Interview with Louis van Amstel, Dancing with the Stars

DanceScape would like to congratulate you, Louis, on being cast in the new hit television series “Dancing With The Stars” that aired on June 1st on ABC. How do you feel about your very first performance?
It was our first time out and Trista Sutter and I were the last ones to perform so we were under a little bit of pressure. We were dancing after John O’Hurley’s Cha Cha, which was such a high and energetic number, so having to perform after that with our more subdued song “Come Away With Me”, made it a little bit difficult. Though, I must say I think he did great! Taking all of that into account, I think that Trista did a great job!

Were there ever any conflicts that occurred between you and Trista Sutter while rehearsing for the first show?
I am a little bit on the critical side and we did get into a little bit of a fight on Saturday because I was suggesting that we get more into the ‘performance mode’ before the show and she was saying that she would perform when the time came to be aired on Wednesday. I knew from my dance experience that it is hard to make that happen, so she did not do half of the things that we had decided. Although, having said all of that, for the first time out, for Trista being so nervous upfront, I am still overall very happy with how we did.

Who was responsible for choreographing your Waltz?
Every dancer is responsible for their own choreography. Some dancers have had help with other specialists in the Smooth Dances, but I do my own choreography. Some of the other dancers pre-choreographed their pieces before even getting into the show. How I operated? I met Trista, wanted to know a little bit more about her personality and have a chance to listen to the music, which I had not known at the time. All these things helped me create the choreography, along with the fact that we had a very romantic song and she just got married as The Bachelorette, her wedding was on TV, so this is why we chose soft pink, very elegant, very simple.

On another note, because we are doing Ballroom Dancing Competition with celebrities it is somewhat like ProAm, but it’s still a competition on how quick we can make them learn to dance Ballroom Dancing. So we have five weeks, and I thought to myself, I do not want to lose, we are going to do Ballroom Dancing, so I am not just going to do an entertaining show, I am going to make her do elements of Ballroom Dancing. I gave her heel turns, impetus turns, open natural chasses, so it was more difficult.

We also didn’t get to see the other couples before our first dance and after seeing the show, I am going to change that format somewhat, because for some reason the judges don’t give a heck if you are doing Ballroom Dancing or not, they are going to give the marks the way they want to, the audience wants to just be entertained, so it didn’t matter if she closed her legs on the heel turn, or if she rises and falls.

So, opposed to what somebody mentioned on DanceScape forums, I was not doing the Cha Cha to the Waltz. I included an open natural, two heel turns, five promenades, pivots, outside swivel, outside spin, turning chasse two open impetus turns and those are all elements of Waltz. I did not have any Cha Cha in my routine and I made sure of that and that there were enough Ballroom elements in there because I was worried that people would think that, especially those who know that I am a Latin dancer. Actually, in the rehearsal, the English judge made a remark that mine was the only choreography that had more Waltz ingredients, but then at night he said that we were going off like Hansel and Gretel.

Are there any differences between competing in dance and competing on “Dancing With The Stars”?
When you compare regular dance competitions that I compete in to the television competition “Dancing With The Stars” there was no real difference. All of the European, German, World and UK Championships were all televised competitions and although they were not broadcast live, our competition was live and we could not do a second take.

What is the atmosphere and interaction like between all of the cast members?
It’s very exciting for all of us. The whole group is so great together. The celebrities are not acting like celebrities, they are very open. In the competition we are all great towards each other. It doesn’t feel like a competition because it is just about everybody doing their best, and having fun. Whatever the judges and audiences decide, then that’s there decision, which is something that we can learn in the dance business – a lesson learned.

What are some of the challenges and rewards involved in this experience?
It is definitely more exciting because we are on ABC, it’s national television and especially now knowing that we were the number one show that night in both Pacific and Eastern timeslots, and we had 13.5 million viewers, whereas the best show beneath us “Beauty and The Geek” only had 9 million viewers. That was the competition of the night, so we outdid them by millions of viewers.

On Wednesday we were all a bit nervous about how would America react, not just how would the Ballroom Dancing scene react, but how would America react – is this the moment that we are going to breakthrough. The next morning when we got the ratings from ABC, now that’s when it can only become more exciting.

Of course, one challenge was that the only side the public will see us professionally is in our opening statements, where we are all showing off our professional dancing, but the show is all about the celebrities and how we dance and teach them. In the beginning I understood that I was supposed to make it about how Trista dances and not about me. I had her do things and spin on her own and I am not holding her, but I am going to change that in the next dance. Trista’s family actually even asked me why I was not doing my spins and splits, and I said because I was making it about her, so the next episode I am going to make it more about not just her, but about me, about us.

