In the past I've written mostly about the "celebrity" contestants on DWTS, but the truth is I'm more interested in the professionals. And this season I'm going to try harder to bring some substantive ballroom information to light when I write about the show.
I had to start with some research, because I got curious about the backgrounds of the professionals. An interesting thing I learned is that, of the eleven pros on the show this season, all but one competed primarily in the Latin style. That means their specialty was the International Latin group of dances including cha-cha, rumba, samba, paso doble, and jive. And that certainly enlightens me as to why almost all of last season's tangos looked like paso doble! And why almost none of the mambos or boleros bore much of a resemblance to the real thing.
The lone American Style specialist this season is Tony Dovolani, who is also one of the most highly ranked of the pros. He (with his partner Elena Grinenko) was World Rhythm Champion two years in a row, and that is not an easy thing to achieve. The Rhythm dances are cha-cha, rumba, East Coast swing, bolero, and mambo. American-style cha-cha, rumba, and East Coast swing have not yet been represented on DWTS.
Let's look at the list, shall we? Most of the following information is from Wikipedia:
Ashley DelGrosso Costa - Rising Star Latin Champion. She is paired with Buzz Aldrin.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Professional Latin Champion. He is paired with Erin Andrews.
Mark Ballas - British Youth 10-Dance Champion and Junior Olympics Gold Medalist. He is paired with Shannen Doherty.
Tony Dovolani - World Professional Rhythm Champion. He is paired with Kate Gosselin.
Anna Trebunskaya - Professional Latin Champion. She is paired with Evan Lysacek.
Louis Van Amstel - Professional Latin Champion and World Show Dance Champion. He is paired with Niecy Nash.
Cheryl Burke - Rising Star Latin Champion. She is paired with Chad Ochocinco.
Chelsie Hightower - Youth Latin Championship and Team Finalist, and past competitor (a very strong one) on SYTYCD. She is paired with Jake Pavelka.
Derek Hough - World Youth Latin Champion. He is paired with Nicole Scherzinger.
Edyta Sliwinska - Latin Champion - unspecified. This could be an Amateur title, or a Rising Star. She is paired with Aiden Turner.
and finally, the new guy:
Damian Whitwood - was a ten-dance champion in Australia and Australasia, a cast member of DWTS-AU, participated in SYTYCD-AU, and toured with Burn the Floor (DVD available on Amazon). This info is from the DWTS page at abc.go.com. He is paired with Pamela Anderson.
Well. I am guessing we will see some very interesting things from Mr. Whitwood, if Pam A. turns out to have even an iota of talent to justify her fans in keeping her on the show.
What does all this mean??
"Champion" means the competitor has won a Championship event at one of any of the dozens of NDCA or IDSF professional competitive events in the U.S. (NDCA) or world (IDSF). There are multiple Champions running around in any given year owing to this system.
"World Champion" means the competitor has won a Championship event at a competition including couples who are nationally ranked in any member state of the IDSF. There is a limited number of competitions each year that fit this bill, so you don't end up with multiple World Champions in a given year.
"Ten-dance" means the dancer competed in all ten of the International style dances: waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot, quickstep, and the five Latin dances named above. It's not that common, and the dancers who can pull it off are extraordinary. This helps to explain why Mark Ballas has been such a good partner and choreographer despite his youth.
"Show Dance" means the competitors prepare a special routine, to pre-selected music, using any and all dance elements they know including lifts. This helps to explain why Louis Van Amstel has been one of the strongest choreographers on DWTS (and now SYTYCD) from day one.
"Youth" means the competitors are under nineteen years old.
"Rising Star" means the competitor is working his/her way up the professional competition rankings. It's my observation that professional competitors begin their careers in Rising Star before proceeding into Open Professional competition. My NDCA rulebook actually does not address this.
"Professional" means (I think) the competitor has won too many Rising Star events to continue competing in that category. All of the "World" titles are in Open Professional events.
"IDSF" is the International Dance Sport Federation.
"NDCA" is the National Dance Council of America.
Generally speaking, the Youth titles for Americans are conferred through USA Dance, and for others through the IDSF. All World amateur titles are conferred through the IDSF.
There now, wasn't that educational?
There is just one more thing I'd like to add before closing this dissertation. And that is, a competitive dancer generally prepares five (in the case of ten-dance competitors, obviously, ten) competition routines and dances those routines for an entire competition season, aka year.
Quite apart from the challenge of working with a brand-new person each season whose personality may be ... less than ideal (Ashley and Master P? Anybody remember that little tragedy?) as a dance partner, and whose native ability may be slight, it is an exceptionally challenging assignment to create a new routine fit for national performance in just a week.
I believe that the public is slowly waking up to how remarkable these professional dancers are. We can see that in the comments lamenting the absence of Jonathan Roberts or Julianne Hough. It's my mission, this season, to point out every way in which these performances enhance the world of ballroom dancing, NOT just for TV viewers, but for all of us who dance.
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