“Patrick was so hot,” Melora told Parade.com. “Literally, I’d been a ballerina, just ballet, ballet, ballet from the time I was 5 until Patrick came to our ballet studio. His sister was an amazing ballerina, and his mother was a teacher. And so, he came and taught jazz at our studio.” But it was more than the lessons. These young girls had never seen anything quite like Patrick’s moves, so they would even watch him as he arrived. “He’d drive up on his motorcycle with his leather jacket and his tight jeans and he would saunter into class and all of us 13-year-old girls would swoon,” she recalled. “He was a wonderful teacher, a very kind man.” Now, Melora is hoping some of those jazz moves will translate to DWTS and help her on her journey to win the Mirror Ball Trophy. And it looks like it may be helping! Melora and her pro partner Artem Chigvintsev got the highest scores of the night on both Disney Heroes Night and Disney Villains Night and the first 10 of the season—from Len Goodman, no less! “Getting a 10 from Len was so exciting,” Melora told Parade.com after the show on Tuesday night. “The fact that last night he said to me, ‘Don’t doubt yourself. You are a dancer.’ That was a beautiful thing to say to me. And then tonight, he thought it was a really wonderful performance. He felt like it all came together and that it was what it was supposed to be as a dance, so that was super exciting to me.” Artem joked, “It feels like an 11 actually.” But more seriously he added, “The first night, we felt so grateful to get the four nines because it was the highest score of the season. Then getting the first ten on night two, which was villain night, you never know how things are going to go because in a live performance anything can go wrong. Doing it was very satisfying because you’ve worked so hard to this point.” Melora and Patrick were reunited at the 1989 Academy Awards when Melora was dancing in an “I Wanna Be an Oscar Winner” song-and dance-number alongside Blair Underwood, Chad Lowe, Corey Feldman and Patrick Dempsey, and Patrick was presenting. “When I came off stage, I was like, ‘Patrick, you were my first jazz dance teacher.’ And he said, ‘Of course, I remember you.’ He’s just so sweet. And his wife Lisa, too, just the nicest, lovely, lovely people. So yeah, I have very fond memories of Patrick Swayze.” But that wasn’t her only connection with Patrick. In 1988, Melora landed the role of Baby in the TV version of Dirty Dancing. The series only lasted one season, but Melora is hoping that some of the magic of having played Baby will carry her to a win, like it did Jennifer Grey, who played the role in the film, and went on to win the Mirror Ball trophy in season 11 partnered with Derek Hough. “I mean come on, wouldn’t that be cool and be like the magic of Baby?” she said. “It would be like the magic that comes along with being part of Dirty Dancing.” Melora has another connection to DWTS through her friendship with her former The Office co-star Kate Flannery, who competed on season 28, and gave her a handy tip. “We talked and she just texted me actually and she was great,” Melora said. “She was so excited I was doing this. She actually came and saw me on my opening night in Chicago when I did Chicago on Broadway. Now, she’s like, ‘This is just made for you. You’re going to love every minute of it.’ She loved every minute of it. She gave me the advice that I need to get this specific balm for my feet so that I don’t have the blisters that you get from these dancing shoes. So, I’ll be running out and getting that immediately.” Dancing with the Stars premieres its 30th season tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Next, Dancing with the Stars Reveals Groundbreaking Changes for Season 30, Including a Same-Sex Dance Couple
