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| The Heat is On |
| Written by Administrator | |
| Wednesday, 07 May 2008 | |
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Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas “The fears are still there, but I have to overcome that.” Want to light a fire under Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi? Tell her—despite consistently earning top scores—that she’s not good enough. That’s what happened Week 3, when judge Carrie Ann Inaba told Yamaguchi, “I don’t feel much when you dance.” To make it to the finals, Yamaguchi, 36, must keep working to leave her ice-queen ways behind her. “I’ve got to dance with my heart instead of being so precise and technical,” she says. “As an athlete, you keep your emotions inside. You want to stay in control, because if you don’t, you can be flat on the ice in a split second.” Yamaguchi put her heart and soul into Week 5’s performance and wowed the judges with a sensual rumba. Week 6’s jive scored a perfect 30 and brought Inaba to her feet. She declared it her favorite dance of the season so far. But head judge Len Goodman—who believes Yamaguchi is the strongest dancer the show has ever produced—says true emotion is still her Achilles’ heel. “Kristi’s definitely beatable,” he says. “It’s the choreography that gives the dances drama, not her.” Still, there’s no doubt Yamaguchi is going for the Dancing gold. “When Kristi finds something difficult, we work double hard until she gets it,” says her pro partner, Mark Ballas. The most important thing she’s learned? “Don’t stop pushing yourself to do things just because you get comfortable with your life,” Yamaguchi says. “Take a risk. The rewards can be amazing.” Mario and Karina Smirnoff “I’m dead tired…but I’m in the best shape of my life.” Don’t mess with Karina Smirnoff. The fiery Russian pro is laying down the law with R&B star Mario, who admits he’s had to learn how to listen to a woman to succeed on Dancing. “In my past relationships, if I felt like it was getting to be too much, I could walk away,” Mario says. “But this situation? There’s no walking away.” The two started out with a bang, but their Week 3 tango left Goodman “bitterly disappointed.” It didn’t help that they also had to quash rumors that Mario had replaced Season 3’s Mario Lopez in Smirnoff’s off-screen affections. Says Smirnoff, “We got kind of sidetracked by all the press and the judges being harsh with us.” But Smirnoff, who is eight years Mario’s senior, didn’t back off. She admires the way he’s come up from nothing in Baltimore’s tough inner city. “He’s been through so much in his life. He didn’t have a father,” she says. “In the beginning, every time I would get strict with him, he’d say, ‘Woman, I’m the man!’ He’s only 21. He’s a baby. So it was like, ‘Oh, baby’s trying to be cute!’” Baby’s also beginning to show signs of brilliance. The turnaround started when the pair met with the legendary Stevie Wonder, who helped Mario view ballroom dance as another form of artistic expression. “Stevie said it was about letting my soul dance,” Mario says. “He said, ‘Just try to feel it, even if it’s painful.’” Mario’s dancing also improved after Smirnoff watched him perform in Providence, Rhode Island. “He got all sexy on stage, singing a slow song,” she says. “I realized that was the energy I wanted on the dance floor. So I said, ‘Can you try to do what you did on stage, but in a dance?’ And that’s when he did it.” Judge Bruno Tonioli thinks Mario has what it takes to win. “He’s always been a great performer,” he says. “But now he’s actually becoming clean, sharp. He’s the dark horse, really.” Source |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 May 2008 ) |
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