Ryan Lochte Previews ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Week 7 And His ’90s Dance

This week on Dancing With the Stars, Ryan Lochte and his partner, Cheryl Burke, will take on the ’90s as part of Eras Night. In his blog for Yahoo TV, Lochte talks about his retro rumba, his first-ever team routine, and why he has already exceeded his own expectations on the celebrity ballroom competition.

This week, we’re dancing the rumba to the song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. We have the ’90s as our decade. I was happy to get that decade because I was born in the ’80s, and I grew up listening to ’90s music, so I can relate to it better than a decade like the ’50s or something that I really have no clue about.

It’s not really that hard dancing to Aerosmith. With Cheryl handling all of the choreography, she definitely puts in the moves that I’ve done before and can translate it to where it fits me perfectly.

The most challenging part of the rumba is doing all of the transitions and those little details because there aren’t that many steps. It’s a slower version of the cha-cha, basically. So just being able to make those transitions really crisp and making sure it looks like one long routine, one long step instead of a bunch of still moments, has been my biggest challenge. We also have a team dance, and it’s really hard learning two dances in one week. I’ve been struggling with just doing one dance a week, but now I have to learn two, so I have to put more focus and dedication into this week.

The theme for the team dance — with James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess, Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold, and Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev — is The Past, and we’re doing the Viennese waltz. We’re all doing the same dance style, but kind of in our own routine. The “past” song we’re doing, “The Skye Boat Song” by Raya Yarbrough, is a really slow song, so I think the pros picked the Viennese waltz to be the best fit for us. For the group routine, the pros choreograph the dance for all of us, but then we break off and Cheryl and I do our own individual dance.

It’s not confusing working with four pros, because you know that saying “two heads are better than one”? It’s the same kind of concept. You get four pros, they are going to choreograph something amazing.

Last week, I was in shock to find out that I was safe at the beginning of the show. I was the first person safe, and that definitely took a lot of pressure off of my back, and I was able to relax a lot more going into my dance. That helped out a lot. I didn’t have that pressure, and it actually was the first time I actually felt the music, and I was just having a fun time.

I’m so happy I didn’t leave the show early on because I’m learning a lot about myself. I’m finding out that how no matter how many times I get knocked down, I can keep fighting. I’m pushing my body, I’m pushing my limits on what I’m capable of doing on the dance floor, and the people I’ve met on the show have been really helpful. I love it.

When I signed up for Dancing With the Stars, I thought I was going to be the first person gone just because of my dancing ability. I thought I was going to be gone in two weeks, but some miracle has happened and I’m still here. I’m trying to learn to become a dancer.

Thank you for all of the support you have shown me the past couple of weeks. And get your votes in for me and Team Cherloch! Hopefully, you will get to see me do a great rumba on Monday night. (As told to Victoria Leigh Miller)

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of DWTS for free on Yahoo View.

Ryan Lochte is a competitive swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He is currently competing on the 23rd season of Dancing With the Stars.