Mark Ballas' 'DWTS' journal: Under pressure
By Mark Ballas, Special for USA TODAY
Last season, Dancing With the Stars professional and two-time champion Mark Ballas chronicled the ups and downs of Team Ballin (his nickname for himself and partner Bristol Palin). Ballas, 24, who is also a musician, is back with his USA TODAY journal once more, this time as part of Team KanenBall, which has him teamed with Disney Channel actress Chelsea Kane. You can find his dispatches here on Wednesdays following the Tuesday night results show, and on weekends when he'll let us know how practice for the next performance is going.
Courtesy of Mark Ballas
Mark and Chelsea ham around during a break from rehearsing their slow waltz and salsa for Monday night's show.
Courtesy of Mark Ballas
Mark and Chelsea ham around during a break from rehearsing their slow waltz and salsa for Monday night's show.
May 6
This week we have two individual dances, which has been our toughest week of rehearsal thus far. We remove the challenge of dancing with a team and syncing up our timing, but that means there's a lot more challenge for Chelsea to get two dances performance-ready. Every week gets exponentially harder and harder, with more time required to rehearse and do press. And since we've progressed as the season moves along, we're also more scrutinized by the judges. So that means we have to work harder to get the high scores from the judges and win over the fans' votes.
Our dances are the slow waltz and salsa. And on top of learning both dances, salsa is an "instant dance." Remember the "instant dance" from last season? That's where we learn the song we're dancing to a moment before we have to perform it. I'm excited to not have such an intense week like we did with the rock-inspired cha cha and paso. This week will be romantic and fun dances, which will put us in a good mood to get through the tough times during rehearsal.
On Friday morning, there was a photo shoot at my house. In Touch magazine is doing a story on my new place, so you'll have to pick up a copy and check that out. It's a bit of a clich�, but my home really is my sanctuary. After spending long hours rehearsing, traveling, doing press, and all the other things my job requires, I really like my time at home. The style fits my personality and inspires me to write music.
Speaking of music, I'm really excited for the weekend. We don't get much time off, since we have to get the dances performance ready for Monday, but on Saturday I'm playing a private party for People. Every year, People hosts a party as a thank you to their top photographers and I'm honored that they asked me to play. Pia is coming along with some of her friends to support me, and I'm looking forward to a fun show.
One of the neat things about my job is that I have an opportunity to give back. I happily support various charities, and one thing I'm doing in June seems very relevant right now. Along with three other dancers from the show, we're traveling to Germany for a USO tour.
I don't know the bases we're visiting yet, but I can't wait to get over there and entertain our military and their families. I'm extremely proud to be an American. Having the opportunity to be around our heroes, and possibly get their minds off their stressful lives for a few hours, means the world to me. Having spent most of my life living in England, I really appreciate the freedom that we are gifted here in the States. Getting the opportunity to thank those that sacrifice their lives to ensure our freedom ? the foundation of America ? is something I cherish.
My producer is giving me a mean look. I?m holding everyone up and it?s time to go back to work. Thanks for checking in with me and I hope you?re as excited for Monday night as I am!
May 4
And then there were five.
It's hard to control your nerves on Tuesdays as the season progresses. This is a competition. Someone has to go home, and there can only be one winning couple. Because of this, all of the contestants have to try to control their emotions. Everyone has their different routines to relax and get their minds off of the elimination. Some will isolate themselves in their trailer, others have a glass of wine. I like to pick up my Martin J40 acoustic guitar and play music. That's what clears my mind and calms any nerves I have.
I'm very grateful to the fans for supporting and voting for us. I loved our paso doble so much and I think Chelsea absolutely nailed it. As I've said previously, we're in season 12 and fans of the show now have a high Latin and ballroom IQ (if they didn't already). I think it's important to be creative in the choreography to keep the fans on their toes. It may not have been as traditional as other pasos, but ours had all the necessary elements and steps. I thought it had a very fun and modern twist!
Because of this philosophy, I don't always see eye to eye with the judges, especially Len. I've known Len, literally, since I was born. He's family to me, like a grandfather, but we fundamentally differ on this. I guess that's the difference in our generations, but I assure you, there's nothing but love there between us! Tonight, Len said that Chelsea was the best dancer in the competition. I appreciate his acknowledgement and certainly agree that she can do it all, from Latin to ballroom, technically to emotionally. In fact, because Len is the most critical judge for technique, it's a huge compliment for Chelsea. He had the same positivity for Bristol last season with her near-perfect footwork, and we danced all the way to the finals.
I'm really sorry to see Louis and Kendra go. I've known Louis my whole life and he's like a brother to me. Kendra is, in my opinion, the most improved celeb this season. She began very rigid and wide-eyed, but she leaves us an elegant lady that can gracefully move across the dance floor. Getting to know Kendra and her husband Hank has been great. One thing that you realize right away when you spend some time with the both of them is just how much they love their son, and also how much time they devote to championing and supporting a great cause to help kids in need. The Oasis Children's Advocacy Center (www.Oasis4children.org) is a charity headed up by Hank's father that assists physically, emotionally, and sexually abused children. What these kids go through is heartbreaking, but what Kendra and Hank do to help is incredible. We may not see them over the next few weeks, but I'm sure these kids will be happy to spend more time with them.
Things are going well on the music side of things. I played my show at The Mint on Monday, and my friend Jason Adamo was in town with his band. Like we always do when we play the same night, we get together and jam out. It's a lot of fun and I always look forward to playing with them.
The worst news I got today was all the messages from fans that couldn't buy my album, HurtLoveBox, because the stores have been sold out. That's a good problem to have and I hope they'll able to pick it up soon. Thanks for supporting me endlessly, Markettes!
Time to run. With two dances this week, we have a lot to get through. I'll check back in on Friday and let you know our dances and our progress. Have a great week Kanenballers!
April 29
Did anyone hear that there was a wedding in England?! Only two billion people watched it worldwide. That makes the 25 million people that watch Dancing with the Stars seem like a small amount. Talk about performing under pressure! My congratulations to the couple.
The coverage surrounding the royal wedding made me miss England a little bit. I was born in Houston, where my father, Corky, is from, but moved to London when I was four with my parents. My mom, Shirley, is from Liverpool, and I spent the majority of my life in the United Kingdom.
Actually, it was the call to be on DWTS that got me to move stateside again. Having gone through school in England, spending my formative years having tea and doing all things British, I miss my family and friends that I have back there. I've only been back once, but all the coverage this week made me feel like I was there.
Chelsea and I thought we'd have a little fun this week. On last week's show you saw us in a heated water fight at rehearsal, which got us in some trouble as we nearly ruined our microphones. Inspired by the worldwide coverage of the Royal nuptials, we gave each other royal nicknames. She's Countess of Team Kanenball, Dutchess of Disney, and Baroness of the Ballroom. Naturally, I'm Earl of Team Kanenball, Duke of Dancing, and Baron of HurtLoveBox (which is located in a lovely, inviting place where everyone is peaceful and loves music ? ha!). That made for good, clean (and dry) fun this week.
Speaking of Chelsea, we're moving right along in this competition. On Monday we dance pasodoble, which is the fiery dance of passion. Chelsea's wowed us with her energy and great facial expressions this season, and now we get to see her serious side. We're a close second in overall judges points, so hopefully we'll shine this week. I'm very confident that Chels will deliver a great performance once again.
As expected, rehearsal has been a bit hectic this week. In addition to our pasodoble, we have a group dance. The hardest part of the group dance is to get in sync with the other teams and to make the dance tight. Everyone has different styles of learning and different rhythms and movement, so it's a challenge to clean the dance up. The other team we're against has the same hurdles though, and I like our chances.
A lot of fans have been asking about my ankle and I'm happy to say that it keeps getting better. I've taken it as easy as I can while still doing my job, maximizing icing and limiting extra stress on the joint. By Monday night I'm sure I'll be feeling great and ready to go.
