Dancing stars ready to shine

By Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane
Staff Writer

Actor Harry Hamlin would be first to admit it: He's no Fred Astaire.

But Hamlin does carry the title of People magazine's 1987 "Sexiest Man Alive," from his days on the 1980s television drama, "L.A. Law."

Later TV audiences will recognize him as debonair Aaron Echolls on "Veronica Mars."

And he has enjoyed the challenge of dancing the tango and quickstep in the recent third season of the popular TV competition "Dancing With the Stars" and the national tour that it has inspired.

Hamlin brings his star power and his dance moves to town Saturday, when the "Dancing with the Stars" tour steps into the Greensboro Coliseum.

Five professional dancers partner with Hamlin and four other celebrities from the TV show: Hamlin's wife, actress Lisa Rinna from "Days of Our Lives"; actor Joey Lawrence, and ex-boy band members Drew Lachey (98 Degrees) and Joey McIntyre (New Kids on the Block).

From a tour stop in Toronto, Hamlin chats about the pleasures and pains of high-energy dancing at age 55.

On a spinal injury that kept him out of a few shows: "I don't know whether I herniated a disc, or made a pre-herniated disc angry. I was out for five shows, but I'm back.

"I'm the only guy in the troupe who gets mail from AARP, so I expect something like this to happen."

On learning to dance: "I was kicked off the (TV) show after three weeks, but I'm glad the tour came and asked us to do it. I wanted to learn more about how to dance.

"There are very few opportunities that put you in a position of having to go way outside your comfort zone and do something alien to you, which means you have to work as hard as you possibly can, and then try to do it live in front of 20 million people."

On touring with his wife and their daughters Delilah, 8, and Amelia, 5. Lisa Rinna danced in the TV show's second season: "That's probably why I am here. I wouldn't have expected to be asked, but the only way we could do it is if we all did it, so here I am.

"It's a blast. But everyone is having difficulty adjusting to the touring schedule. Sometimes we drive all night and sleep on the bus. We have a tutor who tutors (their daughters) every day. They are learning a tremendous amount about geography."

On his dance partner, Karina Smirnoff: "She's a five-time national champion, considered one of the best dancers in the world, and here she is, stuck with me. She's a good sport, she's patient, and I am having a lot of fun."

What he performs on tour: "I do a tango with Karina in the first act. In the second act, we do the quickstep. That's the one the doctors say 'maybe, maybe not.' I love the quickstep, but it's the hardest on my back.

"And Lisa and I do a dance together. She just has a natural knack for dancing. She was not a dancer before the show, but she took to it."

After the tour ends: "Lisa and I own retail stores (Belle Gray in California), and we're expanding our flagship store.

"Then Lisa and I will go to Broadway to do 'Chicago' for six weeks. (She will play Roxie; he Billy Flynn.) I have done Broadway a lot, but never a musical. She has always wanted to do a musical, but she never would have been offered the opportunity if she had not done 'Dancing With the Stars.'"

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWSREC0104/701230301

Copyright © 2007
The News & Record
and Landmark Communications, Inc.