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Lysacek wants to try ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Professional Cheryl Burke tweets Olympic gold-medal figure skater to suggest that he join the cast of the show, and he says he would love to try.
/ Source: Entertainment Weekly

The day after Evan Lysacek defeated Yevgeny Plushenko in an Olympic cold war for figure skating gold, we noticed “Dancing With the Stars” professional Cheryl Burke tweeting him the suggestion that he join the cast of the show. If you’ve been wondering if he’s game, well…

“I would love to try ‘Dancing With the Stars’,” he told EW in an email Tuesday. “I was a proud audience member (and cheerleader) as my friends Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno danced their way to the mirrorball trophy. All I have heard from everyone that has done the show is what a blast it is. That could be a good way for me to do something extremely challenging, but also fun to celebrate my Olympic win.”

We’re told Lysacek will decide by Friday whether he’ll represent the U.S. at the World Figure Skating Championships next month in Torino, Italy. The next cast of “Dancing With the Stars” will be announced Monday during “The Bachelor” finale. Meaningless coincidence? Probably.

“Dancing With the Stars” returns to ABC on March 22, and Lysacek is looking forward to headlining the Stars on Ice tour, which runs April 1 through May 30. (Still, we did a quick check of the Stars on Ice schedule, and only one date, May 10, falls on a Monday — DWTS’s performance night. Lysacek is a notorious workhorse, and we’ve seen moonlighting contestants before … but there are plenty of Tuesday Stars on Ice dates, which means he’d have to miss DWTS‘ results night. We bet he signs on for a future season.)

More from our email chat with Lysacek:

On his figure skating future: “This win has revitalized my passion for skating. I’m so fortunate to be able to do something that I truly enjoy, on a daily basis, and I can’t imagine my life without the structure of daily training and the highs of competition. First and foremost, I am an athlete and always have been. I want to pursue other interests, but I also feel that I still have more to give to a sport that has given me everything. In the whirlwind that has been winning this title, it was getting back on the ice and skating for the first time … feeling the wind in my face, and the smooth glide of my blade that reminded me how I got here, and I’m not ready to say goodbye to that. For now, I will join the cast of Stars on Ice, which will tour the United States. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this win than out on the ice in front of my friends and fans.”

On his entertainment Must List: “Anything from Quentin Tarantino. ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Inglourious Basterds’ … amazing. I watched ‘Kill Bill — Vol. 1’ so many times to get pumped up for competition, that I burned out the DVD and had to buy another one. Also, love really mindless movies sometimes…. Kids’ movies are great to balance my mood. I’m a huge music fan. I love my Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, and Kanye while training, but at home, I listen to anything from Kaiser Chiefs to Sohodolls. Lately, I’ve been really into Albert Hammond Jr., Passion Pit, and the Handcuffs. Music is such an important tool in my life. Not just because I compete and perform to music on the ice. I also play music all day long and consider it the soundtrack of my life. Most of the time, the music I’m listening to reflects to a T what is happening in my life, and how I’m feeling.”

On possible post-figure skating careers: “I have a lot of other interests…. Movies, design, other sports, literature, photography, fashion, travel, music, etc. But I am the kind of person that likes to sit down and formulate a plan and a course of action before I take my first step in a new direction. I need to find something that gives me the perfect balance of discipline and creativity. I’ve always admired hotel moguls like Andre Balazs, Steve Wynn, and Donald Trump (more real estate than hotel). I also have a true passion for cars…. Since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by cars and their beauty. Cars to me are the perfect balance of function and design.”

On a possible acting career: “Acting is something I have always been interested in, especially since moving to LA and getting to know so many people within the film and television industry. I think skating is such a unique sport, in the way that the skater has to emote while performing physical skills. As I’ve matured, I’ve taken so much interest and found so much pleasure in studying the roles that I am portraying on the ice. I guess you could say, I really have been trying to act on ice. The fact that I can never use my voice to get an emotion across makes it a challenge, but I have learned to appreciate the language and angle of the body to produce a specific feeling.”

On his favorite roles: “I like interesting roles, and roles with a lot of dialogue. Maybe because my ‘acting’ has no dialogue. I pretty much like any role that really makes you think or feel. Everyone falls in love, everyone has their heart broken, everyone feels struggle, and pain, and triumph. To be able to make an audience member remember the time in their lives that they loved, or cried, or hurt, or won!! That makes your role and the emotion behind it so much more effective. (Speaking as a skater with very little acting experience, but a huge fan of movies and roles.)”

On his IMDB acting credit, “Vladimir Plushenko” in a film titled ‘Great Skate!’: “I appeared in a short film, and played a washed-up, alcoholic, chain-smoking Russian skater turned coach. It was a very fun role, and I had no shortage of my own Russian… ‘experiences’ to bring to the table.”