Speaker 1: It's time for another Danielle with the Stars. I am
Speaker 1: Danielle Fischel, a TV director, a podcaster to Panga on
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World and its millennial reboot, plus a mom
Speaker 1: of two. But right now I am a dedicated ballroom
Speaker 1: dancer competing on season thirty four of Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: airing every Tuesday night on ABC and Disney Plus. I
Speaker 1: know it's still weird for me too, And while I
Speaker 1: chatcha salsa and foxtrot my little heart out, I am
Speaker 1: recording this podcast, logging in my research and personal emotions
Speaker 1: on trying to win my very own mirror Ball trophy,
Speaker 1: and along the way, I'm talking to other contestants and
Speaker 1: professionals in hopes that even just a small chat can
Speaker 1: lead me in the right direction of success. And today
Speaker 1: I know I'm onto something. He's the winner of three
Speaker 1: mirror Ball trophies, leading Rumor Willis, Lori Hernandez, and Sochi
Speaker 1: Gomez to the top spot. Over the whopping twenty seasons,
Speaker 1: he has been a part of the show, and in
Speaker 1: my opinion, there is no better week to talk to
Speaker 1: him because he has been a part of a few
Speaker 1: shocking eliminations himself also clocking in second or third place
Speaker 1: finishes along the way. This season, he is paired with
Speaker 1: social media Maven Alex Earl, helping her turn TikTok dance
Speaker 1: skills into ballroom ballyho and they are killing it so far.
Speaker 1: Please welcome to Danielle with the Stars. It's one of
Speaker 1: the most talented and fashionable dancers in the game. Say
Speaker 1: hello to Val Schmerkowsky. Wow, welcome. Hi. You are elusive
Speaker 1: and hard to pin down. How many times have I
Speaker 1: asked you to come on Danielle with the Stars the last.
Speaker 2: Few weeks, so so many times.
Speaker 1: I've pounded you. Stara has hounded you. Yeah, I'm so
Speaker 1: honored you finally made it into my den of podcasting.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I was, you know, maybe I was dodging
Speaker 2: you because I was a little intimidated.
Speaker 1: Now I'm ready, Okay, great, I'm actually I was happy
Speaker 1: to confirm that you're not avoiding me, But I think
Speaker 1: maybe you just confirmed you were avoiding me. Okay, So
Speaker 1: I don't want to start with something heavy, but I
Speaker 1: kind of have to. Can we talk about last night's elimination?
Speaker 1: Were you as shocked as I was?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I was very shocked. You know, Lauren to
Speaker 2: me was a contender. Yeah, not just because of her
Speaker 2: amazing dancing and just performance value. I mean, she's a
Speaker 2: contender because of the massive fan base and just you know,
Speaker 2: she's in it. She's a big star. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: and I just thought that she was in it for
Speaker 2: the long haul. But again, it's like you never know.
Speaker 2: I was very shocked. You know, I feel again, respectfully
Speaker 2: to you and your fellow celebrities. Yeah, my heart immediately
Speaker 2: goes to the pro. You know, I feel for the
Speaker 2: celeb obviously, but there's such a huge responsibility that is
Speaker 2: put on the pro, so I my empathy was more
Speaker 2: immediate with Brandon. Obviously, I feel bad for Lauren. But
Speaker 2: you know, again, I just making sure that he, you know,
Speaker 2: just knows that this isn't a reflection on his professional capabilities,
Speaker 2: but rather, you know, things that potentially are out of
Speaker 2: his control. Now, should he take some responsibility, of course
Speaker 2: he will, regardless of what I tell him. But separating
Speaker 2: those two things, like you know, understanding that your professional
Speaker 2: integrity has nothing to do with this result, and if
Speaker 2: you could separate that, because I know you're stressing about
Speaker 2: that too, you know, just enjoy the hurt, loathing, the disappointment,
Speaker 2: because it definitely is disappointing, but don't tie those two
Speaker 2: things together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you have experience with that, especially the season
Speaker 1: as well, because your wife Jenna week one, So did
Speaker 1: you have a very similar conversation with her? I know
Speaker 1: she she described herself to me as psychotically competitive. So
Speaker 1: what was that conversation like between the two of you
Speaker 1: when she went home week one?
Speaker 2: Difficult? Yeah, but also not the first time we've had
Speaker 2: that conversation. I just think that the highs and lows
Speaker 2: of the show and this industry in general. I mean
Speaker 2: it's a reflection of being in the performing arts, but
Speaker 2: then also in Hollywood. Then also just with the massive
Speaker 2: appeal of the show right now, there's so many eyes,
Speaker 2: so much just frequency around this project. It just it's hard.
Speaker 2: You know, Plus, you were, you know what before used
Speaker 2: to be, you were anxious about being validated once a
Speaker 2: week in the form of judges' scores and potentially people's votes.
Speaker 2: Now you are seeing direct validation or lack of in
Speaker 2: every post that you post, right, and so you've you've
Speaker 2: seen those views, you see in those comments, you've see
Speaker 2: those likes. It's very hard not to pay attention to
Speaker 2: the energy on on on social media. So yeah, with
Speaker 2: all of that, there's a lot of pressure and so
Speaker 2: you gotta, you gotta, you gotta have some some foundation
Speaker 2: that can alleviate some of that stress. So the conversations
Speaker 2: we've had, you know, we've had for many seasons now,
Speaker 2: which is you know, there there's so much that you
Speaker 2: can do. You are clearly good enough because last year
Speaker 2: you have won in a very competitive season. You know,
Speaker 2: this wasn't like a runaway win. This this is a battle,
Speaker 2: and you know, just like this season is going to
Speaker 2: be a battle. Last year she came out on top
Speaker 2: and that was a really beautiful moment for our family. Yeah,
Speaker 2: unfortunately this year that's not how it went. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: just keep moving.
