The Pros & Cons of the DWTS Pros – The Anna T. and Jonathan Edition
This is a part of the Pros and Cons of the DWTS pros Series. You can check out all the posts in this series here.
Anna Trebunskaya:
Courtney: Ahhh, my absolute favorite pro on this show, male or female 
And not just because she’s a fellow (bottle) redhead! Hehe. For me, Anna is the perfect balance of creativity and technical skill: her routines manage to combine equal parts of technically sound dance steps and also a good flash of creativity. I think you also have to respect the fact that Anna and hubby Jonathan are the freshest from competition themselves – they’ve been competing professionally as recently as early 2009, when Anna was a professional Latin finalist with Pavlo Barsuk and Jonathan was the world smooth champion along with Valentina Kostenko. I think because of this, many of their routines are more true to “real” competitive ballroom dancing, and are looked favorably upon by the judges – especially traditionalist Len. And while Anna may give the impression of being a feisty little redheaded Russian spitfire on the floor, she is (usually) the picture of calm & control during practice sessions with her partners, working patiently with their strengths and through their weaknesses…from Jerry to Steve to Chuck to Evan. Only on a rare few occasions has Anna broken down in tears or anger, and has been gracious and apologetic afterwards. Quite possibly the thing I love most about her – her marriage to Jonathan. Those two are one of the most adorable couples I’ve ever seen, and seem to truly adore one another – anyone that follows them on Twitter can attest to the sweet things they tweet one another, especially when they’re on opposite ends of the country. And the dances they do together? BREATHTAKING. Some of their romantic waltzes (like the one they did to Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”) make Edyta & Alec look like two complete strangers dancing together. They’re blissfully in sync and such a delight to watch. If anything, the one thing that I think prevents a lot of people from warming up to Anna is that (like many of the other eastern European pros) she can often come across as cold – I’m sure its unintentional, and more a product of English being her second language than anything else. Like Edyta, she still seems to have retained quite an accent, which I actually find cute. 
John: If you’d asked me a season ago to write about Anna, I’d have said who? Ok, I knew the name, but I couldn’t think of one memorable dance I’d seen her do. I guess it took her getting a decent partner to come out of her shell and shock me time and time again on last season of DWTS. I can’t remember how many times I went on IM last season and told Heidi, “WoW! How did I miss Anna in past seasons?” She was fun. She was sexy. She was entertaining. Her choreography was exciting and the hair, makeup and costume people figured out how to work with her red hair. I’ll be interested to see how her and the soft spoken Kurt Warner do. Kurt will be as hungry as Evan to win, but probably won’t be quite as agile. I think Anna gets worn down when her partners can’t execute and then she doesn’t know what to do. I hope that doesn’t happen with Kurt. I also loved last season when Anna admitted that she had no idea what to do with the choreography for the freestyle. She has ballroom dancing in her very core and so it was really authentic to see her struggle to go outside of that. I think she said something like, “I’d rather choreograph 1000 paso doble’s than 1 freestyle.” I found that really endearing and my heart felt for her.
Marianya: Anna T is one of those strictly ballroom pros that I love so much. She’s been actively competing in ballroom competitions through the duration of the show and her overall look is amazing. What I love about Anna is she’s able to balance a strong work ethic with having a little bit of fun. I remember in Season 2 when she worked with Jerry Rice she took a bit of his football training and showed him how it could be applied to ballroom dancing, and it worked… he ended up placing second behind Drew Lachey. She knows how to have a little bit of fun as evidence by the big afro wigs wore in the freestyle she did with Jerry. During the period of time when she wasn’t on the show and decided to compete professionally, she always came back to dance in a results show with her husband. Anna with Jonathan are absolutely flawless together, there is no better chemistry than that of a real life couple… and even then in comparison to Edyta and Alec, Anna and Jonathan seem to simply breathe as one. More often than not we have seen the two of them dance together in some ballroom routine, but they have done latin routines as a couple too. In any case, Anna’s been the bridesmaid twice now, so she’s going to be hungry to win this season.
Heidi: I love Anna, but I love Anna and Jonathan together even more. 
