Opening Night of DWTS Live Tour
Tonight I had the unique opportunity to attend the first stop of the DWTS Live Tour. A lot of the details for who’s involved in the tour and the fact that Mark Ballas would be singing and playing his guitar along with Val playing the violin have already been talked about, so I won’t go into too much detail on that for now. Plus, this post will be a high level look at the show. Hopefully later I’ll have more time to post a full write up on the show. Not to mention, I’ve got a whole slew of great pictures from my good camera that I’ll upload in the future.
For now, I’ll share a few pictures and my general thoughts of the event. I thought the show was fantastic. The dances were awesome and Alfonso brought a great energy as the host. The transitions between dances, musical numbers, etc, could use some work (it was the first show) and by the end of the show I felt that Alfonso probably talked a bit too much, but the show was still incredibly entertaining with a light touch of a few dances from the show and an awesome mix of new dances.
That was my biggest complaint with the last DWTS tour. In the past tour, they had a lot of stars dancing and they mostly did routines from the show. To me that was really disappointing. I really just wanted to see the pros dance and I didn’t care to see routines from the show that I could watch all I want on YouTube. So, I think they really nailed the mix on this tour of almost all new routines and Alfonso only doing 3 routines (and 1 was incredibly short, but sweet). You had to know they’d also bring the Mandy Moore routine with all the DWTS ladies as well (see picture below).
As I mentioned, the transitions needed some help. I imagine they’ll get better as the tour progresses, but I think it also suffered from not having someone like Tabitha and Napoleon (They did the Move tour) who are the experts at transitions between routines. This wasn’t a huge problem though since the dancing and other performances were so good.
I do think they did a great job putting together an interesting stage. I’m always torn between the small stage that features the dancers so well, but limits some of the dances that require extra space and a huge ballroom that requires a huge mass of dancers to really play well. However, I’m definitely falling in love with the smaller stage even if it limits some of the dance possibilities. The setup has two stairways that they can put on either side or link together in the middle in a kind of grand staircase look. It definitely adds some depth to the show, but I wonder if the dancers would be able to do more with a staircase that was half as high. You’d still have the multiple levels, but would have more room on the floor to dance. Here’s a picture of the setup:
The show did a really great job featuring the non DWTS dancers and many of the less famous DWTS pros as well. Emma was the highlight of the show for me for the ladies. She had a number of extraordinary numbers. Plus, she was as kind and sweet as she is on TV. However, Witney wins the award for most amazing costumes. She was definitely a star as well. Kym was a pretty big disappointment for me. I don’t think it was her fault, but for some reason she was given all the “sexy” numbers. It was like she was a playboy bunny with way too much prancing and not nearly enough dancing. It’s too bad since she’s such an extraordinary dancer. I wish they’d have given her some better choreography.
For the men, Mark and Val were definitely the most featured dancers. I think they gave the audience exactly what you’d expect from both of them. Whichever one you prefer, you won’t be disappointed and will likely see them as the star of the show. However, Sasha got a ton of featured dances as well. Paul was also a nice addition, especially for the contemporary dances.
The tour includes a number of group numbers and individual couple dances as you’d expect. However, a somewhat unexpected part was a Q&A session with the DWTS Pros (Mark, Val, Sasha, Keo, Emma, Witney, and Kym). Alfonso asked the questions and he brought it pretty strong for some of the questions. A few interesting insights (although, nothing too spectacular for hard core fans), but Alfonso brought up the showmance topic with Val and there was a pretty interesting reaction. Val was kind of tap dancing around the answer when Alfonso started to go to the next question. Val, literally stood up and said “He** no.” and then offered a more detailed answer. When he did that, someone from the audience yelled out about showmances for votes. Val addressed it head on and said that he didn’t fake a romance with his partner to get votes because he respected his relationship with his star, the show, and the dances. I’m sure that the Val lovers will see it as a sincere answer and the Val haters will see it as insincere.
One other question they asked was which of Mark Ballas’ partners was his favorite. He commented that he’d had 15 (amazing to think how many seasons he’s been on the show). Then, Mark said that Sadie, Kristi, Shawn and Chelsea were probably his 4 boos. However, in an incredibly hilarious moment, Alfonso then asked Keo which partner was his favorite. Luckily, the attendees seem very well versed in DWTS, so they got the humor of the moment.
Ok…one other question they asked. Sasha was asked his favorite moments on the show. He said being with Snooki, but then talked about all of the things he’s been on the show as part of the troupe. Then, Alfonso asked him, “What about the kiss with Derek Hough? That wasn’t your favorite?” Sasha hilariously responded, “It was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite moment on the show.” Oh yes, Val also comment on how his package appeared on the show (I really hope someone got a video of this moment). It was hilarious. As you can see, we really need DWTS fans at every tour stop to report on at least the Q&A at every DWTS Live tour stop.
I know many of you love to buy merchandise at these tours, so here’s a picture of the merchandise area:
I’d been told the show was 1.5 hours, but it went a full 2 hours with a short intermission. There are so many more details to share, but hopefully this gives you a small taste of the DWTS Live tour. I had a thoroughly great time at the show and I’m sure DWTS fans everywhere will enjoy it. It’s a great mix of music, dancing, and commentary.
I’ll do my best to post more details in a future post together with some amazing pictures. However, I grabbed this short clip of the final dance to give you a bit of a feel for the show. I’m really glad I was able to attend the first show. Now I’ll have to see if I can get tickets to the Las Vegas show so I can see how it improves between now and then. Maybe in Vegas I can even score some interviews with the dancers as well (no luck this time).
