Brooke Burke Covers Vegas Magazine March 2012 (Photos And DWTS Interview)
What a beautiful shoot this turned out to be with Brooke Burke for Vegas Magazine’s March Issue! One of her best shoots ever in my opinion. You can see more fabulous shots of Brooke and read a cool article and interview with the shoot here. I thought this take was fun for what she says on Derek. Tony and Derek also comment on her. Lots more at the link.
According to Dovolani, many of the show’s dance pros rely on Burke-Charvet to help put their celebrity partners at ease during what can be an extremely stressful time “If they have certain concerns or they are feeling insecure, it’s easy for me to say, ‘Brooke, could you explain to her this process?’ I have done that with every single one of my celebrities. In fact, one of the first things I say to them is, ‘When the show starts, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask Brooke because she knows the whole system.’”
While Burke-Charvet loves the entire DWTS team, she says she will always be partial to Hough. “Derek and I have so much history, and he’s like family,” she says. “But aside from that, he is the most brilliant choreographer ever. He has this way of making his partners look amazing. I have a lot of compassion for everyone going through it because I did, but even more so for his partners, because I know how tough he is and how hard he works. He’ll always be my personal favorite, for sure. That’s not the politically correct answer, but that’s the truth!”
For Hough, the feeling is mutual. “Brooke is my absolute dream woman,” says the bachelor (who in 2011 ended a much-publicized romance with British superstar Cheryl Cole). “She has become a model of what I’m looking for in a woman. She has brought a lot to the show, not only her insane outfits and shoes that make my mouth drop every time she walks out, but also an understanding and empathy of what the celebrities are going through.”
Those “insane” outfits that Burke-Charvet wears on DWTS don’t just happen by accident. Along with her stylist and hair and makeup artists, she creates a fashion storyboard on the wall of her dressing room to develop the 22 looks needed for every show in a season. “I love fashion,” she says. “We try to keep it edgy and current and not repeat looks. There’s a lot that goes into it. You know how hard it is to create one great red carpet look. We have 22 per season, so it’s pretty ambitious.”
Derek and Brooke really brought some excitement, much needed, to their season. No-one thought she would be very good and Derek worked his magic. I have always loved Brooke for her loyalty to Derek and his feelings for her have always been obvious.
And Tony, very smart advice for his partners…nice article.
Derek is a very skilled teacher and choreographer, that is obvious – but it’s much more obvious when his partners don’t have natural talent like Brooke did. You want to see Derek’s skill and canniness at teaching, look to Joanna, lil Kim, Jennie, and ricki, to a lesser extent. Joanna and lil Kim in particular would not have lasted as long with another partner. Entirely possible that ricki wouldn’t have either. Jennie? Hard to say.
Part of the producers job is to match celebs well with their pro partners – with Derek, they seem to do very well. He gets celebs that respond well to “hard core”. 🙂
What mutually kind words. As hard core as Derek is, I feel all of his partners trust him. He pushes you but they seem to know that he is there for them and supporting them. I feel like Brooke is not given enough credit for some really difficult dances. That salsa was so impressive!
Princess Heidi…I agree and think that Derek can adapt to whatever circumstance is thrown at him both because of unmatched choreo skills and a maturity level to “see” each person and bring out their best..I think that’s why PTB have given him the types of partners he has had. I think Brooke had physicality and knowlege of her body (was always into fitness programs) and a little bit of rythmn so he could turn that into danceability. I think it took her and Jennie a few weeks just to realize how savvy and mature he was. Neither of them were very well-known IMO, at the time and look what he was able to do! I mean, as he said, he looked about 10 !
From what you posted, not quite sure, did you think he didn’t have to work as hard with Brooke as say, Jennie or maybe Shannon who just couldn’t seem to loosen up ?
Wow… such compliments and kind words from Brooke about Derek and vice versa. I do remember him mentioning Brooke when asked who of his past partners he would love to date … and there is the part of his fondness of high arches on women and said Brooke has the best feet… Oh dear!! lol
I think Derek ALWAYS works very hard, and probably had to work very hard to get brooke to remember the choreo and the steps and the positions – but he did have natural talent to work with in regard to Brooke. I think where cleverness really comes into play is with those who aren’t naturally movers – Joanna and Shannon being his two biggest examples. He finds ways to disguise what they don’t do well. He finds the moves that suit them best and then tends to re-use them in a variety of ways. I remember one of the guys here claiming that he was getting stale, or always used the same moves. Well, DUH. The choreo with his partner isn’t supposed to be about creating emmy winning routines (ala Mark Ballas) it’s about making sure his choreo makes THEM look good – not him. If it happens to get a nomination, great. But it’s not about doing new and innovative every single time, it’s about teaching your celebrity to dance. HE knows that. Some of the others forget sometimes.