Ilona Maher and her partner Alan Bersten chat with THR on Disney Night at 'Dancing With the Stars.' Ilona shares how much she relates to Luisa from 'Encanto' and the partners dish on Alan's donkey mask and how much of a "mistake" that was to perform in.
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00:00I want to say Encanto is one of my favorite movies so I want to know how
00:03was it tapping into the character of Luisa for this performance?
00:06Yes so Encanto is one of my favorite movies too and literally the first time
00:11I ever watched it with my family like we see ourselves on the screen so much my
00:15sisters and my family so when I first saw Luisa and whenever I watched
00:19Surface Pressure I start crying because I truly feel that way many times the
00:23pressure I put on myself to be great to help others so it was so fun to get to
00:27slip into this role because it didn't at times feel like a role it felt like
00:31myself and I I love that you know girls get to see her as a character and maybe
00:36see me as well as somebody to look up to so it was such a fun fun dance and fun
00:40night and Alan I have to ask were you sweating in that mask like what could
00:46you see I'm so curious honestly it was a good idea before I put it on once I put
00:51it on I realized I made a vast mistake no but it was awesome it was a lot of
00:55fun it looked really good and the team is incredible I can't believe they got
00:58it on and off that fast like we finished the opening number I ran upstairs and
01:04three different people were working on me it was incredible they pulled it off
01:09and it just just sweat just dropped everywhere I think it's on video I don't
01:15know though cuz my eyes were closed honestly couldn't hear anything couldn't
01:17see anything but I felt how amazing Ilona did and it's just it's amazing I'm
01:22so happy and you guys also had the group dance so you not only had to rely
01:28on each other as partners but you had to rely on other people so how did that
01:31dynamic kind of change throughout the week of rehearsals group dance was so
01:36fun I've only ever played team sports so it was like slipping into an environment
01:41that I thrive in it was it was a lot of fun to be also there was kind of equals
01:45you know celebrity equals and I will say the pros choreographed such a fun dance
01:50for us like and we had a great song but all the moments they did everything in
01:54between and I think they played to our strength so it was I and I think we knew
01:58it was a good dance and we wanted to just do well for each other to also you
02:02know get a sales point so it was awesome everyone really pulled it together Ilona
02:06said something as team captain and I would like to point out I'm assistant
02:10captain office reference um Ilona before we started she was like usually this is
02:20a me thing but I want this to be a we thing and we all just collectively came
02:23together and you know we had fun out there we danced together and it really
02:27showed the celebrities crushed it all when they were dancing by themselves the
02:31pros are just standing there like we're so proud and we really are you know they
02:35put in so much hard work this week and it really showed it was incredible and
02:39you guys I mean it showed and because it's Disney night I have to ask a few
02:43Disney questions what was your favorite Disney character growing up growing up
02:53because it's changed now now now with newer movies like I like Encanto I feel
02:58like Bruno a little bit but growing up I wish I was a Prince Eric I wasn't I was
03:04more of a goofy um Aladdin I feel like a lot of people like that bird who are
03:17you I don't know I don't know princesses like this isn't too old but I loved
03:23Princess and the Frog and I love Tangled everyone is saying that those are new
03:29yeah but they are so like 15 years old everyone is saying that which kind of I
03:34guess brings me to my next question if there was a Disney movie that you would
03:38like to see redone into a live-action oh honestly Encanto honestly it's the music
03:46is amazing surface pressure before we were doing this and everyone online was
03:51like you guys have to do it yeah like it was it was a good song like and then
03:56when we found out we were doing it and we found out pretty early like every
04:01time I listen to I get chills just because Ilona aside from from you know
04:07having the strength that that Louisa has she also puts that pressure on herself
04:12and I've realized that from knowing her and she just wants to help everyone you
04:16know she's one of the most selfless people I've ever met and it's just it's
04:20amazing to see and I am really lucky to have her as a partner and I'm proud of
04:23her so it's nice to see her come to life and final question I mean so on Disney
04:28channel you would say like hi I'm so-and-so and yeah you know what I'm
04:31talking about can you guys give me your best one but like kind of group it like
04:35hi I'm Alan I'm Ilona and you're watching Disney Channel hi I'm Ilona
04:40and I'm Alan and you're watching Disney Channel
04:45that was great thank you guys so much