Speaker 1: Welcome to Danielle with the Stars. I am Danielle Fischl,
Speaker 1: a TV director, a podcaster, forever tapanga, and a mom
Speaker 1: of two. But currently, as I speak, I am competing
Speaker 1: as a ballroom dancer on the thirty fourth season of
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, and in the process of cutting
Speaker 1: rugs and tearing tendons, I am recording a podcast chronicling
Speaker 1: my earnest and difficult journey to win a Len Goodman
Speaker 1: Mirror Ball Trophy. Each week on this podcast, I am
Speaker 1: soaking up every little thing I can about my new profession.
Speaker 1: I'm taking in every tip, trick and story the pros
Speaker 1: and past contestants are willing to share with me, and
Speaker 1: today I will be squeezing every last hours of expertise
Speaker 1: out of my guest. An absolute legend in the world
Speaker 1: of dance. In choreography, she made her mark on So
Speaker 1: You Think You Can Dance and a little network experiment
Speaker 1: you may have heard of called Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1: She brought her vision to the OSCAR winning movie La
Speaker 1: La Land and even helped shape Taylor Swift's record breaking
Speaker 1: eras tour Oh No Big Deal. She's created for the Oscars,
Speaker 1: the Golden Globes, the Grammys, the Emmys, which have nominated
Speaker 1: her eight times and given her three. She is an
Speaker 1: undeniable force in the industry. And now she's a guest
Speaker 1: on Danielle with the Stars. So please say hello to
Speaker 1: superstar choreographer Mandy Moore, who, like that was literally.
Speaker 2: The best centrol ever.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being here. Of course, you are truly a legend.
Speaker 3: Oh people say that. It is so weird When people
Speaker 3: say that, I'm like, wait, I think I'm just doing
Speaker 3: the best I can no nome most of the time.
Speaker 1: So know how you know you're really special is when
Speaker 1: when other very special people, like every single pro on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars says, that is a person who
Speaker 1: knows what they're doing. That's a person we love to
Speaker 1: work with. Like they work with a lot of different choreographers.
Speaker 1: No one has anything to say about you other than, oh,
Speaker 1: she's the best. She's the best of the best.
Speaker 2: Love them and like my family. Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been on the show a long time
Speaker 3: and I feel like I grew with them, and so
Speaker 3: they really truly I consider most of them I'm family.
Speaker 1: Well, you can tell that amongst all of you, there's
Speaker 1: a trust, there's like a you don't have to overproduce
Speaker 1: or over nitpick. You can give them guidance and then
Speaker 1: let them have creative freedom, and if something's not working,
Speaker 1: you collaborate together to fix it like you can. You
Speaker 1: can see that, and that's always the best kind of
Speaker 1: creative environment to be in.
Speaker 2: One thousand percent.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think, I'm sure we're probably gonna
Speaker 3: get into it, but let us get into it, you know.
Speaker 3: Like I started on that show, I had never done
Speaker 3: a step of ballroom in my life, and it was
Speaker 3: a really weird like experiment for me. I mean, I've
Speaker 3: been I worked on television, so I'd choreographed on television,
Speaker 3: but the actual art of ballroom dance in Latin dance,
Speaker 3: like it is not my thing.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: I grew up tap dancing, jazz, ballet, million other styles
Speaker 3: that hadn't done ballroom. And when I got on the show,
Speaker 3: I was like, I sure you want me to choreograph
Speaker 3: because I think in my mind I thought, oh well,
Speaker 3: if I don't know exactly all the steps, I can't
Speaker 3: make it. But it was a really amazing process because
Speaker 3: that's where I started to learn how to collaborate, like
Speaker 3: you were just saying, with the pros because their choreographers
Speaker 3: and artists and their own rights totally, and so I
Speaker 3: just kind of became this conductor of movement for them,
Speaker 3: and I would create with them and then basically tell
Speaker 3: them like, you guys look crazy. You need to be
Speaker 3: better insane y yeah, And they would probably all tell
Speaker 3: you that like I would. You know, I used to
Speaker 3: do this thing where I would like screenshot their wides
Speaker 3: and I would say you look nuts here, you look
Speaker 3: nuts here, you look nuts here, And they really started
Speaker 3: to I think that's where I trust started to happen,
Speaker 3: because it was like, I'm just here to make you
Speaker 3: look greatly and then they'd be.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, we look good on that part, now, Oh,
Speaker 1: thank you for telling I know I as a director,
Speaker 1: I have had a couple opportunities where there will be
Speaker 1: a scene with a beautiful woman and she's supposed to
Speaker 1: be sick on the couch, and so she's relaxing on
Speaker 1: the couch and I'll just take a screenshot of the
Speaker 1: camera and I'll come in. I'll be like, you're gonna
Speaker 1: want to lift your chin a little bit. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna show you right here, and then they be like,
Speaker 1: thanks girl, thanks girl.
Speaker 2: Always you gotta have their back. Yes, that's exact thing.
Speaker 1: Now, you know, we were we at each other's back.
Speaker 1: Who was the first professional dancer you remember seeing as
Speaker 1: a kid like that made you go, oh wow, I
Speaker 1: want to do that.
Speaker 2: That's a good question.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm a kid of the eighties, so I
Speaker 3: grew up on MTV right and all of the eighties films,
Speaker 3: So the ones that probably stick out the most to
Speaker 3: me are something like a like a Flash Dance or
Speaker 3: Journey Dancing, or John Travolta in Not Saturday Night Fever,
Speaker 3: Staying Alive, the Jazz.
Speaker 1: Movie, all the jazz ones like that.
Speaker 3: But I was also a kid who grew up on
Speaker 3: MGM Musical, so I would say, like most people, chene
Speaker 3: Kelly freens like those were kind of my initial I
Speaker 3: think back to being a kid and looking at dance
Speaker 3: on you know, on the television screen. That's who I remember.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, I know you grew up in Colorado, and
Speaker 1: I wondered, have you ever felt bullied because you're not
Speaker 1: from Utah?
Speaker 2: Okay, this is a good story. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you know this I don't so.
Speaker 3: My dance teacher, Kim del Grosso, had a small studio
Speaker 3: in Colorado, the Mountains of Colorado. I grew up dancing
Speaker 3: with Kim. When I was in middle school. She sold
Speaker 3: the studio and moved to Utah and open up what
Speaker 3: is known as Center Stage Dance Studio, which is Julianne,
Speaker 3: Derek Whitney, Lindsey, Jenna, like all of them. So it's
Speaker 3: also so weird that, like, I have this crazy connection
Speaker 3: to all these people that I know and love that
Speaker 3: we have the same dance teacher.
Speaker 1: Same dance teacher. Yeah, just in two different states, Colorado
Speaker 1: and Utah. Totally totally, So you're completely connected. You're al
Speaker 1: still part of that same family. There are so many
Speaker 1: aspiring dancers out there who have immense talent and are
Speaker 1: trying to make it. Who and what was the big
Speaker 1: break that got that helped you get into the right rooms?
Speaker 3: M let's see, this will be another good story, I guess,
Speaker 3: Harry ann and Aba really yes, So I moved out
Speaker 3: here at eighteen, you know, to be a dancer from
Speaker 3: the Mountains of Colorado. I didn't know anything about anything.
Speaker 3: I knew nothing about the business.
Speaker 1: Did you a family here at all.
Speaker 3: No, I had my family, had a friend here, and
Speaker 3: I stayed on his couch for like three weeks when
Speaker 3: I got here. I mean, it was one of those
Speaker 3: totally like cliche stories where I was like, I drive
Speaker 3: out in my Wrangler with a.
Speaker 1: Dollar in my poskeet. Yeah, I'm gonna make it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be a.
Speaker 3: Star one one thousand percent. And then you know, of
Speaker 3: course you get here and you're like, whoa, this is
Speaker 3: a whole.
Speaker 2: Thing here, you know.
Speaker 3: But I ended up kind of starting to train at
Speaker 3: the studio called Edge Performing Art Center. I don't know
Speaker 3: if you ever heard of it, but so that was
Speaker 3: kind of like my home base basically. And through training there,
Speaker 3: I started to take classes with carry In and she
Speaker 3: had just come off of tour with Madonna and one
Speaker 3: of my teachers, Alex Magno, she took a lot of
Speaker 3: class with and so Carrie Anne and I just kind
Speaker 3: of started always being bookends. Whenever he would do pieces
Speaker 3: or something like, he'd always put me on one side,
Speaker 3: she would be my book end, and so we just
Speaker 3: became friends. And then she started to transition into choreography
Speaker 3: and needed an assistant, and this is at the start
Speaker 3: of reality television, So this is like who wants to
Speaker 3: marry a multi millionaire America's Sexiest Bachelor, like some classic
Speaker 3: yeah yeah, And so I would be her assistant and
Speaker 3: then lo and behold, she started getting to know more people.
