14 DAY TRIAL // One of the ideas being currently passed around in the blogosphere about the upcoming season of ABC’s DWTS is that it may include, for the first time ever, first-gender couples. If so, Mark Ballas would be the first to sign up on the new initiative, he says.
Some voices call for equality on the popular dancing competition / family show as well and, obviously, there would be no better way to represent it than by introducing same-gender dancing couples.
As of now, the topic has been shrouded in a thin veil of controversy, because reportedly ABC would not risk losing a chunk of the audience with such a bold, yet, according to some, natural move.
Pro dancer Mark Ballas would not hesitate to trade his next female celebrity partner for a male celebrity one for the upcoming season, he says in an interview with PopEater.
Of course, there are some disadvantages to having two women or two men dancing together, but Mark is convinced they could be turned around and made into something positive.
“I would be totally cool with it. There are other competitions where they have same [gender] couples. I’d support it,” Mark says for the e-zine.
“There is a slight inherent disadvantage. Two girls and two men just can’t move like a man and a woman. But you can try,” he adds.
He says that, if he’d have to choose his next partner, he’d pick member of the British Royal Family Pippa Middleton or, if DWTS suddenly turned gay-friendly, Ricky Martin, if he was to be teamed up with a guy.
In the same interview, Ballas says that, while he never personally had to deal with bullying for his orientation or choice of profession, he is an avid supporter of the anti-bullying cause.
“We have eight male professional dancers and one is gay. I never dealt with the stigma, I was at a performing arts school, so it wasn’t an issue,” he reveals.
“I always thought if I were ever confronted about it, I’d just say, ‘Well, while you’re on the football field with a bunch of dudes, I’ll be dancing with a bunch of girls’,” Mark adds.