Dancing With The Stars

2 minutes and 30 seconds. That's the length of the performance we did in the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars. You could think that such a short performance is a piece of cake for us or that it would not be a big deal since we've performed in TV shows many times before. But more than 1.5 million people watched the episode so it was HUGE for us. Actually it was the most watched TV show that week in Finland. Earlier I wrote that we practiced around 10 hours a week for this show. The last week before the show the amount of practice probably doubled and I stopped counting the hours. You would not believe how much work is behind these two and a half minutes! And it's not like we would be practicing the same routine for hours and hours. Danny always keeps changing small details in the choreo a lot all the way until the performance. We also had a reporter from Helsingin Sanomat visiting one of our practice sessions and a full page article and video about Danny & DBDC was published on the eve of our Dancing With the Stars performance. So quite a lot of media coverage during one weekend!

We had a group of 20 people dancing in the show. Susanna, Hilla, Laura, Amanda, Outi and Paula were performing for the first time with us - quite a start for their DBDC-career! And they did an amazing job.

Hilla's debut with DBDC was full of emotion!

The show day started early in the morning already. We met at our studio around 9 am, danced through the song a few times, checked That all the props, costumes etc. was with us and then set is our way towards Helsinki - on time for once! It is quite a colorful caravan when DBDC cars hit the road. Myself, Danny and Linda had the honor to drive our crew to Helsinki this time. On a side note I have to say that people were actually fighting for a spot in my car.! ;D I guess some were worried that Danny's driving style would be too Indian... Although this video shows that eventually atmosphere was high in his car as well.

Every time we have a show in Helsinki, we take a break at the Linnatuuli. It is a tradition for many of us to have a panini and coffee there and it almost feels like we cannot go to any shows without stopping there. It brings good luck, it really does! 

We arrived in Helsinki almost an hour early. I guess it means this show was really important for us since we usually arrive in Indian style on the last minute. We first went to the dance studio where also the star couples practice routines for the show. At the studio we had our last practice session and started to get ready with hair, costumes and make up.

Last practice at Dancing with the Stars studio and some basic stretching by Eevi :) (pics by Hilla)

Usually we do our makeup ourselves but this time we had invited our wonderful make-up artist Vilja with us. She has done make up for our photo shoots before and it felt so good to have a pro like her with our team to make sure all of us were at our best during the TV shoot. She had quite an intense day as well doing the make up for 18 girls - big thank you is definitely in place!! 

In the afternoon we shifted to the TV studio and saw the star couples practicing their jive marathon. I think it was at this point when the excitement among our dancers really started to grow and it started to hit in that in just few hours we would be performing for more than 1 million TV viewers LIVE.

Props, hair, make up - GO! (Pics by Vuokko)

Before the live show there were still run throughs at the TV studio. And a lot of waiting as well. Luckily it never gets boring When spending time with DBDC and there is always someone's hair That needs braiding, costume that needs fixing etc. And if nothing else there is always time for some selfies! 

Also we managed to get some of the celebrities in pictures with us (side note: Pete Parkkonen is so HOT! We wish him all the best in the competition.).

With the stars :)

I don't really know what was running through my head minutes before the live show. I know I was more nervous than usually but also just could not wait to get on the stage. The Feeling when you dance in front of a cheering audience on such beautiful big stage is just something unique. You forget any fear or stage fright because you know it is the kind of feeling and opportunity you might never have the chance to experience again. So you just let go and enjoy the moment.

I think the performance itself went really well. And it was over so fast! So many hours of work, such a long day and then it all comes down to 2 minutes and 30 seconds when all the 20 dancers danced their heart out. It was such an intense experience that it was difficult to remember any details about the dance or how it went afterwards. Luckily we have proof that it was amazing! You can watch whole episodes here, our dance is in the beginning.

The after-show feeling is both happy and sad. Happy that it was so wonderful but sad that it actually is over now. Luckily we still don't have to start biting our nails for lack of practice sessions. Our next goal is in Zürich on November 8th. A lot of work is still to be done for this one hour spectacle that we are going to perform there so practices are nearly every evening and about 10 hours during the weekend. So something very special coming up soon. 

All the girls

The Happy Team after the performance.