Speaker 3: We ended up being on a show called All American
Speaker 3: Girl where Conrad whose producer of.
Speaker 1: Green Yes, and.
Speaker 3: Nigel Lithgow were co producers, and so we met them,
Speaker 3: and then Nigel went over to American Idol and we
Speaker 3: Carrianne and I ended up going to American Idol and
Speaker 3: then she ended up getting this is a.
Speaker 2: Very I'm almost finished.
Speaker 3: Then Nigel went and started So You Think You Can Dance,
Speaker 3: and had asked Carrie Anne to come over to So
Speaker 3: you Think you Can Dance. Dancing with the Stars was
Speaker 3: also starting with Comrade, and Carrie Anne, at a very
Speaker 3: crazy moment, decided to go to Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 3: because she was going to be a judge on this
Speaker 3: brand new ballroom dancing show. And then she ended up
Speaker 3: being this judge and then I kind of started taking
Speaker 3: over it American Idol, so like I really and then
Speaker 3: the rest is kind of history from there. But I
Speaker 3: credit her was so much of my success because she
Speaker 3: really like, if I hadn't been with her, I wouldn't
Speaker 3: be in the rooms ununfenvable.
Speaker 1: What a great story. Yeah, and it's so nice too
Speaker 1: that it was like I love every time, no offense
Speaker 1: to men. I love every time it's another woman. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was like, listen, I see something in you. I
Speaker 1: want you with me. Let's do this together. See my assistant,
Speaker 1: learn from me, help me. And then when the time came,
Speaker 1: it was like, you're ready to launch and you got
Speaker 1: to just fly on your own.
Speaker 2: Yes, And that's huge to be supporting other people like that.
Speaker 3: And I learned so much about the business from her,
Speaker 3: like seeing her navigate these rooms full of a lot
Speaker 3: of men a lot of times, and like being in
Speaker 3: a place where like reality television and the kinds of things
Speaker 3: we were doing on television, it wasn't really happening, so
Speaker 3: she was kind of also making up things as we
Speaker 3: were going, you know. But I just loved understanding her process,
Speaker 3: understanding how she would run the department, what meetings, what
Speaker 3: she would say in meetings, what she didn't say in meetings.
Speaker 3: You know, where I was just a young kid with
Speaker 3: wanting to, you know, make up dance steps and I
Speaker 3: learned that it was so much more than that obviously.
Speaker 1: Right, it's a real business. You have to be a
Speaker 1: business woman.
Speaker 3: Yes, when you're heading a department, it's not about your
Speaker 3: dance steps. Yeah, it's about all the other things. And
Speaker 3: then it's still about your dance steps at the end
Speaker 3: of the day.
Speaker 1: So when you moved here and you were eighteen with
Speaker 1: a dollar in your pocket at that time, right before
Speaker 1: the reality TV boom, what was on your vision board?
Speaker 1: What was the dream? What did you what? What was
Speaker 1: your goal of coming here?
Speaker 3: I mean, I was definitely going to dance for Janet
Speaker 3: for ok I was going to go on tour with Janet,
Speaker 3: And I was definitely going to go on if Miss
Speaker 3: Jackson if You're Nasty, And then I was for sure
Speaker 3: going to go on tour with Madonna. Okay, either one
Speaker 3: of those things happened. But you know, now that I
Speaker 3: look back, I'm like, yeah, I'm like, you know, I
Speaker 3: was never probably going to be that person that was
Speaker 3: going to be on tour with those people. I definitely
Speaker 3: got to the end of a lot of those auditions,
Speaker 3: but I was like, I'm not your girl. I don't
Speaker 3: think Okay, you go so thankfully though, like I also
Speaker 3: learned in that time that I was like, I really
Speaker 3: love teaching and creating. I love choreography. I actually love
Speaker 3: it more than being in front of the camera, really,
Speaker 3: And that was like a really like interesting thing to
Speaker 3: kind of learn along the way that, like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'd be in in on film sets, you know, dancing,
Speaker 3: and I'd just be like, I didn't care about it.
Speaker 3: I wanted I was looking over at video Village and
Speaker 3: I was like, man, that ad is cool, Like what's
Speaker 3: this call sheet?
Speaker 2: I'm like, who's that person over there? You know?
Speaker 3: And I was way more interested in that than I
Speaker 3: was about getting warmed up at midnight to do some
Speaker 3: like big dance scene.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, but there. It is interesting how being creative
Speaker 1: but creative in front of the camera and a creative
Speaker 1: behind the camera. How what different parts of your brain
Speaker 1: you have to use. I know, for me having made
Speaker 1: the transition from an actor to a director, being an actor,
Speaker 1: it's like everything's about all the forward facing stuff. I
Speaker 1: have to be in hair and makeup all the time.
Speaker 1: I have to physically be taking care of myself out
Speaker 1: at all times. If I have a pimple, it could
Speaker 1: be disastrous. I have to a disaster. If I have
Speaker 1: to have something to wear, I need to be hair
Speaker 1: and makeup ready. I need to have a glam team.
Speaker 1: That requires a lot of time. I have to be
Speaker 1: good at public speaking and doing all those things. And
Speaker 1: then as the director, I'm like, nobody gives a crap
Speaker 1: about me. But I still get to have all the
Speaker 1: creative juices going and work with other people, get to
Speaker 1: their performances out of them. So it is interesting how
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I still get to be creative. It's
Speaker 1: just a little different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a totally It's almost like right brain, left brain,
Speaker 3: and somewhere way. Even though both are You're right, both
Speaker 3: are created. It's just a very different kind of like
Speaker 3: I don't know what's expected of you, you know, and
Speaker 3: like I mean as a dancer, it might be slightly
Speaker 3: different as an actor, but as a dancer on camera
Speaker 3: it's like, man, you're just like herded like cattle. It's
Speaker 3: just you know, and I really try to make a
Speaker 3: thing obviously when I'm on set and not have that
Speaker 3: happen for dancers too, that like no.
Speaker 2: One should be treated by cattle. But you know, it's like, man.
Speaker 3: These people are putting out their physicality and their bodies
Speaker 3: for us to like do this amazing thing that people love,
Speaker 3: which is dance, you know, but like the least we
Speaker 3: can do is like respect them and make sure that
Speaker 3: they're good, and give them a place of warm up
Speaker 3: and give them water.
Speaker 2: And like all the things.
Speaker 1: Just very basic, just basics now. And I wouldn't know
Speaker 1: any of that because on Dancing with the Stars, at
Speaker 1: least in my experience, everybody is treated, yes, very well.
Speaker 3: That's why that shows amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean it is from top to bottom. I have
Speaker 1: felt supported, listened to, understood, respected. They're absolutely with scheduling stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm super type. So like they send me
Speaker 1: a schedule, They're like, the car will pick you up
Speaker 1: at six forty five. I'm like, I think their cars
Speaker 1: should pick me up at six thirty because I want
Speaker 1: to be there at seven am instead of seven to fifteen,
Speaker 1: because I want fifteen extra minutes warming up. And they're like, sure, weirdo,
Speaker 1: whatever you want. Like so, I but you're right now
Speaker 1: that I'm thinking about it. In other aspects of my life,
Speaker 1: I would not have thought about the fact that dancers
Speaker 1: were probably not treated very well.
Speaker 3: Not all the time. You know, the protections aren't always there.
Speaker 3: And I think it gets better, and I I think
Speaker 3: now in culture just in general, maybe people are hoping
Speaker 3: to understand and be you know, let people be heard
Speaker 3: and seeing. Like I do think it's getting better. But
Speaker 3: you know, it's the industry moves so fast, you know this,
Speaker 3: and like everybody's in and out in two seconds, and
Speaker 3: it's money, money, money, money, and you know, and unfortunately
Speaker 3: that can start. You don't always treat people like humans
Speaker 3: when that happens.
Speaker 1: And sometimes also the person making the schedule is not
Speaker 1: aware of what a dancer needs. So the person's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll bring these dancers in at eleven we'll
Speaker 1: have them on the floor at eleven oh two, and
Speaker 1: it's like, no, no, they're gonna need they they're bought there.
