‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pros Got Physical While Prepping Dance for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Couple

A popular Dancing With the Stars couple ended up getting physical with each other while preparing a dance routine for a So You Think You Can Dance couple. Sasha Farber and Emma Slater recently appeared on an episode of the Fox dancing competition back in July, helping to choreograph and a Jive dance for Keaton Kermode and Ezra Sosa. This is the “first same-sex Latin ballroom number performed in the series’ history.”

The dancing pros were excited to work with the couple, especially Sosa due to the DWTS connections. “There weren’t enough notes we could give him, there weren’t enough questions we could answer– he wanted to know as much information as possible. He wanted to do the handspring over Ezra. He didn’t want us to adjust that in anyway and I’m glad because it looked amazing,” Slater told Inside Dance. “He’s super talented and he was a fantastic partner to Keaton. Ezra was a strong support in this Jive because it was an all-male piece and that help was needed.”

The dance itself went off without a hitch, and the dancers all celebrated online and showed their support. But as Farber revealed after the performance, his wife got a little too overzealous with preparation in rehearsal. “[Emma Slater] really practiced that slap on me when we prepped this piece,” Farber wrote on his Instagram Story. Thankfully the violence wasn’t real.

Slater and Farber have become two of the more prominent members of the current Dancing With the Stars pro roster. Slater and Farber dated from 2011 until 2014. The Russian dancer actually proposed to Slater on the show itself back in 2016, marrying later in 2018. Lindsay Arnold, Witney Carson and Jenna Johnson served as bridesmaids, while Derek Hough lined up with Farber’s groomsmen. Slater won the Mirror Ball trophy in season 24 of the series, partnering with NFL running back Rashad Jennings.

Farber hasn’t been as lucky on the show, placing third at best on the show across nine different seasons of the show. He started his time on the show as a member of the dance troupe, joining the main pro group for season 17 before returning to the troupe until season 22 in 2016.