Ice Princess Turns Up the Heat: Kristi Yamaguchi leads pack in ‘Dancing With the Stars’
April 21, 2008
LOS ANGELES — You’d think Kristi Yamaguchi would be strolling through familiar territory. She’s performed before in front of an audience of millions wearing revealing outfits, and by now she should be used to winning. But somehow the Bay Area native is totally out of her element.
For one thing, there’s the paparazzi. Since her stint on Dancing With the Stars began last month, those pesky photographers have been hanging outside the dance studio, awaiting her every move.
Then, of course, there’s the ballroom dancing. It’s one thing to perfect the triple axel. It’s something else entirely to do the cha-cha in front of Len Goodman.
“I trained for the Olympics my entire life. Skating is my comfort zone,” Yamaguchi said. “Now all of a sudden, we’re on Oprah and Extra. This is a different animal.”
Yamaguchi, 36, isn’t the first APA on this kitschy reality show that rates celebrities’ dancing skills using judges’ scores and viewers’ votes (Tia Carrere was in season two). She’s not even the first APA Olympic medalist on the show (Apollo Anton Ohno was the winner in season four). But Yamaguchi was the first contestant to get a 10 score, and on the first night of the show, she scored the highest in the show’s six seasons.
By reality show standards, Dancing With the Stars is full of next-day water cooler fodder, and Yamaguchi is smack in the middle of it. The contestants, which include Shannon Elizabeth and Jason Taylor, aren’t just pleading for votes these days — they’re wishing out loud they’ll beat Yamaguchi.
Carrie Ann Inaba, who judges the show with Goodman and Bruno Tonioli, said on one episode that Yamaguchi is setting the standard for the show.
“It’s because of you that everyone’s working their booties out there,” she said.
Yamaguchi might think she’s outside her element, but the fact that she’s leading suggests that as a figure skater she’s probably more comfortable strutting the dance floor than, say, being a comedian or a radio show host. But despite the high scores, Yamaguchi claims there’s plenty she needs to improve upon.
“I’m still facing an uphill battle when it comes to being more expressive and dancing from the heart,” Yamaguchi said. “I always say it’s the Japanese side of me guarding those emotions.”
Yamaguchi describes herself as reserved and shy, traits that have evolved through time with competitive skating.
“Skating brought me out of my shell,” she said. “It was always an emotional outlet for me.”
Yamaguchi certainly didn’t appear shy when she gave a come-hither look and showed a little leg after Tonioli asked for something “naughty.”
But ballroom dancing takes acting chomps, and Yamaguchi said getting into character is easier said than done. When she was preparing for the slow, romantic rumba, Yamaguchi said it was intimidating just thinking of all the viewers and cameras.
“It’s a great challenge,” Yamaguchi said. “[Partner] Mark Ballas is always telling me, ‘It’s not about forcing your face to do an expression.’”
Part of her challenge comes from being out of the public eye for so long. After her victory in the 1992 Olympics, Yamaguchi went on to tour with Stars on Ice. In recent years, she has been living in Raleigh, N.C., doing the stay-at-home mom thing. Yamaguchi and her husband, hockey player Bret Hedican of the Carolina Hurricanes, have two daughters ages 2 and 4.
“I had been living a more quiet life at home for the last four years,” she said. “I’ve been in mom mode.”
Yamaguchi went from watching her daughters play dress-up to getting decked out herself, spray tan and all, in front of live television. It’s understandable that she hesitated at first.
“Part of me really wanted to do it, but another part of me thought, ‘I don’t know if I can put myself out there on live television,’” she said.
Since the show started, Yamaguchi has found little time for her family. Her daughters are being watched by relatives in the Bay Area while she practices for the show in Los Angeles. But Yamaguchi said she might move back to the Bay Area soon since her husband is thinking of retiring.
Yamaguchi, a fourth-generation Japanese American, was born in Hayward and grew up in Fremont and San Jose. Her mother was born in a Japanese internment camp in Colorado; her father spent his childhood in an Arizona camp.
“If I’ve gained success, it is because of the support from the Asian American community,” Yamaguchi said. “I’m obviously proud of my heritage.”
With her name in the Olympic Hall of Fame and a happy family to dote on, there’s a lot for Yamaguchi to be proud of whether or not she walks away the winner of the dancing show. After all the high kicks and scripted hyperbole, the paparazzi target admits that staying on another week simply means she’ll get to wear another costume.
“This is for fun,” she said. “I don’t think winning is my goal.”
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We are so proud of Kristi and to be involved with L.A. Asians supporting her on dwts. We are proud of our heritage also, and proud to be an American. Kristi has brought such grace, integrity, a refreshing spirit and decency to this show. It’s been a great season already just with her presence there….our best to her…mahol