“The Dellos Tappin Dolls” & “D-PAC Attack” Meet Paula Abdul In Person

 In Dellos

Funny how my life has come ‘full-circle’ after almost 60 years of crazy living! I never dreamed I would run into Paula Abdul again, twenty years after my son DJ, now 31, sang and danced with her on the MTV Awards that featured her number one hit, “Forever Your Girl”. I clearly remember that was the year Paula won more awards than any other female artist, and my young son and I were able to share in all of the excitement and paparazzi that surrounded her back stage and right into her trailer.

Paula was a fun-loving, bubbly and petite little woman, whose goal even back then, was to inspire and encourage youth to ‘follow their dreams’. DJ, almost 11 at the time, was following his own dream, acting and performing in feature films, commercials & music videos since the age of four. Paula took a true liking to him at rehearsals and marked him as ‘her hardest-working young dancer’. To a 5th grader, celebrity status doesn’t mean much. DJ treated the MTV experience much like the other incredulous opportunities he had been given, working with world-famous musical and vocal artists before he even started school. At the end of the eventful evening, Paula handed him a visor that she wrote on “I am forever your girl’, in black felt pen. After her hug and kiss goodbye, he tosed it in his dance bag and I rescued it from his bedroom that night to be hidden away in his ‘special keepsakes’ box. Coincidentally, I cam across the bagged visor just a few weeks before the announcement that Paula was creating her own reality TV show, “Live To Dance”. The show’s premise would allow dance hopefuls the opportunity to be critiqued by her and other professional choreographers. The audition for her show was the up-coming weekend in Hollywood.

We had barely begun our 2011 routines and costumes hadn’t even been started. We went into fast-forward mode, with moms rounding up costume pieces, doing quick alterations and stoning into all hours of the night. We arrived at 7:00am that Saturday morning, falling into lines of thousands of dancers who hoped to catch a glimpse of Paula. TV news cameras covering the event immediately sought out our youngest auditioners, “The Tappin Dolls” and that evening they were seen across the U.S. on multiple news coverage shows. When a group of at least fifty photographers was positioned in front of Paula, she rounded up “The Tappin Dolls” for promotional photos and TV coverage exposure to help launch her show. Other dance hopefuls looked on in awe as the Dellos little ones soaked up Paula’s attention. Those transforming few moments have created lifetime memories in the lives of nine little girls! Unfortunately after making it to the 3rd round of auditions, “The Tappin Dolls” were told that their age didn’t meet the Labor Law requirements!

“D-PAC Attack” from Dellos Central Coast, was given a private audition after a personal CD submission. Paula made it a point to arrive, escorted by limo, just in time to personally watch their audition. She rallied the girls together for a group photo, and shared, ‘Tap is closest to my heart!’ D-PAC’s day didn’t end there. They were whisked as a group, dancers and parent entourage, to a holding area that would keep them on the filming lot for another six hours. Johnna Vincent-Clark, D-PAC’s owner, was put through red tape interviews & questioning, and finally told that the girls had been selected to compete on the opening pilot show to be aired in January of 2011! Such exciting new, but one big problem…the Janet Jackson piece they originally auditioned with could not be approved. In a 24-hour period they would need to recreate an entirely new routine and fine new costumes for their nineteen members. After a 4-hour drive home to The Central Coast, it was back into the dance studio for an all-day rehearsal, with parents hard at work to complete a whole new look. Exhausted, the girls and their families arrived at The Dodger Dome where they were treated like celebrities. No one really knows what goes on behind-the-scenes, to a viewing audience who only sees the ease, glitz and glamour of the finished TV product. The Dellos kids and their families certainly know differently!

For more information or for a tour of our state-of-the-art facility, please call: 909-597-0937, Mon-Thurs 4-9pm and Sat 9-12 noon.

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