Paying attention is the key to ‘Dancing’

Oct. 17 | 11:16 p.m.

Once again the support of the voters pulled Kym and I through.

It's hard to describe the feelings of hearing our names called as being "saved." My reaction was so spontaneous, it caught even me off guard. The strongest feelings came from the realization that your support was responsible for our success.

I never make predictions and I have no idea whether next week is our last week, or the first of more, but I do know that part of being successful on the show is paying attention.

I pay attention to what the judges say. I think a lot of people expected me to not take criticism by the judges very well. Those people don't know me very well. I know what I know and know what I don't know. I don't know ballroom dancing. I do know I have a lot of room to improve and the only way that is going to happen is if I listen and take the judges' feedback to heart. Even if it means being picked on like the last kid chosen for kickball every now and then.

I also learned from people who have worked on DWTS for a long time that the judges' votes are AT MOST 50 percent of value assigned to each contestant's scores. Which of course means that to be successful, it's just as important, if not more important, to work just as hard at communicating with the voters as it is to get good scores from the judges.

I recognize that the judges' scores can influence how many voters choose to cast their votes. So if I'm going to be successful and earn your votes, I have to work just as hard at communicating with each of you, which is exactly why I read each and every blog post. I read each and every email. I do Icerocket blog searches and read what bloggers post. I encourage people to e-mail and ask friends and co-workers to vote. Not recognizing the value of each of your votes is not paying attention. I try to always pay attention to the rules of the game.

But let's get back to ‘Dancing.’ This week we have the samba. I loved the waltz. It was fun, smooth and far easier on my body. The samba is more like the jive. It doesn't have the jumping, but the up and down and hip action means that I have a hard time going to my left. I can't turn my left foot out. Can't thrust my left hip out. I just didn't have the muscles or flexibility in my left leg because of my hip replacement. So when you watch our samba, you may get a little chuckle watching our entire routine go right.

Speaking of laughs, the waltz was serious. The samba is fun. I can't tell you what song we will be dancing to, but I can tell you that its from the '60s and our routine is going to be a tribute to the dances of the '60s and a quick pogo pogo tribute to the movie "Strictly Ballroom." We are going for fun. Lots of fun.

Finally, one last thing. I have gotten a bunch of e-mails asking to find out more about me. Boring, but if you are interested, here are some old blog posts that will provide you some history.

Thank you again, and let's do it again next week!

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