They’re very romantic together – and not in a gross, icky way. Hee. Courtney, they aren’t just cute on twitter when they’re across the country from each other, but when they’re sitting next to each other, tweeting at the same time. Adorable. I never really got “cold” from Anna, but then I didn’t pay that close of attention until last season. The only time I felt like Anna failed last season was during her freestyle, and you know what? I don’t think her mistake was her choreography, but using someone else’s at that stage of the competition. Now, she had the help of more than one outside pro, possibly throughout the season, as evidenced by Travis Wall’s hastily deleted tweet in the second to last week of the competition. I don’t actually have a problem with that on it’s face, but the thing is: SHE knew Evan. She knew his personality and his strengths and his weaknesses – she should have trusted her own abilities. She’s extremely talented and I think she got caught up in the idea that the freestyle has to be the most mind blowing thing ever – and it certainly has to be good, but she let that get in her head. Girl, you’re fabulous!! TRUST it.
Heidi: I’m back again because I forgot something – Anna is at her most beautiful SANS makeup. The girl is gorgeous and I think occasionally the DWTS makeup team go a bit too nuts on her. I know this because she’s tweeted pictures of herself in her “normal” state and she’s really breathtakingly gorgeous – more so than with all that makeup on.
Marianya: Heidi and John, thanks for mentioning her freestyles I totally forgot about that. Anna’s Achilles’ seems to be the freestyle, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s because she feels like she has to create a freestyle to fit with modern viewers… and since she is ballroom through and through that added pressure just seems to overwhelm her? Oh and Courtney, you might want to have a body like Edyta, but man… Anna’s my body idol.
Courtney: Well I daresay all of the DWTS ladies are blessed with great figures! But Edyta is just so RIPPED. But I do wish I had Anna’s hair, skin, & eyes – just lovely And I wish I knew what shampoo she uses so that her red stays so vibrant – mine unfortunately tends to fade quite a bit by week 4 post-coloring :-(
Marianya: Wait, I thought Anna was a natural redhead? And you’re the bottle head… I’m so confused. 
But Edyta isn’t the only ripped on… Karina’s was amazing in that one pic that escapes my mind. Too bad Edyta isn’t on this season, I’d love to see the battle of the best bods.
Heidi: I think Courtney is projecting. As a natural redhead in a family of natural redheads (although I’m sad to say I’ve faded to blonde over time), Anna sure appears to have the complexion of a natural redhead. Very fair, green eyes.
Courtney: Ahem. I have never lied about being an artificial redhead I have also been an artificial platinum blonde and an artificial raven-tressed gal (let’s just say I got bored a lot in college – I’m a natural brunette). If memory serves from when I first fell in love with Anna back when she & Jonathan were competing in pro Latin together, Anna is a natural strawberry blonde, but started dying her hair a more vibrant red so it would show up better on the dance floor. So she’s not a total faker like me , but she gets a little bit of chemical assistance – hence the need for a red-boosting shampoo. And while Karina does have a great body, Marianya, I have felt a bit disillusioned ever since I saw a blurb in US Weekly where she gushed about using the IT Cosmetics Airbrushed Abs kit. Although I do admire her cleverness – as someone who’s done a few bikini contests, let me say there were definitely days I wish I had a little help to have the impossibly flat stomachs some of the other girls had!
Jonathan Roberts:
Courtney: Quite possibly the most underappreciated male pro in my eyes. Yes, in the few seasons they’ve actually had him on the show, he’s had some pretty sucktastic partners. And yes, he is the one responsible for the horrific doll freestyle that Marie did. But have you seen this guy’s ballroom routines? Absolutely GORGEOUS. Elegant, technical, creative, fluid – I could go on and on about the superior quality of his waltzes, tangos, foxtrots, Viennese waltzes, and quicksteps. Yes, the Latin dances may be his Achilles heel (in his defense, most of his competitive career has focused on the ballroom dances, so, like Anna D., Latin isn’t really his bread & butter), but I challenge any of the other male pros to match Jonathan in both ballroom choreography and partnering. No one is as “there” for their partner as he is in those dances, and can pull off tricky moves like reverse attitude turns with the incredible ease that he does. And as I mentioned above – he and Anna are just a delight to watch. Every dance they do is infused with the genuine love they feel for one another. As cheesy as it sounds…watching those two dance a waltz makes me believe in fairy tales again. It’s just disappointing to me that everyone seems to focus on his shortfalls, rather than his successes…seriously people, just put the doll freestyle out of your mind, and focus on he & Anna’s waltz to “Unchained Melody” during the Swayze tribute instead
John: Unlike Courtney, I still believe in fairy tales. Jonathan and Anna are a great fairytale and waltz is the best. Jonathan is the most under appreciated dancer, because the ballroom routines are generally the most under appreciated routines on DWTS. They’re beautiful, but the Latin dances are WOW! People enjoy beautiful, but vote for Wow! To be honest though, Jonathan doesn’t seem like he wants to be in the spotlight. He’s just a gentleman that loves to dance. Not a bad combination, unless you want to go far in a reality TV show where America votes.
