“For the most part, when you as a professional dancer get paired with your celebrity, you become friends! It’s a really unique experience, you see each other everyday for hours and hours. Almost all of the celebrities don’t have egos because they’re very quickly humbled by the fact that they don’t know what they’re doing,” smiles Emma Slater, one of the cast of professional dancers on the Dancing With The Stars tv and Disney+ show. “It’s actually very beautiful!”
Since 2012, Emma has been a part of the primetime dance TV show that pairs celebrities from a variety of backgrounds – athletes, singers, actors, etc – with dancers to compete for the Mirrorball Trophy. She’s also taken part in several of the Dancing With The Stars: Live! touring shows that bring dancers and celebrities alike to stages across the country performing for live audiences. The tour hits the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline on Monday, March 18th.
Known for her featured dancing role in the film Mamma Mia! as well as being a featured lead on the Broadway and West End casts of Burn The Floor, Emma boasts an impressive list of accomplishments. And having been paired with celebrity partners such as LMFAO singer Redfoo, actor James Van Der Beek, and winning the season she was partnered with football player Rashad Jennings, during her time on the show, we asked what goes on behind the scenes and how she balances her skills as a dancer with celebrities who join the show with varying levels of experience.
“It’s strategic,” she explains. “The decisions that the professional dancer makes are based on the psychology of the audience. It factors into how successful your partnership goes. There’s really so much that goes into it, it really helps if you can quickly adapt to the person you’re with and how well you can understand them.”
Emma explains that while celebrities may request which dancer they’d like to be paired with, the producers on the show often have other ideas.
“Usually we have a casting director and the pairing might be based off height or personality or age. A young professional dancer might be paired with an older celebrity because they feel like their personalities are quirky together or the dancer is going to bring out the most in that person.” Gearing up to enter the show’s 33rd season later this year, Emma chuckles a bit, admitting that the casting director has figured out a successful formula in whom they pair with one another. “There are some younger females that might be put with a younger male if the casting director feels there’s going to be sparks there.”
While the TV show is all friendly competition, Emma appreciates that the live show sheds the competitive aspect and instead gets to focus on pure entertainment.
“I really like the camaraderie of being onstage with my friends and the people that I admire everyday. Everybody has their own personality and when you’re doing the dance steps you connect in a different way. It really sparks an excitement.”
And while Dancing With The Stars: Live! has been a touring show on a two month schedule, she emphasizes that the performers evolve as the production goes on.
“It’s really interesting. The music might be the same but you interpret it differently. I think the dancers will rise to that and make it new and fresh everyday. For instance I might switch up something that I say one night and it might change the flow of things, which might put a different inflection on the dance. It’s really ever changing and that’s what I love about it.”
Actor Harry Jowsy will also be a featured member of the live show that performs in Lake Tahoe. Slater says that the audience can look forward to not just featured dances and solos from their favorite dancers, but much of the live show was created to be lighthearted and funny.
“There’s a lot of storytelling in the show and everybody really brings their personalities forward. Everybody has their moment to shine,” she expands.
“I’m also really excited because we’ve never performed in Lake Tahoe before!”
Dancing With The Stars: Live! will appear at the Tahoe Blue Event Center. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.
