Who could use a Henry Byalikov fill today like I could? The Dancing With The Stars Troupe member gave @TeamMariaDerek at twitter an exclusive interview. Henry discusses his dancing career, how he was chosen to be on the Troupe, and what motivates him (I loved his answer!). Did you know he strained his ankle while dancing last season? Despite this injury and others in the past, he’s always persisted. Below is a take of how he was picked by Derek to be in the Trio Dance last season. Be sure to read more of this fascinating interview here and thanks to @TeamMariaDerek for sending.

We know you already said Derek Hough would have been the pro you would want to work with. The Bollywood Samba was incredible. Tell us about that experience.

It was 9pm, Tuesday 1st of May and I received a call from one of the senior producers informing me I was selected by Derek and Maria, to be in the Trios section with them, for the next week’s show. I was excited because, as you already know, he was one of the pro’s that I’ve wanted to work with and it was a great compliment for me to know that with such a short time on the show that I had had a positive impression both on the fans and with Derek and Maria.

I had no idea how the rehearsals were going to be organised, all I knew is that I wanted to support Derek and Maria as much as possible and see them through to the next week.

Derek asked to meet him a few hours before Maria arrived for our first rehearsal to work on some choreographic ideas and groups. We started work in the studio, went through some groups and then Derek turned to me and said that he wanted to come up with a theme for the dance. He played the music and immediately I was like “This sounds Bollywood even a little bit rockabilly, why don’t we do a Bollywood Samba?” He looked at me and said “Bollywood? Yeah!”. Maria arrived, we explained the idea and she loved it!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we managed to get through most of the routine but it wasn’t ready and we needed more time. Saturday was off as Derek and Maria had to go to Las Vegas and I was forced to stay back in Los Angeles.

Owning to their professionalism when we had camera blocking on the Sunday the routine felt great and we were excited to showcase it on Monday.

I so want this guy as a teaching Pro in the future!!! Come on TPTB! Make it happen! Picture above is of Henry and his partner Tony Pearon when they were on the Australian version of Dancing With The Stars n 2008. Picture courtesy of Zimbio Pictures.