Marianya: Jonathan, I believe though I could be wrong, is probably the only male dancer that speciailizes in ballroom routines left in the competition. That’s what captured my attention about Jonathan (and Anna T once I realized that they were married)… he has an elegance and grace that is missing from many of the other male pros that could only come from someone that has focused on the waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep, and viennese watlz. Sometimes I would like to think that Anna came into the partnership as a stronger Rhythm/Latin partner while Jonathan was a stronger Smooth/Standard partner and as thus their yin/yang matched evenly and they balance one another out. I have never seen Jonathan “out dance” or “over shadow” his partner and he is always there for his female companions. Jonathan is even a good sport too, willing to dance the Man-go routine with Steve Guttenburg in season 6. Looks like Louis isn’t the only one in touch with his feminine side! Now if only Jonathan was on more.
Heidi: Jonathan has been hosed more often by this show than anyone else, yet you never hear him say a bad word about it. He never complains or gripes, unlike some, much more fortunate pros. And that sort of stuff really impacts how I watch the show, so I really appreciate him for that. Classy guy. It’s hard to tell, since he gets left out so often, but while I think he choreographs the best waltzes (regular and viennese varieties), I’m not so sure that he’s the best at the tangos and foxtrots – but how can you tell?? The guy gets left off the show far too often. But then, I watch this show with a different eye than the other ladies on this blog – I watch it more as a competition that has to seriously entertain me. Some pros get criticized for being flashy – but I’m here to tell you I’ve read that in a regular competition you have to STAND OUT in order to make the cut. Be flashy. And that’s how I watch the show – I dig flashy. Now, Jonathan is truly flashy when dancing with Anna – that I could watch all day long.
The Round Up
Anna Trebunskaya
Courtney: Absolute perfection, in a beautiful redheaded package!
Marianya:One of the strongest fiery female dancers in ballroom AND latin.
Heidi: I dig her – but trust yourself, girl!!
John: A redhead that’s surprisingly grown on me.
Jonathan Roberts
Courtney: Poetry in motion! Just wish people appreciated him more…including the casting directors
Marianya: Amazing underused true ballroom dancer.
Heidi:Fantastically Classy guy.
John: Ballroom elegance.
Great post you guys! Seriously, Anna is the best female pro in my eyes and Jonathan is SOOOOOO underrated. What I like about Jonathan is that he’s smooth. He’s the “gentleman” of the dance floor. He knows the classic moves and choreographs classic dances. But yes, he’s had horrible partners minus Giselle Fernandez, who should’ve made it further.
I guess what a lot of people don’t like about him is exactly that. He’s smooth, classical, aka Boring to most viewers (Except us here at puredwts.com
). And yes, my head is still reeling from Marie Osmond’s freestyle. To this day, my least favorite dance in the history of Dancing with the Stars! I felt bad for Jonathan too, because he had the most unworthy contestant in the finale, and he so wanted to win, that he came off kind of snobbish in Season 5. He used my (sarcastically) FAVORITE line that all “underdogs” student dancers use: “This show is about learning and who has come the farthest, and who has improved the most. That’s why [insert name here] deserves to win.” I don’t know how many contestants, fans, pros use that one.
But nonetheless, I respect Jonathan and really want him to get a good partner worthy of the trophy!
Anna, oh Anna. My leading lady! I am rooting for her all the way and she does give hard core ballroom/latin steps in her routines, which is why a lot of her partners don’t make it. I hope she does a good freestyle one day too. Although, I did like last season’s. Kurt is very bulky and that usually leads to one being stiff, so Kurt, DON’T LET ANNA DOWN!
That picture of Anna that
Princess Heidi addedCourtney found at the top of this post is fantastic!!Do y’all not realize that Jonathan and Anna’s competitive partnership was in international latin? They were like 6th in the US or something—they won the US rising star championship. Blackpool rising star finalists, etc. And that on the ABC website he says his specialty is int’l latin. I think it’s just a matter of Jonathan being very tall and getting a bunch of tall ladies who are better at the standard dances, just, body-wise. Also, he seemed to always get the older ladies, and they always more modest and less deliberately sexy, so less able in latin.
