Jasmine Guy Finds Ballroom a Different World

Jasmine Guy has been dancing almost her entire life. She started taking ballet lessons at age 5, attended a performing arts high school in Atlanta, joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center at 17, danced on the TV series Fame, and later on Broadway. Yet even after all this she wasn't prepared for what she discovered at the Ohio Star Ball. "I was so amazed with the magnitude of the competition—the number of dancers, the fabulous outfits and dresses and hair, and the flawlessness of it all," Ms. Guy said after her first exposure to competitive ballroom dancing. "I felt like I had entered a world that I didn't know anything about."

Pre-production conversations with Executive Producer Aida Moreno had amply prepared Ms. Guy for her role as the new host of America's Ballroom Challenge. In terms of television production, she knew what to expect—and what was expected of her. "But I did not expect the beauty and the level of the competition. It's dancing, but it's also a sport, you know? It was like the Olympics to me. They have to do all the required steps, do them artistically, and also have such stamina. I'm a dancer, but from another whole perspective. The performance level of these dancers was just phenomenal to me."

Never having been in a dance competition, Ms. Guy didn't know first-hand the kind of pressure the couples were under as the judges marked their every move. But in other ways she found it easy to empathize with them. "I could relate to the feeling in their guts—and to being on and off all day like that. When you're filming dancing, as I did in Fame, the TV show, you're dancing 16 hours a day. But there are these long breaks in between. It's very difficult. You go from zero to 100. There's no slow build. You're either off backstage or you're really, really on. I could also relate to the insecurity any performer feels after you're done. You know: 'How was that? It felt good. How did it look?'"

Off the dance floor, Ms. Guy was amazed at the sheer size of the Ohio event, especially the booths that filled the Greater Columbus Convention Center, selling shoes, gowns, and everything else a ballroom dancer could need. "It's a village in that hotel. If you need false eyelashes with pink rhinestone sparkles, that's where you go."

Ms. Guy was especially impressed with the quality of the women's gowns—and their sometimes mystifying ability to stay in place. "I'm like, 'There's no back on that garment. How is it staying on?' There are some trade secrets that I'm going to get next year, I'm telling you."

As a newcomer to the world of competitive ballroom dancing, Ms. Guy was grateful to be paired with co-host Ron Montez, a former Latin champion who could show her the ropes in the ballroom world. She was amazed at Emcee John DePalma's ability to pronounce the names of the increasingly international field of dancers. And she was impressed with the cameramen, the stage manager, and the rest of the 60-person production team that descends on Columbus each November to tape the show. "I thought they were fabulous. Talk about a family! It's run like a tight ship, but there was also room for me to be myself, and that was also a great feeling—to be at home with everyone that quickly. I know we only had two days to hook it up, but that familiarity happened rather soon."

In some ways, Ms. Guy said, producing America's Ballroom Challenge reminded her of the theater. With the entire five-hour series needing to be shot over two nights, before a live audience, there was no time for retakes. Everyone just had to work together, cope with whatever crises arose, and get the show in the can. "I was so relieved to be back in some East Coast energy. I come from the theater, and I come from us all putting on a show. That's the mentality. I just love that—a group of us doing it together."

"I feel honored to be a part of this," Ms. Guy said of her experience. "I feel very much at home on this show, because it's dance, which is my first discipline, because of the theatricality of it—and because of my awe and respect for the performers."

Watching those performers inspired Ms. Guy to make a commitment and a promise. "As I watched the dancing, there was something in me that said, 'I want to do that.' So I picked a couple of things that I loved, the paso doble and the rumba, and I said, 'I'm going to go back to L.A. and study these.' And next year, I'm going to hit a few steps for you."

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