Tony Dovolani

Driton Dovolani (born July 17, 1973),[2] commonly known as Tony Dovolani is an Albanian-American professional ballroom dancer, instructor and judge. He is known for his involvement in the American version of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Dovolani also portrayed Slick Willy in the hit film Shall We Dance? and spent time coaching actress Jennifer Lopez.

Tony Dovolani
Dovolani at the premiere for Earth in April 2009
Born
Driton Dovolani

(1973-07-17) July 17, 1973
Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia
Occupation
  • Ballroom dancer
  • instructor
  • judge
  • actor
Spouse(s)
Lina Dovolani
(
m. 1999)
[1]
Children3

Early life

Dovolani was born in Pristina, Kosovo to Albanian parents from Debar.[3][4] He began folk dancing at the age of three. At the age of fifteen, his family moved to Stamford, Connecticut.[4] He got the opportunity to attend classes at a Fred Astaire Dance Academy.[5]

Dancing with the Stars
Season Partner Place
2 Stacy Keibler 3rd
3 Sara Evans 6th
4 Leeza Gibbons 9th
5 Jane Seymour 6th
6 Marissa Jaret Winokur 4th
7 Susan Lucci 6th
8 Melissa Rycroft 3rd
9 Kathy Ireland 14th
10 Kate Gosselin 8th
11 Audrina Patridge 7th
12 Wendy Williams 10th
13 Chynna Phillips 9th
14 Martina Navratilova 12th
15 Melissa Rycroft 1st
16 Wynonna Judd 11th
17 Leah Remini 5th
18 NeNe Leakes 7th
19 Betsey Johnson 10th
20 Suzanne Somers 9th
21 Kim Zolciak-Biermann 11th
22 Marla Maples 10th

Dovolani joined the show in its second season and was partnered with professional wrestler Stacy Keibler; they made it to the finals and finished in third place. In Season 3, he was partnered with country music star Sara Evans. Midway through the season, Evans withdrew from the competition for personal reasons. He returned to the show on March 19 for Season 4, this time partnered with talk show host Leeza Gibbons.[6] They were the third couple eliminated from the competition and finished in 9th place.

He competed in Season 5, partnered with actress Jane Seymour.[7] They were the seventh couple eliminated from the competition and finished in sixth place. In Season 6, his partner was Broadway actress Marissa Jaret Winokur. They were eliminated in the semi-finals and finished in fourth place. Dovolani competed in Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars with actress Susan Lucci of All My Children as his partner. They were eliminated in Week 7 and came in sixth.

In the eighth season, he was originally paired with Nancy O'Dell, the then-host of Access Hollywood. However, on March 5 she withdrew from the competition because of a torn meniscus sustained during pre-season practice. With only two days to practice, Melissa Rycroft, fresh off her The Bachelor appearance, stepped in and became his new celebrity partner. They made it to the finals and took third place in the competition.

In the ninth season, he was partnered with former model and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland. They were the third couple to be eliminated, finishing in 14th place. For Season Ten, Dovolani was partnered with former reality star Kate Gosselin from Jon and Kate Plus 8/Kate Plus 8. They were the fourth couple eliminated, finishing in 8th place.

For the eleventh season, he was partnered with The Hills star Audrina Patridge. They were the sixth couple eliminated, finishing in 7th place. For Season 12, his partner was talk show host Wendy Williams. They were the second couple eliminated, finishing in tenth place. For Season 13, his partner was singer Chynna Phillips. Phillips was eliminated in week four.

For Season 14, his partner was tennis champion Martina Navratilova. They were the first couple to be eliminated. Dovalani was once again partnered with Melissa Rycroft for All-Stars season 15 and they became champions of the season. For season 16, he partnered with country singer Wynonna Judd and were eliminated in the third week of competition. For season 17, he was partnered with actress Leah Remini and finished in 5th place.

For Season 18, he was partnered with Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes, and were eliminated on the seventh week of competition, finishing in seventh place. For season 19, he paired with fashion designer Betsey Johnson. They were eliminated in the fourth week of competition, finishing in tenth place. For season 20, he paired with actress & author Suzanne Somers.[8] They were eliminated on Week 5 and finished in 9th place.

For season 21, he was paired with reality star Kim Zolciak-Biermann.[9] After suffering from a mini stroke, Biermann had to withdraw from the competition during Week 3 because she was not clear to travel.

