DWTS 12 – Mark Ballas and Chelsea Kane on “Age Is Just A Number” And More (Videos)
Access Hollywood interviewed Mark and Chelsea. Chelsea talks of how Kyle Massey was an inspiration for her to do the show. They also talk about the competition and how “age is just a number” and doesn’t make a difference. They also discuss the dance (the Jive) they have on Monday. Mark says it’s creative and he hopes it will be a “crowd pleaser”. Hmm? We will soon see. 
Only a 21 year old would be stupid enough to say that age is just a number and doesn’t make a difference. If they’re talking about the competition (and not romance) then me thinks they both need to walk in Ralph’s or Kirstie’s body for a couple hours and see how much of a difference it DOES make.
If Kirstie and Chelsea both do a great jive – well, who had to actually work harder to succeed at it?? The 60 year old, or the 21 year old?
SO TRUE!!!!!!
Hmm, in my opinion, age isnt the ulitmate deciding factor on how well someone does, but at the same time, it does take its effect. Just because someone is young doesn’t mean they’ll be a big personality or a great dancer with a lot of energy. Just because someone is a bit older doesn’t mean they’ll be a bad dancer. Bristol showed that because her dances didn’t have as much energy as they could have, and she wasnt the best of her season obviously. Jennifer definintely proved that anyone can be a great dancer, old or not. Chelsea has a great point saying that young age comes with a lot of people expecting them to do well, that’s a lot of pressure. Kirstie and Ralph luckily came in the competition without big expectations, so they both came as a surprise when they kicked butt. I don’t know exactly what Mark meant when he said age doesn’t matter, it completely depends. It doesn’t decide how good someone dances or how mature their dances will be, but young age comes with pretty high expectations and old age comes with health problems (in most cases anyways). Oh yea, Heidi, I don’t mean to pick but Chelsea is 22 not 21 lol
22 versus 21? Absolutely no difference. You make my point Will – it does have an effect in some way. They use the words “doesn’t matter” when absolutely it does.
Age makes no difference. Okay, tell my body that every morning. Age makes all the difference, im sure dancing is twice as hard on Kirstie and Ralphs body then it is on Chelsea. Are they serious? I guess no one told them that Kirstie is 60 years old.
I hope this is the year that a pro that has never won the mirrorball finally gets the chance.
Age doesn’t matter in this competition. It’s all about personality and chemistry between the partners. I think they’ll finish 4th or 5th. They don’t excite me as a couple.
Spoken like a teenager, tcs. It does matter from the standpoint of how well and how long you can train. It matters from the standpoint of stamina.
If age did not matter at all, then everyone should have given Cloris, Flo, & Buzz a much harder time about not winning
And tcs, while personality & chemistry do play a part in this competition, so does ability – whether people admit it or not. And from a biological standpoint, it’s always going to be easier for a 22-year-old with a young, flexible, energetic body than it is for a 60-year-old with deteriorating joints & diminished energy. Youth automatically has the edge in that department.
Well I wasn’t trying to prove your wrong or anything Heidi, but I guess it came across that way. I didn’t really say 21 or 22 was a difference, was just saying
Anyways, it is completely harder for a 60 year old to move well like a 22 year old, if someone doesn’t know that at least, ouch. I still think what they said is up for debate. We can of course think we know what they mean, but getting mad over it is useless, because honestly we don’t know what they really mean. They could mean what some are thinking that age doesn’t make it easier or harder, or they could mean what I said, that you don’t have to be young to be a great dancer and that just because someone’s young that doesn’t make it easy. I’m pretty sure they meant the second, but honestly I don’t know. I am going to say that being young doesn’t make it easy, dancing is extremely difficult still, but it is easier than having Ralph’s or Kirstie’s bodies. I don’t get exactly where people would get at that being old doesn’t make it tougher, did they see Jennifer’s problems throughout the competition? Ralph is already saying his back or something was bothering him just being in hold. Kirstie looked like she was winded, and that was just after the Cha cha. I’m praying for her in the Quickstep (this coming up week actually right?) and the Jive.
