“Dancing With the Stars” had one of its best seasons yet. According to Variety, the total number of viewers tallied was 7.95 million, up 25% over its live+same-day number (6.36 million), making it the largest audience in three years. Needless to say, there are quite a bit more fans than there have been in the past. That said, many live shows were sold out, and they even added shows because of their popularity.
I went to the St. Louis show on Feb. 18 at the Stifel Theater. My mom and I went because we have watched the show together since it started when I was a little kid. I loved it ever since and this was our first live show we’ve been to! There were 10 incredible dancers and Stephen Nedoroscik, the host. The dancers included Chandler Kinney, Emma Slater, Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Britt Stewart, Daniella Karagach, Gleb Savchenko, Pasha Pashkov, Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa.
The show started with a high-energy introduction of all of the dancers. The costumes for the first number were a bright orange sparkly dress for the girls, and black pants with a matching orange dress shirt for the guys. Each dancer got a solo dance as they were introduced during the number. There were many dances throughout the hour-and-a-half show. Some of my favorites were the trio with Ezra Sosa, Britt Stewart and Rylee Arnold; the cha-cha performed by Brandon Armstrong and Emma Slater; the paso doble performed by Rylee Arnold and Brandon Armstrong; and finally the disco finale with everyone on the tour. I felt like I wanted to get up and dance with them the entire time. I was smiling the whole show. People were snapping their fingers and clapping their hands while they danced and cheering.
The tour also had funny skits, audience interactions, and even Nedoroscik doing the pommel horse! Skits included “The Dance Academy,” where they showed Sosa the ropes of being a pro since it was his first season. Audience interactions included the male pros coming down the aisles of the audience, high-fiving people and ultimately picking audience members to come up on stage and dance with them! My mom and I decided not to go on stage. Very sad. Nedoroscik brought out a pommel horse and did some tricks on it! Overall, it was a very entertaining show with more than just dancing.
Now, my hot takes. I didn’t realize Sosa was so tall. I thought he was a solid 3 inches shorter than he is. I also thought Arnold didn’t have many facial expressions. Mainly just smiling or frowning. As a dancer, she should have more than two facial expressions. Karagach was the STAR of the show. She was by far the best female dancer of the night. She had the facial expressions, the long lines, the passion and the excitement; she looked like she was having fun the whole time! As for the male dancers, I think Armstrong was the best. He had the best energy the entire show. He never acted like he was tired, even though he probably was. Nedoroscik was a great host, but a little awkward, which was expected because he acted uncomfortable in front of such a large audience on the show. It was like a shy, cute kind of embarrassing hosting style. He was also shorter than I was expecting.
Overall, it was a fantastic show—comedy, sexiness, drama, excitement and fun. The lights were on point, the sound was flawless and the venue was clean. However, the merchandise was expensive. I got a sweatshirt for $70. That’s insane, but it was my first show, so it was worth it. If they go on tour next year (which I don’t know why they wouldn’t), you should look into going to a city near you!