For season 22, he was partnered with actress Marla Maples. They were eliminated on April 11, 2016 and came in 10th place.

On February 8th, 2018, Dovolani revealed that he has officially left Dancing with the Stars.[10][11]

Performances by the Season

With Stacy Keibler
  • Average: 27.7
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Waltz/ "I Wonder Why" 8 6 8 Safe
2 Rumba/ "I'm like a Bird" 9 10 10 Safe
3 Tango/ "Cell Block Tango" 9 9 9 Safe
4 Foxtrot/"Cold, Cold Heart" 8 9 9 Safe
5 Samba/"Bootylicious"
Group Salsa/"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You"		 10
No		 10
Scores		 10
Given		 Safe
6 Jive/"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
Group Viennese Waltz/"Fallin'"		 10
No		 10
Scores		 10
Given		 Safe
7 Quickstep/"You Can't Hurry Love"
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Since U Been Gone"		 9
9		 9
9		 9
10		 Bottom 2
8 Jive/"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
Freestyle/"Stayin' Alive"
Samba/"Livin' La Vida Loca"		 10
8
10		 10
9
10		 10
9
10		 Third Place

With Sara Evans
  • Average: 21.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot/ "Mandy" 5 5 5 Safe
2 Mambo/ "Papa Loves Mambo" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Jive/ "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" 8 9 8 Safe
4 Paso Doble/ "The Phantom of the Opera" 6 7 7 Safe
5 Samba/ "I Wish" 8 8 8 Withdrawn

With Leeza Gibbons
  • Average: 19.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot/ "Strangers in the Night" 5 5 5 No Elimination
2 Mambo/ "Independent Woman Part I" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Tango/ "Jealousy" 8 8 8 Bottom 2
4 Paso Doble/ "You Give Love a Bad Name" 6 5 5 Eliminated

With Jane Seymour
  • Average: 24.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot/ "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" 8 8 8 Safe
2 Mambo/ "Cuban Pete" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Tango/ "Perfida" 9 9 9 Safe
4 Vienesse Waltz/ "Piano Man" 8 9 9 Safe
5 Rumba/ "Breathe Again" 8 9 9 Bottom Two
6 Jive/ "Modern Love"
Group Rock 'n Roll/ "Rockin Robin"		 8
No		 7
Scores		 7
Given		 Safe
7 Quickstep/ "I Walk the Line"
Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Venus"		 8
8		 8
9		 8
9		 Eliminated

With Marissa Jaret Winokur
  • Average: 23.8
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Low" 6 6 6 No Elimination
2 Quickstep/ "Flip, Flop and Fly" 7 7 7 Last to be called safe
3 Jive/ "Girlfriend" 6 7 6 Safe
4 Paso Doble/ "My Family is My Life" 8 8 8 Safe
5 Samba/ "Tambourine" 8 8 8 Safe
6 Vienesse Waltz/ "Delilah"
Country Western/ "Cotton-Eyed Joe"		 9
No		 8
Scores		 9
Given		 Safe
7 Tango/ "Champagne Tango"
Rumba/ "Quando, Quando, Quando"		 9
9		 9
8		 9
8		 Bottom 2
8 Foxtrot/ "New York, New York"
Mambo/ "Ritmo de Chunga"		 9
8		 8
8		 8
9		 Safe
9 Quickstep/ "Around the World"
Rumba/ "Just the Two of Us"		 9
8		 9
9		 8
9		 Eliminated

With Susan Lucci
  • Average: 21.3
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-Cha-Cha/ "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Quickstep/ "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"		 5
7		 5
7		 5
8		 Safe
2 Rumba/ "Waiting on the World to Change" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Jive/ "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" 7 7 7 Safe
4 Tango/ "La Bohemia" 8 8 8 Safe
5 Hustle/ "Upside Down" 7 7 8 Bottom 2
6 Mambo/ "Si Señor!..."
Old School Hip Hop/ "It Takes Two"		 8
No		 8*
Scores		 7
Given		 Last to be called safe
7 Paso Doble/ "The Ride"
Team Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Mercy"		 8
6		 8
7		 8
7		 Eliminated

