The 1600 Penn and Dharma & Greg star will be joining the judges table alongside Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy to watch the top eight dance all-star-choreographed routines, a SYTYCD first!
The next celebrity to join the SYTYCD judges panel, alongside executive producer Nigel Lythgoe and ballroom expert Mary Murphy, will be actress Jenna Elfman.
Elfman is most recently known for her role as Bill Pullman’s first lady on last year’s short-lived NBC sitcom 1600 Penn, but she first charmed audiences as the free-spirited Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery on ABC’s Dharma & Greg in the late ’90s, alongside Criminal Minds‘ Hotch, Thomas Gibson, as her husband Greg Montgomery. As seen below, Elfman demonstrated some sweet moves on Dharma and Greg:
But before all that, she was a classically trained ballet dancer, and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (kind of like Fame, but on the west coast). She obviously has the know-how to lend some worthwhile critiques to season 10’s top eight dancers. And her hilarious personality is sure to result in some entertaining commentary.
Elfman recently attended last month’s Dizzy Feet Foundation Celebration of Dance Gala, which is Nigel Lythgoe’s pet project to raise money to support dance programs around the country. Here she is dancing with Lythgoe, who said the 5’10” actress was, “one of the tallest ballerinas I have ever seen, but a great dancer”:
Elfman shared her excitement, and her own dance photo, on Twitter:
VERY excited 2 b a guest judge on SYTYCD next Tues., Aug. 20th! @DANCEonFOX @dizzyfeet In celebration, here's anothe… http://t.co/EyqHBwgktX
— Jenna Elfman (@JennaElfman) August 14, 2013
Next week’s show will be an interesting night for Elfman to judge, because for the first time in SYTYCD history, not only will the top 8 contestants be joined by the all-stars to dance their routines, but they will be choreographed by them as well.
The all-stars set to appear in this episode are: Stephen “Twitch” Boss (Season 4), Dmitry Chaplin (Season 2), Comfort Fedoke (Season 4), Courtney Galiano (Season 4), Chelsie Hightower (Season 4), Allison Holker (Season 2), Mark Kanemura (Season 4), and Travis Wall (Season 2).
Many of these dancers have returned to dance on the SYTYCD stage as all-stars, but this will be their first time choreographing a routine for the show. We’re excited to see what kind of routines Twitch, Comfort, Courtney, Chelsie, Allison, and Mark have in store for us!
On the other hand, after his second place finish in season 2, Travis Wall has gone on to have much success as a choreographer for the show, with many of the show’s most memorable routines under his belt, not to mention two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Choreography. But it looks like Travis is a little nervous to take the stage once again:
First day of rehearsals for SYTYCD… Why am I soo nervous to dance?
— TRAVIS WALL (@travISova) August 15, 2013
Tune in next Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox to see how Elfman and the all-stars do.