Lauren Alaina Tributes Late Stepfather With Dance, New Song on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ [Watch]
It's been one year since Lauren Alaina's stepfather, Sam Ramker, died, and she paid tribute to his lasting influence and legacy with an original song and new dance on Dancing With the Stars on Monday night (Oct. 21).
Ramker died on Oct. 21, 2018, following a battle with Stage 4 cancer. Alaina and her partner, Gleb Savchenko, performed a contemporary dance Savchenko arranged in his honor, dancing to a new song Alaina wrote titled "The Other Side," which is about a joyous reunion with loved ones after we die.
Watch: The Real Story of Lauren Alaina's "The Other Side"
"I'll be waiting, take your time / And go write a story / That you can't wait to tell me / On the other side," she sings in the new song. Savchenko choreographed the dance to make it appear as if Alaina was speaking to Ramker, and it touched the judges deeply, earning the partners a score of 26 out of a possible 30.
Alaina's mother was on hand in the studio during the performance, and before the dance, Alaina shared how deeply Ramker had impacted both of their lives. Beginning as a family friend, he ended up marrying her mother after her parents split.
"[Sam] made my mom so happy, changed my mom's life ... I wanted to write a song that did him justice," Alaina said. "He couldn't hear me sing without crying because he was so proud of me ... I wrote this song so that he can live on, and never be forgotten."
Alaina and Savchenko have given viewers several standout moments during the current season of Dancing With the Stars. Last week, they danced the samba during Disney Night, and the week before that, Alaina dedicated her foxtrot to a cousin who had suffered a brain bleed and slipped into a coma.
Dancing With the Stars airs each Monday at 8PM ET on ABC.
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