Vito's Ready To Drop It Like It's Hot

PARK CITY, UT (Sept. 17) - Starting Monday, U.S. Snowboarding's Louie Vito is trading in his halfpipe spins for some turns on the dance floor as he begins competition on ABC's Dancing With The Stars.

The show pairs 16 professional dancers with 16 celebrities and has them battle against each other week to week until one couple remains and is crowned the show's champion.

"It's just different. I never really used to dance around for hours on end, so it's a different type of work than I'm used to," Vito said.

According to the freestyler, dancing has proved to be harder than landing his first double cork 1080.

"I've never done any ballroom dancing. It's definitely a little frustrating for me cause it sucks when you can't do something within the first couple tries, let alone the first couple days," Vito said. "That was one of the most frustrating points, trying to accept that it's not like anything you've ever done. You just kind of take baby steps."

For Vito, who normally takes a couple months off at the end of the summer to stay fresh before the snowboarding season starts, Dancing just happens to be a perfect combination for cross training and getting the world stoked for snowboarding in the 2010 Olympics.

"It keeps me in shape! It's a good cardio workout and I still go to the gym every once in a while when I get the time. As long as I'm staying in shape and staying active I think that's the best thing I can do," Vito said. "And, being on the show will be a chance for me to get everyone who watches to think about snowboarding especially with the Olympics coming up."

Of the other things Vito is planning on for the show, staying true to himself and his style is at the top of his list, and most certainly does not involve spray tanning.

"They definitely try to push you have some color but spray tanning is really not my thing," Vito said. "But I knew I was going to have to be wearing different things differently. I'm going to try to keep it true to myself. Obviously I've got to change a little bit, but you're not going to see me with my hair cut off short and gelled up and around."

That "little bit" he will concede to doing? Let's just say you'll be able to catch Vito in a salsa outfit at some point.

"I dressed up for my salsa Latin themed dances and you know what, I'm not going to lie, I felt like a salsa Latin dancer when I was wearing that get up," Vito said. "That’s kind of what's funny cause I know I would never wear that ever in my life. But when you are doing a dance I almost feel like it's going to help you. If you wear normal clothes for a Latin dance, it's not going to be as good as if you were just playing the role, you need to get fully into the mode."

But really, who doesn’t want to see Vito work his salsa moves? So tune in to ABC for the three-night live premier starting Monday night, Sept. 21 at 8/7c. And, for info on Vito as he competes, join his Dancing With The Stars facebook fan page here.

Tags: Dancing With The Stars, Louie Vito, SBX, U.S. Ski and Snowboard