‘Dancing With the Stars’: OG Pros Speak Out on Changes to the Show & Returning for More

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The heartfelt tribute to Len Goodman on Dancing With the Stars this week would not have been the same without the return of OG dance pros. After the live episode aired, Louis van Amstel, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, and Anna Trebunskaya chatted with TV Insider about their emotional visit to the ballroom, honoring Goodman, changes to the show, and whether or not they’re up for coming back for more appearances.

There were quite a few contemporary dances performed on “Most Memorable Year” week. While those dances served as a stark contrast to the traditional Waltz that was performed for Goodman, that wasn’t the only reason there were so many of them.

“When it comes to ‘Most Memorable Year,’ doing contemporary allows you to express more,” pointed out Dovolani. “The show balanced out those dances with all of us coming back and doing a classic dance to honor Len. He was such a big part of all of our lives.”

Dovolani tripped the light fantastic with such celebrities as Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman), Susan Lucci (All My Children), Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray), and Melissa Rycroft (The Bachelorette), with whom he took home the coveted mirror ball trophy in Season 15 during his tenure with the reality competition series.

Alas, a return to competing again on the show may not be in his future. “I love where I am right now being the head of the dance department at Fred Astaire Studios,” Dovolani said. “It’s a big job and I’ve been working on that for a long time now. [But] I love the show. I’m still a fan of it. I care about it tremendously. It was such a big part of my life. When I started on the show, my daughter was three months old. Now, she’s in college.”

Dovolani had nothing but raves when it comes to recent changes to the show – all of which have made DWTS feel more familiar. “I love that Conrad [Green, executive producer] and Deena [Katz, co-executive producer] are bringing it back to its original format,” he said. “The show doesn’t need to go back to 2005, but it can go back to what it was in 2010.”

“It was so bittersweet doing this tribute to Len,” van Amstel said. “We started on Friday with a three-hour rehearsal. Next, we had camera blocking and then, we did the performance. It’s so final. Now, we have to live with the memories.”

Van Amstel, who returned to the ballroom last season with Cheryl Ladd (Charlie’s Angels) and whose other celebrity partners include comedienne Margaret Cho, Priscilla Presley (Dallas), and Kelly Osbourne (The Osbournes), is happy that Goodman, who loved dance, got to finish out his impressive career at DWTS. “For him to sit at the desk after he turned 60? If I can sign up for that kind of life… it’d be absolutely amazing,” van Amstel said.

Is he up for being paired with another celebrity in a future season? “From your lips,” van Amstel said with a smile.

“I have to agree with Louis,” Trebunskaya said about coming home to DWTS. “It’s been bittersweet and gut-wrenching. I felt very vulnerable out there. We all did.”

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“I know that Tony played golf with Len,” Trebunskaya, whose celeb partners included Olympic skater Evan Lysacek, Jack Wagner (General Hospital), and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, added. “Bruno [Tonioli] and Carrie Ann [Inaba] would have dinner with Len. But Len kept things very professional. He didn’t mingle. He did his job. As soon as the show was over, he was out the door. I’d see him at appearances and cast parties – that’s where we’d see the real Len. I didn’t go to his funeral or have a chance to say goodbye to him. This was my closure.”

For Trebunskaya, who performed a memorable Argentine Tango with Lysacek in the finale of Season 10, the show feels very familiar to her. “It’s lovely to see the touches of elegance and sophistication on the show,” she shared. “Julianne [Hough] is doing an amazing job. She’s been a competitor, a judge, and now a host. She knows what to say and what to ask.”

Is Trebunskaya up for another season as a competitor? “They need to ask…[but] why not?” she said.

Chmerkovskiy was not only proud of his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s paso doble comeback with Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch) in this week’s episode but also of the tribute to Goodman. “We were all celebrating an opportunity to be back in the ballroom,” he said. “And [Len] was the cause of that. I spent more time with Len outside the ballroom than in it. No one but Len could have brought us all together again like this.”

Next, Chmerkovskiy will appear in Season 2 of the reality competition series The Traitors. He and Murgatroyd have launched Maks and Peta, an online shop featuring a collection of household essentials and cosmetic products.

Call her biased if you will but Murgatroyd thinks that her husband would make a terrific fourth at the judges table should the show go back to that format. “It has to be someone who has been through the ballroom technique circuit,” she explained. “If there’s someone who calls it like it is [as Len did] – it’s Maksim. Nobody can replace Len, but I think Maks would be great.”

What does Chmerkovskiy have to say about him coming back to the show? “They got me here tonight!” he pointed out with a chuckle.

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