Dancing With The Stars Troupe Tristan MacManus Hoping To Be Promoted To Featured Pro
Can I just say I love the new Dance Troupe on Dancing With The Stars? Yes, it’s great to always see our regular and favorite pros performing unique numbers on the show, but, it’s also exciting to have some new blood and fun personalities. Yes, I am hooked. What’s more and thanks to The Boston Irish, I’m hooked even more on Tristan MacManus. They’ve done a sweet spread detailing out his career and how it came to be including becoming a part of the new Dancing With The Stars Dance Troupe. Below is a take. Note how it mentions Tristan is expecting to return for Season 13. He’s also hoping to be promoted and become one of the featured pros competing with a celebrity. I’d be VERY open to this idea, would you?
The Troupe was a new element this past season—six world-renowned, award-winning dancers who appeared on each of the Tuesday night Results Shows, performing presentation pieces as well as appearing with the special musical guest artists (Hanson, Toby Keith and OneRepublic, among others). McManus also had a chance to choreograph a couple of The Troupe’s numbers himself. He expects to return to the cast when “DWTS” reconvenes for its new season in September. He’s also crossing his fingers about being promoted to become one of the featured pros competing with a celebrity.
While waiting for rehearsals to begin later this summer, he and fellow “DWTS” colleagues Chelsie Hightower and Peta Murgatroyd have been on a USO tour, traveling to military bases around the world, talking with the troops and performing. When we were last in touch, he was in Germany.
A native of Bray, McManus started dancing when he was nine years old, encouraged by his grandparents, Jon and Phyllis McCann, who were, and are, dancers. “They got us into it, myself and my sister. My sister didn’t last too long. She didn’t like the attention, I suppose. Apparently I did,” he said with a laugh.
McManus danced extensively in Ireland and Europe, capturing numerous titles. After winning the All Ireland Championships for the last time in 2000, he moved on to perform in musical theater. Following a highly successful tour of “Simply Ballroom,” initially in London and then in Las Vegas, he was back in London’s West End where he performed in the stage version of “Dirty Dancing.”
You can read more on Tristan at the link. It’s well worth the read!!
So cute! I think he’s my third favorite dancer next to Maks and Derek??!!! 
Heidi’s Note: My guess is that you’re looking at the dude who will eventually replace Derek and/or Maks. It sure sounded to me like Maks had orginally intended to sit the coming season out (which may be why Tristan was crossing his fingers). Now that he’s back, and Derek is supposedly back (although I’ll believe it when I see it), Tristan might have to wait until Spring 2012. I’d be willing to bet that Derek will have to sit that one out to do promo for his movie and if Maks was planning to sit this one out, why wouldn’t he sit the next one out instead? I don’t envy Tristan – either Derek or Maks are VERY big shoes to fill. Is he up to it?? I couldn’t tell you because, unlike Vogue, the Troupe was pretty much invisible to me.
Thanks Vogue!
Hmmmm. I really don’t know what to make of this one. I feel kind of neutral about the troupe – I didn’t love or hate them. They were just…there. I like that they kind of served to take some of the stress off the regular pros to choreograph & learn group numbers in addition to working with their celebs each week, but I did miss seeing some of the regular pros (Anna, Karina) cutting loose and showing us what they can really do. And it did kind of annoy me that Lacey was still omnipresent – I feel like she was in every pro number this season, which necessitated the awkward “Our DWTS troupe – plus Lacey & [insert male pro here]!” intro by Tom. I think Tristan might be crossing his fingers prematurely if he wants to be on this season – sounds like enough of the regular pros are tentatively coming back, so they likely won’t need any new faces for season 13. And I’m thinking Tristan may not be first in line from the troupe to be promoted to featured cast – if they’re basing it on popularity, I think Ted probably has a better chance than Tristan at this point in time. And I think Peta has the best chance of the girls – and really, all of the troupe members. But it would be necessary to displace one of the current female pros in order to make that happen. Should be interesting to hear how things shake out with the pros this season…
Tristan can replace Dmitry for me (who really replaced Derek last season). But if Maks, Derek, Mark, Louis, Tony are going to continue at least one more season each, I’d rather see Tristan than Louis or Mark. Teddy seems interesting also and he is definitely young and cute.
