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dwts23

Dancing With the Stars Season 23 Premiere!

Dancing With the Stars Season 23 Premiere!

I have been a fan of Dancing with the Stars since the very 1^st season. It keeps improving year over year and still is one of the hottest shows on TV and absolutely one I look forward to. This was the first premiere I wasn’t able to watch live due to a prior commitment but, you can look forward to regular blogs the rest of the season and live tweeting.

This season brings back some of our favorite pro’s including Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Emma Slater, Derek Hough, Cheryl Burke and Gleb Savchenko and it brings in Jenna Johnson a former troupe member for her first season as a pro.

I think the cast for this season is absolutely amazing and it promises to be another entertaining season. One thing I noticed on twitter is some of the cruel comments being made about some of the celebrities. Let’s all remember to practice kindness. Making comments about anyone’s appearance is just not nice but, remember you too will be in your 60’s one day and you will see changes in your body.

What an amazing opening number and a tremendous way to kick off the show!

Derek Hough & Marilu Henner

#TeamHennergy

Marilu has a lot of super positive energy and overall they did well, I think the first night always brings a level of nerves but she clearly has the desire to work hard and do well and I am sure Derek will bring out the best in Marilu’s skills.

Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe

#TeamStopandGo

Wow James is quite the survivor. He has a lot of heart and spirit and I am so excited he is paired with Sharna. After watching him dance I think he will be one of the ones to watch this season and it would be great to see Sharna win a mirror ball!

Lindsay Arnold & Calvin Johnson Jr

#TeamLindsatron

I thought Calvin showed some promise as a dancer and it will be fun to watch him grow this season. He definitely has a fun positive personality and I am sure Lindsay will bring out the best in him.

Artem Chigvintsev and Maureen McCormick

#TeamMaureen

Maureen is so sweet and I love that she is paired with Artem. I think Artem will help increase her confidence as a dancer. There were a few nerves in play in their first dance but, I think it’s wonderful to see someone come on with such excitement and desire to make an imprint on the show.

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds & Allison Holker

#TeamHolkerFace

I thought Babyface was good. He and Allison will be a fun partnership to watch this season. I think each week he will get more comfortable on the floor. He clearly has grace in his movement.

Amber Rose & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

#TeamSpicySalsa

I was so glad when Maks announced he would be back on the show he has been missed! I am excited about this partnership too. I think their combined personalities will be great. Maks is intense but, he is so kind. I hope Amber will have many princess moments this season. I thought they did well, nerves were showing in many of the couples but, it’s the first week.

Vanilla Ice & Witney Carson

#TeamIceNSpice

This partnership will be a lot of fun given Witney’s abilities in hip hop First week was lacking content but I am sure Witney will find ways to integrate his style with the content each week. I think he could be a dark horse and may just surprise everyone as the season goes on.

Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko

#TeamGlamer

One word for this couple is smoldering…holy smokes! They are absolutely going to be couple to watch this season. They have the passion, the skills and quite clearly are in it to win it.

Jake T Austin & Jenna Johnson

#TeamJSquared

The Jive must be a tough first dance to do for a beginner dancer. I think it looked like Jake was chasing after Jenna through most of the dance but, I think if they can even out their energy and tempo and get in sync they will be better.

Rick Perry & Emma Slater

#TeamDanceForOurVets

First of all I am so glad Emma is back, she was so missed last season. She is so sweet and has such positive energy. I must say I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw that Rick was on the show but, he has a desire to learn and enthusiasm which is key.

Terra Jole’ & Sasha Farber

#TeamXL

This partnership I was interested to see. I love Terra’s attitude and I think Sasha will do a good job with the challenge ahead of them. What a challenge they had the first week with the Jive. Terra clearly showed her joy in dancing and she should be proud!

Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke

#TeamCherLoch

I had mixed feelings about Ryan being given the chance to dance this season. I had always been a fan of his in the pool and was disappointed in his actions in Rio. However, I also know that nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes big and small and we all deserve redemption. If Ryan can find that on the dance floor then good for him. I thought what happened was absolutely awful and thankfully nobody got hurt. I know when you enter the studio you do go through metal detectors but, still must have been scary for everyone. I thought Ryan did a good job on the dance. He showed good presence and promise in this dance.

Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy

#TeamVaLaur

I was extremely excited to see this partnership announced because Val and Laurie both have insanely bright and positive personalities and I knew they would SHINE on the dance floor. It must not have been easy to take the stage after all that happened in the ballroom ahead of them but, Laurie took that stage like she owned that dance floor. I loved the look they shared before the music started it was like saying the journey starts now let’s do this! If they keep up performances like today this season they will be mirror ball champs hands down.

I am so excited for this season! After tonight’s performance I would say the 3 to watch couples would be: Val & Laurie, Sharna & James and Gleb and Jana but, bravo to all couples for week 1. It’s not easy to learn how to dance and everyone should be proud of their performances.

