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| The only picture I took that came out. |
There definitely was not as much dancing as I expected! The best way to describe it would be: 1 part roast, 1 part studio showcase, and one part watching a party you weren't really invited to. My friend loved spotting all the people she had previously seen on TV and chatting it up with the lady next to her (who had traveled all the way from California to see Maks) about DWTS gossip. For me though, the event seemed to drag a little bit (it was almost four hours long). Below were my favorite, and least favorite, parts of the evening.
The Good
- The best dance number of the evening was definitely a Cha Cha performed by Val Chmerkovskiy & Daria Chesnokova entitled Relax Maks (can you guess the song??). It’s always great to see them dance, especially since they aren’t competing in amateur anymore L The number was cheeky and cute and had the added bonus of a bit of lead and follow syllabus cha cha at the end with Maks & Daria.
- There were some great, and seriously touching, video tributes to Maks from family, friends and students. All of the kids from his first class in his first studio came back to talk about how much he meant to them. They also performed and looked pretty good, which was impressive considering some had not danced in years!
- There was a cool number choreographed by Matt Hauer entitled Samurai that I wish I could have gotten on video but our seats were in the back and with the dim lighting my camera couldn’t pick anything up. Hopefully I’ll catch it again somewhere.
The Bad
- For a ballroom party there really wasn’t that much dancing. The audience, like my friend, seemed to be mostly fans of Maks from DWTS not dancers themselves. It was probably a good thing because there was no social dancing at all throughout the evening, not even during intermission! It was just so hard to be in a beautiful venue with a great dance floor and not be allowed to use it!
- Tony, Tony, Tony…what were you thinking? Val and Tony Dovolani did a majority of the talking during the show which was fine in the beginning. By the end however, Tony was throwing in lots of off-the-wall comments and long-winded remarks. He also half-assed the only performance he gave, a samba where his poor partner tried to dance twice as hard to make up for him basically walking around the floor. I think he may have enjoyed the VIP area (the only place there was really a party) a little too much.
- Those videos quickly became a double edged sword. They were funny, cute, and touching at first but as the event got longer and longer the lengthy videos became tiresome.
The...What?!?
- Val and Daria performed a second number to the tunes of Val himself. Yup! That’s right, Val rapped a whole song in honor of Maks performing an Argentine Tango with Daria during the breaks.
- Throughout the night there were a few references to the Real Housewives of New Jersey who my friend had informed me were in house (after she stalked the red carpet for celebrities, of course). She, along with her new friend next to her, decided this must be a sign that a Housewife would be on this season of DWTS. If not, then all their shout outs seem even more random!
- Towards the end of the show, Maks was presented with a cake: a gold bust of his own head. He seemed very excited for the Cake Boss creation, but for the audience it started to get strange when he went on and on about it. You can only admire yourself in cake form for so long before it starts to get a little weird.
It wasn’t what I expected, but all in all I had a good time and met some cool people (and avid DWTS fans). Considering this wasn’t a milestone birthday for him, I have to wonder if NYC has an annual birthday bash in its future. Next year I think I'll pass on the bash and hit up a real party instead.
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