This morning, I received an e-mail that made me really happy. My record label sent me the first quarter retail sales numbers of HurtLoveBox. Having been released only a few weeks ago, I'm thrilled with how many people are scooping it up and supporting the album. I'm really looking forward to going on tour this summer and playing songs from the CD. Hope to see you somewhere in the USA along the way!
Time to run, Kanenballers ? it's a hectic day today, filled with rehearsals, interviews, fittings, and a charity dance class. Only four weeks of performances left, and we need to get back to work to make sure we do everything to stay in the competition for all four weeks.
See you Monday night!
April 27
Ice Ice Baby! I can't get that song, featured on Monday during Guilty Pleasures Week, out of my head. That's because I've had a bag of ice attached to the bottom of my left leg, almost nonstop, since Monday afternoon. By the way, how awesome was Hanson?! I heard them in sound check doing MMMBop before the show and they sounded amazing.
If you watched the show, you saw that I rolled my ankle during dress rehearsal an hour before the we went live on Monday. Since I had to dance with Chelsea on Monday and Karina for our pro dance on Tuesday, the injury has required nearly 'round-the-clock attention. Fortunately, I was under the care of not one but two doctors soon after it happened.
When I hobbled back to my trailer, I was relieved to see a very close friend of mine, who happens to be a family practitioner, sitting in the trailer with his wife and daughter. Dr. Josh Arnold came to the show from Utah with his wife Mindy to celebrate their daughter Brynley's birthday. They're like family to me and I certainly appreciated that they were there Monday night!
The other doc that treated me is DWTS' resident doctor, Dr. Chris Zarembinski. Dr. Z. came and advised me on icing, wrapping, and provided me with an anti-inflammation cream. Dr. Z. has been with the show for years, and he's always there to make sure our various injuries and tweaks get the appropriate care. He literally holds all of us together so we can perform.
I also want to give a shout-out to Hines. I guess being a professional football player, you know a thing or two about injuries. After seeing how ineffectively I'd wrapped my ankle on Tuesday, he took over and re-wrapped it for me. I did ask him if he was going to do a good job or try and sabotage me for the competition! All kidding aside, he was awesome and I appreciated him taking the time to help me out.
This wasn't my first injury on the show. I'm in my eighth season of DWTS now, and during my first season, Season 5, with Sabrina Bryan, I separated my left shoulder during our Cha Cha in the finale episode. This was particularly scary because in Cha Cha, the man leads with his left arm. I immediately knew something was wrong and Sabrina could see it in my eyes. We finished the dance, but I left the show in an ambulance and had surgery three days later. It was certainly awful for it to happen on live TV, but hey, the show must go on I guess!
Enough about that. I was thrilled with our scores this week. I feel like Team Kanenball is really hitting a groove. In fact, we've been scored first twice in the last three weeks, and came in second by only one point. We've been at the top of the leader board, and we have no plans to leave. Hopefully the judges and the fans feel the same way.
I'm looking forward to this week because we have two dances, one being a group dance. That's means there will be additional stress on Chelsea to learn more choreography but we also have to work as a team and be at the mercy of our teammates. I can't remember the last time I was this excited to dance to our song for the week. I can't tell you what it is, but just know that I'm really pumped about it. As pro dancers and choreographers, we get to suggest music that we want to dance to and when our wish gets granted, it's both exciting and inspiring. I can't wait!
As you saw this week, I'm a very competitive person. Being able to pull out the competitive side in Chelsea has been a challenge, but she definitely stepped it up this week and showed that she wants to win. Tonight's our first group rehearsal and in order to make it through all the grueling rehearsals this week on a lame ankle, I need to keep up with my icing schedule.
Did I get the song stuck in your head too? That's right: Time for more Ice, Ice Baby!
April 22
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.
My rehearsal schedule had an opening on Wednesday night so I was able to take my dad to American Idol, which second to DWTS, is Dad's favorite TV show. He just had ear surgery (and he's doing well), so he was happy to get out of the house. Even though my dad's a veteran of TV, I was joking with him about all the face time we got during the filming of the show. It was a lot of fun and I cherish the time I get to spend with Dad. Since he splits time between Houston and Los Angeles, I don't see him as often as I'd like to.
