DWTS19 Alfonso Ribeiro Talks Of His Injury, His New Dances, And More With TV Guide

Alfonso Ribeiro chatted with TV Guide about his groin injury. It’s still an issue, but, he still thinks he’ll be able to give 85% with it tomorrow night on Dancing With The Stars. Here’s some takes about it and his new dances with Witeny Carson (and Lindsay Arnold)…

What’s the latest with your injury?
Ribeiro: I feel like I can’t do 100 percent. I can’t get it to that next level. I feel like I’m delivering 85 percent rather than 100, because I know that if I go harder then I’m going to injure it more. I have to give it half energy until performance night, and then I turn it up. The difference is that, anytime you do something where you don’t have the ability to know what that turning up feels like ahead of time, when you get on that stage for performance, it’s unknown. So there’s a little bit of discomfort in that. … When you have a tear in your groin, it’s not comfortable to take steps.

What are you and Witney working on for this week?
Ribeiro: We have two dances this week. We’ve got America’s Choice, where America went online and chose the style of dance and the song that we’re going to dance to. So, they chose the foxtrot, and we are doing it to “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head.” And then we have a trio dance, where Witney and I decided we would go with [troupe member] Lindsay Arnold. … Witney and Lindsay grew up together dancing in the same studio. They’ve known each other since they were 6 years old. So, it was an obvious choice for us to pick her. Their dance styles are very similar. It almost will look like you won’t know which one’s Witney and which one’s Lindsay during the routine. We are doing the paso doble. It’s a really strong dance, and great energy for me to have, to kind of be the man in the situation.

Are you feeling pretty comfortable with both of them?
Ribeiro: I did the flamenco, and a lot of the steps that are in the flamenco are also in the paso. … I feel really comfortable hitting those steps and it’s really strong, so I feel really positive about that one. But [Thursday] we kind of had a breakthrough on our foxtrot. We haven’t done a lot of ballroom in-hold dances, and the foxtrot obviously is in hold. And I had a breakthrough [Thursday], so all of a sudden now I’m actually feeling really, really good about both of them. I said to my wife, it’s going to be a good mix, because the dances are so different. The energy and the style is very different, and I think it’s going to be a really good night for us.

For the full interview, see TV Guide.