Speaker 1: It's interesting what you said talking about working in the
Speaker 1: entertainment industry. We have such a weird dichotomy of needing
Speaker 1: to be very vulnerable with people who are very willing
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable and wear our hearts on our sleeve
Speaker 1: for performance value, and yet also need to have a
Speaker 1: thick skin, you know, which is hard to be both.
Speaker 1: It's hard to be the type of person that can
Speaker 1: leave it all out there and show you everything that
Speaker 1: we're feeling and emote, and then also walk off the
Speaker 1: dance floor and be like, I'm not going to let
Speaker 1: that negative comment or those lack of likes or those whatever,
Speaker 1: or this loss affect me.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, I mean again, in the performing arts or
Speaker 2: you know, you come from TV, I don't know if
Speaker 2: you've done stage. I'm sure you have. You know, you
Speaker 2: become vulnerable playing a character that then you go backstage
Speaker 2: and you don't have to talk about it, you don't
Speaker 2: have to reveal your natural self. Here. You're doing all
Speaker 2: of that in a span of five minutes in front
Speaker 2: of millions of people live and also you are setting
Speaker 2: up the conversation in your package. Then you are going
Speaker 2: all in revealing yourself. Again, if you want to have
Speaker 2: a strong performance, you have to really throw yourself into it.
Speaker 2: And then immediately it's like, how do you feel about that? Well,
Speaker 2: I mean I don't. I can't even barely breathe. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really hard to again, just all all of these
Speaker 2: nights are so packed with intensity and just so many
Speaker 2: emotions high low. Regardless, it's important to to have a
Speaker 2: routine of the compression and like just just yeah, just
Speaker 2: snapping out of it.
Speaker 1: What is your decompression routine after a live show?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Do you go eat?
Speaker 2: I do? I eat pasta? That's my comfort food.
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, what kind of pasta?
Speaker 2: I'm a basic? Yeah, I'm like, you mean the special
Speaker 2: sticks to of course, you got to get the garlic bread.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's that's good. Anything else do you try
Speaker 1: to do? You have a hard time coming down. I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to go to sleep until one am last night.
Speaker 1: I'm on such an adrenaline high. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to calm my body down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, same, I stay up pretty late. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean again, I preach more than I do, you know,
Speaker 2: as far as decompress. Don't trust so much, don't you know?
Speaker 2: But I was trussing the entire time already about next week.
Speaker 2: And that's what's hard. It's like you become your own word,
Speaker 2: you know, your biggest competition. When people are like, who's
Speaker 2: your biggest competition? I mean there's obvious answers, but the bigger,
Speaker 2: more honest answer is that it's yourself. As cliche as
Speaker 2: it sounds, but you're only as good as your last performance,
Speaker 2: you know, So after a night like last night for Us,
Speaker 2: which was our best performance yet. Such a great moment.
Speaker 2: It's very short lived because now I'm like, Okay, how
Speaker 2: do I a moment? Yeah? So yeah, it's stressful.
Speaker 1: Can we talk a little bit about Andy Richt's appeal?
Speaker 1: The world has just fallen in love with him? How
Speaker 1: much of that? Again, you mentioned that your empathy and
Speaker 1: all of your your thoughts go to the pro I
Speaker 1: also want to praise Emma.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: How much of what the audience sees about the celebrity,
Speaker 1: how much of that is able to be shaped by you? Guys?
Speaker 1: How quickly do you get to know your partners and say,
Speaker 1: I'm able to spot this very specific thing that I
Speaker 1: think America will fall in love with, and how do
Speaker 1: you bring that to life?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So much. I think we have a lot to
Speaker 2: deal with that. I mean, Emma give her nickname magician
Speaker 2: because she just like makes something, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: out of something that very few would would would would
Speaker 2: create so many, you know, so many dynamic performances with Yeah.
Speaker 2: But as far as Andy, yeah, I think she's want
Speaker 2: a great job creating his story, you know, and introducing
Speaker 2: different parts and layers of him to our audience. I
Speaker 2: think she does that really well every year, and she's
Speaker 2: just emotionally invested, you know. I think that's that's a
Speaker 2: big part of what makes a pro successful on our
Speaker 2: show is besides the expertise and the and the knowledge,
Speaker 2: you gotta be really you gotta really love people. Yea,
Speaker 2: you gotta love people. You gotta want to connect with people.
Speaker 2: And Emma's one of those pros that really is emotionally
Speaker 2: invested in her partners. And I think, yeah, and that's
Speaker 2: why that happens. But yeah, I mean she's also got
Speaker 2: a great sense of humor. He's obviously got an incredible
Speaker 2: creative sense of humor and is also down to play.
Speaker 2: But but again, yeah, he's he's relatable because he's every
Speaker 2: man every man and and even our female demographic is
Speaker 2: watching him and sees the uncle or the grandfather or
Speaker 2: the father or the brother or whatever. Yeah, the guy
Speaker 2: in there in their family that's down to play. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, And I think that's what's so beautiful about
Speaker 2: him is he's not a perfect dancer, but he's attempting
Speaker 2: it holdheartedly and I think effort, curiosity, enthusiasm goes a
Speaker 2: long way.
Speaker 1: Totally as someone who is both a technically incredible dancer
Speaker 1: and also a wonderful performer. Would you rather have the
Speaker 1: best dance of the night or someone's favorite dance of
Speaker 1: the night.
Speaker 2: Mmmm, that's great. I'd rather have someone's favorite yeah night. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: I do it for the people. For the scores, right,
Speaker 2: it sounded.
