The art of dance is a unique form of expression, employing a universal body language that everyone understands. From ballet to contemporary, from hip-hop to salsa, and from oriental to flamenco, dance is certainly enjoying something of a renaissance lately.
But when it comes to individual dancers, who has the best moves? the greatest poise, power, and poignancy? this blog showcases some of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century-selected for their fame, popularity, and influence around the globe.
If you haven’t seen Move! Live on Tour, featuring superstar siblings Derek & Julianne Hough of “Dancing with the Stars” fame, you are missing out on something special. The superstar siblings stopped by the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City June 7, 2014, and put on what was easily the best show everyone have ever seen.
It had dancing. It had singing. It had motivational speaking and crowd interaction. It even had comedy. And the awesome brother/sister rivalry that I love so much in the Hough duo was on full display. The show drew in women and men of all ages.
A highlight of the show for many female fans was Derek and the other male dancers performing a mighty hot number — shirtless, of course.
Fighting for the Spotlight
That sibling rivalry I mentioned before comes out during the number “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better.” The result? We now know Julianne can do the splits better and sing a note longer. But Derek does have more “Dancing with the Stars” mirror ball trophies under his belt. Julianne said it’s because she left the show.
They also teamed up to take a light-hearted jab at The Osmonds when they said “we can do anything better than they can,” flashing pictures on the screen of Donny and Marie (who have both competed on “Dancing with the Stars”). All in good fun, of course!
The brother-sister team and their crew of fantastic dancers got out into the crowd during the show, which they say is a big part of their production. It makes things much more personal for attendees. I’m just sad I got this close to actually reaching out and touching them, but they never quite made it to where my friend and I were sitting.
Audience Interaction
One lucky lady in the audience who told Derek she had a dream that her husband paid for her to take dance lessons from him. He took her hand and gave her a free lesson right there in front of the audience.
But it wasn’t just female attendees that were in for a treat. Taylor, one of three guys who got pulled out of the crowd to get up onstage with the female dancers, also hit the jackpot. Julianne had the all three guys show off their dance moves.
Since Taylor utilized “the stripper pole,” he won the grand prize: a trip to hang out with the gals, take selfies with them and watch their next number from the top of the stage’s staircase.
Double Threat
Hearing Derek and Julianne sing together was a real treat and something I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing before. I’ve heard him sing solo and with fellow “DWTS” pro Mark Ballas and I’ve heard her sing her own tunes, but their performance of “Say Something” (originally recorded by A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera) was a touching moment for everyone in the crowd.
Check that out, along with the beautiful choreography that accompanied it, in the video below.
Variety of Moves
The styles of dance during this show ran the gamut. There was Tango and Paso, Quickstep and Contemporary, Rumba and Swing, Hip-Hop and so many others. And every emotion you can imagine came through onstage. It was light and fun, upbeat and energetic, soft and sultry, hot and sexy.
The goal of the whole show was to get people up and moving, and it did that. The super-sibs say “Motion = Emotion.” The “Move!” performances both moved the crowd and got them moving.
In 2013, choreographer Kyle Hanagami started his Letters of love campaign to help raise money for cancer research. For every 10 letters that Hanagami receives, he donates $1 to research. So far, over 30,000 people have sent in letters.
This year, Hanagami had a very important announcement to make when he launched Letters of Love for 2015: In late 2014, he was diagnosed with leukemia—and the mission of Letters of Love became terrifyingly personal.
On his Instagram account, Hanagami wrote that his fingers shook as he published his latest video, Give Me Strength—that telling the world about his diagnosis made it real. Even as the dance community will rush to support him (as we try to support other community members who are going through illness or times of crisis), Hanagami has already shown that thanks to his beautiful group of dancing friends, he has strength to spare.
We never know what we’re going to get with a new season of Dancing With the Stars, and much of the fun comes from watching unlikely candidates for the title of champion grow from amateur to expert. Season 22 has seen a seemingly unlikely contestant rise above other stars to dominate the stage. Deaf model Nyle DiMarco has found a way to work around his hearing impairment and has so far put on a heck of a great show thanks to a system of signals with partner Peta Murgatroyd.
