Albert Reed makes his live television debut Monday night as a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” The former Miami, turned Vero Beach resident, who had never done much dancing before, has been in rehearsal for five hours a day, seven days a week, for the past month.
“It’s overwhelming,” the exhausted 22-year-old said by phone from Los Angeles. “The first dance is done, and we’re working on the second, and it’s harder than the first. From this point I can see that it’s going to be a continuous uphill battle.”
Reed, a hugely successful male model, is competing against such showbiz pros as Wayne Newton, Marie Osmond and Jane Seymour.
He’s met them all at cast parties, but no one has seen anyone else dance — each contestant is either in a different rehearsal studio, or a different city altogether.
Reed’s partner and coach, Anna Trebunskaya, has been keeping him on his toes. Literally.
“She’s just a firecracker,” he said. “She’s a tough teacher, a tough partner, but I guess I kind of get on her with my sense of humor. She’ll get really tough at certain points, but I circumvent it with my goofiness. We have a really good chemistry, which is good, so hopefully that will grow. We’ll see if it did on Tuesday night.”
(Monday night’s 90-minute competition show starts at 8, and the “results” show — when Reed finds out if he made the first cut — airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday.)
“I keep asking for some easy dance moves, and she just keeps throwing me the hard ones. I guess she’s trying to push me into more competitive dances to kind of spice it up. In the meantime, I get frustrated and go off set and yelp and let out some energy. Then I come back, get to work and keep chipping at it.”
Despite the frustration, and the blisters on his feet caused by his squeaky new leather shoes, Reed’s having a good time. “The only way to enjoy it is to have a good laugh while you’re doing it,” he said. “But it’s still a competition, it’s still a battle. It’s lots of work. But once you put it all together, it’s fun.”
Will he be dancing a happy tune come Tuesday?
“I’m prepared for it, as prepared as I can be,” Reed said. “I’ve got the dance routine down and finely tuned.
“But there’s a lot of pressure, and a lot of elements outside the dance studio that you have to take in mind. I’m trying to keep a level head when I go into it. There’s tough competition from people who’ve been in show business a while, so I’m kind of the underdog. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not looking forward to it at the same time.”
“It’s overwhelming,” the exhausted 22-year-old said by phone from Los Angeles. “The first dance is done, and we’re working on the second, and it’s harder than the first. From this point I can see that it’s going to be a continuous uphill battle.”
Reed, a hugely successful male model, is competing against such showbiz pros as Wayne Newton, Marie Osmond and Jane Seymour.
He’s met them all at cast parties, but no one has seen anyone else dance — each contestant is either in a different rehearsal studio, or a different city altogether.
Reed’s partner and coach, Anna Trebunskaya, has been keeping him on his toes. Literally.
“She’s just a firecracker,” he said. “She’s a tough teacher, a tough partner, but I guess I kind of get on her with my sense of humor. She’ll get really tough at certain points, but I circumvent it with my goofiness. We have a really good chemistry, which is good, so hopefully that will grow. We’ll see if it did on Tuesday night.”
(Monday night’s 90-minute competition show starts at 8, and the “results” show — when Reed finds out if he made the first cut — airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday.)
“I keep asking for some easy dance moves, and she just keeps throwing me the hard ones. I guess she’s trying to push me into more competitive dances to kind of spice it up. In the meantime, I get frustrated and go off set and yelp and let out some energy. Then I come back, get to work and keep chipping at it.”
Despite the frustration, and the blisters on his feet caused by his squeaky new leather shoes, Reed’s having a good time. “The only way to enjoy it is to have a good laugh while you’re doing it,” he said. “But it’s still a competition, it’s still a battle. It’s lots of work. But once you put it all together, it’s fun.”
Will he be dancing a happy tune come Tuesday?
“I’m prepared for it, as prepared as I can be,” Reed said. “I’ve got the dance routine down and finely tuned.
“But there’s a lot of pressure, and a lot of elements outside the dance studio that you have to take in mind. I’m trying to keep a level head when I go into it. There’s tough competition from people who’ve been in show business a while, so I’m kind of the underdog. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not looking forward to it at the same time.”
No comments:
Post a Comment