Derek Hough Blogs After Week 2 of DWTS Season 16

This blog is jam packed with information. Love it!  He talks about Jazz versus the Jive, Dorothy, injuries and why he’s never been to prom.  A few excerpts from TV Guide:

We have the jive next. It’s a hard dance. It’s a lot different from the jazz, which definitely played to Kellie’s strengths. The jive is so fast and the technique in it is so difficult. There are a lot of different elements. This is the first week where the pressure’s really on since we only have five days to do a routine going forward. It’s tough because the jive is so fast, so that means more steps. There’s more choreography within that minute and 15 seconds. You could do six steps in one second in the jive, whereas in the rumba, you probably do, like, two steps in five seconds.

The way I choreograph is I choreograph from the spot. I don’t really come in with a routine ready to go and teach it to my partners. I like to create with my partner. I like to play with ideas. I could have an idea that I think it’s great, but I could try it with them and they might not feel great doing it, so I like to experiment with my partner to try to maximize getting the best out of them.

It’s also Prom Week. I never went to prom and Kellie never went to prom either, so I’m trying to figure out a way to ask her to prom. I’m nervous! I didn’t go to prom because I grew up in England and they don’t really have proms there. I was also traveling and competing, so I didn’t have a normal social life. I didn’t go to school parties and dances. I never felt like I missed out on that type of stuff. Now I get my first prom with Kellie!

We were all sad to see Dorothy withdraw. We had no idea she was going to. We learned with the audience. We were completely in the dark about it. I think it was a very mature and smart thing to do on her part. It’s important to look after your health. That’s it. Nothing is worth sacrificing your health. I love what the Dalai Lama said — it doesn’t really go into her situation — but he said, “Mankind surprised me about humanity. Because we sacrifice our health for money and we sacrifice our money to gain back our health.” You always have to put your wellbeing first. But it was obviously very sad that she pulled out. You never want anyone to pull out. I think only, like, four people have pulled out during the show from injury. We have a lot of injuries on the show of varying degrees and I think we all are used to seeing people push through on the show. Dorothy’s an athlete and I think if she could, she would’ve pushed through, but it was too serious.

Jennifer Grey and I were very close to withdrawing many, many times. I had a doctor literally in a rehearsal saying to me, “You can do that move. You can’t do that move. If you do that move and you drop her, she can be paralyzed.” I was like, “OK…” No pressure, right? Actually on the very last show, she blew a disc in her lower back and she had surgery the next day after we won. We won a trophy and she’s in the hospital getting surgery less than a day later. It was crazy, but we were so close to pulling out that season.