Speaker 1: So that was good. Put that on, Put that on
Speaker 1: a T shirt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, scores they matter, but obviously they matter. They you
Speaker 2: know the position, you know, you know you don't want
Speaker 2: to be eliminated, but I just want to be I
Speaker 2: want to steal the night. You know. That's how I
Speaker 2: call I just right now. It's hard because there's so
Speaker 2: many great couples and so many of them, it's hard
Speaker 2: to do that. But yeah, I'm just trying to steal
Speaker 2: the show with a performance that people love and want
Speaker 2: to watch again, whether the scores in line or not.
Speaker 2: You know, I try to balance both, but that would
Speaker 2: be more important to.
Speaker 1: Me, okay. Carrie Anne said this past week that there
Speaker 1: seemed to be two camps on the show, those with
Speaker 1: prior dance experience who walked in here already very impressive,
Speaker 1: and those who knew nothing but are learning every week
Speaker 1: and hopefully getting better. Where would you rather be strategy wise?
Speaker 1: And what do you think is kind of the spirit
Speaker 1: of the show.
Speaker 2: I mean, the show is a balance and act of
Speaker 2: both of those things. We just spoke about Andy and
Speaker 2: the you know, he might not look like him, but
Speaker 2: believe it or not, he's not a trained dancer. Surprised,
Speaker 2: But I think our show is not just about dance.
Speaker 2: It's about performance. It's about connection, you know, And so
Speaker 2: that's the great equalizer, you know. So yes, you could
Speaker 2: come in with a lifelong dance education in your in
Speaker 2: your you know bag, but if you're not someone that
Speaker 2: that makes people gravitate to you, then none of that matters.
Speaker 2: So I think I think that's that's what's great about
Speaker 2: dances and art in general. It is like sometimes something honest,
Speaker 2: something less but honest is more impactful than more and
Speaker 2: just you know, it doesn't mean much to you. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it's a disadvantage. I'll say that. I mean, again, it
Speaker 2: doesn't sound like you know, it sounds like a hot take.
Speaker 2: But sometimes having dance experience is a disadvantage because there's
Speaker 2: charm in the imperfection, there is relatability in the imperfection,
Speaker 2: you know, And I that's why I want to clean
Speaker 2: you know, when we were working with Alex even like,
Speaker 2: I try to also embrace her imperfections because I think
Speaker 2: that's what makes that performance even more entertaining, rather than
Speaker 2: clean her into.
Speaker 1: No polished perfect Danie.
Speaker 2: That it's numb. So I never want to do that.
Speaker 2: But it's a balance. I mean again, it's a balance
Speaker 2: and act. It's hard for the judges, but I think
Speaker 2: for them, uh, you know, whether it's two camps that
Speaker 2: the show's divice, I don't know about that comment, but
Speaker 2: it's in general, I think you're judging based on relativity
Speaker 2: to that person's yeah, you know where they at. So
Speaker 2: if for Andy, I feel like it's not the same
Speaker 2: standard as Hilario and and I don't think there's anything
Speaker 2: wrong with that, right exactly, we're being graded on a curve.
Speaker 1: Yes, correct, correct. I want to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about Alex. Can you set the record straight here? You
Speaker 1: guys have already done it. You guys get along, you
Speaker 1: guys like each other, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think she's all right most of the time.
Speaker 1: There's that sarcasm that keeps getting you guys into travel.
Speaker 2: Well listen, you know again, my sarcasm has been getting
Speaker 2: me in trouble my whole life.
Speaker 1: It's not going to stop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, context never reveals itself on social media,
Speaker 2: so I'm sure I don't blame the speculations. Yeah, but no,
Speaker 2: of course I like each other. I I'm grateful to Alex.
Speaker 2: You know, I think she's a remarkable talent. The fact
Speaker 2: that I have the opportunity to work with that talent
Speaker 2: there is a huge privilege of mine, you know. So
Speaker 2: those are the things that don't you know, they're not
Speaker 2: just right, that's not as funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, come across.
Speaker 2: So yeah, So no, I don't just like her. I
Speaker 2: am really proud of her, grateful to be her partner, teacher,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm all in. Yeah, And I think there's
Speaker 2: now even more common ground between me and my celebrity
Speaker 2: partner because you guys don't get another chance to do
Speaker 2: the show right, you know, every week is important, every
Speaker 2: day is sacred for us. It's not guaranteed that we're
Speaker 2: asked back, obviously, you know how fickle that relationship is.
Speaker 2: But you know, there was a stretch, you know, this
Speaker 2: is my twentieth season. There was a stretch where I
Speaker 2: was like comfortable, you know, and I knew I was
Speaker 2: going to come back next year. Now it's every season
Speaker 2: feels very similar to how it feels for you. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't know how many more.
Speaker 1: Seasons I got so hi because you personally are starting
Speaker 1: to think about doing something else, or you think they're
Speaker 1: starting to think about needing other people.
Speaker 2: I think a little bit of both. I'm not delusional
Speaker 2: about the fact that my you know, my my tenure
Speaker 2: on the show will eventually come to an end before
Speaker 2: the show will come to an end, Okay, and I
Speaker 2: want it that way, you know, I think my life
Speaker 2: is better with the show around, whether I'm on it
Speaker 2: or not. You know, I'm a huge champion of this project.
Speaker 2: I love that it exists to change my life, first
Speaker 2: through my brother Max, then through my own opportunities. But
Speaker 2: having said that, I'm still killing it.
Speaker 1: You know where on earth? Thinking you were.
Speaker 2: Going, well, because I don't want to. I don't.
Speaker 1: You don't want to take it for granted.
