By DANIELLE RUSH
Dave Puckett would never have taken his kids to wait hours or even days in line to audition for a reality TV show.
“We’re not chasing Hollywood,” he said.
However, when his daughter Lizabeth Puckett and stepson Nikita Malyeyev, both 14, received a personal invitation to audition for “America’s Got Talent,” he packed their bags and drove the pair to Philadelphia.
Now, the two, who have been paired as ballroom dancers for nearly four years, are waiting to see if they will be chosen for the next season’s televised auditions, for a chance to win a cash prize and the opportunity to headline a show in Las Vegas.
Puckett said show producers contacted USA Dance to find high-quality dancers to audition.
“They’re well aware they need to bring really good talent to keep the viewers,” he said.
The president of USA Dance sent an e-mail to members, telling them how to apply for the opportunity. Soon after Lizabeth and Nikita’s information and tape went to the show, they received an e-mail invitation.
Nikita’s mother, Alyona, was in Ukraine and could not attend, but Dave Puckett and the rest of the family went to Philadelphia. With their e-mailed invitation, Dave Puckett said, they walked by the line of thousands of hopefuls waiting for open auditions.
“It was pretty cool since we got to cut through the line,” Lizabeth said. She admitted she was nervous, but “it went away when I started dancing.”
Nikita said he was excited and not nervous.
“It was just another experience.”
The pair performed the jive for show producers, who then sent them to a second audition with executive producers.
“If they liked you, they asked you to audition in front of the executive producers,” Lizabeth said. “They all clapped and told us we did well. They said if they could find a spot for us, they could contact us in January or February.”
Lizabeth said being on the show could give them some exposure and promote their careers, which will help when they are old enough to audition as professional dancers. Both would like to be among the professional dancers on “Dancing with the Stars.”
In the meantime, they’ll continue practicing and competing. They compete this weekend at Purdue, and have another contest coming up Nov. 20 in Columbus, Ohio. They also teach ballroom dance classes at the Kristie Wright School of Dance and perform exhibitions wherever they can. Both also are freshmen at Western High School.
The stepsiblings have been dance partners since they were 11, when Nikita and his mother moved to the United States from Ukraine. He started dance lessons at age 6, at the urging of his mother. He initially resisted taking the lessons, but grew to like them. When they moved to the United States, he left behind a dance partner. His mother suggested Lizabeth, who was his new stepsister at the time, could start learning to dance and be his partner. They won a national competition in their age and ability group in 2007, and placed ninth in April 2009. Lizabeth said competition begins with a newcomer division and progresses up through bronze, silver, gold, prechampion and champion. They compete at both the prechampion and champion level, against other people their own age.
Alyona Puckett teaches them, and they practice at least 90 minutes daily at Kokomo Sports Center. They went to Ukraine during their summer vacation to learn their new routines, Nikita said.
Dave Puckett said having siblings as dance partners is fairly unusual, but Lizabeth said it has worked out well.
“We don’t have to schedule a time to practice with each other. We can just practice.”
Both said they do not watch much TV, but they enjoy “Dancing with the Stars,” which they say has created more interest in ballroom dancing.
Lizabeth said some of her school friends now want to learn how to dance, and the show demonstrates that ballroom dance is not “old people dancing to slow music ... they see it is actually fun.”
Nikita said while ballroom dancing is harder than it appears on the show, it gives encouragement to people to try, because the stars have no previous dance experience but are able to learn.
“They go from zero to somewhere, so people see how they can do it, too.”
• Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at 765-454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com.