Speaker 1: They physically need to warm up, they need to drink
Speaker 1: something like. So yeah, sometimes it's just we need to
Speaker 1: have people who understand yes, and have can represent for
Speaker 1: each group of people to be involved in the planning
Speaker 1: of the days.
Speaker 3: One thousand percent. This is why you're a great producer director. Yes,
Speaker 3: you understand, I understand it.
Speaker 1: Okay, here's my transition to start asking about my own dances. Wait, wait, okay,
Speaker 1: I go weaseling my way in getting advice from one
Speaker 1: of the goats. What do you think makes a good
Speaker 1: student of dance?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Vulnerability?
Speaker 1: Okay, I love your first yes.
Speaker 3: Because it is vulnerable to be an open enough vessel
Speaker 3: to accept information about something that you most likely are
Speaker 3: not good at.
Speaker 2: Round one right, because I'm sure what you guys had
Speaker 2: a tangle week one right?
Speaker 3: And and you know, I don't know how you feel.
Speaker 2: But again after saying like, I.
Speaker 3: Don't do Latin and borrom like when these guys and
Speaker 3: of course over the years they've taught me things, but
Speaker 3: it is hard. The coordination is really hard, and the
Speaker 3: weight changes hard. And as someone who understands their body,
Speaker 3: who understands how to put themselves in front of the camera,
Speaker 3: you have to be vulnerable to know that you are
Speaker 3: going to look really bad and be really bad. Yeah.
Speaker 3: First correct, and then you have to trust that you
Speaker 3: have an amazing coach, which Posh is like the best,
Speaker 3: really incredible. I mean he's not only like a fantastic human,
Speaker 3: but he's also a really really great coaching dancer and choreographer.
Speaker 1: He really is.
Speaker 3: So you're in great hands.
Speaker 1: I know, I've known that since moment one, I've been like,
Speaker 1: oh I can. I started just saying trust the Pasha
Speaker 1: because it was trust the process. At first it was,
Speaker 1: and then it was like, oh, it's not just it's
Speaker 1: not even about the process, it's about just totally trusting him.
Speaker 1: And like you know, the night before my chat jaw,
Speaker 1: we decided to speed it up, literally after doing dress rehearsal,
Speaker 1: and then we were like, I think we need, we need,
Speaker 1: we can do it faster now. And that was Monday
Speaker 1: night after Saturday, me being nowhere near ready for the
Speaker 1: dance Saturday night being like I'm I'm not even close.
Speaker 2: I'm not even it's over.
Speaker 3: It's over.
Speaker 1: Forget it, drop and kick me out. I'm out of here.
Speaker 1: And then Sunday we rehearsed all day and it was
Speaker 1: like everything had just settled, and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden on Monday, I looked too comfortable and so we
Speaker 1: sped it up. But then that added a whole new
Speaker 1: thing to like, all right, now I've got to redo
Speaker 1: all this.
Speaker 2: And that's vulnerable. You said you're Type A.
Speaker 3: I am also type so I understand this that like
Speaker 3: you're used to being in control of how you are
Speaker 3: going to present yourself in any sort of a way.
Speaker 3: Great dance is when you can stop like that control
Speaker 3: of like how it's going the outcome, and like trust
Speaker 3: the process, vulnerable in the moment and dance from like inside.
Speaker 3: You have to find a moment of being able to
Speaker 3: dance from.
Speaker 1: Like your heart.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's when people love you. They can let go
Speaker 3: of a like weird arm or a being with a
Speaker 3: foot or a knee or whatever. But like if you
Speaker 3: look like you're having the time of your life and
Speaker 3: you're feeling this thing and you have like risen to
Speaker 3: the occasion, people are going to be into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I love that vulnerability. Anything else you think
Speaker 1: makes a good student of dance, I think.
Speaker 3: A good combo between I would say like head and
Speaker 3: heart that you're able to like cause I don't know
Speaker 3: if you feel this and the bits that you've been
Speaker 3: working with posh. But like I find when you're learning something,
Speaker 3: it's like it starts with head and you're kind of
Speaker 3: like mathematically trying to figure out what's going on because
Speaker 3: you also don't want to be a hot mess. Just
Speaker 3: like leading from your heart life and he's just twirling
Speaker 3: you around the floor. But then you start getting super
Speaker 3: heady and you have to then go like, okay, I
Speaker 3: gotta feel it. I gotta like let it in my body.
Speaker 3: And then you get all ah mess again and then
Speaker 3: you're like no, no, no, back to the head. And
Speaker 3: then before you know it, it's like those little interactions
Speaker 3: get smaller and smaller and smaller, and you kind of
Speaker 3: like put them together and you move from both your
Speaker 3: head and your heart at the same time.
Speaker 2: And I think that makes a really great student if
Speaker 2: you're able to do those things.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's a that's a very good point that And
Speaker 1: Pasha had said that to me when we started working,
Speaker 1: like on day one, he was like, listen, the first
Speaker 1: layer of this is all mental. Yes, it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of you remembering your steps, where your feet go,
Speaker 1: what you're supposed to do with your hand. All of
Speaker 1: that's in your brain. Then after you feel good about that,
Speaker 1: then we're going to have to get into performing it.
Speaker 1: Dancing it. Dance with your heart, dance you know, feel
Speaker 1: the move feel, and start putting some spice in it.
Speaker 1: If you put too much spice on it, we'll go
Speaker 1: we'll we'll tone it back, but go all out on
Speaker 1: the spice at first, and so we we've been we've
Speaker 1: been working on that. I did see somebody made a
Speaker 1: comment about our tango that I smile, I smiled a
Speaker 1: little too much during a tango for their for their preference,
Speaker 1: and I thought that's a great note. And yet being
Speaker 1: that it was our first week and it was kind
Speaker 1: of America's first introduction to me, I was okay with
Speaker 1: it being more of a representation of me rather than
Speaker 1: necessarily a representation of a perfect tango.
Speaker 3: Well, it's hard. It's interesting to say it because I
Speaker 3: always think, like a Week one, I feel for people
Speaker 3: that have a more like serious dance. Yeah, because you're right, people,
Speaker 3: I mean you have to understand this is also a game,
Speaker 3: it's a show, and you have to make sure that
Speaker 3: people connect to you.
Speaker 1: And like me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, because you have a very bubbly personality. So
Speaker 3: it's like it would be hard even though you're a
Speaker 3: great actress, it would be hard to just like Week one,
Speaker 3: be doing some like sultry serious like James bon Assassin tango. Yeah,
Speaker 3: because then also people a might be like who is
Speaker 3: this girl? Like I don't even like our she looks miserable,
Speaker 3: and you're like no, no, no, I'm just.
Speaker 2: Playing a character.
Speaker 1: On top of that, with the themes, yes, the theme
Speaker 1: was Anthem Week and my anthem was also very much
Speaker 1: tied to my breast cancer journey, so it was.
Speaker 2: Like stronger, right, yeah, stronger works in.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to go out there and be like
Speaker 1: it was like, that's just not that's not what the
Speaker 1: story is. Like, I had to tell a story with
Speaker 1: the tango, and even if it isn't the very traditional
Speaker 1: story you tell with a tango, we made a decision
Speaker 1: that fit it to me and I thought it was great.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I had really had I'm having the time
Speaker 1: of life.
Speaker 3: You guys were like literally flying like there was a
Speaker 3: really a member of wide shot where you like were
Speaker 3: going up floor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. I mean I love it.
Speaker 3: When they fly in a tangle too. I'm like, this
Speaker 3: was and you guys did a great job of that.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: We worked really hard on that because we envisioned that
Speaker 1: we were going to be shot from that angle where
Speaker 1: we were going to be going toward it, and so
Speaker 1: we worked so hard on making sure I wasn't bouncing
Speaker 1: because I'm a bouncy human being.
Speaker 3: Boy.
Speaker 1: The dance really showed me how much. I love to
Speaker 1: hops just popping into everything. I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 1: Pasha's like, please, for the love of God, stay low,
Speaker 1: like okay. So we worked really hard on that. Then
Speaker 1: we worked really hard on the you know sharp shop.
Speaker 1: I mean, we spent so much time on it, and
Speaker 1: then we saw the shot and He's like, great, so
Speaker 1: we're shot from behind overhead, but we'll see Spiro, which
Speaker 1: you know again great it was. It was very cool.
Speaker 1: But yes, we worked hard on that, and I was
Speaker 1: proud of that moment because we did fly across the
Speaker 1: floor and if you had been closer, you would have
Speaker 1: seen that I was not bouncing.
Speaker 3: I know you were not. I saw you in the mine.
Speaker 2: I do would not thank you.
Speaker 1: Are you all caught up on this season of Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars, skies and everything?
Speaker 3: I've watched like most of everybody's duets because also right
Speaker 3: after the season, don't know any of it, but I
Speaker 3: direct the tour. Oh and so part of my world
Speaker 3: is I like, you know, love the show been on
Speaker 3: at a million and five times, but also like I
Speaker 3: love doing the research of like what's everybody doing? Because
Speaker 3: I like to track your guys' stories too. So like,
Speaker 3: if there's anything that happens with tour, then I can
Speaker 3: kind of know, like, oh, this is where you started,
Speaker 3: or this was a great song for you, or this
Speaker 3: was a great kind of a hard critique moment or whatever.
Speaker 3: It's just good to kind of know it all. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm close. I'm almost caught up.
Speaker 1: Okay, And so you're obviously well into planning the tour now, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: well I'm I'm in January, right.
Speaker 3: It starts, yes, And it's hard because it's like I
Speaker 3: can't get too far in because I have to see
Speaker 3: how the season goes, you.
Speaker 1: Know, right, and yet you can't really if you know,
Speaker 1: season ends November twenty fifth, yes, so if you were
Speaker 1: to wait, you'd have like one month to do an.
Speaker 2: Entire tour stress ball change.
Speaker 3: And I'm also a planner, so I got to like
Speaker 3: get the stuff going.
Speaker 1: But so you have to have the loose the bullet
Speaker 1: points and then fill in with the details once you've
Speaker 1: seen the whole season. We have heard a lot from
Speaker 1: people on the show this year from other people about
Speaker 1: how this season seems to be extra competitive.
Speaker 2: Do you think that.
Speaker 1: This season feels more competitive than other seasons or is
Speaker 1: it in the same ballpark.
Speaker 3: That's interesting. I kind of got that from you guys
Speaker 3: in the first couple. I mean, there's every season is
Speaker 3: its own unique beasts, you know. But I did feel
Speaker 3: funny enough even at GMA when I like first met you,
Speaker 3: I mean for three seconds at three am.
Speaker 1: Those days are crazy.
Speaker 2: I don't even under stand.
Speaker 3: Like, honestly in GMA, I've done a seven thousand of
Speaker 3: those gmas, and I even this year, I was like, well,
Speaker 3: I was walking out after you guys all were like
Speaker 3: whoa that night, I was like, what just happened? My
Speaker 3: eyeballs were like so hot? Anyways, when I met you all,
Speaker 3: I thought, oh, there's like a thing, there's.
Speaker 2: Like a spark between all of you.
Speaker 3: Like I do think that the casting was really well
Speaker 3: done with Tena and the team, but also like you
Speaker 3: guys are good dancers and your great personalities, and then
Speaker 3: even the mix of the pros that are here too,
Speaker 3: Like yeah, it's you just never know from year to year,
Speaker 3: season to season, like who's gonna pop, who's gonna actually
Speaker 3: like in the eleventh hour do something amazing, or who
Speaker 3: you thought was gonna be the person and then they
Speaker 3: kind of fall from grace or yeah, but you guys
Speaker 3: are all in pretty high scores in the first couple
Speaker 3: of weeks already, I.
Speaker 1: Know, and I know that they anticipated they were not
Speaker 1: going to do that. I know. I think last year
Speaker 1: in particular, they started kind of high and then they.
Speaker 2: Had nowhere to go and they're like, not, can't give
Speaker 2: it nine point two?
Speaker 1: Or if everyone starts it, or if a lot of
Speaker 1: people started in eight and then three or four weeks later,
Speaker 1: they're clearly better, but they're still getting eights. The audience
Speaker 1: is like, well, wait a minute, I saw this person grow,
Speaker 1: why would they still get an eight?
Speaker 2: And it's hard. I think the audience doesn't understand that.
Speaker 3: As a judge. Also, it's like anything the show's been
Speaker 3: going for whatever, thirty some seasons, and everyone's gotten better
Speaker 3: and better and better. So not only are the pros smarter,
Speaker 3: they know how to train you guys better. Also just culturally,
Speaker 3: everyone's gotten better and they understand dance, and I think
Speaker 3: the kinds of people that are coming on the show
Speaker 3: are very talented. So it is hard when you're like
Speaker 3: I've always said that, I was like I wish we
Speaker 3: had at some point when it got to like nines
Speaker 3: eights and nines that you could go like nine point
Speaker 3: one nine point two, because there are little bits of like,
Speaker 3: oh you were better last week but not this week.
Speaker 3: But you can't do that when it's just a nine
Speaker 3: inutecent or an eight and nine in atcent exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're also I think the judges honestly have the
Speaker 1: hardest to do. They have the hardest job for one thing.
Speaker 1: Anytime someone maybe gives criticism that is earned, even it
Speaker 1: feels harsh and it's there, it's being said to somebody's
Speaker 1: fave and they get booed. It's such a terrible feeling.
Speaker 1: It's like, listen, it is their job. They're not trying
Speaker 1: to be hurt. But none of them in any way
Speaker 1: have a mean spirited bone in their body. We are
Speaker 1: all there. I mean, that's the thing I think I've
Speaker 1: been most impressed with with the show is how there
Speaker 1: is not a single person there top to bottom, crew, ABC,
Speaker 1: BBC Pros, dancers, anyone who's not there to absolutely just
Speaker 1: make the best stinking program they can one thousand percent.
Speaker 2: And it's been like that for a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they just want it to be the
Speaker 1: most entertaining, positive enjoyable learning experience and they do such
Speaker 1: a good job at it. So anyway, the judges, I
Speaker 1: feel for them. As a matter of fact, I reached
Speaker 1: out to Derek today. I don't think he follows me,
Speaker 1: so he may not see it, but I reached out
Speaker 1: to him because he got stuck with one word of
Speaker 1: advice for me last week or not of advice or
Speaker 1: his critique of me. And he said good, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I need more. I'm going to need more.
Speaker 1: I'm going into week three. I know on the show
Speaker 1: you were limited to one word, but anything you're willing
Speaker 1: to share with me. So, Derek, you see this? Yeh,
Speaker 1: Dan sent you a DM.
Speaker 3: Yeah, answer the DM. Come on, he knows, like that's
Speaker 3: the thing. He's been a pro, he knows, and so he's.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he has advice for you. Oh, he definitely
Speaker 1: has advice for me. And I want to hear it
Speaker 1: because I want to soak it all up. I've been
Speaker 1: asking every podcast guest this question because it seems as
Speaker 1: though there are two camps. Where do you fall on
Speaker 1: the idea of whether or not celebrities quote unquote should
Speaker 1: be allowed to have extensive dance experience before they come
Speaker 1: on dancing with the stars. Some people think it's no problem.
Speaker 1: It's not called let me teach you how to dance,
Speaker 1: you know, And other people say, yeah, but it's it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem fair. Where do you fall.
Speaker 3: I don't have a problem with it because I also
Speaker 3: understand that I would say probably one hundred percent of
Speaker 3: the time, the people that have prior dance experience have
Speaker 3: never done ballroom in Latin, and as someone who understands
Speaker 3: the difference between ballroom and Latin and more contemporary styles
Speaker 3: are commercial styles, even social dance styles. If someone's like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm a salsa dancer, like, it is not the same thing.
Speaker 3: And honestly, a lot of the times it's almost harder
Speaker 3: for people that have pre existing ideas about what dance
Speaker 3: is because they get in there and they're like, oh,
Speaker 3: this feels weird. I would never want to step this
Speaker 3: way in my heels. I don't do that when I
Speaker 3: do my other style. And I also just think, like,
Speaker 3: I think the audience is smart enough to understand what
Speaker 3: they're looking at, and I think.
Speaker 2: People like to see growth.
Speaker 3: So if they're seeing growth in someone who is already
Speaker 3: a great dance performer versus someone who has had no
Speaker 3: dance experience. I think the audience is smart enough give
Speaker 3: them credit to understand what that journey is. I mean,
Speaker 3: and yes, you know, everyone wants to like complain about
Speaker 3: everything these days.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, everyone wants to share their opinion.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think it's great. I think the show
Speaker 3: can be for anyone. I mean, it's also like a
Speaker 3: football player comes on and there, all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: I had a chow chyaw really well, like you're going
Speaker 3: to fault them for being athletic.
