Saturday, February 7, 2015

Dancing With The Stars Live - 1/31/15




In my last post I mentioned that So You Think You Can Dance is my favorite TV show.  Well, coming in a close second is Dancing With The Stars.  Can you see a theme here?  Yep, I love dancing reality shows!  I love live dancing too so naturally when I heard the DWTS Live Tour was coming to town I really wanted to go.

I saw the tour several years ago when it came to Tulsa at BOK Center and had several of the celebrity dancers including NSync’s Lance Bass.  It was so good!  Then exactly one year ago I saw a group of pro dancers from DWTS who did a show at The Joint at Hard Rock Casino.  That was a much more scaled-down version and to be honest it wasn't so great.  Now, the dancing was phenomenal but the show seemed as though it was just thrown together at the last minute. 

For that show I had 5th row seats and for the finale they pulled up audience members to come dance on stage.  Well, you know Renee and I did our best to get up there…..and we did!  We didn't get the chance to dance with the pros but it was fun being up on the stage.   But man would I have loved to dance with them!

We had to exit the stage through the back so I took the chance to grab my favorite dancer on the show, Sasha Farber, for a pic.  I also had a chance to talk to Emma Slater and Mark Ballas and get a pic with Chelsea Hightower and let them all know just how amazing I think they are.






I took some ballroom dancing lessons a couple years ago with my hubby.  I absolutely loved it!  But with my kids at such a small age it was just too hard to keep it up.  I’m pretty sure when they are out of the house I may give it a go again.

DWTS Live Tour announced they were coming to Brady Theater in Tulsa a couple months ago.  Alfonso Ribeiro, the winner of this last season, was joining the pros on the tour.  And to top it off, Sasha Farber and Emma Slater were 2 of the pros along with Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Mark Ballas, Kim Johnson, and one of my favorite dancers from SYTYCD - Paul Karmiryan.  Who, by the way, I saw this last summer in MOVE Live On Tour with Julianne and Derek Hough.  We waited outside for 1.5 hours to get these pictures after that show!








So, not realizing that the show would sell out so quickly, I missed out on buying tickets.  But that wasn't going to stop me from finding some!  I checked the website for tickets for about 2 months.  The week of the show it was time to get serious.  I WAS going to get tickets! 

Monday of that week I logged on to the Brady Theater website and in the top corner it said there were obstructed view seats available and to call the box office.  So I did.  The lady said it was sold out.  I mentioned that the site said obstructed view were available.  So she checked and there were some way in the back on the floor.  Not the greatest seats but I really wanted to go so I was willing to get them.  I called up my friend Karrie and she said yes to the tickets. 

I waited too long that day to call back so it was Tuesday when I called to get the tickets.  They were gone.  I used the “your site says there are obstructed view seats” line and she still said it was sold out.  She said she would have them change the website so the obstructed view line was gone.  I was devastated.  My one chance to get tickets to the sold out show and I blew it. 

My experience is that the week of the show, the venue may release a few seats that were “held” for certain people but don’t get taken.  The lady on the phone the day before had told me that they did not hold back any seats.  I just had a feeling I shouldn't believe her.  So, a couple hours later I logged on to see if they had taken off the obstructed view part and instead there was a big red button “BUY TICKETS”.  I freaked out!  I quickly clicked on the button and sure enough there were 4 seats - front row, balcony, dead center.  Amazing seats!!!!  I texted Karrie and she was freaking out too!  Buy buy buy!  Let me tell you, persistence pays off!

So the day of the show, I was so excited to go I was ready early.  That never happens!  I was actually sitting around waiting to go.  I think I may like cutting it close better.  I don’t like the anticipation.  LOL We got to our seats and saw that one of my son’s classmates was sitting right next to us.  Her mom had seen my post on Facebook and got the other 2 seats that came available that day.  Yay!  I helped them get tickets and didn't even know it.




It started with Alfonso and Witney doing their dance from the show that included “The Carlton” move.  That was the perfect way to start the show.  I think everyone, including me, who watched the TV show this season wanted to see him do “The Carlton” from Fresh Prince of Bel Air as soon as they knew he was going to be on.  They did not disappoint.  The crowd went wild as soon as that part came up.  So fun to watch!


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The show was a great mixture of dancing, interviews and music.  Alfonso hosted the show and he did a few dances.  He was very funny.  He and Witney were a great comedy duo.  He interviewed some of the pros during the night and there were times when some of the pros came out and just talked to us about their experiences on the show.  They brought them all out together at one point and did a question and answer session.












Another portion of the show was Mark Ballas and Dylan Chambers playing some songs on guitar.  They were great!  You could tell they had a passion for that.  After they played, Val Chmirkovsy played the violin. They did it again in the second half and Val and Mark had a dance off.  The crowd loved it. It was a great addition to the show.








My favorite dance of the show was one-time real life couple Emma Slater and Sasha Farber.  I’m sure I am a little biased about it being my favorite because Sasha is my favorite pro, but it was hot, hot, hot!  I love to watch the 2 of them dance together.  He has really quick feet and she is just stunning to watch. Here is a link to the dance I found on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_DUghSEwlM

Bucket list item: take a dance lesson from Sasha Farber!




Overall, this was an amazing show and I think everyone in the audience loved it.  I would have liked to have seen a little more dancing but I think it was well balanced to keep the crowd involved and interested all night long.  I hope that Dancing With The Stars stays on the air for many more years to come and I will be watching and wishing I could be on it with every episode!

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