Tristan has the accent. Ted doesn’t.
I like the troupe well enough, but I would much rather see “our” regular pros featured more. The pros are the main reason I watch the show. As for Tristan becoming one of the regular pros, again, for the most part I prefer the pros we already have. However, there are one or two current male pros I wouldn’t mind if Tristan replaced.
I had always heard that many of the pro dances are conceived by the pros who wanted to do them – I always figured that Lacey really, REALLY wanted to do them and so she got to. Likewise, I got the feeling that Derek felt like he had enough on his plate the last two seasons he was on so he didn’t do many – other than the accoustic Paso, which I guess was an idea that couldn’t be ignored. I’m hoping he has a lot more of those this coming season. Maybe that way we’ll see less of lacey and more of, say, Chelsie.
I think that all the male pros from the past season should be back except for Louis. Tristan can thake his place (I would say Teddy but he is tall like Maks and they would need someone a little shorter). In the past I would have said replace Dymetry with him but after seeing him with Petra, I learned and saw his personality……he needs to show his fun side/persoanlity more often.
I think that Lacey was great with the troupe actually. I still want to see her back as a competing pro. If any of the female pros leave (Karina because of the wedding or Cheryl because she has a lot on her plate with everything) I really hope that Peta or the blonde girl from the troupe should be upgraded to competing pro (Idk why but I would give an edge to the blonde girl).
“I couldn’t tell you because, unlike Vogue, the Troupe was pretty much invisible to me.” I agree. Made you realize how good-on average-the regular pros are.
@Lori – But Ted has the chest hair
lol. Really I think he’s just really popular with the ladies because he’s a sort of Mark-Maks hybrid – the boyish looks of Mark with the moves of Maks. Ted has easily been the most searched member of the troupe here at PureDWTS since the show wrapped. I could see them trying to pimp him as “the next Mark”…minus the jimmy legs. 
@vin – You mean Oksana? *cringe* Sorry, but I don’t see her having any sort of edge over the other 2 girls in the troupe – if anything, I think she’d be the least likely to get upgraded. She’s a very pretty girl & a good dancer, yes, but if Twitter is any indicator, she doesn’t seem too popular with fans. A lot of people seemed annoyed with her over-the-top facial expressions & her thick, honeyed Russian accent. I would even go so far as to say her English is probably not good enough to do the show – they’d have to subtitle her every week. We already have 2 female pros with Russian accents – Karina & Anna (and let me say, the latter is downright adorable sometimes when she talks
), and a young blonde (Chelsie), so I just don’t see a niche for her to fill. Now if Karina or Kym were to leave, then I could see them seeking out a taller, sexy, sophisticated, accented female – enter Peta. And I think Nicole could be a good replacement for Cheryl. The only way I see Oksana having a chance is if Chelsie leaves – and that’s even dubious. Chelsie’s the shortest at 5’2″, and I believe Oksana’s 5’0″. Do we really need a female pro that short? They may as well just stick Lacey with any pocket-sized male celebs and tell her to wear flats. Oh wait – she already does that most of the time anyway. 
Yes! Please add Tristan to the show in some capacity! To me, Teddy was trying to be the second coming of Maks a little too much, and Tristan seemed to outshine them all…probably comes from performing for entertainment value for so long. He’s certainly put in the hard work for his career, and I would love to see him paired with a celebrity next season, if at all possible. I think so many people were apathetic about the troupe because they were just thrown at us. They barely spent any time actually letting us get to know them. Most of what I know I got from Google or their Twitter pages. At any rate, I’m hoping we see this handsome Irishman come September.