Speaker 1: Right, exactly?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Technically it's unfair, you know, even even in the sense
Speaker 1: that part of it's a personality saying that's unfair too.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: So we've all got our strengths, That's what I keep saying.
Speaker 1: Everyone keeps asking who's your biggest competition, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's impossible to say, because, first of all, America is
Speaker 1: so in charge with the votes. Yes, do they connect
Speaker 1: to and what they find the most entertaining. Some people
Speaker 1: truly are voting who is the best dancer here?
Speaker 3: Yes? And some are just like I like the entertainment exactly,
Speaker 3: Like I.
Speaker 1: Think this person is better at dancing because I'm entertained
Speaker 1: by them, not because they pointed their toe the right
Speaker 1: way or because they did a good arm. So you know,
Speaker 1: that's why I keep saying, it's like it's it would
Speaker 1: be impossible for me to say who is competition. Everyone
Speaker 1: is competition because we all bring our own strengths.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you never know.
Speaker 1: Now that's exactly right.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Another point of contention that I've been seeing brought up
Speaker 1: is breaking frame out here we go to possibly a
Speaker 1: viral moment or a TikTok moment, or adding in a
Speaker 1: lift that maybe isn't supposed to be there. If you
Speaker 1: were judging, how would you feel about that? Would you
Speaker 1: deduct for those things? Do you like it?
Speaker 2: It's an interesting question, and I think it's for me.
Speaker 3: It's evolved over the seasons, you know, because obviously when
Speaker 3: the show started we were not in the social media
Speaker 3: place that we are now. Correct, And ballroom dance and
Speaker 3: Latin dance in its nature is insular and so much
Speaker 3: about the partnering, and so much about the frame, and
Speaker 3: so much about respecting the tradition.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: And I think, like anything, if you don't respect tradition
Speaker 3: but allow it to grow and evolve, it will die
Speaker 3: of death because no one's going to care that you have.
Speaker 3: Like my dad when he watches the show, doesn't know
Speaker 3: that you're in a perfect frame, but he might appreciate
Speaker 3: that a judge said you had really good frame in
Speaker 3: that dance. But then he would like the moment where
Speaker 3: you broke frame and was like, oh, I remember that
Speaker 3: cute thing where you know.
Speaker 2: So I I think you have to evolve.
Speaker 3: And again, you know, I don't think you should like
Speaker 3: pay it shouldn't be disrespectful to the art form.
Speaker 2: But I think these pros do such a.
Speaker 3: Good job of really teaching their celebrity how to do
Speaker 3: this thing that they know and love. These guys have
Speaker 3: trained their whole lives to do it. Yeah, Also they
Speaker 3: want to break frame sometimes because they're bored.
Speaker 2: They've done this same think for it.
Speaker 1: They've done it, and they want to they and they
Speaker 1: want to modernize it and help us try something new
Speaker 1: and get a creative input in there that maybe wouldn't
Speaker 1: normally be in.
Speaker 3: Their creators anders. As we were saying, like they and
Speaker 3: they want the moment too. They want to make you
Speaker 3: stick out as well that you know, if you're just
Speaker 3: I feel for them sometimes because if some of them
Speaker 3: just play by the rules, you know, and like you
Speaker 3: do a proper tangle or you do a proper chatcha,
Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden, this person over here
Speaker 3: right did ninety seven percent of a proper whatever, but
Speaker 3: then had the one moment that everybody remembered. So they
Speaker 3: also have to play the game when they're creating, right,
Speaker 3: and I respect it.
Speaker 2: I say, go for it, as long as you're not disrespectful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, even if it means occasionally getting a note.
Speaker 2: Sure, Yeah, I mean, I.
Speaker 3: Guess there's also rules like when I've judged, like we
Speaker 3: are very clear about what the rules are, and so yes,
Speaker 3: if you have to deduct, then you should deduct. I
Speaker 3: mean that's also a thing, is like you can't deduct
Speaker 3: for one and then not for the other. I mean,
Speaker 3: as a judge, you have to make sure that you're even, yeah,
Speaker 3: and make sure that you don't you're not playing favorites
Speaker 3: in any sort of a way, Like you do have
Speaker 3: to make sure you're on biased in that way. But
Speaker 3: you know, as I go for it, and then you know,
Speaker 3: like you know, I have to deduct you on this moment.
Speaker 3: But guess what, it was a great moment.
Speaker 1: Right exactly, you're to get a little bit of a
Speaker 1: lower score, but I did enjoy it. Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: really smart. That's a good point that, like you guys
Speaker 1: have a list of things, yes, and as long as
Speaker 1: you're following the rules, it's still okay to do it,
Speaker 1: as long as even the pros No, all right, we
Speaker 1: might get a little bit of a deduction, but it's
Speaker 1: worth it.
Speaker 3: And isn't it.
Speaker 2: Sometimes in life you should break a.
Speaker 1: Rule exactly exactly. I mean, listen, I was a major
Speaker 1: rule follower up until you type it. That's what we're
Speaker 1: best at. And then you get to a certain point
Speaker 1: you go, you know what, I think it's a little
Speaker 1: more joyful to occasionally break a rule and it's okay exactly,
Speaker 1: it's exactly certain rules. What do you think is the
Speaker 1: number one thing I need to focus on the season?
Speaker 1: After having seen my two dances, I would.
Speaker 3: Say, continue to push yourself to go bigger, okay, and bolder,
Speaker 3: be more bold, because now you're going into week three
Speaker 3: and week four.
Speaker 2: Hopefully hope you're good, hope very far.
Speaker 3: People start to separate away from the pack right in
Speaker 3: the first couple of weeks. Everyone's kind of like they're
Speaker 3: just getting their feet wet. Then like some people might
Speaker 3: have like, oh wow, that was a great dance or
Speaker 3: a middle dance or like so good. But starting in
Speaker 3: week three and week four, you have to make bigger choices.
Speaker 3: And that's like in your performance, you need to show
Speaker 3: more vulnerability, more motion, more character, right because they're getting
Speaker 3: to know you now, So now they know you from
Speaker 3: your packages. They know that you're a nice person, they
Speaker 3: know that you're talented, and you come from bla blah
Speaker 3: blah blah.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like they know that now.
Speaker 3: But now you have to start making bolder, bigger voices,
Speaker 3: not only in your movement, so like more highs and
Speaker 3: lows in your dynamics, more plea, more straight legs, more
Speaker 3: sharp whatever the focus is. Then also in just the
Speaker 3: like performance of it, what character are you playing? Can
Speaker 3: you take us? Can you transport us for the minute
Speaker 3: and a half and the number into whatever world you're
Speaker 3: wanting us to go into.
Speaker 1: Such good advice, I mean, that's.
Speaker 3: What I would say. Just go big, I go home,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, get in there.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because so much of obviously having been
Speaker 1: an actor, so much of my acting experience has helped me, yes,
Speaker 1: but also so much of it is hurting me because
Speaker 1: actors like to be a little more settle.
Speaker 2: Yes, and then no, no, it doesn't work in ballrooms.
Speaker 1: What don't you be subtle on the ballroom?
Speaker 2: For crazy?
Speaker 1: Yes, it's insane. And sometimes I'll be like, I'll watch
Speaker 1: myself in the mirror and I'm like, I look like
Speaker 1: a maniac. And then I watched them dance like the
Speaker 1: pros dance, and I'm like, oh, oh, no, I don't
Speaker 1: look like a maniac. They look like maniac. That's what
Speaker 1: I need to be doing.
Speaker 3: Yes, So there's something very like I remember when I
Speaker 3: start started the show and I watched them do their thing,
Speaker 3: you know, like when you watch them dance and do
Speaker 3: their thing, they're like these crazy peacock unicorn It's like,
Speaker 3: who are these people? And like if you took them
Speaker 3: out of the context of these like cameras and lights
Speaker 3: in ballroom.
Speaker 2: You'd be like, you're nuts, Like I don't know what
Speaker 2: you're doing out there.
Speaker 3: But it works, and that is part of the kind
Speaker 3: of like presentation of the art form. And so as
Speaker 3: someone who's now who's new in that world.
