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May 16, 2007
Dancing With the Stars
Hi again everyone! Wow, what an amazing two nights here in LA. This is my first time EVER in California - it took Apolo to get me here after all these years!
greenroom Monday night after DWTS
Justin Mentell, Mike Fretta, Shani Davis, Apolo Ohno, Giddeon Massie, Rusty Smith
As you know, Yuki, Shani and Rusty were in attendance Monday night, along with David Creswell, former short tracker Justin Mentell, and two athlete-friends of Apolo's - track cyclist and Beijing hopeful Giddeon Massie and triathlete and Beijing hopeful Mike Fretta. For the results show on Tuesday, only Justin and David were back as all the other athletes had to return to training and/or competing. Yuki will of course be back next week for the grand finale!
greenroom Monday night after DWTS
Len Goodman gets an earful from Justin Mentell, Shani Davis, Mike Fretta
Monday's show was definitely a lot more fun to see live in person - not just because of the dance performances, but the way the show works on Tuesday - with the guest performers' segments taped early - means audience members during the live show spend a lot of time waiting for things to happen or watching performances taped earlier. Also, they decided at the last minute to start taping half an hour earlier than they usually do on Tuesdays, so we missed the flamenco performances and one or two other things, though we dud catch both of Enrique Iglesias' songs. He did the 2nd one twice in fact.
When the dance pairs are introduced at the beginning and throughout the results show, Apolo and Julianne are lined up on stage right which happens to be close to Apolo's cheering section so he often catches someone's eye and smiles or waves. You could tell he was really excited to have his buddies there to cheer him on Monday night. Apolo is so incredibly popular with the entire live audience, and tonight spectators were calling out to him multiple times, including a group of girls yelling 'We love you, Apolo!'
After the show ends, they immediately do press interviews right there on the dance floor. Guests of the celebs or dancers can go up to the green room, which is like a nightly cast party. They have drinks and hors d'oeuvres up there and various cast members come up through the evening. Monday night we had Apolo and Julianne, Tom Bergeron, Bruno and Len, Joey Fatone, Ian Ziering and Maks. Tuesday only Tom, Len, Joey, Kym and Cheryl Burke made it up, and John Ratzenberger was back this week. We talked to Apolo right afterwards and he said he was exhausted - in fact he wound up going to wardrobe after the show ended and was still there when we left around 9pm. He's nervous about preparing 4 dances for the finals next week!
A word about the crew on this show - they are some hard-working and fun-loving people! Jan and Kimo have gotten to know them all over the weeks and the crew has been taking great care of them and I benefited from that as well the past few days. These are a few of the people who work behind the scenes to make the show run smoothly and they're doing a fantastic job!
Debbie - audience coordinator, Chuck - audience coordinator, Jaz - production assistant
I don't have a lot of time to write but I wanted to post some more info and a few pics. More later since I'm going to be up in Portland for a few days visiting with friends.
Posted by noelle at 1:54 AM | Comments (218)
May 15, 2007
Greetings from Los Angeles!
Hi everyone - I'm here in LA and lucky enough to be attending both Dancing With the Stars shows this week! Last night's performance show was fantastic - so much fun to experience it all live and in person. Apolo and Julianne's quickstep to start the evening took our collective breath away - not just Apolo's personal cheering section, but that of the judges and entire studio audience.
I'm not too worried about Len's lowballing A&J on their cha cha cha score because being in the house last night I can tell you that EVERYONE there roars for Apolo and Julianne. They get the loudest and most sustained cheering and applause of any of the pairs out there, and bring more people to their feet when they dance than any other couple. There is a rumor making the rounds that Apolo and Julianne are the most popular pair among voters in DWTS history. So great job turning out the vote, OZers - and keep those votes coming!
Yuki said that he cut Apolo's hair because he needed a sleeker look and to make his neck look longer for the dancing in the final rounds. He looks very handsome and Julianne is even cuter in person, if that's possible. Apolo seems to be having the time of his life with this experience. It was great to see his fellow skaters Shani Davis and Rusty Smith cheering him on (and roundly booing Len) last night!
More later...
Posted by noelle at 5:59 PM | Comments (160)
May 14, 2007
Dancing With the Stars - week 9
VOTE FOR APOLIANNE! 1-800-868-3411 and/or VOTE ONLINE You can vote up to 4 times per phone line or screen name so get busy!!
Post your comments here as always!!
In the meantime:
USA Today | 'Dancing' with Laila, Joey, Apolo and Ian
USA TODAY looks at who is still in the running for the show's fourth-season crown and how Stars judge Bruno Tonioli rates their chances:Bruno's take: "[Apolo]'s exciting. Last week's performance was inventive and fresh and broke him away from the pack. It's been very good casting with (Hough). The secret is when two people move as one. And they do, which is great to watch."
Houston Chronicle | Fatone's low ranking unjust, pros say
Buddy TV | Dancing With the Stars Hough Calls Off Wedding!
Posted by noelle at 1:17 PM | Comments (213)