Review: DANCING WITH THE STARS: LIVE! 2025 TOUR at The Andrew J Brady Music Center

Once again, Dancing with the Stars: Live! returned to Cincinnati, Ohio as part of their 2025 tour, coming off the 33rd season of the beloved TV dance show. The professional dancers of Dancing with the Stars take to the road to show off their skills outside the stress of the competition schedule. The event this past Wednesday, February 19th completely sold out The Andrew J Brady Music Center, filling the auditorium with adoring fans who have flocked to see their favorite dancers in person. At this performance, the tour succeeded in its display of stellar designs, dynamic talents, and a wide range of acts.

Energy started off high as the cast was introduced. This performance featured pro dancers EMMA SLATER (who also led as co-host), Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Britt Stewart, Daniella Karagach, GLEB SAVCHENKO, Pasha Pashkov, Rylee Arnold, and Ezra Sosa. Actress Chandler Kinney joined as the celebrity guest after placing third in the most recent season. Olympian medalist Stephen Nedoroscik, who placed fourth behind Kinney, steps in as co-host across the tour. His mesmerizing performances on the pommel horse went viral last year during the 2024 Olympics, and he made Dancing with the Stars history by being the first male gymnast to compete on the show. He took his hosting duties in stride, leaning into the cheesy humor during the bits and then immediately switching to dance form. It was also a treat to hear him share some stories from his past year and see his movement skills in action, both on his hands and on his feet.

Dancing with the Stars is famous for exploring all sectors of ballroom dancing, so it’s only fitting that there would be a variety of music infused across the different styles as well. Artists such as Gloria Estefan, Queen, Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, Elvis Presley, SZA, Chris Stapleton, and Frank Sinatra were only a small fraction of those featured. Some numbers also used covers to convey a certain feeling, such as Postmodern Jukebox’s rendition of Britney Spears’s “Oops, I Did it Again” set against a 1920s theme. Each performance had its own set, lighting, and costumes, and every one was beautifully cohesive. Some were done in a more abstract way, like during the ethereal contemporary dances, while others were centered around a very specific context, such as a 1950s preppy high school dance reminiscent of Grease or bringing to life the famous 1932 photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper before “Cheek to Cheek” plays from the speaker.

One of the biggest reasons why Dancing with the Stars: Live! is always such a success is because it gets to include the fans in ways where the television barrier restricts them. It can even be argued that audience participation is the biggest selling point in the DWTS franchise, whether it’s tuning in during an episode and sending in votes towards one’s favorite dancer/celebrity pairing to help their score or being lucky enough to be a member of the live studio audience. At these shows, people can cheer in person for the pros they love (such as one woman who relentlessly expressed her affection for Gleb throughout the show). In turn, the pros came into the aisles and plucked a few people out of their seats and onto the stage for a little rodeo dance, sharing some of the magic. They also catered to the Cincinnati audience by shouting out Graeter’s ice cream, a big favorite in the city.

The dancers also reflected on some of their memorable experiences from the recent season, like notating Ezra’s first time taking part as a pro and how it was tragically cut so short, vastly due to having “a difficult partner” in Anna Delvey, and they were one of the first pairs eliminated. However in this show, he gets to take center stage in performing a dance to “yes, and?” by Ariana Grande and even has his own initiation into the DWTS Pro Academy in a later sketch. 

This tour finds great balance in its performances, knowing when to heighten the mood into an lively, fast paced group number, as well as when to slow it down into a sultry, romantic partner dance. Dance is all about conveying emotion from the body, and the pros are certainly experts in their ability to express it in moving ways that are consistently engaging to their audiences. The chemistry in the performers also makes it clear that they’ve worked together as a team for a long time, and it’s lovely seeing how their professional relationships and friendships develop over the years.

Due to popular demand, the tour is returning for a second turn at the Brady Center in April, and that performance already has an extremely limited quantity of tickets remaining. For more information on the tour of Dancing with the Stars: Live!, visit dwtstour.com or click the link below.

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