Speaker 2: You have to like give into it. You have to
Speaker 2: be like, Okay, I gotta go for it.
Speaker 3: And the hard part is you still have to find
Speaker 3: an authenticity inside that. You can't just have it be
Speaker 3: an outside thing. It does have to come from inside. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which is weird because you're not used to that.
Speaker 1: No, but but guess the best analogy I could think
Speaker 1: of is like the way theater stage makeup is so
Speaker 1: pronounced in when you are when you're like, wow, who
Speaker 1: did your makeup? And then when they're on stage they
Speaker 1: look totally normal to the people in the back row,
Speaker 1: totally you know, in the audience. It's very similar. The
Speaker 1: camera is diluting and the space is diluting a lot
Speaker 1: of what you're doing, So it has to be go
Speaker 1: big or go home, but also from a truly authentic place.
Speaker 3: To posh ever say to you, I'm sure he probably has,
Speaker 3: but like, and you've noticed that, like camera really takes
Speaker 3: away a good twenty to thirty percent of what you're doing.
Speaker 3: It's like the beautiful three dimensional thing that we're all
Speaker 3: creating goes into this two dimensional space and it looks
Speaker 3: like you're not even trying, like.
Speaker 2: Nothing, and you're like, I am down.
Speaker 1: You felt what I felt on me on the outside.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about that with the chat chap. He
Speaker 1: was like, inside, by the time our minute is done,
Speaker 1: we feel like we barely made it on the outside. Yeah,
Speaker 1: people are saying you need to speed that up. That
Speaker 1: looks a little slow. So yeah, what it feels like
Speaker 1: on the inside versus what it looks like, especially on camera,
Speaker 1: totally different beasts.
Speaker 2: That's what's gonna change.
Speaker 3: You're gonna start to see your body's gonna start making
Speaker 3: bigger choices. Yeah, you'll you'll start dancing bigger. Pasha'll start
Speaker 3: going like, oh wow, you're okay. He'll start dancing bigger,
Speaker 3: and then the whole thing expands. And if you don't
Speaker 3: start doing that now, like you will find that you're
Speaker 3: not gonna go away from the pack. It'll just kind
Speaker 3: of like well, just yeah, and you'll be fine, I'm sure,
Speaker 3: but it's not anything spectacular.
Speaker 1: It's going to go for the people that separate themselves
Speaker 1: from the pack. Of course, great advice. I love that,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Do you think there's a common
Speaker 1: thread if you look back on all the previous mirror
Speaker 1: Ball champions, would you say there's something that all of
Speaker 1: them have in common.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a really good question.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't think I've ever thought about that.
Speaker 3: I mean, charisma or they've had a lot of different Okay,
Speaker 3: you know what, I think they'll have in common maybe
Speaker 3: except for my twop or something. But you know, sometimes
Speaker 3: they slip in there. But I think the people that
Speaker 3: win the mirror Ball Trophy are everything we've been talking about,
Speaker 3: like the most authentic in the process, Like they're not
Speaker 3: trying to pre produce their own packages, their own ideas
Speaker 3: about how they're being seen. They give in to the
Speaker 3: process and they allow the audience to see them fail.
Speaker 3: They allow them the audience to see them succeed. They
Speaker 3: they are in the moment completely, which is very vulnerable
Speaker 3: and very scary of what she talked about. But I
Speaker 3: think those are the ones that really get to the
Speaker 3: top because it's like you see, I think the audience
Speaker 3: sees a bit of themselves in whoever that person is,
Speaker 3: or they want to see a bit of themselves in
Speaker 3: that person, like they want to be like, oh, that's
Speaker 3: like my sister, or that's like my cousin, or like
Speaker 3: I want to get in there. I want to dance
Speaker 3: with pashure. I want to whatever you know so in
Speaker 3: order to do that, because I also think you feel
Speaker 3: the same. It's like if you're very manicured and you're
Speaker 3: very produced in your own way of like presenting yourself. Yep,
Speaker 3: audience somehow senses it totally.
Speaker 1: You can smell authenticity from a mile away, the same
Speaker 1: way you can smell chemistry. Yes, you know that you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't fake chemistry. You can try, but people can
Speaker 1: watch and they go, I don't think those two like
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 2: Yes, you're exactly right, you can if they can feel
Speaker 2: the thing.
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is. It's like unsaid thing
Speaker 3: that they can feel totally.
Speaker 1: And when when someone is trying to like even you
Speaker 1: talking about pre producing their own packages, that is something
Speaker 1: that's like, yeah, you can feel that from certain people.
Speaker 1: They're like very much manicured images. Yes, what is your
Speaker 1: favorite dance that you have choreographed for Dancing with the Stars?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, wow. Probably probably when we did the
Speaker 3: one shot drone at Griffith Observatory and it was an
Speaker 3: opening number that we did and I can't remember what season.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was like Derek was still dancing, Max
Speaker 3: was there, Val was there, Jenna was there, Cheryl like.
Speaker 3: It was kind of like a bit of the Og Crew,
Speaker 3: like OG two point zero and we yeah. Rob Wade
Speaker 3: was actually show running at the time, and he was like,
Speaker 3: I think we should do like this one shot drone
Speaker 3: at Griffith Observatory and I was like, you're nuts.
Speaker 2: I'm in let's do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, You're insane. I love it.
Speaker 3: Yes, And at Magic Hour, of course, you know, so
Speaker 3: it's like you have like three seconds to get it.
Speaker 1: Exactly and there's no there's no take too when you're
Speaker 1: during Magic Now.
Speaker 3: And there's no coverage. We shot no coverage. It was
Speaker 3: the thing, and it was one of those like I
Speaker 3: think you can appreciate this because you you know, you
Speaker 3: understand directing, you love directing and producing. It's like it
Speaker 3: was one of those like all the departments came together,
Speaker 3: we all to make the thing, and then to see
Speaker 3: how it turned out was like that doesn't always happen.
Speaker 3: It's like the making and then you're like tono, so
Speaker 3: good or like that turned out and it was terrible
Speaker 3: making it. It was a perfect I was so proud
Speaker 3: of everybody and it was a beautiful piece of television.
Speaker 3: Making Like I just think, like we don't get to
Speaker 3: do it all the time, you know, these days, just
Speaker 3: because of budgets and things.
Speaker 2: But it was a really fun number.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so great. Yeah, oh I love that. It's funny.
Speaker 1: When I asked Pasha when I interviewed him for the podcast,
Speaker 1: I asked him about what felt so special about the
Speaker 1: night that he and Arianna got their their three tens,
Speaker 1: his first perfect thirty, and he said something very similar,
Speaker 1: which was like, it wasn't even about the scores being
Speaker 1: the thing. It was the fact that every moment of
Speaker 1: it had felt right kind of from the beginning, like
Speaker 1: the rehearsal of it, and then the vibe of the night,
Speaker 1: the focused of they like the energy just when all
Speaker 1: those little pieces come together and you're trying to overachieve,
Speaker 1: like you're doing a thing that's like a crazy thing,
Speaker 1: and then it all goes well. There is something so
Speaker 1: satisfying about that that like it's it's one of those
Speaker 1: highs you can live on for a long time.
Speaker 3: However, I'm live TV, like that's also the thing, like
Speaker 3: I'm pre shot. This is not That's the thing I
Speaker 3: think people forget, you know, It's like you guys are
Speaker 3: human beings on a live television show.
Speaker 1: You know, thanks for reminding me. Forgot about that part
Speaker 1: because it's not live on the West Coast, so I
Speaker 1: forget that. For some people, it very much.
Speaker 3: Is crazy though, like it, I don't know. I just
Speaker 3: every time I'm at the show, I'm just.
Speaker 2: Like little nuts.
Speaker 3: I know, little they're knowing, Yes, this is not robots,
Speaker 3: this is not like, this is real people doing real
Speaker 3: things now I know.
Speaker 1: Also, there's a lot of confetti.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they love a confetti.
Speaker 1: Confetti canon. Boy, there was so much confetti at this
Speaker 1: last one. And Pasha and I both like zero pieces
Speaker 1: of confetti on the floor because I do not need
Speaker 1: anything to slip on.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, So if.
Speaker 1: We see a single piece of confetti when we end
Speaker 1: out there, we're like, clean that up.
Speaker 3: Now, we're picking it up, picking up.
Speaker 1: We're literally on the floor picking up pieces of confetti.
Speaker 1: What do you think is the hardest dance I will
Speaker 1: have to do this year?