Speaker 2: I don't. Well, first of all, I'm not taking it
Speaker 2: for granted, But secondly, I I what is it? I
Speaker 2: don't I don't want to overstay my welcome, you know,
Speaker 2: So right now I'm still feeling pretty good. You know,
Speaker 2: but eventually I understand there's going to be again. I
Speaker 2: also don't want to be greedy, Like I don't want
Speaker 2: to hog this really awesome opportunity. If there's a dancer
Speaker 2: that's waiting for that slot, I will kindly give him
Speaker 2: that slot. But you got to earn it.
Speaker 1: Too, you know, as I say, you're so generous.
Speaker 2: Look, Lebron James twenty three seasons into the league, like,
Speaker 2: he's still the top ten player in the most competitive
Speaker 2: sport in the world.
Speaker 1: So so you've got at least three more years.
Speaker 2: Oh little more than that.
Speaker 1: Okay, I said, at least okay. Good. You mentioned your
Speaker 1: brother Max, who had been on the show since season
Speaker 1: two and you joined the show in season thirteen. Was
Speaker 1: watching him be a part of the show something that
Speaker 1: made you want to be a part of it as well?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, for sure. I mean, so there's so much
Speaker 2: history with all the pro talent that came on the show.
Speaker 2: Pretty much everybody knows each other, yeah, and knows all
Speaker 2: of each other because the bom competitive Borum dance world
Speaker 2: is so small. Yeah, So, you know, for from our perspective,
Speaker 2: when this project came along, I was already you know,
Speaker 2: a pretty solid name in the competitive ballroom dance world.
Speaker 2: My brother was as well, and the pros that were recruited,
Speaker 2: a lot of them were big names, but some of
Speaker 2: the elite names, you know, still frowned upon this project
Speaker 2: and the prospect of, you know, I'm going to go
Speaker 2: and dance with celebrities on television. You know, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not gonna beyond that. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: so there was that energy as well for me. But
Speaker 2: but again that that's also partially joking. The point is
Speaker 2: that I dedicate my whole life to pursuing this craft,
Speaker 2: and I was already comfortable with being broke, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's like I wasn't driven by the financial success
Speaker 2: or the vanity of being in Hollywood. I was just
Speaker 2: driven about being the best competitive ballroom dancing in the world.
Speaker 2: And I wasn't there yet when they asked me to
Speaker 2: be on the show or when my brother joined the show.
Speaker 2: But so yeah, so I enjoyed it, if vicariously through him. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he you know, we're really close. So you know, it's
Speaker 2: like that Jay Z Lyric, Like I got on the billboard,
Speaker 2: I took my boys with me, So it's the same thing.
Speaker 2: You know, he made it out and he from his
Speaker 2: first season, he already introduced me. They did a package
Speaker 2: literally three weeks into his first season about how he
Speaker 2: has this little dance school in New Jersey and his
Speaker 2: brother is a part of that school, and so he
Speaker 2: flew me out and I performed already. So but I'd
Speaker 2: never wanted to full time, stop competing and do this
Speaker 2: until I was like twenty five. So first, like six years,
Speaker 2: I was watching and then Mark joined, Derek joined kind
Speaker 2: of like that now my peers joined, and I was
Speaker 2: watching that for a while, and again I was super happy,
Speaker 2: but it was just and I said that before, like
Speaker 2: at twenty five, there was a moment I just came
Speaker 2: off the floor of competition, really prestigious event. I did
Speaker 2: really well, but I walked away feeling kind of empty
Speaker 2: and that curiosity of like what would it be like
Speaker 2: to perform on this big stage in Hollywood and finally
Speaker 2: have more than you know, four digits in my bank account?
Speaker 2: You know, I just asked myself, like, the difference between
Speaker 2: a hobby and a profession is a paycheck, and it
Speaker 2: sounds kind of I don't know, maybe it sounds a
Speaker 2: bit superficial, but like I said, you come to an
Speaker 2: age where after you know, years of your life being
Speaker 2: dedicated to a craft, seeing this opportunity to financially change
Speaker 2: your life. But also I think also artistically, I was
Speaker 2: done being just an athlete and I was excited to
Speaker 2: start being more creative and more artistic. And the show
Speaker 2: does allow for that totally. So once I joined the show,
Speaker 2: I kind of built a different relationship with dance growing up.
Speaker 1: What other hobbies did you have besides dance?
Speaker 2: Girls, that's not a hobby I know. I played. So
Speaker 2: I played violin for fifteen years.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I started playing when I was five, So that
Speaker 2: was really my art and that was I took it seriously.
Speaker 2: In any Eastern European family, especially immigrant family, they're like,
Speaker 2: we ain't got time for games, you know. So everything
Speaker 2: I did I did to be the best at.
Speaker 1: What do your parents do? Why are you guys so creative?
Speaker 2: They don't do anything creative. My mom she graduated college,
Speaker 2: I think, with like an engineering degree, but then she
Speaker 2: just didn't really pursue her career because she was taking
Speaker 2: care of us. Huh. My dad was a merchant marine
Speaker 2: out of college. Again. We were in Ukraine. Yessa as
Speaker 2: a coastal city on the black seat. So everybody there
Speaker 2: wanted to be you know, wanted to get out, and
Speaker 2: that was a way to get out. They got to
Speaker 2: travel the world by being a merchant marine. That means
Speaker 2: they're working on a big ship carrying import export stuff.
Speaker 2: And so he did that for like a year and
Speaker 2: a half out of college. But my mom already had
Speaker 2: Max and she was like, I'm not taking care of
Speaker 2: this baby by myself because the trip is like six months.
