Out Dancing With the Stars
By Stuart Elliott
Fans of the ABC competition series "Dancing With the Stars" who need a fix between seasons will be able to satisfy their terpsichorean impulses in a new place: the Web site of Out magazine.
Beginning on Monday, out.com will present an original series, "Show and Tell," featuring Bruno Tonioli, a judge on "Dancing With the Stars," as the host. The series will be composed of weekly webisodes in which stars familiar to visitors to out.com and readers of Out learn dances like the waltz, rumba, cha cha and foxtrot.
The stars include the gay actors Chad Allen and Robert Gant, the drag performer Lady Bunny, the transgender actress Candis Cayne ("Dirty Sexy Money") and the actress Marissa Jaret Winokur ("Hairspray"). Their dance lessons were filmed at Balliamos Dance Studio in West Hollywood, Calif., where same-sex couples dance along with mixed-sex couples.
The webisodes will appear on out.com/showandtell and abc.com, said Aaron Hicklin, editor of Out and editorial director of its parent, Here Media, and are scheduled to run through mid-September, when "Dancing With the Stars" returns to ABC for the fall season.
The genesis of the idea, Mr. Hicklin said, was a profile of Mr. Tonioli he wrote last year for Out, which led him to believe that online video clips on learning to dance would be "of editorial value for our audience" as part of a series that offers Out and out.com readers lifestyle tips in areas like fashion and martini-making.
The webisodes on the Out Web site will show Mr. Allen and Mr. Gant dancing with men, Mr. Hicklin said, while they will dance with women in the versions shown on abc.com. ("Dancing With the Stars" has no same-sex partners competing, only mixed-sex.)
Lady Bunny will be shown dancing with a man on both Web sites, he added, as will Ms. Cayne.
Mr. Hicklin, who is British, described himself as a fan of "Dancing With the Stars" as well as the British TV series that inspired it, "Strictly Come Dancing." Mr. Tonioli, a choreographer, has been a judge on both series.