Photo credit: ABC/Eric McCandless.
On Tuesday, 24 SEVEN Dance Convention announced that Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy are joining the 2019-2020 tour. This signals a big move for ballroom because it's bringing the style to thousands of young dancers, who need to have the training if they want to pursue a professional career in dance.
Break the Floor Productions are the dance entertainment company that manages Jump, Nuvo, 24 Seven Dance Convention, The Dance Awards, Dancerpalooza and Shaping Sound, and they are well-versed in drawing top dance industry names. Nuvo has had great success with former Dancing With the Stars pro Ashly Costa on its faculty, so it makes sense to add Jenna and Val's talents to the 24 SEVEN team — in fact, it's quite a draw to the convention.
This news should be met with applause because it's a strong indication that ballroom is a now a major part of a young dancer's training. It proves that TV dance shows have a strong influence on the trends in the dance industry — both good and bad — but this is one we cheer for.
The dance duo is taking fresh steps in their careers and proving that there is power in numbers, something we specifically talked about in last week's Dance Dish with KB Patreon podcast. Jenna and Val are talented artists individually, but together, they bring another level of strength to their skills. Choreographically, they can bounce ideas off of each other, and in the studio, they can easily show lead and follow when it comes to teaching partner dances. It takes their creative abilities a step higher.
For any fans worrying about their return to DWTS this fall, it's probably not something that should even be a concern. In our book, as long as there is a celebrity for them, they will be dancing for that Mirrorball Trophy.
Break the Floor Productions has always worked around the faculty's professional gigs. In fact, their website states, "Faculty varies from city to city. Unfortunately, 24 Seven cannot guarantee which faculty will be where. Occasionally, some advertised faculty will be replaced by equally qualified professionals."
The company has successfully worked with Travis Wall, tWitch, Allison Holker, Mandy Moore and Stacey Tookey for years, so this is not new territory for them. The 24 SEVEN Dance Convention kicks off Oct.18 in Knoxville and concludes in Orlando on July 11, 2020. Out of 26 events on the tour, Val and Jenna would only have to miss six weekends to do DWTS. We think that's a sacrifice Break the Floor Productions would be happy to make.
With only one season a year now, DWTS is not the pros' sole source of income. It's an exciting time where the pros are exploring new possibilities and creative endeavors. Dance fans should support their new goals and dreams since the pros brought so much to the dance industry over the last 27 seasons.
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This week's To The Pointe episode: