Actress Alyson Hannigan is a straight-up warrior in the ballroom. She took to the Dancing with the Stars stage during Motown Week with a serious migraine. And she still turned in a solid performance.
Her first week in the ballroom was was bit shaky. But her Latin Night tango with partner Sasha Farber earned praise from the judges. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star is a seasoned performer. But she took on her fear of dancing to inspire her two daughters. People has the scoop.
Teaching her daughters to slay their fears
“You shouldn’t let the fear of, ‘What if I’m not good enough?’ hold you back. I’m doing something that terrifies me,” Alyson said. “It doesn’t come naturally, but I’m going to work hard to improve every week.” Alyson wanted to teach her daughters, 14-year-old Satyana “Saty” Marie, and 11-year-old Keeva Jane to push beyond their fears.
Alyson’s husband, Alexis Denisof, whom she met on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been a huge support. “He wakes up early so we can talk and go over whatever’s in my head,” Alyson explained.
Satyana and Keeva were in the audience at DWTS for their mom’s first show. Alyson said, “Because of it being live on the East Coast, they had to miss their last class of school to get to the set on time, so it was just the first episode. Then my teenage daughter didn’t get all her homework done that night, so we had to make the better parent decision.
“‘How many times can you email a teacher that the kid didn’t do their homework because they were at a Dancing with the Stars taping?’ Maybe once we could get away with it,” Alyson explained.
Alyson came into the competition with little dance experience with the exception of a traumatic ballet incident when she was just three. She found it helpful to draw a map of the stage, including where the cameras and judges were positioned. Writing down “every single step” helped Alyson remember the routine. It served almost as a “script.”
“As much as I was working on counting during the tango the night of the show, my counting went out the window. But it didn’t matter, because I knew it so well, because I had memorized my script,” she stated. I commend Alyson for doing all this extra work and trying to improve every week. After all, that is what DWTS is all about.
Alyson is loving her time on DWTS, calling it “liberating.” She added, “I can really understand why people at the end of the show say that it was ‘life-changing.’ It’s just been such an incredible journey that I’m just enjoying every aspect of it.”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+.
TELL US – DOES ALYSON SCORE COOL MOM POINTS FOR CONQUERING HER FEAR TO INSPIRE HER KIDS? WHICH OF HER DANCES SO FAR WAS YOUR FAVORITE?