Geez I’m just stating my opinion. Don’t get to offensive. Still love you =). Btw, I’m still a teenager. I still have alot to learn =)
Oh yea, tcs, that’s the thing about this site. If you state your opinion, Heidi and the others will not resort to childishness like the abc boards or facebook, but you have to be ready to defend it or back it up with logic with a stone determination, because honestly, they could all be on a speech and debate team and win a competition in a heartbeat
Age definitely affects stamina and how hard it is for someone to dance. However, I’ve often found there is another aspect to age – the young kids are usually the ones who goof around the most and may not show the dedication that some older contestants do. For example, they may both have a 4-hour rehearsal scheduled but the younger couple may actually rehearse only half of the time. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but definitely seeing it this season.
Still, it’s definitely harder on the older contestants and I respect them more for putting for the effort to become good!
Mark + Jive = great cheetastic dance lol
Its nice to see him paired with somebody who is not causibng cntroversy though. I think I kinda get what Chelsea was getting at though. I think what she meant is that nobody young other than Shawn has won the show and since she is young and probably not too well known people will not expect much from her. Speaking from experience, I am 20 years old and still look young (my family calls it ralph macchio and i have been heairng it since senior year of hs lol) and people never expect much from mr cuz I look that young so I c what she meant.
Oh, I’m not mad when I say I think someone is being STOOPID, Will. If I was, I would be mad all the time.
Whatever they meant it wasn’t the smartest thing to say in regards to this competition. Now, if they were talking romance, then – they are correct. Derek, of course, would agree, since he has a history of women 10 years his senior. 
Obviously, tcs.
TCS, sometimes, us “older folks” can learn something from the teenagers that visit this site, you’re not the first one, but they say that the mind is he first thing to go, and I definitely understand what that means!
Yes, you’re right, personality and chemistry does matter inthis competition, but speaking as someone who isn’t that young anymore, I do think that age DOES matter! I’ve seen this show long enough to see that the younger contestants definitely have an advantage. Think of Kyle and Cody, how much energy and exuberance they had. Think of Donny and Jennifer, how they worked hard to try to keep up and to keep their bodies working.
I hope you keep coming, and keep posting comments!!
I also think age matters but in defense of Mark, he was just making an example of Kyle versus Jennifer. Did she work harder because it is harder for a 50 year old – of course. I think his point was an older celebrity can win this competition and therefore, age does not matter.
This is a very thought provoking debate – does age matter? Well, yes and no. Young people, as a general rule, do have more energy, more stamina, can do pretzels with their bodies etc etc that an older person would have to work tons harder to accomplish. Yet an older person – as a general rule – brings more personality into the dance, more depth; they often “get” the feel, the mood, of each dance. I remember Kyle, as entertaining as he was, couldn’t really pull off the serious passionate dominant role the tango or paso require. Older people can laugh at themselves easier, not take themselves too seriously. Like Romeo, for instance – if he can’t get over himself not looking “cool” he’s going to be out of this competition sooner rather than later. The Cha Cha Cha is the tamest of the Latin dances my friend – your hips ain’t seen anything yet
We cannot forget the dynamics of DWTS, however. If this were a true dancing competition, based on execution of the technical and artistic aspects of a particular dance alone, the young folks would definitely have the edge. But there’s too much subjectivity in the process on this show, and so I almost have to give the older generation a slight edge. We root for them – and vote for them – often in part because they do have to work so damn hard and we’re absulutely thrilled when they pull it off (go Kirstie). And you never know who’s going to catch the audience’s fancy – Ty Murray could not dance to save his life, bless his soul, but he made it to 4th place on sheer personality & character alone. You just can’t tell what’s going to turn us on. Or off, for that matter.
Thankfully no one has yet to win this show that couldn’t dance pretty damn good. But we all also know that it’s not always been the best dancer to take home the MBT. Each age group has it’s own inherent advantages … and disadvantages. So in that regard, no – age really does not matter here on DWTS