The partners communicate via cues to keep them in sync with one another as well as with the music, according to ABC News. DiMarco will take visual signs from Murgatroyd’s movements and Murgatroyd will convey steps through hand squeezes during a routine. By going through the sequences time after time after time, the duo is able to nail their dances and dazzle all who watch.
In fact, Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd were so dazzling that DiMarco managed to be one of the stars tying for first place after the Season 22 premiere. The pair’s cha-cha was enough to get them off to a very strong start in a tough field of competitors, including fine physical specimens in athletes, tried and true stars of the screen, and…well, Geraldo Rivera. Not everybody can be fleet of foot.
DiMarco earned his spot as one of the titular stars of Dancing With the Stars thanks to winning the final season of America’s Next Top Model. The ratings for the final season were mostly abysmal, but we can definitely be grateful that the show hung in long enough for DiMarco to triumph in Season 22. While not many people may have seen him win that particular title, he’ll undoubtedly have an impressive audience for as long as he continues on Dancing With The Stars. Check out his debut cha-cha with Peta Murgatroyd from the Series 22 premiere:
Watching the two dance, it would be impossible to guess that Nyle DiMarco was anything other than an experienced dancer, and those hand squeezes from Peta Murgatroyd were so unnoticeable that none of us could likely have known they were happening. Still, the duo weren’t the conclusive winners of the first week of Season 22. The premiere ended with a three-way tie between DiMarco/Murgatroyd, Ginger Zee/Valentin Chmerkovskiy, and Wanya Morris/Lindsay Arnold. The competition is still plenty fierce, but we can say for sure that Nyle DiMarco isn’t letting his hearing impairment get in the way of dancing his way toward victory. to see more about it: http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars
Allison Holker of Dancing with the stars and her husband Stephen Boss have welcomed a son.
The baby boy, named Maddox Laurel, was born on Easter Sunday, her rep confirmed to DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
'(Maddox’s birth) was truly an unforgettable moment and we are grateful to everyone that shared in the experience and made it so monumental. Our family feels full!. the couple said in a statement.
On Tuesday the star shared two new photos of her little bundle of joy on Instagram. In one of her captions she wrote: 'He has already stolen my heart with is big bright eyes, stunning radiant smile and the way he snuggles perfectly into my arms, he is perfect in every way! He is and will always be my precious boy.'
The couple first met as So You Think You Can Dance All-Stars in 2010 and were married in 2013.
This is the couple’s first child together, and they also have a seven-year old daughter, Weslie.
The couple said: 'Maddox already has the best big sister Weslie, they have already bonded and share a truly beautiful love.'
Maddox is also the name Angelina Jolie gave her first adopted son.
Holker told March's Fit Pregnancy And Baby that she is the first DWTS pro to compete while pregnant.
'There I was in these itty-bitty costumes, flaunting myself, at four-and-a-half months pregnant.
'If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know that even in those first few weeks, you have to make frequent trips to the restroom. Well, I had to go what felt like 20 times during a show, and I needed three people to help me peel the outfit on and off each time. I couldn’t do it myself!' she added.
Ballroom partners for life! Dancing With the Stars lovebirdsMaksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd are engaged, he revealed via Twitter on Saturday, Dec. 5.
In the pic, Chmerkovskiy kneels before his love on a stage, holding a ring in one hand and a microphone in the other. As a group of dancers — including Maks' brother, Val — cheers behind them, Murgatroyd tearfully gazes at the ring and clasps her hands over her mouth.
The romantic moment went down at the end of a performance ofSway at the Olympia Theater in Miami, Fla. Sway stars the Chmerkovskiy brothers and Murgatroyd, as well as DWTS proTony Dovolani and DWTS alums Meryl Davis and Rumer Willis, who were partnered with Maks and Val, respectively, in their winning seasons.
"I'm in love with you and I want to be in love with you for the rest of my life," Chmerkovskiy said, according to an eyewitness. "Will you marry me?"
They may have been axed by Simon Cowell in the final round of Britain’s Got Talentlast week, but the fact that French choreographer Yanis Marshall and his friends were even performing on such a public stage is a testament to just how far they’ve come since dazzling the world with their first viral hit, a Spice Girl megamix tributefilmed on the streets of Paris.
Men in heels have come and gone, but Marshall is showing great promise as this generation’s next great gay choreographer. Fall in love with his five most flawless dance routines below:
