his interview.DWTS 12 – Mark Ballas and Chelsea Kane Plan To Turn It Up A Notch
Mark Ballas has updated his USA Today journal again. Get ready Guys. He says they are “turning it up” a notch (haven’t they already been doing that? He better still be careful on that or else in my opinion?). More details below. Mark also talks about his pro number on Tuesday with Karina Smirnoff and going “all out”. More at the link if you want to read on his album thoughts.
Time to get back to rehearsal. With this competition heading into the home stretch, that’s going to be my mantra: back to rehearsal. Because the only way we can knock off Hines and Kym, Romeo and Chelsie, Ralph and Karina, Kendra and Louis, Kirstie and Maks, and Chris and Cheryl, is to get back to rehearsal. In dance, as in life, hard work pays off! It’s officially go time. Five weeks behind us, five weeks ahead of us.
Our goal this past week has been to turn it up a notch since we’re in the second half. When there are several couples, it’s easy to hide in the masses. But now there’s no hiding. Over the next several weeks, the dances will get tougher, the judges scoring will get stricter, the fans will get focused on their favorites, and the couples will be more scrutinized. Oh, and the couples will have to learn and dance two or three dances per week.
We’ve had a pretty smooth rehearsal week. As always, Chelsea picked up the choreography quickly, and we’ve spent Thursday and Friday tweaking and perfecting the dance. Ballroom Quickstep is a lot different from Latin Samba, so the approach is completely different.
What’s the biggest challenge of the Quickstep? Keeping your partner in hold for the entire dance. Chelsea has proven that she has the ability to dance away from her partner, and now we’re getting used to dancing while connected. That’s a great problem to have, as usually it happens in reverse. Although, she might have blisters on her hands from never letting go of me this week!
In my last entry, I mentioned I’m doing a pro dance on Tuesday’s Results show. Since we have the Dance Troupe performing each week now, this is only my second pro dance of the season. The extra hours of rehearsal for pro dances make the week busier, but they’re absolutely worth it. As dancers on the show, we tend to simplify our dancing to match our celeb partners, so I’m really looking forward to dancing “all out” with Karina.
Edit to Add: A new video made by Chelsea, Mark, and Romeo. Chelsie and Pia make an appearance as well.
Edited again to add an interview from TV Guide. Here’s some hints for what we will see in their dance tonight. Thanks CK410 for sending us this interview.
What do you have up your sleeves for guilty pleasures week?Chelsea Kane: Well, we have one of those hilarious songs that no one wants to admit that they sing at the top of their lungs. This song came out before I was born [in 1988]. I didn’t pick it as one of my guilty pleasures, but I can definitely relate to probably what most of America thinks when they hear this song. But the routine is a completely different story from the song. It’s going in the vein of being young and carefree. I think it will be cute. The thing I love about being partnered with Mark is that he always wants to tell a story with his dances. There’s always some sort of theme or character to play.
You guys have gotten in trouble for not doing traditional routines. What’s your plan this week?Kane: We’re going traditional. We’re being very well-behaved! With the quickstep, the entire dance is also in hold, which is a challenge for both of us. I want to say it’s one of the most proper forms of ballroom because you’re not allowed to let go of each other. That just contradicts my and Mark’s personalities completely because we love to break apart. I think we won’t get into any trouble this week for bending or breaking the rules because we’re being 100 percent traditional.
