Get up close, personal with ‘Dancing With the Stars’
If you’ve ever wanted to watch “Dancing With the Stars” live, with no distracting camera movements, no grandstanding judges and none of those pesky commercials to slow down the momentum, you’ll want to be at Ovens Auditorium (2700 E. Independence Ave.) at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.
The ABC hit series’ “Perfect Ten Tour” waltzes into town with a lineup that includes pro dancers Witney Carson, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Artem Chigvintsev, Keo Motsepe, Peta Murgatroyd, Emma Slater; and troupe dancers Alan Bersten, Brittany Cherry, Sasha Farber and Jenna Johnson.
Ready to MEET your favorite cast members from @DancingABC??! Go VIP to the show: http://t.co/rVIkhJDnKt pic.twitter.com/1q9WGW4wGV
— VIP Nation (@VIPNation) June 16, 2015
//><!--We’re told the running time will be roughly 90 minutes and that there’ll be a Q&A session, allowing audience members to toss burning questions at the dancers. Tickets range from $47.50 to $77.50.//--><!
Other than that? Here are a few things to keep in mind for Sunday’s show:
1. Don’t expect to see reigning “DWTS” celebrity champion Rumer Willis.
The rumors are true: Rumer – daughter of Hollywood stars Bruce Willis and Demi Moore – is joining the tour this summer in select cities… not including Charlotte.
The 26-year-old will sing at 18 upcoming shows, but revealed Thursday that she can’t dance right now because of stress fractures in her right foot.
Rumer Willis Drops Out of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Tour Due to Stress Fractures http://t.co/WKpEnlPUmc #DWTS pic.twitter.com/u8PdsryNp4 — Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 25, 2015
2. So, yes, the lineup is heavy on professionals and light on celebrities. But this means that, overall, the dancing you see on the tour will be sharper and more advanced than the dancing you see on TV.
“With the celebrities, we have to do simpler choreography. But for this show, you’re with other professionals, so you can really go for it,” said fall 2014 “DWTS” champ Carson, who is expected to do a rumba and a foxtrot with Chigvintsev and a freestyle performance with Chmerkovskiy.
She said she’ll also participate in seven group numbers.
Catch Dancing With The Stars Live! – Perfect 10 Tour @DancingABC 28 June @OvensAuditorium NC. http://t.co/0cX7R9DH3p pic.twitter.com/lwJAZkUysm — Karaoke Viewpoint (@KaraokeVpoint) June 21, 2015
3. It’ll be hard not to watch this show without thinking of “The Bachelor.” Two reasons:
(1) The tour’s host/emcee is former celebrity champ Melissa Rycroft (she won “DWTS: All-Stars” in fall 2012). Fans of ABC’s dating show will recall that she received a proposal from then-“Bachelor” Jason Mesnick in 2009.
» http://t.co/RHGd0uyz27 Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff break their silence after calling off engagement #ChrisSo… pic.twitter.com/wUjeZunTDt — Jennifer (@brownjenjen) June 1, 2015
4. By the way, Rycroft will be dancing, in case you were wondering.
That was the plan from the start: She would do double duty for this tour both as host and as a performer.
But at a tour stop in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., earlier this month, she injured her knee mid-show and reportedly refrained from dancing (while hanging onto emcee chores) at multiple shows. Anyhow, it apparently wasn’t too serious: Rycroft’s publicist confirmed that she is a “go” for performing here.
Check out her moves:
Théoden Janes has been writing about entertainment for the Observer since 2006. Follow him on Twitter @theodenjanes.
This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Get up close, personal with ‘Dancing With the Stars’."