DWTS16 Aly Raisman Chats On Last Week’s Dances, Mark Ballas Has Become A Best Friend
Aly Raisman was sad last week from what happened in Boston, but, her partner, Mark Ballas, was such a big help to her. She talks all about it and last week’s dances in a new interview with the LA Times. She speaks about costuming as well….
Q. How much input do you have into picking out the outfit you will wear?
Mark Ballas and the design team come up with the idea because they know which looks and colors go best with each dance. They always ask for my input and make sure I feel comfortable! I love all of Mark’s ideas, and the costume team is absolutely amazing.
Q. You are understandably still somewhat distracted by the events in Boston, but it looked like Mark did his best to try to lift your spirits all week. How hard is it to set your emotions aside and focus on dancing?
It’s definitely hard. Part of doing this show is learning to act while you are performing; however, I am not an actress. I am a very easily read person. Mark could definitely tell I was sad this week and just not myself. I was watching the news and calling friends and family at home to make sure everyone was OK. Mark always makes me laugh and makes me feel confident. He is not only an amazing dancer and teacher, but also a best friend. I am so lucky to have him. Meeting him has definitely changed my life in a great way!
More at the LA Times. I felt her finally last week. I hope we see her let loose and just enjoy dancing again Monday night like she did last week.
Love Aly but most of her costumes have been a miss (group, contemporary, and maybe samba were the exceptions.) I think the problem outfitting her is two folds. First (and you saw this with Shawn too) while everyone else drops the pounds on DWTS this isnt really the case with gymnasts because while for everyone else their activity/conditioning level increases for an Olympic gymnast it decreases combine that the fact that they are no longer on such strict diet regiments. When youre that small 3-4 lbs can seem like a lot more.
Secondly I dont think Aly is fully comfortable with the changes her body have occurred post Olympics. To combat that I feel like she asks to be more covered but it ends up just not working at all (especially the cap sleeve which the girl seems to love.) She needs an A-line to give her a waist since her torso is all muscle. In her Parade blog she talked a little bit about being a little bit embarrassed by Len and Bruno’s comments about her butt and Mark has basically said in a bunch of interviews there is nothing he can do about it, girls got a booty.
I thought she looked best in the 70s outfit and would love if they would use that basic shape of that costume to build off future costumes. I do think she finally allowed herself to exhale a bit last week and we started to see her lose some of that control, hope she can keep it up.
I’ve not been impressed with her costumes! She’s been dressed very matronly! I said earlier Marks dressed her like Bea Arthur on Golden Girls! Lol
Tumbles, I think you nailed it about Aly not feeling very comfortable with her body changes. I’ve sensed that too. With an exception to her Go Go Girl Team Samba outfit, I haven’t liked her costumes either. What Mark picks out for her reminds of what Bristol wore.
LOL Kelly to dressing her like Bea Arthur on Golden Girls!!!
I have to agree that the majority of her costumes really haven’t worked for for body type. She still strikes me as a very guarded and private person. Plus, coming on the season right after Shawn, who is so bubbly in personality and a dynamic dancer is probably pretty somewhat intimidating.She definiately got into the character with her last dance, and really seems to be trying hard to let lose and not just move but feel the dance and own it. Hearing her sharing how the Boston bombings have affected her has really made me see her vulnerability, like I see in Andy. It is making me want to finally get behind her, especially since it seems now like her purpose for being there and wanting to do well is to make Boston proud.
I’m starting to enjoy Aly more too. She’s by no means a natural dancer, but she’s a hard worker who’s really trying to learn how to bring personality into her performances. It’s bad luck for her that she’s on the same season as Kellie and Zendaya who are very outgoing. Aly’s naturally composed and reserved personality suffers by comparison.
She’s also not a touchy/cuddly person. I’ve noticed that Mark doesn’t drape his arm around her shoulders or waist as he usually does with his partners.
Yes, some of the costumes have been fails, but I’ve liked a couple of them. They are a tad conservative, but I think Mark is having a tough time finding the right balance between what he believes Aly *could* wear and what he knows she’ll feel *comfortable* wearing.