Lastly, I wanted to share that I'm really happy with the response I've gotten from everybody that's picked up HurtLoveBox. The album hasn't even been out for two weeks yet, but the feedback has been overwhelming to. My music comes from my heart, so it's normal to feel vulnerable when you put something that personal to you out there for the world to listen to and critique. Ever since I recorded this album, I've been in a groove performing and writing. I'm looking forward to the I'll have to focus on touring, performing, and promoting the album full-time this summer. So, thank you again for all of your support.
It's time to get back to rehearsal!
April 20
And ... exhale. Thanks to our fans, we're able to take a breath. Because of your support, we're buckling down this week to make sure we bring our A-game.
I was really nervous for Tuesday's Results show. There were four teams in the top two this week, with Romeo and Chelsie getting the encore. Even though Team Kanenball was tied for second with a 26, I was still quite anxious for the reveal. Typically, the team with the encore is safe that week. With three other teams below us, I thought it was a very real possibility for us to be saved late in the show again.
Petra was really nice and so sweet. Really, she's one of the nicest celebs we've had on the show. Her story from the tsunami in 2004 is absolutely heartbreaking and devastating, and her charity helps people around the world. You're missed already, Petra!
This week we have the Quick Step. It's the fastest of all the ballroom dances, and Chelsea has responded quite well to the faster dances. Remember how well she did on her Samba this week? Even though that's a Latin dance, it was really fast. I expect Chelsea to continue her push for the mirror ball trophy.
The theme this week is Guilty Pleasures Week: songs you hate to admit that you love. My guilty pleasures are eating Domino's Pizza and playing the video game Mortal Kombat. I'm stoked that the newest edition of Mortal Kombat is coming out this month. I'm preordering it!
We shot the video for my song All For Nothing a week and a half ago. I saw the first draft of the edited video and I'm really happy with what we have so far. It's a very intense video, and the intensity that comes through my cousin Mary's eyes pierces your soul. She the bravest person I know for attacking her emotions head on, and it's impossible to watch her in the video without getting chills and breaking down. I love you, Mary, and our story will help countless others.
Fittingly during America Week, I was booked to perform the national anthem for an upcoming Dodgers game. I'm looking forward to performing and I'll keep you posted on the date as it gets closer. I hope the Dodger Blue faithful appreciate my rendition of our classic American anthem.
It's going to be another long week this week. We have to choreograph and learn our dance for next week. We also have our normal press requirements and I have some promotional commitments on the schedule for HurtLoveBox. I'm also doing a pro dance for this Tuesday's Results show, which I'm really looking forward to. Karina and I are dancing during a musical performance by American Idol's Pia Toscano. Pia is the second American Idol castoff to perform on our stage in three weeks, and I'm grateful that I get to dance to her beautiful voice.
Off to bed I go. I'm looking forward to another week on your favorite television show. My goal this week is to make sure you're "wowed" when watching the next dance discipline of Team Kanenball's arsenal. I'll let you know this weekend how everything is going!
April 15
It's been a hectic week, and everything is gearing up for Monday again.
This Monday marks the end of the first half of the season. Despite Team Kanenball being the final couple saved on last week's show, I feel confident that we're gearing up for a strong run. Chelsea has been almost flawless on her last three dances, and I think she's establishing herself as the celeb to beat as the competition heats up. Our score of 26, the highest of the season thus far for any couple, just backs that up. But as we've seen on shows that require the fan vote, we deeply rely on our fans to support us.
Just like Chelsea thrived in her other two Latin dances (Cha Cha and Jive), she's done a great job picking up the choreography and principles of Samba. We started choreography on Wednesday, and I finished it on Thursday afternoon. By Thursday night we were on a roll with our routine and we'll use the weekend to put the finishing touches on it so the dance is performance ready. We have a really fun song and a cool theme for America Week. I hope you like it!
