“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.”
Willow Shields and Mark Ballas (ABC)
Here is Willow’s first post…
OK, so the headlines are out. By now you probably realize I’m going to be on “Dancing with the Stars” this year, their 10th year anniversary! It’s been only a couple weeks since the show approached me to see if I would be interested in dancing on the show. When they first asked me, I thought I was being punked. Then I thought to myself. . .maybe it’s not so crazy; this could be fun. I’ve always loved to dance and took some ballet classes and gymnastic classes when I was very young just like all the other kids in the neighborhood, BUT I’m not a dancer, I’m an actor. Don’t believe me? Google ‘Willow Shields dancing’—yep, no results. Is this something I really want to get myself into? Is this something I can even do? Are you wondering what my parents thought? Well, they pretty much said, “The only way you’re going to do this is if YOU want to do it.” Hmm. . .I had bookmarked a really cool dance camp on my laptop hoping I could spend a week in Chicago learning some serious dancing someday, but maybe this is even better? Maybe a LOT better! I’m gonna do it!
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The next hard part was keeping it a secret. Which friends and relatives could I tell? Who could I trust with this info? The show’s producers told me to keep it a secret until “Good Morning America” made the announcement so I had to be careful who I would tell, but I had to tell someone! I got it! My grandparents! I can tell my grandparents! It’s a perfect plan; they don’t know how to tweet and don’t have an Instagram account—heck they barely know how to send an email. My grandma’s been sending me email for the past six weeks, never received one! Surely I can trust the older people. I’ll just make em swear on the Bible! My backup plan is denial. This could work because would anyone believe “Dancing with the Stars” is going to have a 14 year old on the show to compete? Not!
Needless, to say my grandmother is freaked out because they wouldn’t miss an episode of “Dancing with the Stars.” They were so excited they insisted we open a bottle of champagne, and yes, I had a sip and it tasted awful! I have no idea why adults drink champagne—yeah, let’s celebrate something really exciting by drinking this terrible tasting stuff, ewww! Anyway, a week later my great-grandmother had to go to the hospital with chest pains. I’m like, I hope she isn’t TOO excited about this whole dancing thing! Don’t worry, it was just a coincidence. She’s okay. It was just bad heartburn according to the doctors.
Next, I gotta prepare for this! I started stretching immediately, which has got to help, right? I also started watching YouTube videos of “Dancing with the Stars.” I loved watching the show in the past, but now I can study dancers from a bunch of years. Yeah, this is what actors do; they study people who are experts at things. Jennifer actually learned to shoot a bow and arrow for “The Hunger Games.” I’m going to have to learn to dance for this show! But the more I watched YouTube videos, the more I realized these dancers are incredible. Oh God, what have I done! I said yes BEFORE watching these videos, am I insane?
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Recently I got to meet my pro dancer partner. I was VERY nervous. In my head, I was hoping for Mark Ballas but wondering who it would be. They brought the pro in through the door of the dance studio, and I don’t think I breathed for about a minute. When I saw him, I freaked out! I think I screamed but not sure. . . Mark Ballas, yeah!
— Willow Shields
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