Shirley Ballas has a front-row seat as the competition heats up on “Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro”!
“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Shirley, who is getting to judge alongside her son Mark Ballas.
Shirley had been wanting to work with Mark for some time, saying, “I put it out there in the universe that one day, maybe, I would have the opportunity.”
She added, “Just to sit next to Mark and Derek [Hough] on the desk was extraordinary for me because obviously I’ve trained Mark since he was four and Derek since he was about 8 or 9.”
Shirley called it “sheer joy” to be able to work with Mark and Derek.
As for training Derek and Mark, Shirley quipped, “Living with me was a bit like boot camp because everything has to be right and you’ve got to do the right competitions and you’ve got to be groomed right and you’ve got to have the right qualities and techniques.”
When she sees how much success Mark and Derek have achieved with their dance careers, Shirley is “very proud.”
Shirley recalled her favorite memory of Derek growing up, quipping, “I’ll tell you, when he got his job on ‘Footloose,’ his first West End show, he was earning an income. And my mom said, ‘I’ll do the books for you, Derek.’ And she was doing all his receipts and then she said to me, ‘Surely he’s got no money left. He spent it all on parking and food.’”
She emphasized, “From a very young age, he really liked nice food and he just parked his car anywhere.”
Shirley also teased what’s to come on “DWTS: The Next Pro,” saying, “It has twists and turns that you won’t see coming.”
Shirley explained what she’s looking for in the next pro, and it’s all about “their footwork, leg actions, flexibility, fluidity, posture, coordination, armology, and then they have to have chemistry at the end.”
Shirley has been teaching dance since she was 16.
She noted, “I’ll be 66 in September. So, that’s an absolute lifetime of teaching and judging. But I will be catching the footwork if it’s not correct and particularly when they have to start teaching. So, I want to make sure that whoever they dance with has the correct footwork. They’re coordinated. If it’s a ballroom dance, I want to see a little bit of contact.”
She went on, “I’m not after them being world champions, but I am asking that they are able to teach a celebrity. I do believe the American audience deserve that. This show has been going on for two decades. And I think the audience also like to learn a little bit like to understand what’s going on. So, I really want the professional, whoever that might be, to be first class in every department.”
Shirley is known as the “Queen of Latin,” so what’s she looking for that type of dance?
She answered, “I’ll be looking for good connection when it comes to the ballroom dancers, how they hold their arms up, do they understand it’s at eye level on the left side… When it comes from the Latin, of course, I want to see joy and sparkle, but I do want to see some technical elements because I do believe you are not able to take somebody all the way to the final if they don’t have a little bit of quality.”
Shirley serves as a head judge on the U.K.’s “Strictly Come Dancing,” so would she like to see U.S. crossover with “Dancing with the Stars”?
She answered, “That would be a dream,” adding, “I would be down because meeting the American public, making sure that I could give quality, you know, really help people on their journey through ‘Dancing with the Stars.’”
Shirley also brought up the late Len Goodman, saying, “Len did it… He used to travel across the waters there.”
“DWTS: The Next Pro” airs Mondays on ABC.
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