As the season progresses, there are more and more requirements for press. This is partly because there are fewer teams to share the commitments, but also because the remaining teams are under more scrutiny. I love doing media, but it's certainly still work. As the pressure rises, we find ourselves trying to squeeze everything in, with our priority being rehearsals. On Thursday we were up at 6:30 a.m. for an interview with Access Hollywood. After that, I went straight to the rehearsal studio to finish our Samba choreography. In the afternoon, it was on to another interview for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, followed by four hours of rehearsal until almost midnight. It was a long day, butI'm certainly not complaining!
My career requires a lot of long days and time management, but I'm grateful to be able to do what I love for a living: entertaining people through the arts. The support from our fans make the exhausting days seem shorter and the chaotic schedule worth it. I am also aware that my career as a dancer allows me to pursue my passion, which is music. My advice to anyone that isn't happy in what you're doing for a living: find a way to do what you love. It's that passion that makes it all worth it.
Speaking of my career, it's been a fun week of promoting my new CD, HurtLoveBox. All the work in releasing an album comes from the recording, re-recording, writing, and touring processes. Once the album comes out it's like a weight off your shoulders. The stress now is in hoping everyone likes the music, which is truly a piece of my heart and so personal to me.
After the long days, short nights, countless interviews, fittings, charity commitments, press, re-fittings, CD promotion, and of course rehearsals, we're really grateful to have the opportunity to beat our top score from last week. Chelsea continues to improve every week, and I can't wait to roll out our new dance for all of you! Go Team Kanenball!
April 13
Encore! After the last 24 hours I've had, it's a perfect ending to have capped it off with an encore performance. Everyone should be so lucky!
I have to admit, I feel a bit vindicated from our low Jive scores after getting the top score last night, especially since they both were so creative. Getting chosen for the encore dance in the Results Show just adds the cherry on top! I haven't had an encore since last season with Bristol and I really appreciated being able to perform our Viennese Waltz for everyone again tonight. I was looking forward to donning that wizard hat again. It's ridiculous, but I love that hat so much I took it home with me!
As always, Chelsea nailed the dance and I'm really proud of her. This season, I've been pouring my heart and soul into coming up with creative and innovative choreography because I know Chelsea can handle it. She trusted the quirks and originality that I added to a very classic dance, and the judges finally rewarded us. We're in Season 12 and at this point, our audience has a high dance IQ. It's all about entertaining the audience and not recycling the same dance. Monday night's score was such sweet redemption for us.
When we were put in the bottom two on the Results show, I was truly surprised and I thought I was going to have a lot more free time to promote my album than I originally had planned. Getting the Encore, but landing in the bottom was crazy and just shows that regardless of the judges, the viewer votes really do matter. But, with the fan support I've received for the album and finishing with the top score on Monday night, I still felt confident.
Sugar Ray is an American icon and I'm sad to see he and Anna go. I've known Anna my whole life, so I really feel for her. Sugar Ray is extremely nice and caring to everyone backstage, and is just an absolutely lovely person. They will definitely be missed.
Speaking of America, next week is America week. I can't think of a more all-American Girl to shine than that adorable, hard-working girl next door; the blond cutie Chelsea Kane. We have a fun dance to choreograph and learn: the Samba. Have you ever been to Carnival in Brazil? Or seen footage of the millions of people dancing in the streets of Rio de Janiero? Samba's the bouncing dance that you'll see everyone dancing. It is very rhythmic and the only Latin dance that permits bent legs, aside from the Jive.
I started my morning on Tuesday at 5 a.m., calling radio stations across the country to spread the good word about HurtLoveBox. Had I known it would have gone down like it did tonight, I would have been thanking all the fans on the air this morning. It's been a long 24 hours with the promotion of the album release, the ups of our scores Monday night and the downs of our nerve-wracking finish on Tuesday. It's time to get some rest before getting back at it Wednesday morning. Thanks for all your support and let's keep this strong streak going. Go Team Kanenball!
April 8
Back to the grind. It's been a good week of rehearsals thus far, and a productive and fun week outside of the studio. This season is really speeding along, as we're approaching the halfway point already. As they say, time flies when you're having fun!
