BWAT - Northridge (May 17, 2014) - by Betsy & Kiki

Administrator's Note:  Several members of our website had the opportunity to see Ballroom With A Twist in Northridge and Lancaster, CA on May 17-18.  Special thanks to Betsy and Kiki who bravely took on the challenge of writing a little something for us so that we could see BWAT through their eyes.  Enjoy!

Betsy
OK, here goes!! I hope there were other MacManiacs in the audience who can fill in the big gaps in this review.

First of all, my husband, two friends and I loved the show!  Tristan and Kym were beautiful and talented as usual, but the rest of the cast was superb as well.  Gina and Von’s singing was out of this world, especially since Gina looks like she is about to pop out her baby in the not too distant future!  Our favorite Irishman was having a lot of fun with the mike.  In fact, even my husband mentioned that Kym was hardly able to get a word in edgewise!!  It was obvious that he was thoroughly enjoying interacting with us!  Some of his quips really left us laughing, like when an audience member asked what was their favorite part of their jobs and Tristan answered "Having one"!!  When another audience member asked if the pros had any say in their celebrity, Tristan quipped "So you think I chose mine?"  He explained that it would probably make for boring TV if the pros were able to choose.  

He then went on to describe how when he came over to the U.S. for the first season as a pro, he went into the producer's office after having a big buildup about how great and well-known his star was, in fact, he said there was practically a drum roll on the producer's desk when they were about to give him the name.  Well, when they said "Nancy Grace,” he asked, "Who"?  They said, "Well, she is very well-known over here.  In fact she has her own TV show!"  He said "Well, we don't get American TV over in Ireland!" Then he went on to quickly mention Pamela and said "Well, that one was interesting to go home and tell the wife about!!  Probably a good thing we only lasted one week!!"

Honestly, he was so excited sometimes that I couldn't catch what he was saying with his accent, so I just sat there and enjoyed watching him have fun. The second time they came out to talk, they turned up the house lights and proceeded to have us all stand up.  Of course, many of us were reluctant.  Then they told us how recently they had been in Canada and how good the audience was there - so that got us up because we had to show that we were as good if not better at dancing in two square feet (in front of our chairs!) as the Canadians were.  By the end we were all laughing and making quite the fools of ourselves.  Tristan had us shimmy to our friends (while he demonstrated with Kym) and then told us to make a new friend and shimmy with them.  He was having a ball turning to the audience and showing his shimmy.  I definitely thought it was time for me to join all of you in the dungeon by the time he was done with shimmying and turning himself around in circles (he does have a cute backside!!).   Sorry I can't remember all the technical stuff - I certainly am no dance expert!  But it was such a fun time I would highly suggest everyone go if it comes near you!  


[For those of you unfamiliar with the dungeon, it's the imaginary place on this website where we send misbehaving MacManiacs.]

Kiki  W.
Ballroom With A Twist is unbelievable.

I could talk about each of the exquisite dances that Tristan did with Kym or I could talk about the other perfect performances or I could talk about the amazing vocal talents of Gina Glocksen-Ruzicka and Von Smith.  What I’m going to talk about is Tristan’s unbelievable talent, not just as a dancer and performer, because I think we all knew that, but each time I see BWAT I come away impressed with the ease at which he works an audience and has them in the palm of his hand.

This is my fifth BWAT show in which Tristan has played the role of performer and co-host.  Because I was traveling on business in California this past weekend, I was fortunate enough to get to see the show again.  Tristan is a natural.  Every show is different because Tristan depends on his audience to make the give-and-take segment extra special for everyone and to make every show unique.  He has a natural rapport with Kym much like he has with Anna, yet with Kym, it’s so relaxed and fun that you wish you could see him doing this every night. 

When he does the shimmy demonstration, the audience goes wild. When he talks, the audience goes wild. When he dances the audience goes wild, and when he talks to his audience it’s as though he is talking to each person there one-on-one, and we all feel like we are prt of BWAT.  He’s that good, and Kym is his perfect counterpart (much as Anna was in the shows I saw last summer).

I can’t imagine what ABC was thinking by letting this gem get away for Season 18. Talent like that comes along rarely, and there are so many facets to his talent that you know that only great things like ahead for this man.

He’s brilliant, but it’s the kind of brilliance that we all wish we had.  He’s the real deal.