Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Cheryl Burke’s star shines bright


Two-time Dancing With the Stars champion Cheryl Burke traded in her ballet slippers for a ballroom dancing outfit at age 11. Now she practices eight hours a day for her job as a dynamic and well-respected professional dancer on one of TVs most popular reality shows.

Dancing With the Stars” has turned Cheryl Burke into a star in her own right. This season, she has been tearing up the floor with Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton.
Burke, 23, has become one of the biggest draws on ABC’s hit reality series “Dancing With the Stars.” The show, which is now in its fifth season, pairs professional ballroom dancers with celebrities and has them compete in the fox trot, tango, paso doble and other traditional routines. Its estimated weekly viewership of 20 million people last year was second only to “American Idol.”

The popularity of “Dancing With the Stars,” an import version of the international television hit “Strictly Come Dancing,” has surprised even executives at ABC, some of whom were reluctant to embrace the series when it started as a summer replacement in 2005.
For more about Cheryl Burke and “Dancing With the Stars,” read the full text of the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/arts/television/24danc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Where's Lyall Bradshaw's commentary on each show? I really enjoyed it last season. Bring Lyall back!