On Monday, we're dancing the Viennese Waltz. This dance is a smooth dance with a lot of turns and is very beautiful and classic when done right. Unlike the Jive and Cha Cha, we had the past two weeks, which were fast paced and energetic, you'll see the graceful and elegant side of Chelsea ? a side she pulls off flawlessly. It's movie theme week and it's been so much fun at rehearsal getting to hear the songs from movies that have been on the soundtrack to many of our lives. I can't tell you what Team Kanenball's movie theme is, but you'll definitely recognize the song and know the movie.
Our rehearsal schedule got changed up a little bit this week. That was done to accommodate two very important personal things on my schedule on Thursday and Friday. My cousin Mary, who's like a little sister to me, is in town from England for two weeks during her spring break from college. On Thursday night, Mary, my mom and I all got tattoos together.
We decided to get the tattoos as a memorial to my late Uncle David (Mary's dad and my mom's only sibling), who we lost to suicide over six years ago. Uncle David was like a father to me when I was growing up, helping to raise me when my mom and dad traveled the world competing professionally in dance competitions. We miss him more and more every day.
On Friday after rehearsal, I'm shooting another music video. I wrote the song All For Nothing for my cousin Mary when she was left without her father at the young age of 11. It is emotional, dark and gut wrenching, but performing it helps shine a light at the end of the tunnel for friends and family members who've been affected by suicide. It's going to be a long, stressful and painful day Friday, but honoring my uncle makes it worth it.
As always, I'm anxious for Monday to get here, so I can show 20 million of my closest friends the dance we've prepared. Tuesdays make me anxious for the exact opposite reason, because I don't want the show to end for my partner and me. But I can't wait for this Tuesday, in that same "Is-Christmas-here-yet?" feeling that kids have.
On Tuesday, April 12th, my debut solo album, HurtLoveBox, is finally being released in stores! My fans have been waiting for this day for months, and I'm so happy to announce that the day is finally here. Professionally, this might just be a blip on the radar in the long run for me, but personally, it's one of my proudest moments as an artist.
A lot goes in to getting a CD released by a label, and so many talented musicians aren't ever blessed with this opportunity. I greatly appreciate all the support I receive from my fans from Dancing With The Stars, fans of my music, and fans of performers in general. It's a clich�, but the fans really do make what I do possible.
Speaking of fans, it's time to put the finishing touches on this Viennese Waltz for our fans on Monday. We look forward to another solid performance and hope you love it! If you want to check out our Cha Cha from last week, you can watch it at Youtube.com/markballasmusic. Go Team Kanenball!
April 6
And we live to dance another week!
Let me explain to you what it's like, having to stand there on stage in front of the world, publicly put on trial for your dancing sins. I spend the whole day feeling confident, through dress rehearsal, then I freak out and become very anxious and nervous about five minutes before we go on stage. My nerves are a lot easier on me if we scored 10s the night before, or dance the encore in the Results show. Otherwise I feel like this every Tuesday night. Oh, and Tom and Brooke making us wait what seems like an eternity before announcing certainly exacerbates the situation, and makes them the meanest people in the world!
I left early a year ago, in Season 10 with Shannen Doherty. It sucks. I feel really badly for Tony and Wendy. Tony's like a brother to me, since I've known him most of my life. Tony's also my next-door neighbor backstage, with our trailers immediately across from one another. It'll be lonely on the block without you, Tony! And Wendy was hilarious backstage, always making everyone laugh. She was the larger-than-life personality on this season, and she's already missed. Great job, Wendy and Tony!
What did you think about our Cha Cha? I was thrilled with how Chelsea performed on Monday. I always feel like we deserve higher scores, but I guess that's why I'm not a judge! I thought she was flawless, and the choreography was fun and exactly what the judges wanted: very traditional Cha Cha, but young and fun at the same time, which is just like Chelsea Kane. Great job, partner!