Speaker 2: Probably?
Speaker 3: I think samba okay can be really hard yep, And
Speaker 3: I think rumba can be really hard okay. I think
Speaker 3: because they're they're both highly technical, Like I find when
Speaker 3: i'm watching when I'm watching bodies do those two styles
Speaker 3: that have never done them, they seem to me to
Speaker 3: be the hardest ones to like really like you can't
Speaker 3: really fake them, if that makes sense. Where I think tango,
Speaker 3: it's like it's a good one to learn because it's
Speaker 3: like the idea of like having to hold your body
Speaker 3: in a front that's kind of easier for people, but
Speaker 3: not that it's easy. But yeah, cha chaw, you can
Speaker 3: kind of get away with some things.
Speaker 1: It's so fast correct.
Speaker 3: Jive is hard with kicks if you can understand the kicks,
Speaker 3: but I think the bounce and the kind of like
Speaker 3: feel of samba is hard, okay, And rumba is you know,
Speaker 3: it's like it's all about my chemistry and the like vitation,
Speaker 3: and you know that can be hard. So you have
Speaker 3: to really make sure that you're like, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: be awesome this week. If you have this, I need
Speaker 3: to let go. Okay, I need to let live.
Speaker 1: Right right right? Yeah, okay, good to know. I think
Speaker 1: Pasha's talked to me about both of those things really hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay. Good.
Speaker 1: When we first started talking about it and we were
Speaker 1: going through like what what do we want to try
Speaker 1: to do this year, and he listed out all the
Speaker 1: different styles of dance and then he was like, you know,
Speaker 1: ones we may want to save for later in the season.
Speaker 1: Are these because they require some more vulnerability, it can
Speaker 1: be a little more difficult.
Speaker 3: So samba can be like super fun. So I think
Speaker 3: everyone just goes like, oh, it's bouncy and lah blah blah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but to actually get in there and do it right,
Speaker 3: that's hard. Yeah, so you gotta get in there.
Speaker 1: As a viewer of Dancing with the Stars, do you
Speaker 1: find yourself gravitating toward who you think did the best
Speaker 1: dance or to whatever maybe was your favorite dance.
Speaker 3: Oh that's a hard one too for me because I
Speaker 3: feel like I'm not like the well, okay, because I
Speaker 3: know a lot about dance, so I you know, sometimes
Speaker 3: I'm actually more drawn to the person that I feel
Speaker 3: like was trying really hard because I know how hard
Speaker 3: it is to get somebody to do what we're asking
Speaker 3: these people to do. But I will say I'm definitely
Speaker 3: a sucker for a great dance, likeay, something is like
Speaker 3: they finish that button and you're like, yeah, like there
Speaker 3: is nothing like that, you know. But I also just
Speaker 3: love to see people try and do and like be
Speaker 3: in the moment. I can't stand it when people are
Speaker 3: mess when it looks like, oh, you didn't put in
Speaker 3: the work right, you didn't try like you didn't try yeah,
Speaker 3: or you like you should have done fourteen more hours
Speaker 3: of rehearsal and you didn't.
Speaker 2: You thought you had it and you don't.
Speaker 1: Got it right right right? You know that makes sense
Speaker 1: again that type we see it and we go, Oh,
Speaker 1: I see you didn't care.
Speaker 3: At all, did you?
Speaker 1: I see you, I see you. I know what happened
Speaker 1: here now because of your work on the Errors tour.
Speaker 1: I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to
Speaker 1: figure out that maybe Yon coming to Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars had something to do with you.
Speaker 3: I cannot. So you know, I love Yon very much
Speaker 3: and I've known him now after working with him this
Speaker 3: last couple of years with the Eras tour, and you know,
Speaker 3: things were coming into play, and you know, I just
Speaker 3: I think the world of him, and I'm very excited
Speaker 3: for him and this opportunity actually because I'm like, it's
Speaker 3: great for the show, it's great for him. Ultimately, he
Speaker 3: has to get out there and do the thing. Yep.
Speaker 3: And I'm very proud of him. I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: know if you've ever talked to him. I mean, he's hysterical.
Speaker 3: I adore him, and he knows that. My only thing
Speaker 3: was like, please don't go we've won. Please, please don't,
Speaker 3: please don't do that. And so I sent him a
Speaker 3: message actually didn't go home week what well, congratulations.
Speaker 2: You made it.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I know it was so funny. I
Speaker 1: asked him, trying to remember. It was after Good Morning America.
Speaker 1: It must have been like right around week one. And
Speaker 1: I said, how are you liking it? You know what's
Speaker 1: going on? And he said, I'm more used to being
Speaker 1: just a supporting a supporting character. This is where now
Speaker 1: I'm such a main character. He's like, it's taking some
Speaker 1: getting used to.
Speaker 2: It's really hard.
Speaker 3: And I even saw that on GMA. I mean he
Speaker 3: looked like his eyeballs were so wide the whole time.
Speaker 3: And I kept telling him, I'm like, you know, that's
Speaker 3: gonna be a lot for you. I just want to
Speaker 3: let you know, because it is you get thrust into
Speaker 3: the spotlight. Yeah, And it's true. He's used to being
Speaker 3: the supporting mac to somebody who.
Speaker 1: Is exactly a megastar. Yeah, yeah, but he's so good.
Speaker 1: Like I said to him, but you're so good at
Speaker 1: it when you do, when you talk, when you engage.
Speaker 1: He's so funny. I really I have absolutely just completely
Speaker 1: adored him. When you you got to judge on Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Star, yeah, for Taylor Swift night right, Yeah, okay, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: What did it feel like having to be all judgy
Speaker 1: and giving out numbers? It's weird.
Speaker 3: It was the second time I'd done it, so I
Speaker 3: had done one like three or four seasons before, like
Speaker 3: a movie night or something, and I would that first one.
Speaker 3: I was so nervous because I was like, these again,
Speaker 3: these are they're my peers. Yes, like I am in
Speaker 3: a leadership role with them when I choreograph, but ultimately
Speaker 3: they are my peers.
Speaker 2: They are creators, just like I am.
Speaker 3: So to be in the judging seat, I thought, what
Speaker 3: am I going to be able to bring to this
Speaker 3: moment that maybe some of the other judges can't, And
Speaker 3: it was that I am a peer and so it
Speaker 3: was like talking to them like I would anyone that
Speaker 3: like I was in the dance studio with them, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, and they after that first one, and I did.
Speaker 3: I kind of adopted that for Taylor stuff too, or
Speaker 3: that Taylor night because all the pearls were like, thank
Speaker 3: you for your critiques, because it felt like I was
Speaker 3: talking to my friend about what I needed to do,
Speaker 3: you know. And I understand not that Bruno and Derek
Speaker 3: and those guys don't anymore, because they do, but I'm
Speaker 3: so much closer to that moment because I still I'm
Speaker 3: still in the room. I still choreograph as I'm doing
Speaker 3: an opening number in a couple of weeks, so I
Speaker 3: will be in that ballroom with them. So you know,
Speaker 3: it was I mean, it's always nerve wracking because it's
Speaker 3: like again live and you're like, dear God, I don't
Speaker 3: want to say anything stupid and I don't want to like.
Speaker 2: Mess up this course and the wrong thing.
Speaker 3: Yes, but you do have to also like take in
Speaker 3: the moment and realize, oh, I'm bringing something to this.
Speaker 3: I have expertise that I can bring. It's different than
Speaker 3: carry In, different than Derek, different than Bruno, and that
Speaker 3: makes me who I am as a judge.
Speaker 1: That's always uniquely qualify. Yes to give this advice right now, Yes.
Speaker 3: And I don't want to speak like Bruno, because I'm
Speaker 3: not Bruno, right, So I will speak like myself and
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully if that works, it works.
Speaker 2: And apparently everyone was happy.
Speaker 1: So everyone was thrilled. So, yes, if given the opportunity,
Speaker 1: what would be a theme night that you would add
Speaker 1: to Dancing with the Stars?
Speaker 2: Who good question?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, what if you did like I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I just thought this was like, what
Speaker 3: if you did like dance in the kitchen night or something,
Speaker 3: or like songs that you know you're like, oh, I
Speaker 3: love that song.
Speaker 2: I would dance while I'm like making.
Speaker 1: My back my cleaning playlist?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, like something where you're like at home but
Speaker 3: I love that song and I dance at home.
