How Sexy Will Zendaya's Dances Be on 'DWTS'?

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Part of Dancing with the Stars' flare is the sensual nature of the dances that are performed in the ballroom. However, with 16-year-old Zendaya, the show's youngest cast member in history, on the floor this season, how intimate will her routines with partner Val Chmerkovskiy get?

The Shake it Up actress, known mononymously, has continually dismissed her age as a relevant factor, as she did while ET visited her and her professional partner in rehearsal, but it nevertheless plays a role in her partner's approach to choreographing their dances.


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Chmerkovskiy asserted that there will be other ways to go about incorporating his usual sensual flare into their ballroom routines.

"I think 'sexy' shouldn't even be in our vocabulary," he said. "There's so many other words to describe so many emotions. ...There's so many different things in life besides 'sexy' and that's what I want to showcase, you know? [It] doesn't mean we can't be sensual or emotional or passionate about certain things, but the delivery could be different."

Their approach was received well by the judges in the show's premiere week, as the dancing duo was granted a total score of 24, three points higher than any other pair, for their contemporary dance number.


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In addition to the impressive moves Zendaya and her partner displayed last week, they also exhibited one of the most integral components of a successful dance: chemistry. Chmerkovskiy said it wasn't instant between the two, though.

"She really grew on me," said Chmerkovskiy, who is in his fourth season on the celebrity dancing show. "...I don't [usually] do well with successful, young kids because they have a huge ego and lack of discipline and [are] just way too much for me."

Zendaya attested to her partner's assessment of their chemistry, saying that her 26-year-old professional partner is like her older brother, reiterating how cool he is. She conveyed similar thoughts on his tutelage.


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"He's a nice combination of tough but still nice at the same time," she evaluated. "You don't want someone who's just going to beat you up all the team about every little thing you do, and then you don't want someone that's too nice. So, he's got the nice balance, which is exactly what I need."

Find out if Zendaya and Chmerkovskiy can uphold their high scores as they dance the jive tonight on Dancing with the Stars, which begins at 8 p.m. on ABC.