Since your next dance will be the Rumba, when will you start rehearsing that dance together? Or was it rehearsed before the show aired?
On April 28th I met Trista, and gave her a little Waltz and played with some dances with her just to get her familiar and see how she moves in our first meeting. . She picked up pretty quick and by the first session I had five or six elements already in there that I wanted in the choreography. Then we went into Rumba a little bit, went back into Waltz, and basically we finished the Rumba three days before the show aired on Wednesday June 1st. So, before we performed the Waltz, we were finished learning the Rumba together.

But since we are changing our strategy and are making it a bit more aggressive and more about me and us, it will make it more entertaining, which she is agreeing on with me. So, the next morning, on Thursday June 2nd we got together and changed it at 8 a.m. I said Trista we are going to change it, I had a very simple and romantic ending, but I changed it. I thought they aren’t going to get Hansel and Gretle anymore, they are going to watch me going into my splits with her on me, if my doctor gives me permission when I go to see him today because I had an operation a few weeks ago.

Do you care to share any feedback about the judges decisions?
Carrie-Ann clearly gave us the message as did the production company that we cannot become personal towards the judges and they cannot be too personal towards us, but she did criticize me for being too strong for Trista, therefore her core wasn’t strong enough, so next week we may try to give our opinions to her, because we are being asked now to say something as the dancers. They want our personality to come out. I would love to have that chance, if questions could be directed to the dancers as well. They don’t do this now, but I am going to talk to them about that, which is something that was mentioned on DanceScape too. We feel the same way, so hopefully that will change.

Len Goodman, I felt he might have changed his mind because in the afternoon he was making a clear comment about my choreography, how he liked how I had actually made a Waltz choreography, with rise and fall, swing and paramounts of Ballroom dancing, not only open, but also closed. Now he is entitled to his own opinion, but at night he said he did not like the walking. The audience didn’t see the rehearsal, but that was a little disappointing to me, to say one thing and then say something else, especially to look like Hansel and Gretel. I thought it was appropriate for the ending and situation, “Come Away With Me”, so we walked off together.

Bruno. He might have been critical, but he didn’t say anything that affected me that much.

Where did the training take place?
Training took place where Trista lives, as well as in Denver and L.A. Trista had to go to L.A. two weeks before the show, so we practiced there in various studios for five days. She had some meetings with her mother in Denver and I have friends with a studio in Denver, so I practiced and taught at that studio. Vail is beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Have you used any strategies from competitive dancing to help you in the show?
I used some strategies, but since we had only five weeks, realistically that ended up being only about two weeks time because you cannot have the whole week to practice as often as you like. For example, the show was Wednesday, Thursday morning we had a hour and a half rehearsal, then I am going to see her Sunday night for two hours and two hours on Monday morning and that’s it. So, basically, for Rumba, that’s only ten hours of learning the Rumba. In that time we have to go over steps, technique, fears, busy-ness, and I have to be strategic with her back because if I go to slow it can hurt her back.

It’s funny too because Jonathan Alec, Edyta and Ashley, I have basically coached in the past, so they also know the name of the game and we have some of the same strategies that I have taught them. But, whatever celebrity is less worried or scared, the more strategies we can use. Trista is getting more hungry now after seeing herself on the show, because she saw that she didn’t do everything. So, now we can work on more strategic things like, how we start and finish our choreography, how she behaves on the floor, how far she can go and how much she can learn. I just want her to learn as much about our technique as possible. I mean it’s difficult. The rumba walk it’s hard to keep her legs straight, she just wants to bend them all the time and I keep saying “Nope” “Nope”. Of course she has been cheerleading on Miami Heat and doing well with hip hop for two years.

Has Trista’s experience in dance helped her learn to Ballroom Dance?
Everybody thinks that she has that on her side, but I think in a way it’s working against her learning because she has habits and an image for thirty two years that she needs to break through and learn to change. She will go against me a lot and say, “But, I am used to this and this ”, and I have to say well, I want you to do it this way. I believe in letting people’s movement come from within. I ask her a lot what she wants to do, instead of me telling her what she needs to do and she is not used to that because she is used to people telling her how to dance and then going off and performing. But, to me it will never happen unless she lets it come from within, so then we will fight. But she definitely learns habits pretty quick.

Rachel actually had eleven years of Ballet training which you can see in her arm and leg movements and her extensions came out in her advantage. By the way, she is beautiful, even without makeup and up-close. She’s gorgeous!

How do you think Evander did?
That man is so down-to-earth, so sweet, so humble. He’s like a little boy. We went out for dinner with him together the night before the show. People can criticize his dancing as much as they want, but he came out and you saw exactly that. But, he kept with the timing of the choreography, he is a four-time heavyweight champion, he put his ego on the side and said I am going to do this. He saw it as another challenge in his life, I thought that was such an example for any athlete or macho sports man with an ego to say this man can get a lot of credit for doing what he is doing. As a dancer, you could tear his dancing apart but I absolutely loved what he did and as a person he is just a wonderful person.

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