Vice President JD Vance cracked a dad joke backstage moments before dancing with a Marine at the Commander in Chief Ball.
Staff Sgt. Lexus Martinez, 27, was picked to dance alongside the 50th veep as part of President Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday.
Martinez, who works as a food specialist for the Marine Corps, told the New York Post that the whole experience was ‘surreal’.
Each branch of the armed forces sent one member to dance with Trump, Vance, first lady Melania Trump and second lady Usha Vance.
Martinez, from New York, decided to apply for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and found out just last Friday that she would be taking to the dancefloor with Vance.
On Sunday, she and the other service members had a rehearsal without POTUS and V-POTUS present, when Vance cracked a joke to break the ice.
She said: ‘President Trump and Vice President Vance walked by and they just wanted to shake our hands, thank us for our service and to get facial recognition of who they were dancing with.’
It was after this brief encounter that Vance cracked a joke, telling her: ‘Well, I hope you don’t step on my feet’.
Staff Sgt. Lexus Martinez, 27, was picked to dance alongside the 50th veep as part of President Trump’s inauguration ceremony
Martinez, who works as a food specialist for the Marine Corps, told The New York Post that the whole experience was ‘surreal’
Martinez, who is at least a foot shorter than Vance, responded: ‘Well, I hope you teach me how to dance up there’, telling The Post that they shared a laugh.
Vance served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 as a military journalist. He left in 2007 after having no combat experience.
Martinez said that during the dance the two discussed their time in the Marines, where she has served for nine years.
After leaving the stage, she said that she walked off more confident due to how normal Vance was during the dance.
She told the outlet: ‘Him acknowledging me as a Marine and just like joking with me in that way.
‘It felt cool to just be myself because, in the Marines, we’re all family no matter what. You’re a Marine 24/7.
‘I was talking to someone in the brotherhood like we were family already. It just all felt so natural.’
Each branch of the armed forces sent one member to dance with Trump, Vance, First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Usha Vance
Martinez said that during the dance the two discussed their time in the Marines, where she has served for nine years
Martinez, from New York, decided to apply for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and found out just last Friday that she would be taking to the dancefloor with Vance
Martinez said that her family were beyond proud of watching her on national television dancing with the Vice President.
She added: ‘My phone was blowing up the second I got off the stage’, adding that her phone is still being bombarded with messages.
Martinez, who is Puerto Rican, said that she has family everywhere and was receiving messages from relatives across the globe.
Trump had a dance with Sergeant Tatiana Saldana from the Space Force, while Melania enjoyed one with Honor Guard member Henry Wallen.