I love Teddy. He’s just so adorably dorky. *g* (And you know… chest hair. Hee!) But that being said, I think he’s a little too young and unseasoned to take on the training and feeding of a celeb. Tristan’s maturity and experience would be much better suited to that role. And you know… the accent. *g* VERY hot! But I think that possibly Damien might get a spot before Tristan.
Oh Courtney, think of the CHEESECAKE!! Oksana is the cheesiest of the pros outside of Mark and Lacey.
As for Teddy – I think a lot of his searching is due to Kirstie and Maks mentioning him all the time on Twitter. The searches aren’t on this site, remember, but searches that lead people TO the site. So if lots of people are googling Ted because of something Kirstie said, and we have Ted in the tags or titles of a post, then they find this site. AT least that’s the way I believe John explained it to me.
I’d be in heaven if Tristan and Damian were picked to replace anyone but Maks and Derek.
I love Teddy too Evaine but not sure if he’s ready yet!
*Loving all of your replies and speculations on this.
Weren’t Chelsie and Julianne both 18 or 19 when they started on the show? And Mark and Derek 21 and 22 respectively?? How old is Teddy?? Of course, if he’s the same age as Chelsie was, that means he’s really 3 years younger, since he’s male.
Truth hurts, boys.
Yep, Heidi, they were all young’uns when they started. I think that maybe they would be too young to start at that age today, with the way the show has gotten bigger over the years. I just get the feeling with Teddy that he needs a little more seasoning. And I believe he’s just turned 20 recently. I could be wrong though.
Oksana is defiantely over the top but I didn’t know she was jsut 5’0. I guess they can use her if they ever get a disney kid thats shorter than the rest lol. As for Teddy, age is nothing. Wasn’t Juliane really young when she won with Helio and Apollo? I would be interested to see him train a pro but if that meant no Damien on the show than no deal. As for Peta, I was not a fan the first couple of weeks but she could really do well on the show for sure. She seems to have a nice persoanlity as well.
Ted’s 21, so he’s definitely not the youngest pro to do the show. And while he “may not be ready”, I think the possibility of some of the troupe members getting upgraded to full-time pros has less to do with being “ready” and more with what type of shoes TPTB are wanting to fill. Just like they typecast the celebs, they typecast the pros – and if they’re losing a dark, sophisticated Russian type like Maks, I think their best shot of holding onto the diehard Maks fans is to cast someone similar…and at this point in time, it’s Teddy. Now if they’re losing a blue-eyed blonde boy next door type like Derek, then I think Tristan would be the most likely replacement. There’s definitely been pros who I didn’t think were “ready” to do the show – Inna, Elena, Fabian, & even Lacey & Chelsie come to mind – but they must have fit some sort of role TPTB were looking to fill, or else they wouldn’t have been brought in. I honestly think Ted would handle the show better than most think – I imagine training with someone like Maks instills a certain discipline in someone, and this wouldn’t be the first time he had coached someone on tv – he was a coach on MTV’s Made, and I actually caught a little bit of that episode…kid wasn’t bad. I’d rather have a protege of Maks’ as a pro than a protege of some of the other pros…
…but I digress. I don’t think we should expect to see any new faces come fall. Seems like all the usual suspects are likely to return. But I definitely think the troupe might be getting groomed to replace some of the current pros for future seasons.
What I just want at least 1 new pro. I see Strictly Come Dancing did good by hiring Artem last season and they are getting Pasha too this season coming up. Who I wanted at one time on DWTS. I just think I want some new blood as pro or bring back Damien Whitewood along with Derek on season 13 and maybe this pro he didn’t really catch my eye on the troupe but no one really did on that squad.
Coincidentally, earlier today I was thinking “I got really tired of the Troupe ft. Lacey Schwimmer last season. I wish they would have used more of the ‘regulars’ in the pro dances.”
I don’t really see any of the troupe members becoming a featured pro next season. I liked a couple of them, but I’d rather just stick with the pros we have for know and not risk losing someone I actually like!
