Ariana Greenblatt is telling us all about her amazing salsa on last night’s Dancing With the Stars Juniors.
The 11-year-old actress and partner Artyon Celestine gave thanks to both their families with their fun salsa, which earned them 27 points.
Check out her exclusive behind-the-scenes blog below!
As Thanksgiving is near, we came up with who we wanted to give thanks to and who has impacted our lives. For me it was a no brainer, my family! My family has made so many sacrifices for me to be able to follow my dreams. Like they say, “It takes a village” and I have a very close village! It was so incredibly special for me to have my family here for this dance because no one lives in California. So the fact that both my grandparents came from across the country to surprise me made it so very special and I was determined not to let them down! It was also a chance for me to honor my Puerto Rican heritage by dancing the Salsa to Elvis Crespo’s “Pintame,” a song that has always been a family favorite. It gets us up and dancing! I even caught some crew members moving to the beat during camera blocking! So this one’s for you, Puerto Rico!
Rehearsals were crazy because a tricky part to any salsa is getting close to your partner and moving together. It’s a very close contact dance which is funny at first. It took some getting use to. LOL Brandon had some tough moves for us, especially for poor Arty who had to fully extend lift me and spin three times at the end of the dance when where both totally spent. Shout of to Artyon for pulling it off perfectly!
The night was filled with so many wonderful surprises like Mandla’s Dad Stevie Wonder coming on stage to sing “Isn’t She Lovely” while he danced the foxtrot with his awesome partner Brightyn Brems. I mean, c’mon, that’s pretty awesome! Backstage was also really chaotic, like crazier than usual, because even though there are only 6 contestants left, everyone had lots of friends and family in the audience. The atmosphere was electric! I really had a lot of fun introducing my grandparents to everyone, showing them around the backstage and ballroom. Everyone dressed up so nice. I was so proud to have them there and it was a really a big deal! To say this dance was extra special for some extra special people in my life would be an understatement.
Fun Fact: After the dance ended, I immediately looked over to my family and saw my Abuela crying tears of joy. I almost lost it right there but it meant so much to her to see me dance to this song. It made my heart so full. I wanted to run over to them and give them all a big group hug! I just really took in the moment and smiled. :)
Click inside for behind-the-scenes pics from Ariana!