Amazing review, John! WELL WELL DONE! You didn’t miss a beat. I can’t wait to see the show even more now. I loved the video too (omg, I so love FIREBALL) and great pics. I can’t wait see more pics soon. Safe travels back home and Happy New year!x
Thanks for the great review!!! I am going to the show in Atlanta and I can’t wait!! I will be sure to share my experience with you all. I mainly purchased the ticket to see Kym and was really disappointed to hear that her numbers were not the best.
Thank you so much, John 🙂 and yes, I see Val’s answer as insincere 😉
thanks so much for all the information. It sounds like a wonderful show. Can’t wait for hopefully some UTube vids to show up soon. All of these people are fantastic dancers and great people. I hope they get the feeling how much we enjoy what they do. They so deserve it.
Thanks John for your beautifully written review! I will look forward to more details and pictures.
Since this tour is in the winter months, my friend and I decided we could not depend on the weather to travel two to four hours away from us for the tour stops in Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Baltimore, the closest stops from us. And from looking at ticket prices, they are terribly expensive! My word, if one wanted the high end, meet and greet at Bethlehem for example, over a thousand dollars per ticket. The lowest price was 298.00 I believe. We couldn’t take a chance on losing that amount of money due to possible inclement weather.
I mean, if the tour comes around in the summer again and close enough to us, we would pay a low-end price. Even though we would love a meet and greet, way out of our budget range. Contrast that to BWAT ticket price of 65.00 for regular and 75.00 for meet and greet, the DWTS tour is incredibly expensive.
Thank you for the write-up John!!!! Sad to hear Kym was such a disappointment. And @Lois (#5) – I’m appalled that a meet & greet ticked would cost over a thousand dollars – for that much money, you should get a private show, dance lessons from the pro of your choice, and dinner! 😛
Thanks for the review, John!! 🙂 Since the tour isn’t coming to the PNW area this time, I’m super interested in all of the reviews & pictures. However, with the ticket prices being so expensive, I’m not sure I would have been able to go anyway. Glad we saw BWAT this summer — my hubby still talks about it because Karina sat on his lap for a little bit – haha. I think he’s going to talk about that for a long while… 🙂
As for Kym, the performances aren’t bad. They just felt light on choreography and heavy on the sexy stuff. She looked great if you’re into that sort of thing. She was great on stage with the mic. What a sweetheart as you’d expect.
Tamara,
I’m sure you’re not alone. Personally, I think he is sincere about the relationships he talks about. Although, I think he chooses to talk about those relationships as a way to do better on the show. So, I guess it’s a mix of the showmance. I don’t think he’d make something up, but he might overshare to try and go farther on the show.
Another of the questions that was asked is which pros are the most competitive and the ladies all said Val and Mark. Val accepted it proudly. So, if showing off his feelings will get him more votes, then that seems to align with his competitive nature.
Lois, I haven’t looked at those cities, but most cities are $59-79 tickets and the VIP experience is $249 and $449 or in those neighborhoods. Are you sure you looked at the right pricing?
I just found that I can get my pictures on this computer. Hopefully I can get them posted shortly.
Glad you all enjoyed the writeup. There’s so much more to share, but hopefully I’ve at least wet your appetite. The day after I’m even more interested in seeing the second show. That’s good since the last DWTS tour I was really disappointed.
I’d summarize the key change: a focus on the DWTS pros, not the stars!
Thanks for the review John! I agree that I like the idea that the pros are dancing with each other mostly. While it can be fun to see some of the more popular celebs recreate their dances I just don’t see most celebs agreeing to do a full tour, this show isn’t what it used to be. I would rather see a celeb like Alfonso dancing some and hosting while the pros dance.
Did any of the other pros give an answer on their favorite partners? I can only imagine Val’s reaction to the showmance question!
DLT,
I think those were the only two that answered the favorite partners question. I bet they’ll mix it up at future shows though.
Thanks for the recap John!
A little surprised & disappointed to hear that Mark didn’t name Katherine Jenkins as one of his favorite partners though. She must be in his top 5.
Stormviking,
No mention of Katherine. He did premise it that he’s loved all his partners. Not sure.
Here are some other juicy tidbits for those who like to speculate and anticipate. I counted what looked like 2 kisses between Mark and Whitney. One of them looked like it could have been almost accidental because they were going pretty fast, but the other one was in a slow contemporary they did (which was probably my favorite dance of the night). Of course there’s nothing between them…it’s just the dance, right?
I also have a picture from a number that Val, Mark and Whitney did and the angle makes it look like Val and Mark are kissing since Whitney’s blocked out of the frame. They certainly didn’t kiss, but the picture made my wife and I laugh.
Even more to speculate Mark and his gf of two years recently broke up. Pretty sure the kiss between Mark and Witney was on purpose, they are alot of Markeny shippers, and after they kissed in My Girl, people were obsessing. Not sure if something’s going on, but hey there giving the people what they want.
I said before when Mark and Witney danced to “My Girl” that there was something between them, just the way they looked at each other and danced together, and I am not one to put rumors out there, just something I noticed.
Thanks for your amazing review! Anyone have a link to a list of the specific dances and their order? I’ve pieced some together from the clips on YouTube, but it would be fantastic to know specifically.
”# Angela” how can you know if Mark broke up or not? What makes you think like that? Just interested… I didn’t heard any of rumors like this …. just sayin…
Thanks, John for writing this up. I have VIP tickets to the Boston show on 1/16 and I can’t wait to see it. I’m trying to avoid watching the dances on youtube before the show, but I definitely like to know how things work. Can’t wait to hear your detailed breakdown of the show and hopefully from others writing blogs! I’m really curious as to how VIP works.