BWAT (Kitchener, Ontario - May 14, 2014) by Annie D

BWAT in Kitchener was nothing short of amazing! The concept of the show works so well – the audience gets to see fantastic dancing and hear unbelievable music. We (my husband and I) have seen three BWAT shows since 2010 and each one has been just as good as the other. That being said this one was extra special because of Tristan and Kym. They did an outstanding job of being the hosts for the show and it is so obvious how much they enjoy it. They are very comfortable in this role and it makes for a relaxed atmosphere – nothing is forced or “scripted”. Tristan is a hoot and he loves to talk – how very Irish of him! 

In addition, we were of course treated to them dancing several dances, including a rumba done the way a rumba is supposed to be danced (hear that current DWTS dancers??). The other dancers are also SO GOOD! Every kind of dance style was covered – Paso Doble, Samba, Quickstep, Contemporary, etc.  The troupe included Brent Borbon, Anya Fuchs, Oksana Dmytrenko and several others (my brain is letting me down – I can’t remember all their names). As well, Legacy and Randi Lynn Strong from SYTYCD were in the show and all I can say is WOW! What a treat to see all of them. The singers were Gina Glocksen and Von Smith and the two of them sang everything live – no canned music, no lip-syncing - and they both have incredible voices. We were blown away by how good they were. What made this performance so memorable was the fact that the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra was on the stage with all the performers and they played ALL the music – again, no canned music at all. It was magical. It was special because all of the performers had huge smiles on their faces. It was so obvious how much they enjoyed performing for us (almost full house).  We had incredible seats – fourth row from the front, dead centre. We could see absolutely everything, including the sweat flying off the male dancers! Were they working hard? Oh, yes they were!

After the show there was a meet and greet for a small group of the people who attended the show, including us! We had the chance to talk with Gina, Von, a few of the dancers, Kym and (of course) Tristan! What a guy. He embodies what we all want in the entertainers we are fans of – a down to earth, decent, funny, sweet, pleasant guy who doesn’t just talk nonsense. He immediately recognized us and gave me a bear hug. He looked so genuinely happy to see us it absolutely warmed our hearts. We stood and talked to him for several minutes and we could have kept on but we didn’t want to be selfish – there were other people who also wanted the chance to chat with him. All the performers we talked to were singing the praises of the orchestra and they all said how much they enjoyed having the opportunity to do the show together with the orchestra. It really was wonderful – what a great concept.

As for Tristan, my personal opinion is that there are some pros who should take lessons from Tristan on how to behave. Realistically, maybe he’s too good for DWTS. Who knows – maybe HE doesn’t want to be part of it…that would make me sad as I truly miss him on the show but I also want him to do what HE wants and what is good for him. He enjoys BWAT – that was clearly obvious. Let’s hope he does more of these shows so that more people in the U.S. and Canada have the chance to see what we – those crazy MacManiacs/MacLunatics – saw the minute he joined DWTS.

Sad the show is over!!