Speaker 2: He's might see and then comes back. So then he
Speaker 2: stopped that and kind of committed to being an entrepreneur
Speaker 2: by that time. Again, this is like a history lesson
Speaker 2: Soviet Union. There's no capitalism under communism, so you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of that import export kind of just with
Speaker 2: commerce business in America. There was kind of tinkering on
Speaker 2: being illegal. But he you know, again he would like
Speaker 2: import jeans and sell them on the market there. He
Speaker 2: would bring in leather goods from Turkey and then you know,
Speaker 2: so it was a hustle and he was doing well financially,
Speaker 2: but again there was a lot of instability, and so
Speaker 2: that was one of the reasons why they you know,
Speaker 2: they really wanted to immigrate to America, and we got lucky,
Speaker 2: we want to, you know, a visa and packed up
Speaker 2: our bags and in a matter of like a month
Speaker 2: and left our entire I mean, I wasn't leaving anything.
Speaker 2: I am eight years old. I'm like excited for the adventure.
Speaker 2: I had no idea of what this means. But for them, yeah,
Speaker 2: they left all their friends and lineage and history and
Speaker 2: you know, comfort, and we moved to Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 2: And yeah, so that's it. They just to answer your question,
Speaker 2: my dad is a business owner, that's it. And early
Speaker 2: on he was looking you know, he started coding in
Speaker 2: America because I was like leading up to the bubble,
Speaker 2: right two thousands. We immigrated ninety four, so he learned
Speaker 2: how to code, this dad, but then hated being in
Speaker 2: a cubicle. And one day he quit his job and
Speaker 2: opened up a dance studio with my brother. That's my
Speaker 2: brother was sixteen years old. And that's it. Now we have, yeah,
Speaker 2: we have fourteen dance studios around the country right now.
Speaker 2: We just celebrated twenty years.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 2: But we had a kids school for a while and
Speaker 2: then we opened up. Now what we have now, which
Speaker 2: is a social dance studio catering to.
Speaker 1: Adults, catering to adults like me, like yourself, want to
Speaker 1: learn how to dance, and no experience in it at all.
Speaker 2: That again, that are using dance as a vehicle to
Speaker 2: better themselves, challenge themselves, find community, find interaction. Right, We're
Speaker 2: so connected, but we're so disconnected physically, you know. Dance
Speaker 2: I think is a great way to just yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: like feel another human and having that intimacy without you know,
Speaker 2: the sexual intimacy, you know, And I think that's something
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of loneliness. There's a lot of people,
Speaker 2: you know, we have a lot of clients that you know,
Speaker 2: maybe lost a lifelong partner and I just don't know
Speaker 2: where to even begin to heal. I think dance allows
Speaker 2: you to heal that way.
Speaker 1: So it's so beautiful.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 1: We had Jenna on the podcast recently, your Beautiful Wife,
Speaker 1: and she was telling me that you had started dabbling
Speaker 1: in stand up comedy. Yes, I need to know everything
Speaker 1: about this. What made you want to do that? And
Speaker 1: is it scarier than dancing in front of millions of
Speaker 1: people live every single week?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, let's start with the scary. It's definitely more
Speaker 2: terrifying than dancing in front of millions of people. Part
Speaker 2: of it is also putting myself in a position to
Speaker 2: really feel how you guys feel as well. You know,
Speaker 2: this project has put me into this position of authority
Speaker 2: and direction and leadership, and I'm teaching you, and you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes I want to learn teach me. You know. Sometimes
Speaker 2: when I see a celeb on our show that's taking
Speaker 2: it for granted, I'm like, what, Yeah, I wish I
Speaker 2: was on a project where a master of their craft
Speaker 2: took their entire life and gave me their undivided attention
Speaker 2: and effort to teach me their expertise. Please. I mean,
Speaker 2: I did a cooking show. It was the greatest experience
Speaker 2: of my life because I was like, I had a
Speaker 2: chef teaching me a craft that has always evaded me,
Speaker 2: that only empowered me as a human. You know. So
Speaker 2: I was like, so grateful that you're sharing that with me.
Speaker 2: So same thing with this comedy thing. I preach a
Speaker 2: lot like go out there and do it, you know,
Speaker 2: go outside your comfort zone. I'm like, well, how often
Speaker 2: do you go outside of a comfort zone? And so
Speaker 2: this was my comfort zone that I exited because stand
Speaker 2: up comedy. I just love storytelling. I love comedy. I
Speaker 2: think it's a great vehicle for people to express their
Speaker 2: trauma in a digestible way. I think it builds bridges
Speaker 2: with people. It's a way to, you know, again, maybe
Speaker 2: touch on a topic matter that people have felt but
Speaker 2: never felt that way or never expressed that way. So yeah,
Speaker 2: And I'm a big fan of others that do stand
Speaker 2: up so yeah. And also my whole life, I've I'm
Speaker 2: in partnership, you know, even when you tell three time
Speaker 2: mirror bold Champion, world champion, this champion, I never I
Speaker 2: didn't do any of these things by myself, right right,
Speaker 2: you know. And I love that. I love camaraderie, I
Speaker 2: love the laboration. I love that. It makes me so
Speaker 2: happy because I as much as I want things to
Speaker 2: be mine, I also want to be of service to others,
Speaker 2: you know. And so I love being on a team
Speaker 2: because I get to do both. You know, I get
Speaker 2: to triumph or if it's a win, triumph and feel
Speaker 2: great about myself, but also at the same time be
Speaker 2: of service and and and share this feeling with somebody else.
Speaker 2: So I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But again, it's I've been a partner with somebody and
Speaker 2: everything I've accomplished, even creative projects. I you know, Max
Speaker 2: and valtour we did three tours together. I teach a lot,
Speaker 2: you know. I teach with my incredible wife, Jenna. That's
Speaker 2: another partnership. So there's a lot of partnerships in my life.
