Canton native Amanda Kloots says 'Dancing with the Stars' journey brings unexpected healing

For Canton native Amanda Kloots, her healing journey on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" ended beautifully on the finale Nov. 22, but her joy in dancing live will continue.

Partnering with dance pro and choreographer Alan Bersten for 11 episodes and sharing her emotions through dance has changed Kloots' life, she said on the show. And now, she doesn't have to say goodbye to her dance partner for good, as she'll be joining the DWTS tour for the final nine live shows March 17 through 27 in California, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Nevada.

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"It was kind of comforting to know, 'Alan, I'll dance with you again, I'll see this cast again, I'll get to ballroom dance again,' " Kloots said by phone Monday from Los Angeles.

" 'Dancing with the Stars' is like this family that I feel so lucky to get to revisit again, that it's not a goodbye."

The tour will come to the Akron Civic Theatre Jan. 25, featuring special guest star Kaitlyn Bristowe, last year's winner. When Kloots takes over as special guest star out west in March, those dates will fit in with spring break for "The Talk," which she works on as a co-host.

Kloots lost husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, to COVID

Kloots, 39, is a former Broadway dancer who lost her husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, to COVID-19 in 2020. She shared his struggle with supporters throughout the world on social media and has since written a memoir, "Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero," about their journey.

She came in fourth place last week on "Dancing with the Stars," with former Cleveland Cavs player Iman Shumpert winning the show's Mirrorball Trophy.

Kloots, reached Monday afternoon after filming an episode of "The Talk" in Los Angeles, talked about reaching her goal of competing on the "Dancing With the Stars" finale Nov. 22.

"I didn't really even understand what that meant 'til we were rehearsing for the finale and Alan was like, 'You know, it's so great when you get to the finale, because you don't have to go home anymore. Nobody goes home. You get to do every dance that you possibly could have danced. You know when the show's ending. There's not like a sudden shock of you don't get to do next week,' " she said.

The eight celebrity and pro finalists celebrated in style immediately after the finale, jumping on a bus to the Van Nuys Airport to board a private Disney plane that flew overnight to New York for their appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" the next morning. (The other celebrity finalists were pop star and dancer JoJo Siwa and celebrity fitness guru Cody Rigsby.)

"We barely slept because everybody was on such a high from the show," Kloots said.

Once they arrived in New York, they rehearsed for the New York show, changed and did the morning show segment.

More: 'Keep living': Amanda Kloots reflects on life, future after losing husband to COVID-19

"It was really kind of a fun way to end the whole experience," Kloots said. "It was just kind of a celebratory after-party for us."

In her beloved New York, Kloots left "Good Morning America" at 9 a.m. and was watching the Rockettes, whom she used to dance with, by 11 a.m.

"There's something about seeing that 'Radio City Christmas Spectacular,' it always kind of just starts off the holiday season for me," she said.

She returned to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving with her 2-year-old son, Elvis; her parents, Fred and Maureen; brother, Todd; and sister, Anna.

"We honestly just had a very, very relaxing weekend. We really didn't do too much. I slept a lot. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at home, cooked in. A very old fashioned kind of relaxing Thanksgiving. Not too much going on after three months of craziness," she said.

Bond with dance partner Alan Bersten helps with healing

During the "Dancing with the Stars" competition, Bersten pushed Kloots hard with their dances, which they were rehearsing six to seven hours daily by the end. Going into dance rehearsals with Bersten felt comfortable from the start, given Kloots' Broadway background. He said they grew together as a dancing couple because she trusted him.

"I don't know if I have a bond like this with anyone else in my life right now, and I didn't know how much I needed it," Kloots told Bersten in the final episode.

"Alan gave me that balance of somebody that would care and give me a hug and cry with me and make me laugh but also push me to become the person that could dance in this finale," she said in the finale. "Alan helped me understand that I can have deeper relationships again in my life."

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On Monday, Kloots went into detail about how that bond with Bersten developed.

"I lost Nick, and you go so into independent mode of living and you have to get used to not having anyone around, not spending time with anyone, not having that person in your life that you can get a hug from and talk to and have adult conversations with and go for goals with and learn new things with. And you just go back to very much just being yourself, and then you get so used to that, that the fear of letting somebody else in again starts coming up," she said.

"He's [Bersten has] helped me just become OK with the idea of being with a person again, being with somebody again all the time every day, trusting somebody again, crying with somebody again, laughing, all the things that you get worried about in life because you have lost your person in life.

"We joked that we were in an arranged marriage and that you were paid to like each other and paid to spend time with each other," Kloots said. "It was very nice to have that somebody in my life for this time to help me kind of feel that transition out."

'DWTS' changes Kloots life, restores access to important part of herself

Kloots told host Tyra Banks during the semifinals that "Dancing with the Stars" has changed her life. It has enabled her to access an important part of herself again after leaving performing seven years ago to start a fitness business and then become a mom.

"For me, it was just basically being able to find that time and space to enjoy something for myself again in life," Kloots said Monday. "It was nice to have an excuse in a way to do something for myself again, to learn a new skill, to dive into something that was completely brand new to me and try to do well at it."

Kloots learned another new skill in the finale — an aerial beginning to the joyful final dance "A Sky Full of Stars" that had her and Bersten coming down from the ceiling, each with one of their hands through a loop, which required major upper body strength.

"To start the dance like that was so magical, it felt like we were coming down from the sky as stars," she said.

Kloots received consistently high scores from the judges throughout the competition, with Bruno Tonioli telling her after her last finale dance, "The last 10 weeks, we've seen really a star reborn in front of our eyes," adding, "you're shining brighter than ever."

Performance to Cordero's 'Live Your Life' an emotional release

Dance itself provided an emotional release, Kloots said, especially performing a contemporary dance to her husband's song, "Live Your Life," in the semifinals in a slow, tender cover by Lenii. Kloots had used Cordero's song as a rallying cry across the world as he fought for his life for 95 days.

She spent the semifinals week sharing her experience losing Cordero with Bersten so he could choreograph a dance that was meaningful to her story.

"That dance was an unexpected, huge healing piece for me," Kloots said. "The whole week was very emotional, and I cried a lot in rehearsal ... because every step we did was connected to something meaningful to me."

The morning after the semifinals, Kloots woke up with a feeling of peace.

"I think it's because in dance, you're able to express emotions that you can't necessarily express another way. And as a dancer, I'm used to expressing emotion through dance, but I hadn't danced these emotions out. I hadn't danced the grief out, because I stopped dancing," before her "Dancing with the Stars" journey, she said.

Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Canton's Amanda Kloots talks of healing on 'Dancing with the Stars'