Dancing with the Stars

Female wrestler Stacy Keibler and professional dancer Tony Dovolani placed third on the second season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

Bob D’Amico / ABC

I can only imagine what went through the minds of Dancing with the Stars celebrities like wrestler Stacy Keibler, radio personality Adam Corolla or country music star Sara Evans when they were asked to participate as dancer/contestants on the ABC hit show. Were they really hoping to enter the world of competitive ballroom dancing? Or did they see the offer as an opportunity to raise their celebrity with the American public?

With that scenario in mind, I created a list of all of the 54 stars that have competed in the show over the last six seasons. I wanted to know things like, who were the most popular stars across all seasons? Did they maintain the same level of celebrity after their season concluded? What were these stars associated with in the minds of Internet searchers?

Over the last three years, the most searched for celebrity dancer was Stacy Keibler, with over five times the searches of any other contestant. Searches for the leggy blonde finalist in the show’s second season weren’t for her samba, waltz or cha-cha; searchers were primarily interested in finding pictures, specifically “hot pictures,” of the female wrestler. One thing that can be said for Stacy’s searches is that they have sustained after her 2006 appearance on the show, more than doubling the volume of searches she experienced before taking up ballroom dancing and at peak times increasing over 1700%. With search terms as a proxy for her increased celebrity, Dancing with the Stars has clearly bolstered Stacy’s career.

For other show stars, controversy was the primary fuel for very limited brief spikes. The single greatest one-week spike, for example, was for third season contestant and country music star Sara Evans. Sara’s search spike — over 8,000 times the normal level for searches on her name — actually had nothing to do with her participation in the show, but everything to do with her quitting the show mid-season due to a very messy and very public divorce from her politician husband.

Searchers flocked to their favorite search engine during season five to search for videos of Marie Osmond on the show. They were looking for one specific video clip that showed her fainting on live television. Subsequent Marie searches focused on the authenticity of her fainting spell, with some queries clearly questioning whether the brief bout of unconsciousness was a publicity conspiracy.

If we fast-forward to recent weeks, despite being voted off two weeks ago, the most searched for star dancer is Priscilla Presley. In comparing searches for her name against all other dancers who have participated on the show through the years, she received 24.9% of all searches during the last four weeks. But, as with online interest in other contestants, searchers were most fascinated with her looks. Top Priscilla searches included “Priscilla Presley plastic surgery,” “Priscilla Presley facelift” and “Priscilla Presley’s face.”

With the exception of Stacy Keibler’s sustained post-show fame, online attention is more likely to be generated by scandal than dancing prowess. Searches surrounding Dancing with the Stars reveal that our fascination with celebrities has everything to do with their outward appearance, their weaknesses and any salacious details that might be available online.

Bill Tancer is general manager of global research at Hitwise

Time

On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ an unlikely formula proves to be a winner

Everything you know about fame is wrong: such is the lesson imparted by “Dancing With the Stars,” the improbable ABC success story that began its sixth season last week. In this universe, B- and C-listers are elevated to water cooler chat fodder — who knew there were pleasures to be found in Stacy Keibler, the leggy World Wrestling Entertainment diva, nailing the finer points of the samba? — and professional ballroom dancers are granted access to Los Angeles’ hottest nightspots and tracked by TMZ.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s favorite dance? “The horizontal mambo.”

Sadly, Chmerkovskiy has opted out of Season 6, though he was in truth too beautiful for this variety show, which thrills in the ridiculous. “DWTS” is as close as television gets to a Las Vegas song-and-dance revue. It is unrelentingly tacky and doesn’t aspire to much beyond that, though the studio audience does dress up, as they would for a real ballroom competition. At its best, “DWTS” shows the transformation of an amateur into something greater. But even then, technique matters, and it is difficult to watch someone do something almost well.

Unlike on “American Idol” or “So You Think You Can Dance?” where those who underperform are routinely ridiculed, the stars here need not have particularly thick skin. The judges can be firm, but they are also sometimes ridiculous — Bruno Tonioli is especially unpleasant, like an excitable monkey — but everyone knows that should a contestant fail to master the fox trot, the planet will not be thrust off its axis. And in some cases — recall Master P’s disastrous and yet somehow redemptive run in Season 2 — even woeful inadequacy is celebrated. Here, there is no shame in being Sanjaya.

“DWTS,” which is adapted from England’s “Strictly Come Dancing,” arrives at the intersection of two TV phenomena — dance competitions (“Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew” on MTV, “Step It Up and Dance” on Bravo, “America’s Ballroom Challenge” on PBS) and celebrities yanked out of their comfort zones (“The Celebrity Apprentice” on NBC, “Skating With Celebrities” on Fox, the underwatched “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” on CMT and, of course, the classic “Battle of the Network Stars.”)

It has become reliably popular since its 2005 debut, routinely drawing upward of 20 million viewers and spawning three national tours. For an event in which imperfection is practically written into its DNA, its continued success is astonishing, a validation of the show’s come-what-may attitude.

That belief in carefully crafted happenstance is on display once more this season, with a true motley crew lineup. As in previous years, there are athletes (the Miami Dolphins’ Jason Taylor, tennis’ Monica Seles), onetime recluses (Priscilla Presley, Steve Guttenberg), schlubs (Adam Carolla, Penn Jillette), and someone who is physically disadvantaged (Marlee Matlin, who is deaf). Of these, Taylor completed a handsome fox trot, Matlin proved to be more rhythmically inclined than at least half of her competitors, Carolla proved he was hardly the fratty Kenny Mayne, and Presley displayed a ballroom-ready sense of drama, both physical and emotional, that could only have been acquired from a lifetime spent ducking the spotlight. “I don’t want to be treated delicately,” she told her partner, Louis Van Amstel, within minutes of meeting him. “I need you to be tough with me. It’s good for me.”

And it worked — Presley tied for the second-highest score from the judges. (No couple was eliminated last week; two will be eliminated this week.) She was behind only Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, who, although more comfortable on blades, proved to be a natural in heels.

But only in the first season of “DWTS” did a female celebrity, Kelly Monaco, win the competition. In each of the last two, an athlete (Olympic speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves) bested a former pop group member (Joey Fatone of ‘N Sync, Mel B of the Spice Girls) in the finale.

It is probably not a coincidence that Ohno and Castroneves shared a partner, Julianne Hough. The two previous winners, Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith, were partnered with Cheryl Burke. Burke and Hough are young, beautiful and exuberant dancers, and that may have mattered far more than the specific skills of the celebrities — Lachey had fantastic footwork, but Castroneves was a goof.

When the female amateurs are off their mark, though, their partners can do less to rescue them — the work of the skilled male lead is quieter and more anchoring. Last week, even though magician Jillette’s heavy-footed cha-cha stomp seemed like the behavior of a drunken uncle at a wedding, it was less jarring than watching Seles fox trot while holding her arms as if she were in mid-weight lift. Over five seasons, male contestants have been forgiven for lack of fluidity, but the women by and large have not.

“Dancing With the Stars” may do Herculean work in upending preconceptions about celebrity. But gender? Not so much.

Learn to Dance Samba with Louis Dancing with the Stars DVD

From learn to dance

This EMMY nominated Choreographer has amassed a staggering amount of accolades and was a teacher to many of the dance pro’s on the hit show. Louis directed, choreographed and performed in a broadway dance production in New York City and founded VanDance, LLC and Visionworx- two dance companies that have presented dance productions all over the country.

He is currently the Creative Director and Choreographer for the very popular, “Dancing with the Stars Tour” and wanted to bring his unique teaching style and popular edge to millions around the world. He has appeared on the “Suite Life with Zack and Cody” and “All my Children”. Louis also attended University of the Arts Amsterdam and specialized in dance and theory, not to mention rigorous classes in ballet, tap and jazz. He is sought after for instruction all over the world and teaches master classes and consults for Dancesport Competitions and Ice Dancing Competitions.

A model, singer, actor and dancer, Louis is known for his ability to make dance instruction easy and fun and his unique style of teaching movement along with the steps has given him the title of America’s Dance Teacher. His tireless devotion to the Heart Association with events and charity work, bring much needed attention to combating heart disease and obesity for children and adults through dance. His sense of humor and style have made him an American sensation.

In this video, Louis gives an introduction to samba dancing.

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