Breaking News: Dancing The Rumba Requires A Darker Tan Than Dancing A Waltz

by Maryan Barbara
July 21,2021

I'm not a regular follower of "Dancing With The Stars," but I found this fact about the fake tans on dance shows so interesting ...

In a "Wall Street Journal" feature, TV makeup artists reveal that not only are spray tans a must-have for the scantily clad competitors on dance shows--duh, they instantly make you look about 10 lbs. thinner--but that they use different shades of bronze depending on the style of dance.

Depending on the dance the couple will perform -- fox trot or waltz, West Coast swing or cha-cha -- TV makeup artists use a specific tone of tan. Latin dances like the rumba and sultry lambada seem to call for the darkest shades. Waltzes and fox trots take fine-tuning on hands, neck and ankles since most of the body is covered. Dancer Noelle Marsh got an extra dose of color when she and her partner performed an Afro-jazz number on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" reality series.Does this seem totally logical or totally silly to you?

Some other interesting tidbits from the article:

There's a tanorexia problem backstage; producers have to beg the contestants not to overdo it in the spray-tan booth. Sometimes the makeup people even trick contestants by applying brown water instead of tanner. Ha!

During season six of "Dancing With The Stars", an African American contestant had to get a spray tan after his Polish dance partner overdid hers and ended up darker than him!

One contestant admits that while the tans may look great on TV, people look at him funny in the grocery store.

Thoughts on all this?

My quest to perfect the professional spray tan

The product I think every spray-tan lover simply has to own

More Ways to Get Glamour

You could win $50,000 just for registering for or logging into Glamour.com!

Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage.