STOP WHINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, second week into Season 10's competition and already most of you stars are fighting with your pros. Honestly? You look and sound like a bunch of stereotypical, spoiled, Hollywood brats!
For those of you that have not seen the show yet this week, almost every practice clip showed the stars yelling at their pros, whining, crying, and generally being difficult. And the pros, for the most part, well... handled it like a pro! It's hard enough to teach, to try to find the right way to convey your message to your students. But to also have to come up with a well-choreographed routine in just a couple of days, and teach it to a beginner dancer - not just the steps, but style, technique, and polish - adds a whole new layer of difficulty and pressure that most people do not even realize. Then, to top it off, to have a spoiled brat that knows nothing about dancing or dance competitions, yelling at you and trying to tell you not only how to teach, but how to do your job.... well, I don't think that's really part of the contract. And they definitely do not get paid enough to have to deal with that crap. A very reliable insider informed me that while the stars get paid regardless of how long they are on the show, the pros are only paid for the weeks they are in the competition.
I was happy to see that judge, Len Goodman, finally said something while critiquing Erin Andrews & Maksim Chmerkovskiy's Foxtrot: "A lot of the couples are really having a go at your professionals, and I've got to say we've got some of the best pros. Three key words - TURN UP, KEEP UP, AND SHUT UP! Get on with your dancing, trust your pro!"
"Turn up, keep up, and shut up." Those are words to live by - dancing or not. Anytime we learn something new, we need to respect our teacher. Be it in a school classroom, a training session at work, in learning a new hobby, or out on the dance floor. Our "teacher," or "leader," or whatever the title is of the person you are following, is the expert in that particular subject. They don't care if you own your own business, if you're a big CEO, a multi-million dollar athlete, or a big Hollywood star. Just because you're good in one thing, or perhaps know a lot about a certain subject, does not mean that you are an expert in everything. I think we all need a reminder of that every now and then.
Swallow your pride and listen to your teacher. They know what they are talking about. They're teaching because they have an appropriate amount of experience in their field. You don't - that's why you need a teacher. Remember that. Don't whine and try to change things to your advantage just because something is hard. Embrace it! Enjoy the challenge! Strive to do something new and better yourself in the process! As Len says, what's the worst that can happen? "You go wrong, you fall over, so what... Don't go down as a wimp - go out fighting!"
And to the current and future stars on DWTS - Remember your pro wants to win just as much, if not more than you. They're not going to do something to purposely make you look like a fool out there. Everything they're making you do in practice is so that you can look as fantastic as possible on that dance floor. They've been doing this much longer than you. They each have a list of credits a mile long, and awards to prove it. They are ranked some of the best dancers in the entire world. Believe it or not, they know what they're doing. Give them a break. Understand that they have a job to do, and listen to what they're saying. You may not like it, but it's the only way to get you one elegant step closer to that mirror ball trophy. Otherwise, on top of adding extra stress and drama that no one needs, you'll be going home. It is an ensemble dance show, after all. If you want the show to be all about you, then you need to get your own reality TV show (oh wait, some of you already have...). How long you stay on the show is ultimately up to the viewers. And frankly, we don't want to see you harassing the pros. We just want to see some entertaining dancing - So suck it up and just dance!
For more SP blogs on Dancing with the Stars:
-Season 10 Gets Underway
-A Day with Maks & Karina