This week will be TV Theme night! Spoilers on dances/songs below:

*Jake T Austin & Jenna Johnson: Cha Cha to Go, Diego, Go! Theme

*Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds & Allison Holker: Argentine Tango to The X-Files Theme

*Marilu Henner & Derek Hough: Foxtrot to Taxi Theme

*Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy: Jive to Ducktails

*James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess: Paso Doble to The Walking Dead

*Calvin Johnson Jr & Lindsay Arnold: Foxtrot to Family Matters Theme

*Terra Jole’ & Sasha Farber: Quickstep to Bewitched

*Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko: Tango to “I Don’t Want to Be” from One Tree Hill, performed by Gavin Degraw

*Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke: Quickstep to The Muppet Show Theme

*Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev: Quickstep to Brady Bunch Theme

*Rick Perry & Emma Slater: Quickstep to Green Acres Theme

*Amber Rose & Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Viennese Waltz to Game of Thrones Theme

*Vanilla Ice & Witney Carson: Foxtrot to “Love and Marriage” from Married with Children

On a style note: Ck out http://www.bebe.com/ for some really beautiful fall fashions!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Heather

September 18, 2016

Entertainment Blog

Ideal Meet & Greet/Photo Op

If I could sit down with celebrity VIP teams…

This is a topic I have been thinking about for the last few years. It’s part of the reason for starting this blog. I never want this page to be a negative place but, rather somewhere to share information, experiences, value etc. If I could sit down with artist’s and their management teams to give them insight into what fans feel are best VIP practices this is what I would say:

Artists should keep their commitments. It’s one of the things that I think a pop star and his team did wrong earlier this year. If they didn’t want to do meet and greets anymore that’s fine but, finish the ones that you had committed to, implement rules to meet your needs in the interim and have your team enforce them but, respect that a good portion of your VIP attendees often are paying to travel for the experience.

Don’t do photo assembly lines. I truly wish all artists that did meet and greets would commit to an hour or so of their time depending on the #’s and do it right, treat each person like a human being, say hello, ask their name, ask where they are from (stars may be shocked how far some will travel to see them), have a genuine interaction, then take the photo. Let’s face it these meet and greets, photo ops, fan trips cost a large sum of money, show the fans you value and respect their time and money by giving them an interaction. When an artist’s team brags that they did 300 pictures in 16 minutes that truly is disappointing vs a recent event I was at they had about 200 people and they devoted a solid hour or more, it wasn’t rushed and everyone that walked out after was so happy, felt so special and most of all valued.

Make the interactions private. What I have been seeing quite a bit lately is a curtain box created and have thought that is such a great idea. You can step in, have your interaction and not have 200-300 people watching it. It helps with your nerves too, nobody wants to feel like they are in a fishbowl it also solves the issue of people taking photos of the entertainer/star as they approach. It will also help the genuine interaction because then they are not still speaking to the person ahead of you etc.

Make the rules clear, stick to them and let them know what will happen if they violate the rules. If you say don’t take your cell phones out and ask for a selfie and someone does don’t post the photo, if you say don’t hug, kiss and rub all over an artist and people do don’t post the photo. I would guarantee you would only have to enforce it once and word would travel. Too many fans will just take liberties, ignore the rules just to achieve their own objective and it truly does spoil the process for others in many cases and it’s disrespectful to the artist.

Post photos in a timely manner. The companies that have them posted same day or in 24 hours always get a WOW for service from me. VIP Nation events have been crushing it with this service the last year. All events I have gone to hosted by them they have been up during the show or the next day. It’s been nice to see many are getting them done quickly lately, people are always so excited to receive them so the faster the better.

Give organic genuine experiences. A few tours recently I have seen many people asking for kisses, hugs etc. You are putting the stars in an awkward position because if they say no then they can be looked at like they are being a jerk but, people have to realize in most cases you are a stranger or a familiar face in the crowd to the artist. Would you want a stranger walking up and asking you to kiss them, hug them etc.? It’s such a better experience when it happens organically and it’s something the artist initiates because it’s genuine and something they truly wanted to do. On the flip side though as the artist make an effort to say hello, ask someone’s name and go from there.

Please no gum or food in your mouth. I have a few photos with different entertainers with a wad of gum clearly seen in the pic and then recently had an experience where someone was eating a marshmallow. Again people pay a lot for these experiences, travel long distances and it’s just respectful not to have food/gum in your mouth and seen in the photos.

Respect the time of individuals paying for the VIP experience. Don’t make them arrive 2 hours ahead to just stand in line and don’t leave them in the various elements like extreme heat & cold. Be organized. Nobody likes to stand around waiting for hours.

For random interactions with stars I always like to see who puts in the extra effort with their fans. I can say after seeing it many times that Keith Urban is one of the best at this. Keith will stop and literally do selfies with 40 people and it takes maybe 10 minutes. Now in these random cases I think it’s fine to do a quick hello, photo and move on you are not paying for it.

I think the stars also need to be careful the way their team is representing them. At the softball game at CMA fest one of the entertainer’s boyfriend’s came out where fans were lined up after the game and was telling a guy to hurry up and have her car pulled around because she didn’t want to stop for fans. Another country star I saw three times at CMA fest once on the pink carpet, at Fan Fair X and then out and about and he could not be bothered to take a photo or have an interaction but as soon as a TV camera was on him he changed right away. I personally will not spend my money, pay to travel, attend a concert of anyone that shows such disregard for fans. It’s all in how the situation is handled. Like I said in my CMA Fest blog from Day 3 instead of responding “NAH” to someone, say sorry not today. Treat people like human beings and they will in turn reward you by devoting their time and spending their hard earned money to support your career.

One star recently said it best you always have to treat each person special because that may be your 1 time ever to meet that person that has supported you and you don’t know what they had to do to be at that show, if they saved for 6 months, flew across the country etc. Whether it’s a 30 second selfie interaction or a paid meet and greet it’s your chance to make and leave an impression both on the fan and star’s end. I will always support the ones that care and truly get it because that adds value to the experience. I also feel we all have to treat them respectfully.

I would love to hear more thoughts on this from those that read the blog…

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

August 30, 2016

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