we started doing the fancier steps. By that point, about 30 of the 45 seconds were already gone. So unfortunately, when the judge looked our way, we hadn’t been doing anything special.

Oh well…
It was still a lot of fun. And we learned an important lesson. When doing any kind of competition, come out with the fancy stuff at the first step!

We danced just before the main show.

Then two couples were picked to dance the final round at intermission. Both couples were from our dance studio.
At least we didn’t have to watch the first half of the show nervous about having to go out on the stage again.

The show, Dancing with the Stars-The Tour, was high energy and fun to watch. Although the tour website lists about 15 stars for the tour, they seem to take turns in groups of 5. Wayne Newton and Marie Osmond appear to take turns with singing and hosting duties. We got the show with Wayne Newton. He’s the one in the pink shirt in the winner’s photo.
The other stars were Sabrina & Monique from Disney shows, Joey Lawrence and Joey Fatone.
Of the 20+ dancers, there were only 4 I liked from the show, Cheryl Burke, Edyta Sliwinska, Louis Van Amstel and Derek Hough.

Info on stars and dancers:
http://dancingwiththestars.aeglive.com/dancer_bios.php

The show and all the dancers were great. I had just hoped to see a few more people from the TV show.

We got picked!

The TV show, Dancing with the Stars, has a road show during the off season. At each stop on the tour, they have 10 local couples dance as the pre-show entertainment.

About 20 couples braved the cold winds off the lakefront in downtown Chicago after work yesterday to try out for the chance to dance on stage before the Stars start the show.

We got picked!
We're going to be dancing on stage at the Allstate Arena!
Then when the show starts, we have front row seats.

Students from 3 Arthur Murray studios competed (Downtown, Morton Grove & Schaumburg).

Four of the ten couples picked were from the Schaumburg studio!

Dancing with the Stars

Tonight we are going to brave the single digit temperatures and take the train downtown after work.
Arthur Murray Studios is a sponsor of the road tour for the TV show Dancing with the Stars. The tour will be in the Chicago area this Friday and will have 10 local couples dancing on the stage at some point in the show. We are going to the studio downtown tonight to try out. Since Dancing with the Stars is such a big show for ABC; Channel 7, the local ABC affiliate, will have a film crew there. So it's possible that we may be on the local ABC news tonight.

Happy New Year

We had a fun New Years Eve.
We went to the Willowbrook Ballroom where they had a live band, dancing and balloon drop.
It was so much fun. We danced all night. We gave up on travelling dances like the waltz and foxtrot as couples kept stopping in front of us. It became more of an effort of steering around people than dancing. So any song we could do the swing to we did.

The night went by so fast. We shared our table with a couple who had been going to the Willowbrook off & on for 40 years. They were fun to talk to.

The Willowbrook was also one of the places that ABC channel 7 had a live feed from 11-midnight.
Most of the time the camera was focus on the host, Janet Davies. But occasionally the camera swept the dance floor. Our niece, Shannon thought she saw us.

There were balloons in nets all along the ceiling. Every so often, there would be a loud bang as one popped from the heat of the lights. At midnight, all the balloons dropped and everyone immediately started stepping on them, including us. The noise was deafening! But so much fun!