NEWSKym Johnson's 'DWTS' Diary: Hines Rumbas Through America Week
April 19 2011, Published 10:24 a.m. ET
Hi, everyone, and welcome to my OK! blog! Every week, I’ll be sharing with you all the behind the scenes stories as I train NFL wide receiver Hines Ward for this season’s Dancing With the Stars, trying to make the Pittsburgh Steelers pro look as cool in the ballroom as he does on football field for season 12!
I still can't believe we got a 27 last night, it's so great! I'm so proud of Hines, he did such a good job, considering. We had the Rumba with a very patriotic song, it was difficult trying to make it a beautiful Rumba instead of a very sexy and passionate Rumba. So we made it romantic and more of a tribute to armed forces. It's a beautiful, beautiful song, and it ended up working out really well. I loved Hines in his uniform, I thought he looked really handsome! We decided to go with that Officer and a Gentleman theme, when Richard Gere sweeps the girl off her feet at the end, and that was what we were going for.
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Choreographing dances is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together: You get the music and you figure out how many counts of eight you have and then you start piecing choreography together. I like to have a story line involved in my dances as well. It's a real process to get it to that one minute 30 seconds that you see on TV. The rumba is meant to be a really romantic dance, and Hines and I were definitely far from romantic in rehearsal — we kept bumping into each other and it was quite awkard! But we mastered it in the end, which is the main thing.
OK! VIDEO: WATCH HINES WARD & KYM JOHNSON RUMBA THEIR WAY TO THE TOP ON DANCING WITH THE STARS
Our friendship definitely helps when we're trying to act romantic while dancing. Hines and I have a great friendship, we really get along outside the dance studio as well. Hines got into character in the Rumba, and that's what you have to do — it's like acting, you really have to get yourself into the character and commit to it. That's what Hines did, he was very involved in the dance.
There's definitely still room for improvement — I've noticed he's improving every week and he's getting more confident with the different dances. That's the great thing about Hines, you all see the progress he's been making and he's really going on a journey with this. He didn't come out of the gate being the best dancer, he's improved every single week, and that's what this show is about. I'm so proud of him!
He definitely is a natural. He's got a very natural way of moving which is very difficult to teach. He's a very hard worker though, so he's definitely worked hard to get it to a point where we do get really good scores. He doesn't take it easy, that's for sure. He could've been an amazing dancer if he'd taken classes when he was younger — there's still time for him to make a career out of dancing if he wants to retire form his football one day!
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If we keep making it through, I'd love to do the Argentine Tango with him, because he's really strong and he's very masculine. I think he'd make that dance look incredible, and of course we'd have to do lifts in that! I'm looking forward to the Viennese Waltz as well, which is a really beautiful and romantic dance, I think that'd be a really great one for Hines. Every dance is so different and Hines seems to be picking them all up!
OK! VIDEO: WATCH CHELSEA KANE SAMBA TO MILEY CYRUS' "PARTY IN THE USA" ON DANCING WITH THE STARS
We visited Access Hollywood today, and Hines saw Lynda Carter and was like, "Kym, that's the real, original Wonder Woman!" And she had such a crush on Hines — they had crushes on each other! It was hysterical. I had to take a photo because Hines was so excited to meet the real life Wonder Woman. He said he used to watch her as a kid, so he couldn't believe her eyes when he saw her standing there. It was really cute.
Hines is having fun with interviews, but the end of the day, he's a footabll player. Hollywood is very different to him. He comes from Atlanta, and he plays football in Pittsburgh, which is so far from Hollywood. He's not one to be going out and wanting to be on TMZ and stuff, he's a hard worker. But it's great fun doing all these different TV appearances and he's enjoying it.
We're very tired, we don't have a lot to do today we just have to stand there and hope we don't get eliminated!
Hopefully we'll be okay tonight!
Kym
