Former “High School Musical” star-turned-“One Life To Live” star Corbin Bleu joins AccessHollywood.com as our behind-the-scenes celebrity blogger for this season’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Here is his latest post…
The Paso Doble! I have been waiting for this one!
I became a fan of “Dancing with the Stars” in season 3 when my good friend and co-star Monique Coleman was on the show. I went to support her and then continued visiting the show when my friends Sabrina Bryan and Kyle Massey were on.
Since then, I’ve admired the Paso Doble as one the strongest and most passionate dances. So far, with our week 1 Contemporary dance, we were more romantic and flowing, our week 2 Jive was fun and energetic, and our week 3 Quickstep was more elegant and old school.
WATCH: Corbin Bleu’s ‘DWTS’ Video Blog — Hitting The Gym & Flashing Some Abs!
With this week 4 Paso Doble, the gloves come off and I get to be raw, intense and fiery!
At first, we were given “In The Hall of the Mountain King” as our song. Both Karina and I felt it was not a strong choice for the characters we wanted to portray in our Paso and it leaned towards comical. Karina then found this amazing song that has a beautiful Spanish guitar sound with castanets and continual changing rhythms. I love it!
So because of the song change, we didn’t have music to work with on Day 1, and every minute of rehearsal time counts when you only have a week. Karina used that time to start teaching me basic Paso positioning and a move called a twist turn, which I quickly found out is one of the hardest moves in ballroom! It requires perfect framing that changes positions as you and your partner rotate around the floor never letting go of each other’s hands.
It definitely took several days to become comfortable with it. As she continued choreographing and I continued developing my character, we realized the music at times becomes almost impossible to find the down beat. We had to take a lot of time just sitting and listening to the song to get it engrained in our bodies.
As I listened to it, I thought it would be cool if in this dance we were in a fight. As always, Karina ran with it and turned it into an incredible piece! There’s even a moment where she slaps me in the dance! At first, we were just faking it, but I told her she should really do it to play up the anger. As intense as she is, she’s still a sweetheart and it took her a while to come to terms with actually striking me. She eventually got over it though and in the heat of the moment I think it makes for great theatre!
This dance will also be the first time I’m going shirtless! I usually go to the gym on top of dance rehearsals, but this week my trainer Chad Landers really cracked the whip to get me ready! I’m proud to say working out is a huge part of my lifestyle.
I’ve been training with him since I was 18 and over the years, my body has truly transformed. The stamina alone is really helping me get through this rigorous dancing schedule.
WATCH: Corbin Bleu’s ‘DWTS’ Video Blog — Returning To His ‘HSM’ Roots
To top it all off, I’m gearing up for the premiere of “The Monkey’s Paw” on Tuesday October 8! It’s a horror film being released in theaters and on VOD by Chiller TV. It’s based on the old monkey’s paw legend. We filmed in New Orleans and it stars C.J. Thomason and Stephen Lang. I play this real Bayou Cajun named Catfish. It’s gonna be a freaky one! Man I love doing horror!
Hope you all enjoy this weeks dance. I know I will! 🙂
— Corbin Bleu
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