Speaker 2: I wanted to do something by myself. You know, when
Speaker 2: I go out there, I can't rely on anybody. It's
Speaker 2: just meet the mic and that's it, you know. And
Speaker 2: that also was something that intrigued me, is like, put
Speaker 2: put yourself out there. It's scary. And so I again,
Speaker 2: I was on Dancing with the Stars. I was in
Speaker 2: the finale with Sochi. It was a long blocking day.
Speaker 2: We have stand ins, you know. So one of the standings,
Speaker 2: her name is Sheila. Sheila Ratner. She's an amazing comedian,
Speaker 2: which I didn't know at the time, but she did
Speaker 2: stand and work on Dancing with the Stars. So she
Speaker 2: was so chea for like a two hour blocking of
Speaker 2: an opening and her and I were just sitting there
Speaker 2: and just roasting everybody that we were watching, amazing to
Speaker 2: each other, and I was just like, yo, you are
Speaker 2: so freaking funny. You should do comedy. She was like,
Speaker 2: I did I'm a stand up the media and I
Speaker 2: was like what. I was like, that's on my bucket list,
Speaker 2: like I've always wanted to do it. I just didn't
Speaker 2: even know where to start. And she was like, what,
Speaker 2: you're professional world renowned dancer who was real passion is.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, actually that's the opening of my old set. Anyway,
Speaker 2: So one thing led to another. Off season, she hit
Speaker 2: me up and she invited me to you know, kind
Speaker 2: of like an open mic, and I said, sure, this
Speaker 2: is like Thursday. I was like sure, and it was
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, and I again, I try to exercise that
Speaker 2: spirit of like saying yes and then figuring it out.
Speaker 2: So I was like, yes, I'm in. And then and
Speaker 2: then Monday roll you know, Monday rolls around. I'm like
Speaker 2: I need to work. Yeah, and so yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I've always been a creative writer. I wrote poetry ideas
Speaker 2: to Ukraine. Again, the city that I'm from was kind
Speaker 2: of the New Orleans of the Soviet Union. There's a
Speaker 2: big comedy scene. There's a huge like jazz comedy, just
Speaker 2: melting pot of Jewish and Slavic and other cultures kind
Speaker 2: of but the energy of the city that I'm from
Speaker 2: is it's kind of in us to be sarcastic and funny,
Speaker 2: and you know a lot of comedians came out of
Speaker 2: that city, So yeah, I mean I on tours, I
Speaker 2: gravitate to open mics and just kind of going off
Speaker 2: the cuff. But anyway, the point is I was terrified
Speaker 2: and I almost pulled out like a hundred times because
Speaker 2: again in my mind, I'm like, Wow, you don't need
Speaker 2: to do this, Like why are you putting yourself through
Speaker 2: so much anxiety right now on a random Tuesday. It's like, because,
Speaker 2: you know, because you have to do that. And then
Speaker 2: I showed up and I did it, and I did
Speaker 2: it pretty well. And the feeling that I felt driving
Speaker 2: back home after literally a five minute set. Whether way,
Speaker 2: I'm not doing a forty five minutes set, nothing in
Speaker 2: the big scheme of things, but it was just such
Speaker 2: a moment of accomplishment that I was like, I gotta
Speaker 2: do this again. Been you know, I've done it like
Speaker 2: six seven times. It's just been so fun and exhilarating,
Speaker 2: and I've also learned a lot about myself like that.
Speaker 2: The anxiety is until I got there. As soon as
Speaker 2: I got there, I'm like, oh, okay, I feel natural here,
Speaker 2: and rightfully so, I've been performing and entertaining people's since
Speaker 2: I was twelve years old, right for money, you know,
Speaker 2: like professionally, So I feel really comfortable in that space
Speaker 2: of pressure.
Speaker 1: Like you said, so much of dance is storytelling. Comedy
Speaker 1: is storytelling. Acting is storytelling. It's all just different forms
Speaker 1: of storytelling. So even if it's a form you've never
Speaker 1: done before, once you get up there and start doing it,
Speaker 1: you're like, actually, it feels very similar. It's just a
Speaker 1: different dial or a different channel than I'm used to
Speaker 1: being on. Talking about partnerships, I wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you about season sixteen when you were paired with Zendea,
Speaker 1: arguably the biggest star to ever participate on the show
Speaker 1: for where she is now. But a lot of people
Speaker 1: consider you two coming in second to be a crime
Speaker 1: against humanity. Did you guys assume that you would win
Speaker 1: or do you know it by the time season sixteen
Speaker 1: rules around to never assume?
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I wasn't assuming that. Plus, I mean, first
Speaker 2: of all, thank you to all the fans that you.
Speaker 1: Know, crime against humanity has been said more than one time.
Speaker 2: That's a lot but again out of context. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: that seems a little bit much, But if you paid
Speaker 2: attention to that season, you knew that Kelly Pickler was
Speaker 2: killing it, and Derek did an incredible job again creating
Speaker 2: her season and telling her story and giving her a
Speaker 2: chance against a juggernaut like Zendeia. But no, I don't
Speaker 2: think we were so far ahead that this was a
Speaker 2: huge shocker. It was edibly disappointing, and I take a
Speaker 2: lot of responsibility for that, but they definitely you know, again,
Speaker 2: in hindsight, you look back and just how massive she
Speaker 2: is and how great her performances were, no doubt, But
Speaker 2: seeing those isolated performances doesn't show you the big picture,
Speaker 2: because Kelly also had some great performances and she did
Speaker 2: a great job.
Speaker 1: What kind of teacher do you think you are? How
Speaker 1: would you describe yourself to somebody who's never seen you
Speaker 1: as a pro? How would you describe your teaching style?
