Willow Shields’ ‘DWTS’ Blog: The Art Of Storytelling

“Hunger Games” star Willow Shields joins AccessHollywood.com as our behind-the-scenes celebrity blogger for Season 20 of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Here is Willow’s latest post…

Willow Shields and Mark Ballas during ‘Dancing with the Stars’ rehearsals (ABC)

Stories have always been important to me. When I was young, unable to read yet on my own, my parents would read to me at various times during the day, and especially every night before bed.

I will never forget “Ferdinand the Bull,” “Where the Wild Things Are,” and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s adventures on the prairie.

So after one of my dances on “Dancing with the Stars,” when Bruno expressed that I was beginning to “Express through your body as you would with your words,” I was fascinated.

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I had never really thought of dancing as words. Dancing is a type of expression, and I knew I was already connecting with the dances emotionally. Add a great song, like Coldplay’s “Atlas” and I want to be emotionally involved, as much as I want to learn the actual dance.

But when Bruno mentioned expressing through dance as I would with words, I was instantly excited! Stories and more stories! I have spent my life loving them. From those early years reading with my family, to finally being able to do it on my own, first with little chapter books and then eventually my Harry Potter years (which, let’s face it, have never ended), stories have been huge for me. Then one day, when I was 10, I was cast as Prim in “The Hunger Games” series. How often are you able to become a PART of a story you love so much? To bring those words to life.

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Which brings me to another great storyteller: Mark Ballas.

As a partner he is supportive and patient, but tough on me. He works very hard and expects me to do the same. But as a storyteller on “Dancing with the Stars,” there is no one better.

When we are given a new dance each week, he is immediately engaged in the choreography, the music and the costumes. But, he uses all these things to tell such amazing stories! You can’t help but want to be a part in sharing them with the “Dancing with the Stars” viewers.

So whether it is in a book, a piece of art, or in a dance, stories are everywhere. I’m just very grateful to get to be a part of some of them.

— Willow Shields