LONG BEACH, Calif. — Misty May-Treanor just won back-to-back gold medals in beach volleyball, but all she can think about is dancing.
“Every time I wake up, it’s like I can’t wait to dance,” the Olympian says after wrapping a three-hour rehearsal at a dance studio here. “I can’t wait to get back in there to see if things soaked in overnight.” As a contestant on the seventh season of “Dancing With the Stars,” May- Treanor has traded the beach for the ballroom. Her swimsuit and bare feet have been replaced with swingy skirts and high-heeled shoes. And the 31-year-old athlete is loving every minute of it.
“I followed the show, and I never thought in a million years that I’d be a participant,” in the show that pairs stars with professional dancers to compete weekly in tightly choreographed routines, she says. “It was something where deep down I was like, ‘Oh, it would be so fun to be on that show.”‘ May-Treanor glides around the room, her champagne-colored heels hitting the wood floor in perfect time. She’s so graceful and elegant, it’s hard to believe that this is the same woman who’s known as a killer on the sand court.
She learned she’d be joining the cast while she was in Beijing, where she and partner Kerri Walsh defeated China to win their second gold medal.
“She missed the closing ceremonies to come and start training with Maks,” executive producer Conrad Green says, referring to her professional dance partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. “He whisked her straight to rehearsal.” Chmerkovskiy, a Latin-dance champ and veteran of the show, also traveled with his student to the last remaining tournaments of her volleyball season, where he urged her to keep her eye on the ball and her mind off the dance floor.
But May-Treanor says she’s eager to set her sport aside and focus on something new for a while.
“It is nice for me, especially playing for so long,” she says, adding that she hasn’t had a summer off since she was 11 years old.
“This takes my mind off of volleyball. … It’s nice just to step away.” She’s not stepping into entirely unfamiliar territory.
May-Treanor studied dance as a child in Los Angeles, fitting ballet, jazz and baton-twirling lessons in between soccer and volleyball practices.
The challenge now is shedding the powerful stance developed over years of dedicated sports training and recapturing that effortless, light-on-your-feet elegance.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, and it’s bringing that passion in again, like trying to be graceful and using your body to make it flow instead of thank,” she says, stomping her feet on the floor.
She’s put her full faith into her instructor and follows whatever direction he gives.
“I’m in his world so I let him decide everything,” she says.