Speaker 2: I again, you know, first of all, you you're at
Speaker 2: least a reflection, maybe not a full product of the
Speaker 2: guidance and the influence that that you were brought up with,
Speaker 2: But you're gonna be a reflection of that unless you
Speaker 2: make a very conscious choice not to write. So you
Speaker 2: know I'm a product of you know, a preacher, preacher dad.
Speaker 2: You know, you fail to prepare, you prepared to fail.
Speaker 2: Like you know, he coached me through life as a father.
Speaker 2: He never coached me in dance, but he you know,
Speaker 2: I feel like his his coaching. You know, if it
Speaker 2: doesn't hurt, you're not doing much. You know, you're not
Speaker 2: doing enough. Like if you want to be successful, you
Speaker 2: got to be hungry and desperate and you know, broke,
Speaker 2: and you know it's just like all these socialist values
Speaker 2: social No, he's the big I mean, this guy is
Speaker 2: the biggest patriot. I mean, we love America just for
Speaker 2: the record, and capitalism and you don't have to say that,
Speaker 2: just don't import me. It's the truth. But he grew
Speaker 2: up in an environment where again there are values, are
Speaker 2: human values that are really great that come out of that.
Speaker 2: There's no shame. And again where we're from, and the
Speaker 2: Soviet values, whether they're practical to build a build a
Speaker 2: community and structure around maybe not, but as a human being,
Speaker 2: to hold yourself accountable to certain principles and hard work
Speaker 2: and like those that's the household I grew up in
Speaker 2: and then my brother was a coach, and he was
Speaker 2: a coach that lacked information and experience. And what I
Speaker 2: mean by that is how great of a coach can
Speaker 2: you be at eighteen?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so he's figuring it out with me,
Speaker 2: you know, as as a kid, he was coaching me.
Speaker 2: And so then I had other teachers that were great.
Speaker 2: So how am i as a teacher. I'm not the
Speaker 2: type of person that is going to force you to
Speaker 2: do anything. I want to inspire you. I want to
Speaker 2: give you the tools, and then you have to pick
Speaker 2: up these tools and do them. And that's the difference
Speaker 2: between a teacher and a coach, you know. I think
Speaker 2: a coach doesn't ask you much. He tells you and really,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of pushes you to execute. A teacher
Speaker 2: is someone that guides you and teaches you and gives
Speaker 2: you and then you have to have the passion and
Speaker 2: the and the work ethic to to actually execute that.
Speaker 2: I try to find a balance because in this project,
Speaker 2: it's you know, it's teaching, it's therapy, it's you know, nutrition,
Speaker 2: it's like all of it. But I think that's where
Speaker 2: I'm at, and I don't I wouldn't say I'm the
Speaker 2: best teacher, you know, I try to be. I'm always
Speaker 2: getting better. But yeah, I I love teaching, I love motivating, inspiring,
Speaker 2: but I love performing, you know. I like back to Lebron.
Speaker 2: You know, Lebron didn't dream of teaching one day or
Speaker 2: coaching basketball one day. He dreamed about performing at the
Speaker 2: highest level. So those were my aspirations. But I'm really
Speaker 2: grateful that I'm able to enjoy all facets right. And
Speaker 2: the core is dance and it has so many ways
Speaker 2: that it's bettered my life and has shaped my life,
Speaker 2: you know. But being a teacher is one of them.
Speaker 2: Being a performer is another one. Being an entrepreneur in
Speaker 2: the space of dance is another one, you know. But again,
Speaker 2: my favorite part about teaching is being of service to
Speaker 2: this person. And the truth is a great coach, I
Speaker 2: don't think even approaches it that way. He's not at
Speaker 2: the service. He's more of the service of the game.
Speaker 2: And you gotta you know, we're all here to accommodate
Speaker 2: the game. And in regards to dancing with the stars,
Speaker 2: I don't have that type of approach, you know, I do.
Speaker 2: I think we both should be invested in the bigger picture.
Speaker 2: Which is, let's get the best performance out there. But
Speaker 2: ultimately I still lean towards I'm here at your service.
Speaker 2: You know, you only get this thing once. How can
Speaker 2: I make this the best thing you've ever experienced and
Speaker 2: exactly how you wanted to experience it in the first place?
Speaker 2: You know? So what are those creatives? What are those
Speaker 2: dresses you want to wear? What are the songs you
Speaker 2: want to dance to? Whether I like them or not, obviously,
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you my direction and opinion, but
Speaker 2: really I'm here to make your dreams come to life.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about the double cartwheel? Was that one
Speaker 1: of Alex's dreams?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yes, that was Alex's dreams? It was it turned
Speaker 2: into my nightmare, but it was definitely tell me what happened?
Speaker 1: What I I literally couldn't believe it when I saw
Speaker 1: the video and you guys just slamming into the ground.
Speaker 1: How did this start?
Speaker 2: Well, we were doing our quick step and I was,
Speaker 2: you know, I had like this one cartwheel, which ultimately
Speaker 2: what we ended up.
Speaker 1: Doing, which looked phenomenal.
Speaker 2: Thanks, And she was like, what if we went to
Speaker 2: get like like I went, then you went? Then I
Speaker 2: you know, it's like you probably saw it on TikTok somewhere.
Speaker 2: I was like, that's really cool. I can't do it,
Speaker 2: but you know, let's do it. Because again, so that's
Speaker 2: things like, you know, there's pressure on us. I want
Speaker 2: to be good, you know, I want to be good
Speaker 2: enough for you, you know, and she's challenging me, which
Speaker 2: is again, if I preach this the spiel of like,
Speaker 2: then I got to walk the walk, you know. And
Speaker 2: so that was one of those situations where I like,
Speaker 2: that is the most terrifying thing in the world. I
Speaker 2: have next surgery two years ago, Like, I definitely don't
Speaker 2: want to land on my head, but I will do
Speaker 2: this because you're doing this, So how can I not
Speaker 2: do this? You know, So let's do this. How do
Speaker 2: we do this? And so then I try to YouTube.
Speaker 2: I'm mad. I immediately thought like, she'll slip on the
Speaker 2: map because this would be worse. So yeah, so we
Speaker 2: just youtubed some instructionals and I was like, let's go
Speaker 2: for it, and yeah, we went forward a bunch of times,
Speaker 2: and I mean, she you know that that's the part
Speaker 2: that I wish showed up more in the packages, and
Speaker 2: just like I want to communicate that to our audience
Speaker 2: is like this pretty put together a young Barbie looking
Speaker 2: thing is an animal in the studio. That's like, let's
Speaker 2: go try to thrown her body around like I mean,
Speaker 2: you saw her do the baby freeze in the jive,
Speaker 2: Like she's down. You know, she's down a place she's
Speaker 2: down to like get messy. And like I said, I
Speaker 2: would be a hypocrite if fund and match that energy
Speaker 2: and reciprocate that energy, even as irresponsible as it was
Speaker 2: for us to do this week. But that move is
Speaker 2: still there. There's still promise because we're close. I just
Speaker 2: need to become significantly more flexible than my working on this.
Speaker 2: I am, I am, and she just potentially needs to
Speaker 2: be just a little bit stronger.
Speaker 1: Okay, so she needs to need some strength training and
Speaker 1: you need some flexibility work. But there's still a possibility
Speaker 1: we could see a double cartwheel this season. Fingers crossed,
Speaker 1: not even because I want to, not even because I
Speaker 1: want to see it in the performance, but because I
Speaker 1: want for both of you to feel like you pushed
Speaker 1: yourself in the direction and that you checked that box,
Speaker 1: like she presented something that was a challenge for me
Speaker 1: and you got what you wanted out of it, like,
Speaker 1: I'm so rooting for.
Speaker 2: That this show. You're not successful on the show unless
Speaker 2: you have moments like that. Yeah, exactly, And that's what
Speaker 2: I realized. It's like anytime I was successful, it's when
Speaker 2: I said yes to some crazy thing and we pushed
Speaker 2: through and we did it. Yeah, because that is so contagious.
Speaker 2: People at home feel that they see that, they see
Speaker 2: the stakes. Really, it was back to the two camps
Speaker 2: and when we were talking about the quality of dance,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. And that's where it could be a
Speaker 2: little bit of a disadvantage because if you've already reached
Speaker 2: the peak, what do we wear? Are the stakes? Where
Speaker 2: are you headed now? Yeah? But you got to reach
Speaker 2: for those peaks and that's what's fun to watch. So
Speaker 2: I appreciate Alex for that idea, and again we'll still
Speaker 2: execute it, hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Can we talk fashion for just a brief second. What
Speaker 1: are some of your influences? I think you have incredible style.
Speaker 1: Every time we see each other, we do a full
Speaker 1: little fit check. What are some of your influences and
Speaker 1: what are you into right now?
Speaker 2: I'm influencing you know again, I'm a product of so much,
Speaker 2: you know, combustion of different cultures. You know, I'm an
Speaker 2: Eastern European kid that grew up in Brooklyn, New York,
Speaker 2: listening to a hip hop while playing violin and being
Speaker 2: you know, educated and dance, and dance introduced me to
Speaker 2: a Latin culture in which so much of our bravado
Speaker 2: because again I specialized in the Latin styles, not the
Speaker 2: Borm styles. I did Borm, but the Latin styles were
Speaker 2: my expertise. So I'm mimicking the Bravado of all these,
Speaker 2: you know, Antonio Benderis's and that's Barrados, and so there's
Speaker 2: a fashion and you know that kind of like peacocking
Speaker 2: of that energy plus my dance aesthetic. You know, I've
Speaker 2: been wearing chaffon since I was twelve years old, you know,
Speaker 2: ten years. Oh, so it's it's a bit of everything.
Speaker 2: It's it's so and I traveled to Europe for competitions
Speaker 2: a lot as a kid through on my teens as well,
Speaker 2: so I saw the you know, the kind of the
Speaker 2: fitted fashion. Then I would come back to New York
Speaker 2: and obviously be surrounded by i mean, late nineties jenko Is.
Speaker 2: It's crazy to see all this wide fit now coming back.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, I love pop culture and I
Speaker 2: love dance, but I you know, I live beyond dance,
Speaker 2: you know, and ballroom dance. I love, like I said,
Speaker 2: hip hop music, Latin music. You know. I played in
Speaker 2: an orchestra, played classical music my whole life, you know.
Speaker 2: So I just love it all. And I love where
Speaker 2: we live now, where it's like anything goes, you know.
Speaker 2: As soon as sneakers were acceptable with a three piece
Speaker 2: suit my zone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm happy. Yeah, I want to thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on the show. I can tell you
Speaker 1: that from the moment I agreed to do Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars, you and your brother were a major reason
Speaker 1: why I have just been such a fan for so long,
Speaker 1: and you guys are very inspiring. So I have so
Speaker 1: appreciated getting to know you and spending time with you,
Speaker 1: and you're just an absolute joy. So thank you for
Speaker 1: doing this show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you for having me. I'm glad we
Speaker 2: let it happen.
Speaker 1: You sure did.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Speaker 1: Executive producers Jensen carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge
Speaker 1: of production, Danielle Romo producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
Speaker 1: Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Danielle with Stars and vote for me