This was a very special season as the last celebrity to join the All-Star season would be voted in by the public. There were three celebrities, Kyle Massey, Carson Kressley, and Sabrina Bryan who needed to campaign to get the most votes to join the cast. I knew that if Sabrina would win, I would be her pro partner. Kym Johnson would have been partnered with Carson and Lacey Schwimmer partnered with Kyle. Luckily, after a few days of waiting with anxiety, it was announced that Sabrina won, and we would join the cast of Season 15. Besides season 9 with Kelly Osbourne, my season with Sabrina was absolutely one for the books. Not only because Sabrina was a fantastic dancer, but I also just loved her humility, work ethic, and overall personality. This also was one of the seasons where I had an actual dancer as my celebrity partner. Now, when I say dancer I mean Hip Hop, Jazz, commercial dancers with a huge background in cheerleading, Not Ballroom dancing. Well, my goal became: how can I help turn Sabrina into a full-on ballroom dancer, especially in the softer and more sensitive dances such as Waltz, Foxtrot, and Rumba.
Week 1 we had Cha Cha and she gave it 150%, yet she was called out by the judges to hone it in a little. Not sure if I agreed! Week 2 it was time for Quickstep to Sabrina’s favorite song ‘Black Betty’ (she called her black car Black Betty) and she killed that dance like a great Ballroom dancer. As the weeks progressed Sabrina found new ways of movement and dug deeper into personifying dance. For Disney night in week 5 we had a sensitive Waltz from Cinderella and Sabrina superseded my expectation. Her hard work into being vulnerable, bringing out the intricate ballroom technique, and character of the dance, all came together when performing live. We got three tens from all the judges, and I was so proud of Sabrina. When I thought I couldn’t be prouder, week 6 would prove me wrong.
Week 6 was country night, and we were given Rumba ‘Wanted’ by Hunter Hayes. Since Sabrina had grown into such an amazing ballroom dancer, I thought she would be ready for the ultimate challenge: I would use the same choreography for this Rumba as my three world-champion partner, Julie Fryer. At first Sabrina thought I was crazy, but she accepted the challenge. Following my intuition, I knew I did the right thing. This became clear when we performed our Rumba ‘Live’: Standing ovation (a sincere one), and the judges rewarded her with three more tens. Afterwards, many pros came over telling Sabrina they couldn’t believe how amazing her ballroom technique was in such a short time. Unfortunately, even with 10’s across the board two weeks in a row, we were eliminated that week. It goes to show you without the votes anyone can be voted off.