Danielle with… Selena Hamilton

Pod Meets World

In this episode of 'Danielle With,' host Danielle welcomes Selena Hamilton, a standout finalist from 'Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro.' The conversation dives into

Key takeaways

• Selena Hamilton had minimal formal ballroom experience before joining 'The Next Pro,' relying instead on her foundation in contemporary dance and a dedicated two-month training period with professional pros.

Main topics

• Selena Hamilton's transition from contemporary/jazz to ballroom dancing
• The challenges of learning and teaching opposite-style moves in ballroom

Notable quotes

"I've kind of dabbled in like ballroom, but it wasn't something I really took seriously until a few years ago."

Conclusion

Selena Hamilton's journey on 'The Next Pro' exemplifies how dedication, resilience, and a

Transcript preview

Speaker 8 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 5 (0:04) In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Petra Mathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honeys, this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to Death of an Artist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (0:35) On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. Speaker 4 (0:38) People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Little Richard. And Speaker 7 (0:41) we pull apart the story behind the image, discovering forgotten interviews that change exactly how we see these giants of our culture. We're Speaker 4 (0:50) here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. Speaker 7 (0:53) I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Speaker 4 (0:57) Listen to Big Lives on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (1:05) Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Poynter, Chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Adria Health Institute in New York City. I'll be talking to top researchers and clinicians and bringing vital information about midlife women's health directly to you. A hundred percent of women go Speaker 3 (1:22) through menopause. Even Speaker 8 (1:24) if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Poynter on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (1:35) Hi, I'm Michael Imperioli. I want to tell you about my new podcast, Underground Zero. We're Speaker 4 (1:40) looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families. Speaker 6 (1:43) It's about the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. Speaker 1 (1:46) What's in the tunnels? Gold bars, silver ingots. It could be worth half a billion. Speaker 6 (1:51) Starring Steve Schirrippa, Ray Abruzzo, and me, Michael Imperioli. How Speaker 4 (1:55) far are you prepared to go? Speaker 6 (1:56) Depends how far you are. Listen to Underground Zero on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (2:05) What up? This is Jay Valentine, co-host of the R &B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R &B legend, Tank. Together, we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R &B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I Speaker 8 (2:18) have no money. I was hood famous. They Speaker 1 (2:19) think you're going to get everybody out. We Speaker 8 (2:21) lived in a project. Real Love came out. They're hearing the music and we had nothing. From Speaker 1 (2:25) Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott, if you're a super dedicated R &B fan, This is where you belong. Listen to R &B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (2:58) Welcome back to Danielle With, a podcast born from my own desire to be the world's best celebrity ballroom dancer. Worth noting, for at least one more week, I am the world's eighth best celebrity ballroom dancer. But who's counting? Well, I'll tell you who's counting. The new batch of celebrities just announced for season 35, hungry for their chance to win the show. What a lineup, right? We will be getting more into that soon because the ballroom is about to reopen. So I hope you are getting your pyramids ready and your scorecards printed. But before we start thanking Alfonso, we do have a little next pro business to close out. As you know, along with my good pal Val Shmerkovsky, I recapped every episode of the franchise's newest reality competition. And as a result, we are going to be seeing Adele join the pros to fight for the Mirrorball Trophy in 2026. It was an exciting season and brought us a finale where any of the three final contestants could have won. And so today I am talking to one of them. a fan favorite who defied the odds and took it all the way to the end, despite lacking extensive ballroom experience, yet flanked by two genuine experts in the field. She's performed with Dochi, Lindsey Stirling, Sombra, and Derek Hough, and appeared on Lip Sync Battle. But you may know her from the wildly viral Cat's Eye Gap commercial that took the world by storm last year. And now she may not have won Next Pro, but her infectious smile, never give up attitude, and exceptional dance skills are ready to take her to the next level. But first, she's stopping by Danielle With. So welcome to the show, third on the charts, but first in our hearts, it's Selena Hamilton. Thank you so much for being here. I have been very invested in the Selena Hamilton story for the past eight weeks. I'm a huge fan, as I mentioned. So thank you so much for coming on the show. Speaker 2 (4:59) No, thank you. I'm a fan. Speaker 3 (5:02) So first, I want to talk about your. actual ballroom experience. We know Adele is literally a top 10 dancer in the category. AJ competed on the show already in the UK. That is a daunting finals considering your expertise is in contemporary tap, jazz. So let's set the record straight. What is your actual experience in ballroom? Yeah, Speaker 2 (5:31) it's definitely not where AJ and Adele's experience is. I've been very transparent about it. It's not really a secret. I kind of started doing ballroom actually with Derek Huff tour. So I toured with him in 2022, three, I believe. So like three years ago. And that's kind of what sparked my love for ballroom in the first place. I've kind of done like every style here and there growing up. That's just like what. the convention commercial world is kind of all about. So I've like dabbled in like ballroom, but it wasn't something I really took seriously until a few years Speaker 3 (6:10) ago. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:11) So that's kind of when I really kind of went into it. And Derek was like, you should really do it. Like, I think it would be a really great path for you. And at first I didn't take it seriously because I kind of just wanted to just stay in this commercial world and do hip hop. And sometimes I regret it, but then I also love what I experienced doing. ballroom. I mean, doing commercial work. So, um, yeah, so definitely started ballroom later and then really kind of dove into it about two, three years ago. And that's kind of when I took it very, very seriously. And then I got the call about the show and I was like, Oh my God, I have to take it a hundred times more serious than I. been taking it. So I flew to Utah where all of the dance stars Speaker 3 (6:52) pros Speaker 2 (6:53) are made. Speaker 3 (6:53) When I think of Utah now, I picture just ballroom dancing in the street everywhere you go. Literally. Speaker 2 (7:01) Yeah. So I was like, where should I go? Utah. I mean, all of the pros are produced there. Why wouldn't I want to be in the heart of? where it all happens. So I went there for two months and just trained every single day for like about five hours a day and just cracked down on it because I knew I was going to be behind. Speaker 3 (7:20) Yeah. So you basically had a Dancing with the Stars experience from the other side where like you were the celeb coming in every single day. All of a sudden, five hours a day, you're like, teach me everything you know about this Speaker 2 (7:35) style. Yeah. And it was crazy because it wasn't just about the style of the dance. I obviously I also wanted to learn how to teach somebody else because that's another part of it. So I was like, so in two months, I need you to. Teach me everything you know about ballroom, but also teach me how I can teach it. And because ballroom came a little bit more natural to me. So sometimes it's hard to teach when you're, it's something that comes natural to you. It's hard to explain things to people and be like, so you're going to have to push off your foot here. But like, yeah, it's hard to explain to somebody who you never had to experience going from the ground up. And it's just. it's a whole different beast. So I was like, you need to teach me how I can explain body action to somebody and explain my foot action when I, I don't know, I just watched you and I got it, but that's not the same experience for everybody. Well, Speaker 3 (8:29) and what I always talk about when I think about how difficult it is with what the pros do is that you're teaching the opposite moves. Like you've never done the male steps. You've only done your woman steps. So now not only do you have to, you know, do what comes naturally to you. You have to explain something you don't normally do to someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Speaker 2 (8:54) Yeah, that's a whole other added layer. It's so insane. And I give all the pros like such props for it because it's a really hard thing to learn. It's like you're doing the opposite leg. You're instead of going forward, you're going back. So it's a whole it's Speaker 3 (9:08) a Speaker 2 (9:08) whole new beast. Speaker 3 (9:10) Yeah, it really is. It is. I mean, there is. Nothing easy about anything you guys do. Did you know any of the other contestants or pros other than Derek prior to the show? Speaker 2 (9:22) Yeah, I did. So I knew the contestants. I knew Briar. Okay. She obviously came from the same world as me. And I knew Stephanie a little bit. Okay. She kind of does commercial work as well. So I knew Stephanie. And then I kind of just knew of Benji from the convention commercial world. Speaker 3 (9:40) Okay. Speaker 2 (9:42) But that's kind of it. The rest of the contestants, I was just going in blind. But as the pros, I knew Jenna from convention and I knew Val from convention. They were people that I always really looked up to in the convention world. I really love that they come into the convention world and teach us what's. their knowledges because ballroom is not very, I mean, it is now, but at the time it wasn't very, like nobody was really seeking ballroom as much in the conventional world. Yeah. So I really always appreciated them. I think that's it though. Yeah. Derek Val and obviously I competed against Riley. Right. Okay. And I was younger, but I never really got to know her. Speaker 3 (10:23) Okay. Were you nervous at all coming into this experience, just feeling like you knew ballroom wasn't your lifelong expertise and you've been having a real moment in the convention and the commercial world? So were you nervous kind of trading it all in for this experience? I was Speaker 2 (10:43) nervous, but also I feel like my expectations weren't as high because I didn't have all the experience everybody else had. Right, right. I think I was just kind of ready to kind of show everybody what I had for episode one and then call it a day. Yeah. So I didn't have the high expectations because of that. So I think it kind of helped in the long run because I wasn't expecting such like high things out of myself. I was like, you're here to kind of just, I wanted really to just get my, face in the ballroom world yeah I did this so I can kind of step into it I was like if I don't walk out of this a winner that's fine maybe they'll put me on troop like I really kind of just walked out of it with like maybe I can just get my foot in the door Speaker 3 (11:28) connections good connections surrounding yourself especially if it's something you want to start doing more regularly surrounding yourself with people who do it at the highest level yeah absolutely this is exactly where you want it to Speaker 2 (11:39) eventually I want to be like, I wanted to be a pro. So like, if I, if I didn't win, I was like, I'm going to get there. If I won, I mean, I'm there. So it's like, there wasn't a lose-lose for me in this situation. Speaker 3 (11:49) Right. Right. I also want to ask you about your Cat's Eye commercial. It is an iconic dance moment of last year. And it was not only everywhere on TikTok, but it was also on the Dancing with the Stars floor, thanks to Riley and Scott. What was filming that like? Did you have any idea it would be that big? Speaker 2 (12:10) I feel like in the moment, no, I didn't know it would be that big. But I will say the process was kind of, it went by fast, but it was really hard because we were in, if you saw the commercial, we were in like this just white box. Yes. And we were in there for hours. And so once you're in that white box for a couple hours, you're kind of like, can somebody go get me a water? Like, I'm starting to feel dizzy. Like, I don't feel okay. Right. So that was probably the hardest part of it. But Robbie Blue, the choreographer, is somebody that I've always looked up to. He's amazing. And that was like his like time to shine. And he always is coming up with brilliant work. And it's funny because like that one move that like got really famous, you see a move and you're like, oh, that's good. And you don't know, like to the extent of where it's going to go. It obviously went, it went viral. It got huge. And you don't think that in the moment, but in that moment, I was like, I kind of want it. I kind of want to do that. Right. So it kind of starts like that. Speaker 3 (13:09) That's Speaker 2 (13:09) so Speaker 3 (13:09) cool that like, cause I've been there before too, where you see something and you go, Ooh, I like that. And then the next thing you know, you're like, Oh, okay. There was a reason I really connected with that. It was going to literally take the world by storm. Yeah. Wow. Well, on your very first performance of Next Pro, Shirley called you a superstar. Mark said that you were in his top four on day one. What was it like to hear these types of comments from them so early on? Speaker 2 (13:41) I definitely think I needed it. Yeah, Speaker 3 (13:43) I feel like Speaker 2 (13:44) that was something I really needed. Going into that first challenge, I none of us knew what to expect. So I kind of was just like, I'm going to learn this choreo. I'm going to I was like in the back. If you watch the first episode, I'm in the back learning the choreography from Derek. Yeah. And he's kind of like just like. You can tell he's kind of a little bit nervous about me kind of being in the back. Because he does already know me and he has expectations for me. So that's kind of where I got nervous when I found out Derek was going to be the first one to come in. I was like, okay, he already has high expectations for me. He knows what I can do. And I need to show what I can do. And they didn't show it. But the first episode, Derek walks in and he just was like... I need more. Like you're just walking in the beginning for my solo. And he was like, you can do so much more. And I just like, I broke down crying because I was like, I know I can do so much more. And also I want you to believe that, like, I want you to believe that I can do this. So it was kind of just a hard time for me. So after Dara came in, I was like, you know what? I always do a forward roll. That's who I am. Like I'm always going in with a forward roll. So I kind of started it like that. I was like, let me just start with that. I was like, there's pros and cons of doing that. Shirley could either hate it because it's not Samba. Yeah. Or she can love it because I'm also being myself and I'm going to add Samba obviously later. Of course, of course. You're not going to have not Samba content. Speaker 3 (15:12) Yes. Speaker 2 (15:13) No, no, no. And it ended up working in the long run. So when Shirley called me a star and Mark said I was in the top four from the beginning, it kind of just was like this validation that I needed in that moment. I was like, oh my God. Thank you so much. I honestly don't know how to feel right now, but thank you. That means a lot to me. Speaker 3 (15:33) When you were talking about what the feedback Derek gave you, it gave me that feeling of like when your parents say, I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed. Disappointed. And you're like, oh my God, I'd rather Speaker 2 (15:44) you be mad. Please be Speaker 3 (15:45) angry. Please be furious. Do not be disappointed. I don't want to let you down. Well, we saw Tristan, who is another contemporary hip hop focused dancer, run into issues at almost every stop trying to keep up with ballroom. And yet you found your lane rather quickly. How do you think you were able to do that? Are you just the fastest learner? Speaker 2 (16:07) I will pride myself. I do learn fast. OK, yeah. That is something that I've always and I think it's because the conventional world helped me with that. Speaker 3 (16:15) OK. And Speaker 2 (16:15) I think that's kind of where me and Tristan's training is a little bit different. is he was a hip hop street dancer from the beginning. And I kind of, when I was young, I learned everything. So I kind of already had ballroom under my belt. It was something that I could just kind of use as like my show off moment at like auditions because not a lot of people can do it. But I also try to hone in on other people. I feel like even just in a way we stand and this sounds really weird, but. In the way we stand, I wasn't just, and it's funny because Shirley actually critiqued Raya about this, our first episode about how she was standing and