Chelsea Kane Staub and Mark Ballas find xAwsome Balancex

Apr 12 2011 6:52 AM EDT 1,864
By Kelley L. Carter

LOS ANGELES — A couple of weeks in, Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas have found the right magic. MTV News caught up with the “Dancing With the Stars” couple during rehearsals for the Viennese waltz they performed Monday night, and they said they are a perfect dance-floor match.

“I feel like we’re one of the couples on the show that have really found this awesome balance between learning and living,” Kane said. “We’re on a ballroom-dancing show; this is supposed to be fun. We get to come to work and literally make up dances, and then go put on rad costumes. There’s nothing to complain about! We come to the studio, we rehearse and then we like to find times to just relax and make sure that we’re taking in this whole experience and having a good time.”

That magic played out on Monday’s show. It took a lot of hard work to master the dance, the Disney Channel star said, because it challenged her to rework her timing.

“We like to always create a story line with our songs, and this one was really fun. We still got to kind of tell the story and do the freestyle stuff that Mark really excels at. I think he’s one of the best choreographers on the show,” she said. “This whole dance, there’s a lot of in-frame, where it looks like you’re leaning back and it looks like you’re going back into a backbend while you’re spinning around in circles. It looks really pretty. It doesn’t feel pretty, but it looks really pretty.”

Ballas concurred, saying the dance is magical, but a tough one to perfect. “It’s also very technical, smooth and elegant and graceful. It’s one of the ballroom dances and it’s a lot of traditional things that you have to nail,” he said.

The dance was only made more magical because the couple performed with a 36-piece orchestra onstage with them.

“I think the most challenging part for me is the speed, which is surprising,” Kane said. “It seems like it’s a slow song, but you’re actually moving your feet really fast, and it’s supposed to look like you’re floating around on the floor.”

Ballas said the reason they work well together is that they both agree that at the end of the day, it’s all about having a good time.

“We have a lot of fun. We work really hard, but we also make it enjoyable, which it’s meant to be,” he said. “We don’t take it too seriously. We have our frustrating moments as well, but when we do, we take a break and come back to it.”