Celebrity Interview with Dancing With the Stars Star Tony Dovolani

Do you LOVE Dancing with the Stars? We sure do! We are thrilled to announce that The Wedding Dance Specialists recently held an exclusive interview with DWTS celebrity dancer Tony Dovolani!
 

Tony is a professional ballroom dancer who began dancing at the age of three, and is acclaimed for his many performances and World Champion Titles in Latin style dance. Overall he has won an astonishing seven championship titles in world-renowned competitions, including an Emmy nomination for his incredible choreography of a Jive dance routine that was aired on Dancing with the Stars in 2006. Tony’s newest partner for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars is Melissa Rycroft who is best known for her appearances on The Bachelor.  Tony and Melissa were also partnered together on the show in 2008 and placed third in the competition. 

Now that the introductions are out of the way, (even though I’m sure you’ve already heard of him) let’s turn to the scoop on what we learned from Tony during our interview with him! Tony divulged some tips for us.  His favorite dance move is the over-sway on a dip. He likes the move's versatility as you can begin and end a dance with it. When asked about dance trends, Tony remarked that ballroom dancing has played second fiddle to solo dance styles like ballet for decades. However with the popularity of the hit show Dancing with the Stars it has been brought to the forefront again and no longer lingers as the step-child of the dance world. Another fantastic point Tony made was, “You have to love dancing to truly excel at it and love teaching it to be a good instructor.” Tony also said to become a great dancer one must believe that they are capable of dancing in the first place. 

But how can you dance like a pro if you don’t have the right attire? Tony gave us advice on that too! Tony is excited to be sponsored by Capezio dance shoes and encourages engaged couples to consider using proper ballroom shoes for their wedding dance instead of struggling with street shoes. 

He is also excited about the latest Zumba craze that incorporates Latin ballroom dance moves with aerobic exercise. While he is an esteemed ballroom dancer, he admits that his favorite dance style is Latin. At The Wedding Dance Specialists, we believe in always improving upon our dance knowledge base so that we can provide you with an even better dance experience. We hope that Tony’s tips have inspired you to become even better dancers. He’s sure inspired us! Thanks Tony!

Written by: Kimberly Irwin, Publicist for The Wedding Dance Specialists

Celebrity DJ Company Interviews The Wedding Dance Specialists

Yeah We Think We Can Dance - by Dave Armon of Scratch Weddings (Image courtesy of FOX)

When it comes to the first dance that couples share with one another on their wedding night, the Waltz immediately comes to mind for bridal purists. But two popular TV shows have stoked interest in far more challenging dance floor moves.

ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance?, have led to far more lofty aspirations among couples planning to demonstrate their fancy footwork. The result: a booming business for professional dance instructors who specialize in weddings.

Deborah Joy Block, an industry pioneer whose team trains close to 1,000 engaged couples annually, credits the dancing reality shows for convincing couples that an investment of time and energy can make a wedding reception more memorable. Although The Wedding Dance Specialists’ claim to fame is working a miracle in ONE lesson by providing a basic but complete routine, she cautions against procrastinating.

“Realistically, a lot of couples tend to delay taking lesson until a month or two before the wedding day. And they don’t leave themselves enough time or budget to allow for an elaborate routine and a lot of lessons,” said Block, who operates multiple The Wedding Dance Specialists studios in the Washington, D.C., area.

The musical preferences among couples learning dance from The Wedding Dance Specialists match up closely with Scratch Weddings clients. A recent review of first dance song selections reveals 70% opt for slow songs – mainly Top 40 slow love ballads. Examples range from At Last by Etta James to Sade’s By Your Side, to You Are The Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne.

For the 30% of couples who want their music – and their feet – to move a bit faster, we’ve seen plenty of merengue, salsa and swing, along with memorable rock tracks like Modern English’s Melt With You, and The Zombies’ This Will Be Our Year.

For those who just want to survive their moment in the spotlight regardless of the song’s tempo, the experts offer these words of reassurance.

“If you have a really good instructor who understands the unique needs of engaged couples, you should be able to look natural, elegant and relaxed in a very short period of time and still impress everybody even without an elaborate routine,” Block said, adding, “If a studio tells you need 10 lessons when your goal is just to avoid the ‘high school prom sway’– that’s excessive.”

One real-life example of how a working with a professional can make a novice into a respectable dancer involves Los Angeles Times business reporter Dawn Chmielewski, who prepared in just two weeks for a one-time guest appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2009. She wrote a page one column about the experience
Granted Chmielewski’s partner was professional dancer Jonathan Roberts, not a groom with two left feet. To compensate for that, we’d recommend an extra week of lessons.

Celebrity DJ company and training academy Scratch Weddings was founded by Grammy Winner Jam Master Jay of Run DMC, trains thousands of DJs nationally and internationally, won numerous wedding industry awards, executed events for top national corporate brands, Their DJ training software Scratch DJ Academy MIX software is sold at Best Buy and the video game DJ Hero 2 features their curriculum. The original post of this article can be found on the Scratch Weddings Blog at http://www.scratchweddings.com/yeah-we-think-we-can-dance/

Here are a few Scratch Weddings DJ's DC bios. They include high-res photos, video interviews and demos, and mixes:

n DJ As-One http://www.scratchweddings.com/dj-biomix.php?r=REoxMDAyMQ==&e=MTMx

n DJ Bounce http://www.scratchweddings.com/dj-biomix.php?r=REoxMDAyMw==&e=MTMx

n DJ Premonition http://www.scratchweddings.com/dj-biomix.php?r=REoxMDAzOA==&e=MTMx

Date Night: Ballroom with a Twist

Where: Music Center at Strathmore
When: Friday November 20th & Saturday November 21st, 2009
Time: 8 PM

From Dancing With the Stars champion Louis van Amstel comes this dazzling new stage production that features dancers from So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars. With "American Idol" singers David Hernandez and Trenyce Cobbins and a cast of gifted dancers, this sizzling show never stops moving, from swing to samba, Broadway to b-boy, cha-cha, tango, paso doble, and more!

The show will also feature celebrity host Sabrina Bryan of The Cheetah Girls. Sabrina was the first celebrity on Dancing With the Stars to get earn a perfect score of 30 from the DWTS judges in 2007!

For Tickets and more information visit: http://www.strathmore.org/

Championship Dance Campspresents Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff from Dancing With The Stars join other amazing instructors for Independence Day Ball dance camp July 1st - 5th, 2009 at the Hilton in Rockville, MD. Like all Championship Dance Camps events, Independence Day Ball dance camp features world class instructors, including US, UK and World Champions as well as Blackpool finalists and semi-finalists. For more information click here

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Date Night in Maryland

Escape wedding planning stress and enjoy a date night at the Strathmore Theatre in Bethesda, MD on Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21, 2009 at 8pm. Mark your calendars! From Dancing With the Stars champion choreographer Louis van Amstel comes this dazzling new stage production called Ballroom with a Twist that features dancers from So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and High School Musical. Stunning costumes, magnificent music and breathtaking performances. Order tickets online at : Strathmore.org/subscribe or call 301.581.5100