Mya Talks with Movieline About Dancing with the Stars, Excruciating Pain, and Her Childhood Hatred of Performing

Is foot pain the worst of it all?

It probably is. These ballroom shoes are not the most secure, and your feet are very wobbly at points. It's dangerous, honestly. It's easy to sprain your ankle, it's easy to pull something. More importantly you need stretch at least 15-20 minutes before you begin eight hours of rehearsal.

Can you compare the rigor of the show to your tours or music videos of the past? "My Love is Like Wo" comes to mind.

Honestly, it has no comparison. It's so much harder, and you're dancing in high heels, and you're dancing with a partner who's throwing you around. When you're dancing by yourself, you're limited in your movement. You're only going to go as far as your body allows you to go. But when you're dealing with another weight, another person who steps on your toes and you step on theirs, they fling you and flick you around. It's very dangerous and painful. And you do acquire a lot of bruises and blisters! It's honestly a sport -- just because we're wearing fancy clothes and we smile, it doesn't necessarily look like one. But the training of one is truly a sport, it needs to be classified as one.

Do you think the judges hold you to a higher standard?

OK, yes. I think they do. But based on week one, and not based on anyone else. It's based on the fact that I did a difficult routine for the waltz, which I had four weeks to prepare. They measured me from that week, and everything else that followed couldn't be simplified. It has to be more difficult. Yes, we're amateurs, but you have to show growth in this competition.

In retrospect, would you have simplified the waltz to mitigate the demands of the rest of the competition?

Honestly, because of the criticism that we received for the waltz, we would make it more simplified in the choreography, not necessarily in the technical skill of the steps. Len [Goodman's] comment was to let it breathe and not make it too much of a show, make it more of a Viennese Waltz. That's what we would do; we'd refine it and fulfill the criticism.

Even during your "rougher" weeks, you're usually top-ranked. This must be a very validating experience.

It's validating, but it's almost not a gauge of what you can do in such little time. The true test is what's about to come, doing three dances next week but having Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday to learn it. Four days. Four days of perfecting it for stage blocking and camera blocking on Sunday. That will be the true test. Having the waltz was nice, actually, it was leisure and luxury. But that doesn't exist anymore. So this will be the true test, three dances in four days.

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