Bill Nutt, Correspondent
Maksim Chmerkovskiy has a request: Please don’t refer to his current stage show as a “dance program.”
True, the production features Chmerkovskiy, his younger brother Valentin, and his wife Peta Murgatroyd – all performers from “Dancing with the Stars” – in a variety of routines.
But “Maks, Val & Peta Live on Tour: Confidential” is more than simply a series of snazzy moves, according to Maksim Chmerkovskiy. It is also a story of the three of them and their respective joys and difficulties.
“People expect it to be just dancing,” he said. “But it’s more than that. It’s a story of immigration and hardship, but also success. “We want people to walk away feeling that they know us. We’re just performers on TV.”
The “Confidential” tour will make its only New Jersey for two performances on Friday, April 13, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center.
In a way, the current tour extends “Our Way,” the previous live show by the Chmerkovskiy brothers. In that production, they discussed their birth in the Ukraine and their family’s move to Brooklyn in the 1990s, when Maksim was in a teen.
Chmerkovskiy admitted that dance was not originally a passion for him. “I was phenomenal at science,” he said. “I studied chemistry and biology.”
Dance was not an avocation but a vocation for the two brothers. “Dancing was a way to make money. We would dance at Russian restaurants in Brooklyn for $25 a show,” said Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
He credited his father, Aleksandr Chmerkovskiy, with inspiring him. “Our work ethic came from my dad,” he said. “If I have a passion, it’s to provide for my family.”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy decided to become a professional dancer. He opened his first Rising Stars Dance Academy in Ridgewood; he now owns several dance schools in the New York/New Jersey area.
In 2006, Maksim Chmerkovskiy joined “Dancing with the Stars.” Valentin Chmerkovskiy made guest appearances for a few seasons, before joining the show officially in 2011.
This ground had been covered when the Chmerkovskiy brothers performed their “Our Way” tour. But the current “Confidential” production goes further with the addition of Peta Murgatroyd, a New Zealand native who joined “Dancing with the Stars” in 2011.
Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd married in 2017, and they have a son, Shai Aleksandr. “I’m husband and a father,” he said. “Our love has been documented, but there are things people don’t know about us. This show lifts a veil on some private stuff.
“We talk about things that are real and important. We’re not just performers you see on TV,” he continued.
Chmerkovskiy said that he is gratified by renewed interest in dance, partly because of the success of “Dancing with the Stars.”
He drew a comparison between dance and couture. “Fashion makes full circles all the time,” Chmerkovskiy said. “We used to make fun of what our parents wore, and now we wear it.
“Back then the most-recognized stars were the triple-threats, the actor-singer-dancer,” he added. “It was Fred Astaire. It was Ginger Rogers. It was Gene Kelly.”
That type of performer may be returning, Chmerkovskiy said. “I like to see new things. I don’t need remakes of ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘Grease.’ I liked the success of ‘La La Land.’ That’s as close as we’ve come to when Fred and Ginger were killing it.
“It’s up to the next generation,” Chmerkovskiy said. “We’ve opened doors for them. Now it’s up to them to go through them.”
Offering encouragement may the ultimate goal of “Confidential.” “We want to entertain, but we also want to inspire people to persevere,” Chmerkovskiy said. “We want people to walk away and think, ‘I know that. I’ve been there.’”
If you go
“MAKS, VAL & PETA LIVE ON TOUR: CONFIDENTIAL”
WHAT: Three performers from “Dancing with the Stars” – siblings Maksim and Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Maksim’s wife Peta Murgatroyd – perform a variety of dance routines, besides sharing personal stories about their lives and careers.
WHEN: 4 and 8 p.m. Friday, April 13
WHERE: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown
TICKETS: $59 to $99