With Melissa Rycroft
  • Average: 26.8
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Waltz/ "Moon River" 8 7 8 No Elimination
2 Salsa/ "The Cup of Life" 9 8 9 Safe
3 Foxtrot/ "Recipe for Love" 9 9 9 Safe
4 Lindy Hop/ "Brown Derby Jump" 10 9 10 Safe
5 Paso Doble/ "Poker Face" 8 8 9 Safe
6 Rumba/ "If I Were a Boy" 9 9 9 Safe
7 Argentine Tango/ "Mi Confesión"
1960's Group Dance/ "The Clapping Song"		 10
No		 9
Scores		 10
Given		 Safe
8 Jive/ "We Got the Beat"
Team Mambo/ "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"		 7
8		 7
8		 7
9		 Bottom Two
9 Viennese Waltz/ "Angel"
Samba/ "Jaleo"		 9
10		 9
10		 9
10		 Safe
10 Quickstep/ "I Got Rhythm"
Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Save the Last Dance for Me"		 9
9		 10
9		 9
9		 Bottom Two
11 Paso Doble/ "So What"
Freestyle/ "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
Samba/ "Jaleo"		 10
9
10		 9
9
10		 10
9
10		 Third Place

With Kathy Ireland
  • Average: 17.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Salsa/ "Mambo Gonzon"
Foxtrot relay/ "The Best is Yet to Come"		 6
Awarded		 5
4		 5
Points		 Last to be Called Safe
2 Quickstep/ "Shall We Dance?" 6 6* 6 Eliminated

With Kate Gosselin
  • Average: 15.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Viennese Waltz/ "She's Always a Woman" 6 5 5 No Elimination
2 Jive/ "I'm Still Standing" 5 5 5 Safe
3 Paso Doble/ "Paparazzi" 5 5 5 Safe
4 Tango/ "For Your Entertainment" 4
6		 5
6		 5
6		 Safe
5 Foxtrot/ "Don't You (Forget About Me)" 5 5 5 Eliminated

With Audrina Patridge
  • Average: 23.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-Cha-Cha/ "California Gurls" 6 7 6 Safe
2 Quickstep/ "Love Machine" 8 8 7 Safe
3 Waltz/ "Let It Be Me" 8 9 9 Safe
4 Argentine Tango/ "Somebody to Love" 8
7		 8
7		 8
8		 Safe
5 Rumba/"Unwritten" 7 8 8 Safe
6 Paso Doble/"Another One Bites the Dust"
Rock 'n Roll/"La Grange"		 8
Awarded		 8
8		 8
Points		 Eliminated

With Wendy Williams
  • Average: 15.3
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-Cha-Cha/ "I'm Every Woman" 5 4 5 No Elimination
2 Quickstep/ "Do Your Thing" 6 5 6 Safe
3 Foxtrot/ "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life" 5 5 5 Eliminated

With Chynna Phillips
  • Average: 22.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Viennese Waltz / "If I Ain't Got You" 8 7 7 Safe
2 Jive / "The Boy Does Nothing" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Rumba / "Hold On" 8 9 9 Safe
4 Tango / "Theme from Mission: Impossible" 7 7 7 Eliminated

With Martina Navratilova
  • Average: 18.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot / "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" 7 6 7 No Elimination
2 Jive / "Tell Her About It" 6 5 6 Eliminated

With Melissa Rycroft
  • Average: 28.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot/ "Big Spender" 7.0 7.0 7.0 Safe
2 Jive / "Shout" 8.0 8.0 7.5 Safe
3 Samba / "Conga" 9.0 9.0 9.0 Safe
4 Jitterbug / "This Cat's On A Hot Tin Roof" 9.0 9.0 9.5* / 9.5 Safe
5 Tango / "Toxic"
Team Freestyle (Shawn) / "Call Me Maybe"		 9.0
9.5		 9.0
10.0		 9.0
10.0		 No Elimination
6 Viennese Waltz / "Why Ya Wanna"
Group Country Western / "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)"
& "I Play Chicken with a Train"		 9.5
No		 10.0
Scores		 10.0
Given		 Safe
7 Tango & Cha-Cha-Cha / "Die Young"
Swing Marathon / "Do Your Thing"		 10.0
Awarded		 9.5
10		 9.5
Points		 No Elimination
8 Quickstep / "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
Paso Doble (Trio Challenge) / "Rumour Has It"		 10.0
10.0		 10.0
10.0		 10.0
10.0		 Safe
9 Hustle / "Walk the Dinosaur"
Argentine Tango / Dirty Diana		 9.0
10.0		 9.5
10.0		 9.0
10.0		 Safe
10 Samba / "Conga"
Freestyle / I Was Here
Instant Samba / "Life Is A Highway"		 10.0
10.0
9.5		 10.0
10.0
9.5		 10.0
10.0
9.5		 Winners

^* The additional score of 9.5 was awarded by guest judge Paula Abdul.