Dancing with the other Chels (pro Chelsie Hightower), was awesome tonight. I really enjoy dancing with the other pros. While it requires more time away from our celebrity partners to prepare for Monday's dance, it's so much fun to let it fly! Naturally, we professionals dial it back a bit with our celeb partners, as any of them would look bad if we danced all out. I must say though, I'm not holding back much with Miss Kane at this point, and we've only finished Week 3!
What are my thoughts on the other dancers this week? Hines and Kym's dance had a lot of energy, and was worthy of the encore. Petra and Dmitry's dance was beautiful and clearly from her heart, and Kendra and Louis had a great night as well. As for Maks and Kirstie, everybody falls sometime. I thought that they picked it up gracefully and finished strong.
My show at the Mint was great on Monday night. I appreciate the support I got from everyone from the cast who attended. And based on how she was dancing during my set, it appears I have a supermodel as my biggest fan. That's right: Petra doesn't need a ballroom to dance well, and I really had fun watching her have such a good time. You can dance at my shows anytime you want, Petra!
HurtLoveBox comes out on April 12th. That's six days! It's been available through digital download for a few weeks already, and I'm excited for it to hit stores. I'm really proud to finally get to this point, as many of the songs have been in the works for years. I'm so happy that my producer, Rob Chiarelli, saw my vision and brought the songs to life!
All right, Kananballers, time to run. I have to get some rest since I'll be up early to choreograph our dance for next week, the Viennese Waltz. I have two fun things happening this week, but I'll tell you about them on Friday. Thanks for your support and we look forward to wowing you again next week!
April 1
Can you feel that? It's definitely getting hot in here.
Just like the heat wave that hit Los Angeles this week, this season is really starting to heat up. After the first elimination, everyone is reminded that this is a competition. Sure, I have fun bonding with Chelsea while teaching her the new choreography for the week, and I'm sure the other couples are enjoying it, too. But at the end of our week, someone goes home. That takes the fun right out of it. The clock is ticking and we have a dance to learn and make perfect. There are less laughs and more stiff brows in rehearsal as we hunker down and see who can get through Tuesday's elimination.
I say it a lot ? maybe even in every journal so far ? but Chelsea is doing so great. She's pretty quick to pick up the choreography and is excellent at bringing her personality out to shine during the performance. I've re-watched our Jive from last week several times and she really nailed it. I wouldn't expect any celebrity partner to be so exact in Week 2. She delivered a performance worthy of Week 8, and only on five total weeks of training. She blew me away and, because of it, I'm going to drastically raise my expectations of her. Buckle up Chelsea, I think we're going to take this competition to the next level!
This week we have the Cha Cha, which is faster than the Foxtrot (Week 1) and slower than the Jive (Week 2). As I write this we've had only two days of rehearsal so far, but I like our progression at this point. Two more days to get it performance-ready, then it's time to wow everyone on Monday.
This week, I haven't had much free time away from work. My cousin Sal has been in town from Houston, so it's been great spending some time with him. He comes out every Dancing With The Stars season. I dragged him to an event Thursday night that I performed at in Century City, for the opening of the Sony Style store. I was really excited to play at this party because I'm a member of the Sony family, with HurtLoveBox being released by Sony Red. I also got to see a lot of friends, as Melissa Joan Hart, Lisa Rinna, Ali Fedotowsky (The Bachelorette), Chelsie Hightower, Damon Wayans, and Adrian Grenier were all there. It was a good warm up with my drummer, Joel Alpers, since we begin a seven-week residency at the Mint in Los Angeles on Monday nights after Dancing With The Stars.
Speaking of HurtLoveBox, the music video for my song Hotwire was released this week. Did anyone catch it? You'll probably recognize the leading lady in the video if you did. The shoot was a lot of fun, as we were running all around downtown Los Angeles. I'm thrilled to finally get the video out there!
All right, back to the grind. Miss Kane is giving me that look. You know, the one where you're ready to get back to work and your co-worker is holding you back? Yes, that look. By the time Monday gets here, Team Kananball will be dressed to impress and movin' and groovin'!
Mary Elizabeth Winstead Eve Anna Friel Anna Paquin Rachel Hunter
posted by roundglut90 @ 7:12 PM
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