Interview with Tony Dovolani

Champion Dancer and Dancing With The Stars Professional Dancer Tony Dovolani was recently profiled in the Palm Beach Post:

Step by step: Leslie learns about dancing with a star, Tony Dovolani
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 03, 2008

You might know Tony Dovolani as the elegantly handsome dancer who has swept the likes of Hairspray's Marissa Jaret Winokur and former wrestler Stacey Keibler off their famous feet on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. But between seasons, the 34-year-old Kosovo native is something of a traveling missionary, spreading the gospel of partner dancing and the social civility it inspires.

"Dancing is for everyone," says Dovolani, who spends several weeks a year making appearances at Fred Astaire Dance Studio locations around the country, including a performance with professional partner Elena Grinenko at the recently opened West Palm Beach studio.

"One of the things we have lost is social contact with each other," he says. "We spend so much time watching TV. Partner dancing is the only sport where you start by saying 'Hello' to someone else."

While he was in town, Tony said "Hello" and explained why we should be dancing (yeah!)

Question: Why is it so important to you to increase the popularity of ballroom dancing?
Answer: I've been working with students for 17 years, making sure the quality of dance stays up. I love what I do - it's a joy and a blessing. Partner dancing was a part of our culture for 70 years, but in the '80s it kind of faded away. It needed to be revamped, and Dancing With The Stars has helped that. It brings joy to people.
Q: So people have told you that they're interested in dancing again specifically because of the show?
A: They say 'It's the only show we watch as a family.' .... I think the new wave of interest started with the Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere movie Shall We Dance. People rediscovered that dancing by yourself is just not as fun, so they start with someone else.
Q: Why did you want to do the show?
A: I'm a teacher at heart, and that's a key part of it. I was raised in the Fred Astaire system, and you can teach everyone to dance. I have people say, "I have two left feet," and I say, "I have two right feet, so together I think we can make it work."
Q: What are some of the issues the celebrities have as dancers?
A: What keeps our interest as viewers is seeing them go completely outside their box. The whole point of the show is seeing them make the best of it. Some don't know their left from their right, some can't hear the music. We work seven to eight hours a day, seven days a week. We don't get a break!
Q: You want to prove that dancing is for everyone, of every size and age, and your most recent celebrity partner, Marissa Jaret Winokur, was a testament to that.
A: She started the show because she believed that you don't have to be a size zero or 2 to dance. Ballroom is for everyone. She had lost 45 pounds before coming on the show, and she said, "I'm not going on a diet." I told her, "You look perfect the way you are." We actually may have gained a few pounds. Everyone always talks about how much weight they lose on the show, and they asked us and we said "None! Were we supposed to?" You don't have to be an ideal size. Most of my students are not an ideal size.
Q: Let's go through your partners on the show, and you tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. Marissa?
A: Joy. Absolute joy, such a positive way of looking at life.
Q: Jane Seymour?
A: She was so determined. I'd never worked with anyone so determined.
Q: Leeza Gibbons?
A: A class act.
Q: Sara Evans (who left the show before the end of the season because of personal issues)?
A: A sweetheart. It was unfortunate what she went through.
Q: Stacy Keibler?
A: Should have won. People talk about how she was a (Baltimore Ravens) dancer, but we had so many of those singers who were dancers on the show. Drew Lachey was in a boy band, and he won! She did dance, but ballet and ballroom are two different animals. She was the hardest-working celebrity I've ever had, but her downfall was that people thought it came easy for her. If they had seen her struggle on the show, it might have been different.