With Wynonna Judd
  • Average: 17.0
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-cha-cha / "I've Got The Music In Me" 6 6 6 No Elimination
2 Quickstep / "Neutron Dance" 6 6 6 Safe
3 Prom Group Dance / "The Rockafeller Skank"
Samba / "Pour Some Sugar on Me"		 No
5		 Scores
5		 Given
5		 Eliminated

With Leah Remini
  • Average: 24.8
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Foxtrot / "Tears Dry On Their Own" 7 7 7 No Elimination
2 Samba / "María" 8 8 8 Safe
3 Rumba / "Skyfall" 8 8 8 Safe
4 Cha-cha-cha / "Papi" 8 8* 8 Safe
5 Contemporary / "Roar" 7 7 8 Last to be called safe
6 Quickstep / "Man Wanted"
Switch-Up Challenge /Various		 9
Awarded		 9
1		 9
Points		 No Elimination
7 Salsa / "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)"
Team Freestyle / "Bom Bom"		 9
9		 8
9		 9
9		 Safe
8 Viennese Waltz / "I Got You Babe"
Rumba Dance Off / "I Found Someone"		 8
Awarded		 9*
3		 8
Points		 Safe
9 Tango / "Love Me Again"
Jive (Trio Challenge) / "We're Not Gonna Take It"		 9
9		 9
9		 9
9		 Safe
10 Paso Doble / "Bad Romance"
Argentine Tango / "Bad Romance" (acoustic version)		 8
8		 8
8		 8*/8
8*/9		 Eliminated

With NeNe Leakes
  • Average: 23.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-cha-cha / "Give It 2 U" 7 7 7 No Elimination
2 Jive / "Do My Thing" 7 7 7 Safe
3 Rumba / "I Believe in You and Me" 8 7/81 8 Safe
42 Jazz / "Grown Woman" 8 8/83 8 No Elimination
5 Foxtrot / "Cruella de Vil" 9 9/94 9 Safe
6 Salsa / "Hot in Herre" 8 95/8 8 Safe
7 Argentine Tango / "Can't Remember to Forget You"
Team Freestyle / "The Cup of Life"		 8
8		 86 / 7
10 /8		 8
9		 Eliminated

1The additional score of Week 3 was given by Robin Roberts

2For this week only, as part of the "Partner Switch-Up" week, NeNe Leakes did not perform with Dovolani and instead performed with Derek Hough.

3Additional score of Week 4 was given by Julianne Hough

4Additional score of Week 5 was given by Donny Osmond

5Additional score of Week 6 was given by Redfoo

6Additional score of Week 7 was given by Ricky Martin

With Betsey Johnson
  • Average: 26.5
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Hough Goodman Tonioli Inaba
1 Cha-cha-cha / "Material Girl" 5 5 5 5 Bottom two
2 Foxtrot / "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" 7 7 7 7 Safe
3 Contemporary / "Unchained Melody" 7 91 6 7 Safe
4 Jive / "Love Will Keep Us Together" 8 72 7 7 Eliminated

1 Score given by guest judge Kevin Hart, in place of Goodman.

2The American public scored the dance in place of Goodman with the averaged score being counted alongside the three other judges.

With Suzanne Somers
  • Average: 26.8
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Hough Goodman Tonioli Inaba
1 Cha-cha-cha / "Physical" 6 6 6 7 No Elimination
2 Jive / "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" 7 7 7 7 Last to be called safe
3 Samba / "Copacabana" 6 6 6 7 Safe
4 Foxtrot / "Three's Company, Too" 7 7 7 7 Safe
5 Jazz / "He's a Tramp" 7 7 7 7 Eliminated

With Kim Zolciak-Biermann
  • Average: 16.3
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Hough Tonioli
1 Salsa / "Hey Mama" 4 4 4 No Elimination
2 Quickstep / "Queen Bee"
Foxtrot / "Come Home"		 7
6		 6
6		 6
6		 Safe
3 Samba / "Jeannie" Was Not Performed Withdrew

With Marla Maples
  • Average: 20.8
Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Quickstep / "Sparkling Diamonds" 7 7 7 No Elimination
2 Argentine Tango / "Don't" 7 6 7 Safe
3 Jive / "Happy" 7 7 7 Safe
4 Waltz / "Part of Your World" 7 7/71 7 Eliminated

1 Score given by guest judge Zendaya.

Dancing

Ballroom dancing is all about the woman, according to Dovolani. He believes the man is meant to be the frame for the picture of beauty as presented by the woman.

