One of my favorite shows is Dancing With the Stars so when I heard they were going to be doing a live show in Las Vegas I knew I had to go. When I heard that my favorite Dmitry Chaplin was going to be in the show I knew I really had to go. The show is playing 6 nights a week with additional performances during the day on certain days. It is scheduled to have performances through July 7 at the Tropicana Hotel. I did have a difficult time figuring out the date I wanted to go mainly because every weekend seems to have something going on. I had narrowed it down to three different weekends. This past weekend or next weekend were the options. I had looked at prices at this weekend won out. It was going to be a short trip only because I wanted to keep costs down. Friday night we went to the Sugarland concert we flew on Saturday afternoon (in order to get a lower price flight as well).
We arrived in Vegas at 5 and the show was at 8 so we basically got to the hotel and started getting ready. I had packed three dresses to choose from to wear to the show. One I had bought a while ago but never wore but I thought I might be too hot in it. The second one was just a simple black dress and the third was this really pretty royal blue dress that my sister had actually bought to wear but it didn’t fit her right so I brought it along. She decided to wear this really cute black dress that fit her perfectly. I decided on the blue dress so we didn’t look too similar.
We got to the Tropicana around 7:45 which was good so we didn’t have to wait too long. We definitely brought down the average age of audience attendees but that was fine with me. I had sprung for VIP tickets on the floor because I wanted to be as close to Dmitry as possible. The VIP seats were chairs with tables that looked very much like how the TV show has tables and chairs. We were at the first table in front of the stage left of center. There were four seats to the table and we were in the “back” two seats of the table so it was like we were in the second row which I actually preferred so we could see more of the stage. While we waited for the show to start they played songs that I remember had been used on the show for certain routines. When we got to our seats a photographer took our pictures together and then individually. When we took the individual pictures he made us pose really awkwardly. Of course these photos were available for purchase after the show.
Finally the show started! The show started with a group number with all the stars and pro dancers. Carson Kressley was the MC of the event and was hilarious! I was seriously laughing the whole show. The other “stars” in the show were Joey Fatone (from my favorite boy band *N SYNC), Sabrina Bryan, Kyle Massey, and Tia Carrere. The pros from the TV show were Dmitry, Lacey Schwimmer (another one of my favorites), and Tristan MacManus who was just recently added to the cast (we were very happy about this addition). The show also featured a troupe very similar to how the tv show has a troupe that usually dances on Elimination Night. In troupe were a few familiar faces from my other favorite reality dance show So You Think You Can Dance: Ryan Di Lello (S6), Iveta Lukosiute(S8), Jaymz Tuaileva (S2) and one of my favorites, Anya Garnis (S3, S7 & S8 All Star). Iveta and Ryan made a great pairing; I couldn't keep my eyes off of them in the group numbers. Apparently Janette Manrara (S5) and Artem Chigvintsec (S1) are also in the show per the program but did not dance in this performance. Let me tell you that all of the dancers are more gorgeous and beautiful in person!
Each celebrity performed two routines. Anya danced with Joey, Sabrina with Tristan, and Lacey of course with Kyle. Tia danced a solo dance with Dmitry and then a hybrid group number with Dmitry and Ryan with the troupe. Carson danced his famous “Moves Like Jagger” dance with Iveta and his even more famous “Vogue” dance with the male troupe numbers. Dmitry also danced a fantastic rumba with Anya and an equally great Argentine tango with Lacey. Both of those dances were so hot and passionate; I wished I was the one dancing up there with him! Ryan and Iveta danced a beautiful waltz which included Iveta flying through the air on a wire! The troupe performed some great themed group numbers in between the couple dances. There were some video clips from Len and Bruno (but no Carrie Ann which was kinda weird) that played between the dances as well. Lacey, Joey, and Kyle came out on stage and pulled people from the audience to come up on stage to have a dance off to win a cast signed t-shirt. This was actually a really funny part of the show because Lacey, Joey and Kyle play really well off of each other as well as the people who joined them on stage were pretty funny. Kyle brought up this mom that was wearing this dress that had an attached boa scarf thing but Lacey's guy ended up winning. The show ended with another great group number featuring everybody. The show seemed to fly by! The show was about an hour and a half in run time. I wished it lasted longer and had a bit more dancing in it.
After the show since we had VIP seats we had a Meet and Greet with the cast. I thought I would be able to meet Lacey, Dmitry, Tristan, & Joey but instead Kyle, Carson, Tia, and Anya were out with some of the troupe members. They were all ready posed and you just went up and took your picture with them. Since Lacey, Dmitry, Tristan, & Joey weren’t there I decided to tell Anya that I love her on SYTYCD and she seemed so genuinely nice and thankful that I told her that. I went to stand by Carson and my sister stood by Kyle for the picture. Carson and I said hello and I told him he was really funny tonight. After we took out picture he told me he loved the color of my dress on me! Anya even chimed in and and agreed and said that coming from him that was a big compliment which I agree. I mean he was the style expert on Queer Eye!
Overall, the show was amazing. A lot of great dancing! Really a high quality production in terms of dance choices and comedy. I give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. I deducted 1/2 a star because I wanted more dancing and for the price of the VIP ticket the photos they took of you should have been included and more of the pros and stars should have been in the M&G. The VIP ticket did include a souvenir bag which included the show program and a judge’s paddle with a 7. I would have liked a 10 paddle though! I loved that Lacey, Ryan, and Anya retweeted my #DWTSLV tweets about the show (Lacey actually RT’ed it during the show)! The show is definitely a must see for any DWTS fan.
