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At age 21, Lindsay Arnold is starring in her second network TV show and embarking on her second national tour.
Not bad for a kid from Provo, right?
"I'm having a great time," Arnold told The Salt Lake Tribune. "It's a dream come true."
Three years ago, Arnold was a finalist on the Fox dance competition "So You Think You Can Dance." She transitioned to "Dancing With the Stars," where she's been one of the primary professional dancers twice and in the troupe three times.
The "DWTS" tour lands in Utah on Tuesday.
In the most recent season of that show, she partnered with Army National Guard specialist Alek Skarlatos — who became a hero when he and two friends, along with a Brit and two Frenchmen, took down an armed terrorist on a train traveling from Amsterdam to Brussels back in August.
"Meeting him and having him tell me his side of the story was just incredible," Arnold said. "The fact that he was able to get through that was just amazing."
The two developed a big-sister/little-brother relationship on the show, even though Arnold is two years younger than Skarlatos.
"He called me Mom a few times," Arnold said, with a laugh. "I was more like an older sister. We really had a great bond."
It wasn't just that she was teaching him to dance, she helped him deal with the media. After every episode of "DWTS," the contestants face a phalanx of reporters.
"Most of the celebrities who come on the show have done that hundreds of times, but it was new for him," Arnold said. "The first couple of interviews were pretty rough for him. I just tried to help him, and he learned to deal with it."
Just the way she did. Three years ago, Arnold was dealing with the media for the first time.
"I think I've gotten better at it," she said. (And she has.)
But her primary duty was to teach Skarlatos to dance. To choreograph routines that would work for him and help him advance in the competition.
" 'Dancing With the Stars' is completely different from 'So You Think You Can Dance,' " Arnold said. "I'm not being personally judged every week anymore. Now, I am in charge of making sure my partner gets better every single week.
"It's kind of my responsibility to make sure the judges like him. Going into Monday nights, I was nervous for him."
And, while they didn't win, she's proud that she got Skarlatos to the final three.
"That was what was so fun about this season, because we made it to the finale," Arnold sad. "I actually turned him into a bit of a dancer."
Enough of a dancer so that Skarlatos will be part of the upcoming "Dancing With the Stars" tour, which will take him, Arnold and other dancers — Alan Bersten, Sharna Burgess, Brittany Cherry, Artem Chigvintsev, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Jenna Johnson, Keo Motsepe, Peta Murgatroyd and Emma Slater — to 52 performances in 41 cities in 62 days, beginning Tuesday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.
"I can't wait," Arnold said. "I'm excited to be able to dance with Alek and to get to perform for the fans. And I'll have a lot of friends and family there when we start the tour."
(The year she performed on the "So You Think You Can Dance" tour, it didn't come to Utah.)
The tour will take Arnold to 22 states and one Canadian province, and away from her husband of five months, Samuel Lightner Cusick — her boyfriend since they were both 16. But only temporarily.
"I couldn't be happier," Arnold said. "Going from getting married to my best friend to being a regular on ['Dancing with the Stars'] and making it to the finals — it's pretty surreal.
"I honestly don't think I could have gone through this season without him."
Cusick is "the most supportive husband ever" when it comes to her career as a dancer, but he is definitely not a dancer himself.
"He does not dance at all. He will tell you he's very bad," Arnold said, with a laugh "I've tried to ease him into it, but so far he's just not interested."
Twitter: @ScottDPierce —
Dancing with the Stars: Live! Dance All Night Tour
When • Tuesday, Dec. 15, 8 p.m.
Where • Maverik Center, 3200 Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City
Tickets • $39.50-$125 (plus fees) at the box office, all SmithsTix locations and smithstix.com