Speaker 1: Yes, or like cross Country road Trains playlist, like something
Speaker 1: that you need to fill a few hours that keeps
Speaker 1: the vibes good. Yeah, that's a really great great songs,
Speaker 1: great songs. Yeah, well that's a good one. I like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit more about your
Speaker 1: work on the Dancing with the Stars tour and also
Speaker 1: how you're going to be able to accommodate me, because
Speaker 1: now that I'm a part of Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: I literally don't think I'm ever gonna be able to
Speaker 1: return to my normal life.
Speaker 2: So how can.
Speaker 1: You involve me? I'll clean the kitchens or the bathrooms
Speaker 1: or whatever. Just let me be around.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, come dance. Sound be so fun.
Speaker 1: I would love to.
Speaker 3: Well, the tour is like okay, so I've done the
Speaker 3: tour forever. Yeah, multiple roles, Like I used to be
Speaker 3: supervising choreographer, and then i was co director for a while,
Speaker 3: and then I've been director for the last like four years,
Speaker 3: five years, I think. And it is so fun. I mean,
Speaker 3: like again, we don't have to talking about it now,
Speaker 3: but it would be amazing if you could come on
Speaker 3: and you could do a thing, and you know that's
Speaker 3: they were people that talk and you know, your group
Speaker 3: has to talk to my group whatever. You know, fine,
Speaker 3: but it is so fun to get out there and
Speaker 3: be amongst these people that vote for you, into you
Speaker 3: go into their towns and they you know, basically we
Speaker 3: are bringing this television show that they know and love
Speaker 3: right to their back door. And it's also an amazing
Speaker 3: moment for these pros to dance their.
Speaker 1: Face off exactly. I mean, yes, they are. This show
Speaker 1: has shown me the real stars of this show are
Speaker 1: these pros.
Speaker 3: I mean, they're incredible.
Speaker 1: They are incredible. I mean, I can't I really can't
Speaker 1: say it enough. Just how hard their job is to
Speaker 1: deal with a different personality every season. They have no
Speaker 1: idea what they're going to get, no idea. Every person
Speaker 1: learns differently, So even if they figure out how they
Speaker 1: become very good teachers, they have to adapt for somebody
Speaker 1: who's going to not, you know, not work well. Also,
Speaker 1: what if they are best at teaching from nine to one,
Speaker 1: but this person sleeps until three pm every day and
Speaker 1: they need to do five to nine every night. Yes,
Speaker 1: And like just the amount of things they have to do,
Speaker 1: and then dealing with our little like meltdowns and struggles
Speaker 1: and freaking injuries and you know, I mean just it's
Speaker 1: so much. And they do it all with so much grace.
Speaker 1: They're all so friendly with each other, they're all so supportive.
Speaker 1: I just they are so it feels to me. The
Speaker 1: thing I think I love most about the idea of
Speaker 1: Tour is that they are the stars of Tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a big thing when I when I
Speaker 3: took it over, I was like, I really want to
Speaker 3: just highlight them and make a show that they love
Speaker 3: to do every night that they feels good on their bodies,
Speaker 3: good in their souls, but then also highlights whoever's going
Speaker 3: to come out. So if we've got a celebrity that
Speaker 3: comes out, that we still have the kind of show
Speaker 3: that can highlight them and their journey for the moment
Speaker 3: and kind of like pop into a fun party for
Speaker 3: a couple of days or a week or two weeks,
Speaker 3: whatever it is, and then go away, you know, and
Speaker 3: like that. It doesn't make that the show doesn't sacrifice
Speaker 3: in it any way.
Speaker 2: So it's it's fun.
Speaker 3: It's actually one of my favorite jobs I do every year,
Speaker 3: and that's why I keep coming back because I just again,
Speaker 3: they're like my family and getting in the room and
Speaker 3: creating with Pasha, Yeah, being with Daniella, being with Britt,
Speaker 3: being with Emma, band with Alan val Jenna, all those guys,
Speaker 3: Like these are my cats. Yeah, like my squad, you know,
Speaker 3: So to get to make with them is so fun.
Speaker 1: Oh, I love that so much. Yeah, what is it
Speaker 1: dance from over the years that you think encapsulates the
Speaker 1: spirit and specialness of the show.
Speaker 3: M I always think that, Oh wow, I don't know,
Speaker 3: it's like I can't damn good questions.
Speaker 2: You're really good at your job. Hmm, okay, you know what,
Speaker 2: I actually okay, I don't know why.
Speaker 3: I just thought about this, but did you see that
Speaker 3: Len Goodman tribute that Valan Jenna?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: To me, I'm like that, for some reason encapsulates what
Speaker 3: makes the show so special. That they were able to take,
Speaker 3: you know, a style of dance and a moment on
Speaker 3: live television which you know doesn't always get to be
Speaker 3: the moment and celebrate a man who was a huge
Speaker 3: part of our show. And they did it so eloquently,
Speaker 3: and it was poetic and it was beautiful and it
Speaker 3: was entertaining, and it was like, I just remember when
Speaker 3: I watched it, I thought, like, good on you guys,
Speaker 3: like that was the moment.
Speaker 1: Would have loved that, Yes, And it was just done right.
Speaker 3: You know, it was produced right, it was costumed right,
Speaker 3: it was lit right, it was shot right. It was
Speaker 3: one of those things that again everybody came together to
Speaker 3: make the very best moments. And I guess that would
Speaker 3: be I thought.
Speaker 1: That really does sum up perfectly what Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars is. It's like from every every angle, there is
Speaker 1: a team working their hardest to make sure that the
Speaker 1: end result is as perfect, as close to perfect as
Speaker 1: it could possibly be, from the wardrobe to the lighting,
Speaker 1: to the hair, to the you know, choreography, to the dancers.
Speaker 1: It's it is, it's it's such a it's a machine
Speaker 1: and it's a well oiled machine, and it's somehow not cold.
Speaker 2: Yes love this?
Speaker 1: Oh, like, how are you a machine that is also
Speaker 1: a jacuzzie that's warm and fun? Like get me a
Speaker 1: beverage and put out the jacuzzi arm. It's like how,
Speaker 1: I don't know, It's just it's amazing. And I'm just
Speaker 1: so happy that I am a part of this twentieth season,
Speaker 1: that this twentieth anniversary, thirty fourth season. I am just
Speaker 1: I spent way too many years saying no for many
Speaker 1: different reasons, and boy, I'm thrilled. This was the perfect
Speaker 1: year to say yes, Yes.
Speaker 2: Good, You're gonna kill it too.
Speaker 3: I come on, I can't wait to see.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your advice. I'm going to take every last
Speaker 1: bit of it, and I'm going to be thinking about
Speaker 1: you this week as we are practicing our foxtrot.
Speaker 3: Oh you have a fox trot.
Speaker 2: I love a fox trots.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, he's very good at a very good
Speaker 1: I God, I love this. I'm so excited. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be I'm gonna be huge.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Also shoulders down, yeah, because if you don't get to
Speaker 1: look nuts, don't look not don't look nuts. I also,
Speaker 1: I can't have Bruno tell me a third week in
Speaker 1: a row that I need to keep my shoulders down.
Speaker 1: I my number one goal for this week is that
Speaker 1: Bruno says.
Speaker 2: Hey, I saw your neck. Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 3: I also think maybe long neck instead of shoulders down,
Speaker 3: because sometimes shoulders down people get like this and they're
Speaker 3: still like kind of like turtally. But if you go
Speaker 3: like long neck at the same time, that might help.
Speaker 1: A good idea. Alright you yeah, I try. I try.
Speaker 1: I don't have a long neck, so I fake them
Speaker 1: out exactly. I just got to pretend that's fine.
Speaker 3: Look at you.
Speaker 1: Do you love your dress? Oh my god, a fox
Speaker 1: shrot dress. I love my dress. It's so beautiful. I
Speaker 1: was just talking about it with Posha last night. We're
Speaker 1: trying to decide if we're going to do a long sleeve.
Speaker 1: But if you do a long sleeve, I want the
Speaker 1: thing over the middle finger. I want lot and I
Speaker 1: want to shear with Ryan Stone. Yes, it's gonna feel like.
Speaker 3: A million boos.
Speaker 4: Oh my, your colors like this.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me. I am Mandy Moore.
Speaker 1: You are a legend. I am just so honored that
Speaker 1: you came and spend time with me this morning.
Speaker 2: And it's time, my friend. Thank you, 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.