Dovolani and his partner Elena Grinenko have recently retired from competing in the American rhythm division. Prior to his partnership with Elena, he danced with Inna Ivanenko[12] and Lisa Regal.

Achievements

Outside of dancing

Tony and Len Goodman appear along with Mary Murphy in an infomercial for the Core Rhythms workout system.

Dovolani and fellow dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Elena Grinenko have created a website called the Ballroom Dance Channel. It is to help bring awareness to dancing. Dovolani and best friend Chmerkovskiy can often be found interviewing each other. The website is called ballroomdancechannel.com

Dovolani is the driving force behind the Superstars of Ballroom Dance Camp, an opportunity for people to learn from celebrity Pros from hit television shows. www.superstarsofballroom.com

Dovolani along with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Valentin Chmerkovskiy opened Dance with Me Studio in Stamford, CT on April 16, 2012.[15] The Stamford location is the fourth in the chain and the first in Connecticut started by Dovolani, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Valentin Chmerkovskiy and their partners. The other studios are in Ridgefield, N.J., Long Island, N.Y., and Soho, N.Y. Tony left Dance With Me in middle 2018, to return to Fred Astaire, where he started learning ballroom. [15]

Personal life

Tony is married to wife Lina, and the couple have 3 children, a daughter named Luana and twins born when Luana was 3 years old. The twins, son Adrian and daughter Ariana, were born on September 8, 2008. Tony met Lina on a blind date in 1998 and proposed to her four hours later.[1] Tony was in the middle of rehearsals for the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars with partner Susan Lucci when he got the call that Lina had gone into labor.[16]

gollark: How come you've got weird punctuation on some of the files like `#node_class.py#` though?
gollark: I mostly prefer to get sort-of-working things done first, and tweak them until they work better, myself. Your thing seems interesting.
gollark: The sidebar bit is going to eventually contain stuff like search and quick shortcuts, but I haven't actually implemented that.
gollark: The current version isn't actually on there because I... don't really know how to use git very well, and it's quite unfinished, and the old version is designed very differently. I have this picture, though, showing its rough UI so far, the markdown rendering capability, and the "recent pages" bit at the side (I might move that).
gollark: I'm using dokuwiki for this now but it's pretty annoying in some ways; my thing has gotten as far as "you can create, edit and view pages", at least.

See also

References
  1. "Tony Dovolani: The Secret to My DWTS Success Is 'My Wife'". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  2. "Tony Dovolani". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  3. "Tony Dovolani Biography". Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  4. Buzzeo, Anthony. "'Dancing With The Stars' Pro Returns Home to Fairfield County". The Stamford Daily Voice. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  5. "Tony Dovolani, BDC Online Instructor". Ballroom Dance Channel. 2008. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  6. "The Stars Align for a fourth season of ABC's hit alternative series, Dancing With the Stars". abc.go.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
  7. Rizzo, Monica (2007-08-29). "Dancing with the Stars Announces New Contestants - Dancing With the Stars". People.com. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  8. ABC News. "'Dancing With the Stars' 2015: Season 20 Celebrity Cast Announced". ABC News. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  9. "Dancing with the Stars Season 21 Cast Announcement". ABC. September 2, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  10. Radloff, Jessica (2016-08-30). "Here's Everyone Who Will Be Competing on Dancing With the Stars' Next Season". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  11. "Tony Dovolani on Instagram". 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  12. "Reality TV Stars | Tony Dovolani". Reality-tv-online.com. 2007-09-18. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  13. "DanceSport Portal » Blog Archive » 2006 Emerald Ball". Dancesportal.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  14. "DanceSport Portal » Blog Archive » 2005 Ohio Star Ball". Dancesportal.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  15. Buzzeo, Anthony. "'Dancing With the Stars' Pros Headed to Fairfield County". The Norwalk Daily Voice. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  16. Archived September 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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