DWTS Pros on Broadway

I’ve mentioned before that Maks and Kym were taking part in the Broadway show Burn the Floor and that Maks had gotten great reviews when paired with Karina this fall. Well, the New York Post has an interview with the two of them that I thought some readers might be interested in. Side note: Alec and Edyta were scheduled to take over for Maks and Kym in January, but I read that, likely due to low ticket sales, the show is closing on or about January 10th. I don’t think this says anything about Maks or Kym but more about the economy. Granted, this is Broadway’s big season, but the competition is fierce and I think the big name musicals and shows are going to win the season. Anyway, from the New York Post:

Kym Johnson — who helped usher Donny Osmond to the No. 1 spot — and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have partnered up and are hoofing it on Broadway, putting in eight performances a week in “Burn the Floor.”

“On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ we do a minute-and-20 second routine with a celebrity, so you’re not reaching your fullest potential,” says Johnson, who toured with “Burn the Floor” for six years before joining “DWTS.”

“You have to hold things back a little bit sometimes, but dancing with Maks in a proper Broadway show . . . the limitations are not there, you can just go as crazy as you want.”

As far as Chmerkovskiy is concerned, “DWTS” is more of “a social experiment” than the serious ballroom dancing competitions that the pros are familiar with.

“Two people are put in a room together — one is a dance professional and the other has never done it before — with a camera and it becomes a kind of ‘Big Brother’ experience,” he says.
“Now, you’re not just their dance instructor, but, at times, their shoulder to cry on, their psychiatrist, their teacher, their mentor and vice versa.”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy Kym Johnson