Television has been a boon for Valentin Chmerkovskiy.
In May, the Ukrainian-born heartthrob and his partner, Rumer Willis, won the gold-colored mirror ball trophy by stepping past the other competing couples on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
But in a recent phone interview, he let it be known that he enjoys leaving the TV cameras behind to engage in more direct contact with his audience through the “Dancing With the Stars Live!” tour.
“I love performing, I love traveling,” Chmerkovskiy said. “I get to enjoy my success on a television show because of a group of people I never get to meet. They get to know me, but I never get to actually experience them and meet them and have their energy involved in my performance.”
Chmerkovskiy gets the chance to change all that on the “Dancing With the Stars Live!” national tour, which hits the Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Mich., at 9 p.m. (EST) Aug. 7.
“It’s kind of like a beautiful thing to be able to get out on the road,” the 29-year-old dancer said.
Chmerkovskiy pointed to a July 23 tour stop in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“I’ve never even dreamed of being in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,” he said. “But it was a beautiful place. The venue was beautiful. The crowd was amazing.”
Times are good for the New York City guy who is known to millions of TV viewers as handsome Val.
He and Rumer Willis were 20th-season champions of “Dancing With the Stars.” Willis and Chmerkovskiy will turn up the heat with their choreography at Aug. 7’s sold-out show in the Silver Creek Event Center at Four Winds Casino Resort.
Val joined the cast of professional dancers on the TV series in 2011 and feels winning the championship in May affirmed the effort he has put into it.
“It was awesome; I felt like I needed to have some sort of validation,” he said. “The show has had my absolutely undivided attention, passion and focus for the last four years. I care a lot about the show.”
The series radiates dance that is passionate, sensual and intense.
It is ballroom dancing that’s taken to a new level.
Hitting 40 American cities on a summer tour, the live-stage edition — the “Perfect Ten Tour” — features familiar faces from the 10-year-old TV series that include Emma Slater, Witney Carson and Alan Bersten.
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As a spokesperson for the road version put it: “The tour brings the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ ballroom to people’s hometowns. The pros are interacting with the audience and dancing nonstop. People in the front rows even get sweat on them from the dancers!”
Chmerkovskiy realizes his own sexy reputation for being able to steam up things.
“Am I flattered by the compliment? Absolutely,” he said. “But for me, that’s not what defines who I am. For me, it’s a much bigger compliment to know that I inspired certain people, not because of my physical aesthetic, but because of what I represent and how I conduct myself and how I help people out. I think there’s more to life than being a sex symbol, but I am flattered and I’m very grateful.”
Chmerkovskiy was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and at the age of 8, he emigrated to New York and grew up in Brooklyn.
The official biography for his “Dancing With the Stars” tour states that he speaks Russian and English fluently.
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
‘Dancing With the Stars Live!’
Where: Silver Creek Event Center at Four Winds Casino Resort, 11111 Wilson Road, New Buffalo, Mich.
When: 9 p.m. (EST) Aug. 7
Tickets: $65, $75 and $100; show is sold out
Information: 866-494-6371 or www.fourwindscasino.com