@John – I actually found that picture on the Dizzy Feet Foundation website – it was from the 2009 benefit that Jonathan & Anna (and a slew of other cast members from DWTS, SYTYCD, and ABDC) performed at. There were seriously dozens of absolutely STUNNING pictures of these two – but we loved this one that most
@J – Yes, we do know Jonathan & Anna competed together in professional Latin – but Jonathan has been more well-known as a smooth dancer, and was the 2008 World Professional American Smooth champion with Valentino Kostenko. It was also more recent than his Latin partnership with Anna. But yes, you are right – they did dance Latin together, once upon a time.
MEH. I never liked them. If it wasn’t for Evan, who was fantastic, nobody woul dhave cared for Ann. She’s neither a good teacher nor a good choreographer.
Love, love, LOVE this series.
I also love the fact that everyone seems to love Anna and Jonathan together. Alec and Edyta used to be my favourite pair, but that changed the first time I saw Anna and Jonathan dance together. He calls her his “little Anna” and when he sweeps her off her feet she practically floats in the air.
Whenever Karina is asked who the best dancer is on DWTS, she always says all the dancers are good or they wouldn’t be there, but that Anna is special and should be noted for her awards.
I also agree that Anna’s got a hot little body. Karina is my favourite, and to me, has the best body of all the female dancers, but she’s followed closely by Anna and Kym. Anna actually eats and she looks healthy.
She and Jonathan were tweeting about a show he did with Edyta after Edyta got eliminated from DWTS with Aiden. He tweeted that Edyta’s costume fell off because she had lost so much weight in the weeks since her fitting. Anna tweeted back “Oh my”. I don’t know why, but I found that priceless.
“Anna actually eats and she looks healthy.”
I laughed so hard at this. Well said. Although, I still like Edyta too:-)
“He tweeted that Edyta’s costume fell off because she had lost so much weight in the weeks since her fitting. ”
I don’t believe that this is true. I might need some video evidence to know for sure…lol
John – Ha! I’ll bet you’d love video footage if it were available (and probably is since they people seem to always be filming those special event shows).
Edyta also tweeted about her costume malfunction and acknowledged the weight loss. That was also after she tweeted her diet advice to eat berries and cottage cheese for breakfast, boiled chicken and lettuce for lunch, and dinner only 2 x’s a week.
Jonathon Roberts:
I’ve said this before many times, but he was the one who initially made me become interested in watching Dancing with the Stars. I had never seen such an elegant performer. I use to say he was the most elegant silouette of a man I had ever seen. I for one voted for him and Giselle & I believe had she been more known they would have definitely made it to the finals and possibly won because she was getting better and better each week and dancing came quite naturally for her, IMO. The show was very new at that point as well.
I’ll admit, I was not that crazy about him in S5 but I quickly got over that because we must remember they have to protect their partners. I was, however, devastated-LOL, when they made it to the finals over Jennie&Derek!
He is definitely an amazingly smooth ballroom performer. His choreography for the VW “always” tell the most beautiful story. He has definitely almost brought me to tears on more than one occasion.
From time to time, I replay the VW he did with Macy Gray and even though she was not the most fluid dancer, that dance was gorgeous and choreographed to fit her personality and abilities.-Loved it!
It’s funny, he’s had some very popular stars but I guess their fans just didn’t vote. I think he’s very much respected by the producers but he has just had a bad luck of the draw where his partners have been concerned. I do wish that Jonathon can be partnered with someone that will allow him the opportunity to make to it the finals or at least midway. He is quite charming.
Courtney,
My bad. I do remember that you sent Princess Heidi that picture. I need more sleep. I’ll update my comment.
I looooooove them both so much. What I think I like about them is the fact that no matter who their partners are, they always give 110%, even when they know they’re not going to last long at all. Let’s face it, they’re the couple that gets the short end of the stick when it comes to their celebrity pairings, but they make the most of it and never really have a bad attitude about getting eliminated. Makes me wonder how some of the celebrities would’ve done if they had Jonathan instead of their pro partners. He’s actually danced with a lot of them at events. I know he’s danced with Sabrina, Kristi, Natalie, Jane, and they’ve all had good things to say about him. I know he’s competed in latin, but I think he was much better in ballroom and smooth. I think that quality in him made him a good partner for Anna and balanced them out. His ballroom is the best on the show and parts of Derek’s tango with Nicole were inspired from Jonathan’s tango with Valentina
. Oh, and the doll dancer wasn’t entirely his fault, but he did tell Marie if they made it to the finals he would do whatever she wanted. Probably regrets that statement now 
As for the lovely Anna, she never really complains and I believe she is extremely hilarious, without meaning to be. She’s also a very fiery latin dancer and a beautiful Ballroom dancer. In fact, I think they would do really well if her and Jonathan competed in smooth with each other. She is patient but also really tough on her celebrities. She doesn’t try and hog the spotlight or dance around her celebrities, she always comes down to their level so they don’t look like they’re being outdanced. I also like the fact that she still keeps in close touch with all her partners, which shows me that she was a great coach to them and a great person in general. I really don’t have anything bad to say about these two
Welcome to the Jonathan and Anna appreciation thread. LOL
Anna’s tweets are hilarious – they read just like she sounds on the show. Very entertaining.
What can I say? I absolutely love both of these pros.
She’s really got some great choreography skills, it was nice to see her with a good dancer so she could go full out. However, I’m really sad Jonathan got the farthest he’s been with Marie, because the woman was nowhere near my favorite. I was so sad when Marie got in the finals over Jennie Garth, who struggled so much with confidence and really kicked ass and took names the night before her elimination. And I wasn’t a huge fan of Evan, I liked him, but I liked Nicole and maybe even Erin a little more. Despite that, I still hope Anna does well with Kurt and that Jonathan gets a good partner so he can show us what he can really do.
Jonathan is definitely so underappreciated it’s sad. And what makes me like the guy even more is the fact he’s never even made a small complaint about getting the short end of the stick almost every season. That’s what I call a standup guy. I really want him to get a good partner, I really think he can make some of the most memorable dances if he has an able partner. Derek produces very beautiful Viennese Waltzes, and Jonathan’s are the only ones that I like just as much. I love ballroom dances very much, and I tend to vote on them every once in a while. He makes wonderful choreography and dances beautifully, he deserves more. I never really gave any attention to Anna until last season. It showed me she’s a real firecracker!
I don’t know what else to say but you guys have siad it all. Both are so magical and romantic. Anna is one of my favorite female dancers. I love that European grace in her style of dancing (like Edyta). “Poetry in motion”. Her long graceful lines. Her long red hair that moves with her. I can’t get enough and look forward to when she can bring some of that out in her partners which she was really able to do withh Evan!!! What’s more, Anna isn’t afraid to laugh at herself either….or to travel long distances. Wow! Just love her!
Another fine fine post Guys!!!xx
I concur about Anna to compete in Smooth. I know she’s trained in Latin, but she’s actually a better Smooth dancer with Jonathan. He’s the prince of the Standard dances out there. Together they’re so romantic and sexy. They should dance all the time on the show.
Jonathan and Anna unfortunately have had some mediocre celebrity partners over the years, and I don’t think Jonathan will ever live down the Doll Dance of season 5.
Jonathan’s really the only pro who has the right to complain, but he doesn’t. He’s definitely a classy guy. My only complaint about him would be that awful doll dance.
Anna’s one of my favorites! As a dancer myself, she’s someone I would love to be like. She’s elegant and can be sexy too, but it’s not over the top. She has a good, quiet sense of humor too. I don’t know if any of you have seen her video blogs for radar online, but those are pretty funny.
Elizabeth, I was posting most of her video blogs here – or posting links since Radar Online doesn’t have embedding. That are great.
What’s not to appreciate about this couple? I think Anna’s sense of humor became more apparent with Evan because of his quirkiness and dry wit. I think the great season with Evan will fire her up to really bring it this season – let’s hope Kurt can keep up. He seems willing …. Johnathan has had the worst luck with partners, and frankly I’m hoping Maks will take a break for a season or two and that we’ll get to see more of Johnathon. I, too, would like to see what Johnathan could bring with a capable partner. I really gained a lot of respect for him when he was partnered with Heather Mills. Didn’t like her all that much, but kudos are due nonetheless.
I like them as a couple on results show, they’re amazin together, and I like Anna’s sense of humor but I don’t like as a choreographer, even with Evan, I found her chrorographies boring. As for Jonathan, it’s hard to say as production seems to enjoy giving him the worst partner possible.
Linde, thank you for reminding me that Jonathan was paired with Heather!!! How did I forget that? I think Heather and Giselle were the best partners he had.
I just love this photo of them at The Race to Erase MS !