What I Did on My Christmas Vacation – The Men, Part II
Cast announcements and Season 10 Media have set me back but I intend to finish the women as well. 
Tony Dovolani
Status: Paired with Kate Gosselin for Season 10
Some of this information was provided by Rebecca, some of it I had to dig for.
Tony has the most gorgeous family and just the other day he tweeted a photo that was so gorgeous I had to share – look at the chubby little baby legs!!
Per Tony’s Twitter, he did a lot of teaching during is break from DWTS. Reconstructing from Twitter, he was all over the place – San Francisco, Aspen, NYC, Kosovo, Albania, Chicago…
Tony judged a competition in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in December, then followed up with dancing with Chelsie at an event, and also danced with Cheryl Burke for the Christmas Parade at Disney.
Now, as much as I like Tony, I am not an expert, so I need the help of other fans. I know that Tony had a part in a movie, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. What was it? I also know that Tony is involved in the Ballroom Dance Channel and that his partner is Elena Grinenko. Someone fill me in.
Dmitry Chaplin
Status: Not on DWTS Season 10, but choreographing for SYTYCD this summer.
Most people know that I’m not a huge Dmitry fan, but those people should also know that I would prefer he be on the show over being replaced by a new professional. Yes, I understand the nature of show business, but if we’re not loyal to our pros, who will be? I am NOT saying that Damian is responsible for Dmitry – that’s on the producers.
That said, I think Dmitry will be back next season and he will be fine in any case. He’s a very talented guy.
Dmitry is one of the dancers in the DWTS WorkOut videos – I’m sure lots of people actually work out to them and don’t just sit and watch. I heard that Dmitry danced at Dizzy Feet Foundation Benefit, along with Derek, Mark and Cheryl, but I never saw any pictures of it. Dmitry also performed at the mystery event in Toronto that was also attended by Mark Ballas and Chelsie Hightower.
Dmitry also performed in the Louis Van Amstel choreographed Ballroom with a Twist in January. It appeared that he followed this with a lot of teaching – per his twitter.
Dmitry and Chelsie had a gorgeous photoshoot recently, the purpose of which I don’t know – but the pics were gorgeous. This isn’t one of them, but a tweeted pic of Dmitry, Chelsie and their photographer:
Louis Van Amstel
Status: Partnered with Niecy Nash for Season 10
Everything I have about Louis I gleaned from Twitter. If anyone has additions or corrections, let me know. I also found that he designed his own web site —> Louis Van Amstel
Shortly after taking Kelly Osborne to third place, Louis flew to Amsterdam for an “introduction” to his fitness class (Louis’ Dance Blast) for dance studios in Holland. He followed that very whirlwind trip to Holland with a vacation with his partner, Kelly O and her fiancé.
I get the impression from Louis’ tweets that he is continually teaching at his studio in LA – all types of Cardio fitness/dance classes. It sounds like he had Christmas in Utah and then went back to Holland again in early January. Apparently, 20 studios in Holland are now teaching his Louis’ Dance Blast. Wow.
Louis was also the Choreographer for Ballroom with a Twist that a few of the pros performed in during *their* Christmas vacation.
Louis went to Cabo for vacation (for a second time?) and then on to Holland for a third time, trying to keep up with the dance classes, from the sound of it.
In early March, Louis got involved in the NOH8 Campaign regarding California’s proposition 8. If I had a copy of the photo, I would post it, but it doesn’t appear to have been released yet. For those who don’t know, these are the photos you see around of celebs with duct tape over their mouths.
And, finally, Lisa Rinna taped a segment of her new reality show, “Harry Loves Lisa” at Louis Cardio dance class the other day.
Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya
Status: Jonathan isn’t on, while Anna has the ringiest ringer of the season.
Like I did with Alec and Edyta, I’m lumping Jon and Anna together since many of their off season activities coincided quite neatly. I’m also shorting Jonathan’s name to Jon because I am very lazy.
In late November, Jon and Anna did the Dizzy Feet Foundation benefit along with Derek, Mark, Lacey, Cheryl and the gang. He and Anna danced the waltz, which I would have loved to see. He kindly (or not) tweeted a picture of Lacey and Anna.
After Dizzy Feet, Jon and Anna went do Tuscon for a days worth of work – I assume dancing. Once they got back to LA they went on to San Diego – work again. In early December, Anna took off for Russia while Jon stayed behind and worked alot (per his tweets on the subject). Apparently, he subsists on fast food when the wife is gone. One of his projects in southern California was choreographing a show for a dance studio.
As previously mentioned, he danced with Anna (along with Chelsie/Dmitry) at Ballroom with a Twist in January in Wilmington, Delaware.
It sounds like Jon taught some classes Fred Astaire Studios in Chicago and Ohio, and mentioned their studio in Hermosa Beach. I also saw a notice a while ago that Jon and Anna bought a very nice house – I saw the listing for it, which I can’t seem to produce right now.
Yeah, I know I’m not writing much even though it sounds like both Jon and Anna worked their butts off – but they traveled all over teaching, often from 7 am to 11 pm. How many times can I type that?
Anna was in the Sports Illustrated issue that also had Chelsie and Cheryl – that was pretty nice!!
On February 9, Jon and Anna danced at the Red Dress Awards, apparently in NYC.
Finally, Jon finds out he’s not on the show, but his wife hit the jackpot. He tweeted this picture of Anna and Evan:
Jonathan is currently in Boston, teaching!
Okay, I’m REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry (and I know I’m gonna get killed for this, so I have a shield ready), but I really don’t think the producers should ever bring Dmitry back. Now I am supportive of the pros, but come on: He could not have gotten a better partner last season. All he had to do was choreograph good routines and they would have been golden. Unfortunately, the vast majority of his choreography less than impressed me.
His dances were either one of two things: 1) While I think Len did underscore Mya too much while she at least did what Dmitry gave her well, he was at least 75% right. The dances should look more like what they’re supposed to. I know it sounds weird, but I agree with Len in that they were really gimmicky (sp?) and it is irritating when a guy who choreographs for a living doesn’t follow the rules. (It’s even more irritating when two judges let it slip. [Hello Carrie Ann! You buckle down on everyone else when they do lifts! What, no other rules are important anymore or did you just favor them?) 2) He finally got the message by the eighth week and FINALLY choreographed a few gimmick-less dances in the last weeks. One word: *yawn*. With the exception of their Salsa, they all bored me. Not to mention he totally messed up on doing a freestyle to a song from one of my fave musicals. That’s when you’re supposed to put in gimmicks, dammit!
So think about it, if he couldn’t choreograph good enough routines to help MYA of all people win, he wouldn’t be able to help anyone else in future season. Again, I’m sorry and ready to take anything! (Shield and sword ready!)
You don’t need a shield!!
I will say that, while I agree with a lot of what you say, it didn’t matter what Dmitry did – Donny was always going to win. I also don’t have a problem with gimmicks in dances, as long as they are brief and as long as the dancers acknowledge that that’s what they’re doing. THAT’S where Dmitry had issues – he had gimmicks that lasted WAY too long and then claimed to not understand what Len’s problem was. If he had watched the show, he would have seen Derek get criticized for wearing GLASSES in a dance, in addition to Lil’ Kim’s Jive, in addition to any number of other criticisms of the pros. But Derek, unlike Dmitry, fully acknowledged that he knew Len wouldn’t like it but that they were going for the audience. Derek, Maks and the others, also tend to stick to one gimmick per season, whereas is seemed Dmitry just had too many.
Did you ever add that Edyta ALSO did the Maxim photoshoot?