Kelsey, I don’t think that a new guy would actually replace an existing pro like Derek or maks – sorry if I worded that badly. I think that IF Derek or maks are getting ready to leave (and I do think that one or both are) then they may be expecting/hoping that Tristan can take a spot. Personally, I think that was half the reason for the troupe in the first place. Neither Derek nor maks is sounding like they will be around long term.
Odd note – check out Derek’s tweets from last night. I took the one about being in a weird place literally, but a couple people thought maybe he was talking about his life being weird and scary. Makes you wonder what he’s got in the works. Some one take him out feed him some vodka and then hand him his phone. I’m curious.
Curiously enough, I asked Teddy the very same question earlier at DWM Summer Invitational – “Did he think he was ready to handle being a pro on DWTS (knowing that the job was more than dance coaching, it required some therapy sessions as well)?”
).
He said he had already been doing a similar job so he thought he could handle it.
I have to say that my impression was that he was very mature for his age.
And of course he’s easy on the eyes as well (a very necessary characteristic for the job)
Personally, I enjoyed the troupe simply for their youthful energy and the concurrent stress off some of the pros. The producers have kept throwing more and more into the schedule, and I would hate to see anyone permanently injured trying to do it all.
But there must be any number of ranked professional ballroom dancers out there who could be tapped. I think the assumption that the Troupe is “in waiting” is an exaggeration.
I totally disagree, Jo – this is a TV show where ratings are everything and just because someone is a good or great ballroom dancer doesn’t mean they will make good TV – see Dmitry Chaplin, for example. Great dancer, good looking guy – not great tv. Sure, that may be subjective, but he’s sat out as many seasons as he’s been on, hasn’t he? I think so. What better way to see if someone works on TV in a show that’s been on the air for more than 6 years than to ease them into the process to see who gets what kind of fan mail, what the buzz is and so on?? They have to start testing people out (like in the Pro competition from a few seasons ago) to see who makes a splash BEFORE Derek or Maks (or Cheryl or Mark) all decide to leave at the same time.
I saw that Tweet, Heidi, and I took it literally too. I think he added “haha” to it, so that makes me think he was in some odd location and found it funny, but those people bring up a good point! He probably is at a weird place in his life and unsure of what to do next.
It was the “I’m a little afraid” part that made me go hmmmm…..so either his career opportunities are scaring him a bit, or someone took him to a leather bar and he was literally afraid for his life.
I wasn’t fond of the troupe. I think that the regular pros are much better dancers. But, then that is why they are the regular pros. LOL
I wish they’d bring back some pro large group dances.
About the troupe, and members wanting to be promoted to fulltime regular teachers/dancers Pros on DWTS, I think they’ve all seen what’s happened…. Our Pros have become household names, and true stars in their own right…. Julianne, Derek, Mark and Lacey have records out there. Julianne and Derek and Tony have done movies, past and present (will have to check with my Tonyfanfriend about the body building movie he did). Let’s see… Many have done exercise videos, since I will probably forget one, I’ll not mention any. Karina and Maks and Cheryl and Tony have dance studios, Louie is actively teaching (I think) Cheryl has a book out, a clothing line, a shoe line, and many of our other (past and present) probably have stuff going on that I am not aware at this time.
The point is, the troupe members have seen how quickly and easily the pros have developed a very vigorous and active fanbase, with intense loyalties. And, all of them have become true stars on their own….
So, I hate to say it, but I think I might become a bit of a skeptic about anyone who seems desperate to become a teaching pro on DWTS…. I would be thinking what they want out of the deal….
Oh, and I meant to add…. I think I’d love to see Iveta on as a full time pro, before one of the troupe members…. I loved that quickstep she and Nick did, and I loved that she took it upon herself to teach him what he needed to know, to do the dance. From the little they showed us, she seems to be a good teacher, and I’d love to know what she could do with the celebrities on OUR show.
Maybe they should have a training thing for pros they are auditioning for the show? Take some everyday people, or some minor celebrities who don’t have time for a full season, and show us how they could do teaching for a couple of weeks, to produce a dance….. And choose from there.