Interview With Tristan - April 26, 2013

As busy as Tristan has been lately, he was still more than willing to answer your questions.  This latest is from Friday, April 26.


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It was great seeing you back on Dancing With the Stars during Week 5, and we especially loved your performance with Witney Carson during the results show. Tell us about that one; it looked incredibly intricate and difficult, yet you and Witney seemed to embrace the dance and let the story develop.

I loved dancing with Witney - she is so good and fun to be around, and Teddy Forance is unreal. I was a bit in two minds about doing the number. I really wanted to work with those two but at the same time I wasn’t too sure about doing the contemporary as it’s not really my style but Teddy made it work for me which I was happy about. He is very much a 'guy' dancer and let me do things I felt comfortable doing. I really enjoyed working with them for sure.

Len’s side by side challenges were great fun from the fans’ point of view.  Would you share a little about working with Emma, Victor, and Lindsay for the Viennese Waltz and again with Chelsie, Peta, and Sean for the Quickstep? There must be some good stories to tell.

I always love working with Emma, and Vic and I hang out so rehearsals were fun.  I love Emma’s dancing so it was great to dance with her but also it is good to work with the guy celebrities as well - if nothing else just for a new perspective for them and to freshen things up even for a week.  We had great laughs there.  I always love hanging out with Peta as well. She is one funny girl, and I was interested to get to know Sean. He is cool, real down to earth, and a bit of a dry sense of humor which kept me entertained while working.

Every time you and Sean are on our tv screen at the same time, we can’t help but laugh.  You guys seemed to have a great time working together, and if nothing else, we were hugely entertained.   How did all the silliness begin?

Yeah, like I said Sean is a good guy- the show really pushed the bromance thing which gets a bit old, but we do genuinely get on with each other so most of the interaction was just us really making fun of the situation and at how bizarre the intent of the packages was.  Someone would start a ridiculous conversation, and we would just roll with it.  I wasn’t expecting the rose thing so we tried to make that as ridiculous as possible.  My language I guess was cut out of a lot of the footage.  Haha!

We got a huge kick out of “Dressing For Dance With Tristan MacManus” - the DanceJunkiesTV segment with Stuart Brazell and Rib Hillis. That must have been a lot of fun, and you guys had lots of laughs.  Would you share some of that day with us?

Stuart and Rib are cool.  I didn’t actually know what to expect to be honest. I had done Dance Junkies before so I thought I was just coming in to talk about the show but it turned into the dress up thing.  When I got there they told me Emma had done it the week before and had some sumo suit on so I didn’t know then what was gonna happen, and then when they showed me the costumes I was trying not to offend anyone, so I just gave them the clothes and left it to them.

You’ve been all over the place the last few weeks – the DanceJunkiesTV piece, the DWTS Week 5 Pre-Show,  the April 3 AfterBuzzTV segment and so much more. You seem so comfortable with all of it, and your sense of humor is always evident.   Have you ever thought about being on the other side of the camera and being the one asking the questions?  You seem like a natural.

Yeah, I’ve done a few of the talking things the last few weeks which I do really enjoy doing. It’s easy enough to just talk for me - being Irish I guess.  I like the idea of interviewing or just talking on shows but that’s out of my hands.  If I’m asked, I’ll do it.  Hopefully that is something I can get into. 

A couple of weeks ago, we all saw the photos of you and Anna with Mark Walberg, Marysol Castro, and Poncho De Anda? What's the occasion?  

I’m not too sure what I can and can’t say about that project to be honest but we worked with Poncho and Marysol for a few days.  I really just helped out on the project that Anna was working on, but I had a blast.  Marysol is so funny - I could work with her all day long.  Mark’s humor is very much like Tom’s as well so he is cool to be around.  Maybe I’ll keep schtum on that, and I’m sure it will come out when it needs to or maybe someone else involved will talk more about it if they can.

We’ve seen some notifications come in about your off-season appearances – the two Holland America cruises as well as a couple of appearances in Ballroom with A Twist.  Do you have any other definite plans right now?  Do you have any more DWTS performances or other appearances scheduled for the upcoming weeks?

I don’t have too many definite plans at the minute to be honest.  There are a few irons in the fire but you never know with this industry until you are actually on the stage or behind the camera if things are going to happen or not. There are a few things I’m trying to put together and get involved in but until they are signed and sealed it’s hard to say.  It’s fair to say though if you don’t see me I’m busy working on something.  I may be on the show over the next few weeks.  I always want to be involved but again it’s not my call.  We just have to wait and see what the producers want.

In our last Q and A, you explained some of the challenges of teaching the Jive.  What approach do you take when teaching Cha Cha? What particular challenges are there?

The challenges of each dance really depend on the person who is doing it but the rhythms can be difficult for people.  At the same time it’s a dance that people I feel find more familiar. Everyone knows 'cha cha cha'.  It’s a fun dance to do, and I think people feel that and enjoy learning that you just got to move in it.  Some find it hard to do when they stiffen up because of certain rotations but it’s great to do when you get it.

The pros and troupe members always seem to have great camaraderie and get along great.  Tell us – who is the biggest prankster on the show?

Farbs!

Thanks, Tristan! As always, it was a pleasure.