Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy get personal with new dance show coming to Chicago
The brothers Chmerkovskiy, who have risen to fame as two of the often bare-chested pros on "Dancing With the Stars," are touring this summer, but don't expect anything having to do with the TV show. "Maks & Val Live on Tour: Our Way" - playing Friday, July 29, at the Chicago Theatre - is an autobiographical dance piece about the brothers' Ukrainian upbringing, their move to the United States and their ultimate domination of international ballroom competitions.
We caught up with Maksim, 36, and Valentin, 30, by phone from a tour stop.
<b>Q.</b> What is this tour about?
<b>Maks.</b> It took, what, Val? Thirty years in the making, I guess. It's our story about how we came up, did what we're doing now, how we got to where we are at the moment. We feel our story is not unusual. There are a lot of people out there that go through the same set of obstacles and maybe lose hope at one point or another.
<b>Val.</b> We want to celebrate our relationship as brothers. We want to celebrate our parents motivating us and grooming us in the right direction.
<b>Q.</b> You must be close as brothers.
<b>Maks.</b> We grew up really tight. We grew up in a small family but with a lot of Mom and Dad constantly telling us: "When we die, you're the only two who will have each other, you shouldn't fight" and all that. So I think we kind of got brainwashed into loving each other, for sure.
And we've kind of been inseparable since then. Val will tell you we shared a bunk bed until we were in our mid-20s. It's not a usual sort of sibling relationship. We both did a lot of things and got instilled with a lot of work ethic early on from our dad, and a lot of life lessons. We went through immigration together as a family.
The show is also very therapeutic for both of us. It's kind of our farewell to each other, in the sense that we're definitely not going to share a bunk bed anymore. I'm engaged (to dancer Peta Murgatroyd), and it's a little weird.
<b>Q.</b> How long did it take to put this tour together?
<b>Val.</b> About a year. I was on tour with "Dancing With the Stars," and I noticed there's an audience for this ... and, if written correctly and produced the right way with the right people and right team, we could do a great job. We started writing the script about three months ago, then we laid out the choreographers we wanted to be part of this story. ... A year later, we have a show that will make you cry, will make you laugh and ultimately will inspire you and make you leave the theater with a huge smile on your face.
<b>Q.</b> Did it help that the "Dancing With the Stars" live tour is not happening this summer?
<b>Val.</b> No, the two have nothing to do with one another. Obviously, we're not going to deny the fact that a majority of our audiences are fans of "Dancing With the Stars." But the shows are as vastly different as it gets. It's a dance show, yes, but it's ultimately a play, and it's so heavily detail-oriented - there's a through line, there's a plot, from the beginning to the end - and there's so much heart attached and camaraderie that's onstage. It's very, very different than any "Dancing With the Stars" or any other tour having to do with anybody from "Dancing With the Stars" that has ever been out.
In a nutshell, our inspiration moving into this project was "Hamilton." In some ways, what "Hamilton" has done for Broadway shows - what it has done for the interpretation of history and how it fused all these worlds together into this modern, contemporary, hip-hop field, and delivered it in such an incredible way - we were inspired to do a similar thing for ballroom dancing and for dance shows in general. I'm not comparing us to "Hamilton," by no means. But ultimately this show will have an everlasting impact on how dance shows are produced in general.
<b>Q.</b> How large is the company for 'Our Way'?
<b>Maks.</b> Aside from Val and I, we have four more male dancers and we have six female dancers. So it's a cast of 12. Most of the cast we hired without audition because we grew up with them, we raised them ourselves. Some of the kids in the show are in their mid-20s now, and started with us when they were 7 years old as my students. So it's a very special production, because of the fact everyone is so passionate about this.
<b>Q.</b> Did both of you specialize in Latin ballroom dancing?
<b>Val.</b> Both my brother and I have only had dance experience with ballroom dancing. I started dabbling in other forms of dance only when I joined "Dancing With the Stars." Before that, we were strictly ballroom dancing.
<b>Q.</b> You became international champions as well.
<b>Val.</b> I was fortunate enough to become the first American to win junior world championships, first to ever win a youth world championship, second U.S. couple to ever win an under 21 Blackpool British open championship, German Open. I'm a 15-time national champion, so for me I had a long, competitive dancing career before joining "Dancing With the Stars."
My brother was also a very successful competitor. However, most of his accomplishments came as a professional, toward the end of his career. Growing up, the circumstances were a little different than mine. He's six years older. So I kind of lucked out on a lot of parts in terms of education, and having him as my coach was always a plus for me.
<b>Q.</b> Being so skilled, has it been tough to be paired with people on "Dancing With the Stars" who in many cases have never danced?
<b>Val.</b> I think that's why I didn't join the show for a long time. I joined five years ago, after 14 seasons of watching the show become a success. I was approached on numerous occasions to join earlier than I did, and I politely declined, because I was dedicated to my craft, dedicated to competing and pursuing my personal goals in that world. And then when I was ready to "sell out and go to Hollywood," I did that.
I was at a point in my career where I longed for a bigger stage, a brighter light, and I'm very grateful to "Dancing With the Stars" for allowing me to become part of that incredible production and incredibly talented cast. I am forever in debt to them for that opportunity. Ultimately, this tour would not be possible without those opportunities as well.
<b>Q.</b> Maks, what was it like for you to return to the show last season as a judge?
<b>Maks.</b> We joined the show at different times for different reasons and under different circumstances. Those things made for very different tenures on the show. However opinionated I may have been - I still am - my relationship with the show has drastically changed over the last years, since I won and even before that a little bit.
I embraced what the essence of "Dancing With the Stars" is. I love the fact that we all as a team did our best, hate us or love us.
So where I'm at now is, I want the show to stay on TV, and if there's interest for me as a character in any capacity, whether it's judge or guest star or whatever, of course, I'd love that. So, yeah, I love being a judge, I appreciate our continued relationship with the show and looking forward to what's next.
“Maks & Val Live on Tour: Our Way”
When: 8 p.m. Friday, July 29
Where: The Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., Chicago, (312) 462-6300,
Tickets: $29.99-$79.99