Maks Chmerkovskiy Discusses 'DWTS' Return, Teaching Strategy And Mirrorball Wins

He's participated in 16 seasons of "Dancing With The Stars," and won one Mirrorball trophy, and if Maksim Chmerkovskiy does return to the ballroom for the upcoming 25th season, he will make sure his celebrity partner understands exactly how he plans to teach them to become a dancer.

In an interview with International Business Times, Maks admitted he wasn't entirely sure whether or not he'd come back for Season 25, because of his new commitments outside of the ABC show. He and wife Peta Murgatroyd, another pro dancer from the show, welcomed their son, Shai, together earlier this year, and he tells IBT that they need to see if they can both commit to the show and properly raising him at the same time.

"Before this was always a million-dollar question, 'Will Maks return?'" Maks admitted to IBT. "But now it's not, it's more of a domestic issue. So, I figure things out on my behalf, and Peta has a team that she consults with, and so they figure out stuff as well. But we obviously prioritize Shai, and it's important to both of us to make sure that our time with him is not being cut into. It's one of my main things that I want to be around all the time, and I see all the things that happen."

Even if he doesn't return for a new season however, the LivOn spokesman and co-owner of "Dance With Me" Dance studios does still love teaching, and admits he gets a thrill out of that part of his job.

"I get off on educating literally basic dance, basic cha-cha, you know the fundamentals of movement and weight transfer, then taking it further to 'What is dance?' You know, what is different from one style to another?" Maks said. "The difference in fundamentals of Latin and Ballroom on that level, people may look at it and go 'That's boring.' I can guarantee you that a lesson with me, it's extremely exciting, and I'm sure that you walk away a more knowledgeable dancer than you came in, no matter what level you are."

Maks also said he applies that same teaching technique when he's on the show. He intends to make it so his partners are able to retain the information from their time together, and he loves watching as they improve as the season continues.

"Every chance that I got, I still put in a lot of effort into everybody that I danced with, and I'm kind of actually intrigued at this point to go around and see if any of them have retained that valuable information that was given at the time and drilled into their heads. I'd be curious to find out," he said. "But I'm pretty sure that most of my partners retained a lot of that information and actually became a better dancer, from whatever level they started at."

"We all have a different method and style of teaching," he added. "Some of the pros are just like, 'Don't worry about whatever, just take care of the Monday night.' For me, I take a different approach. I try to compress 2-3 years of professional fundamental dance education in the first couple of days of dance training, where you teach them the routine, but also explain to them a lot of technique and quality of movement. And what I've noticed, looking back on my seasons, is that I see an obvious dance improvement in people that I've danced with. Like Kirstie Alley. From the first episode to the last, we had two numbers that were kind of bland, then she was just skyrocketing forward and doing better, and more complex and better things, that was amazing."

Though he keeps his focus on teaching his partners how to dance, it's unlikely that Maks would be unhappy if he came back to the show and did manage to win another Mirrorball. He has one under his belt so far after winning Season 18 with Meryl Davis, and he still remembers how it felt when he was standing with her during that finale and waiting for the results to be read, admitting he just really wanted to finally win after 14 other seasons of not winning the title.

"I just wanted to win. I wanted to win. I wanted a conclusion finally to my journey. I wanted some kind of resolution to all the effort that was put into that, there had to have been a compensation for all of the time, the years, the sweat," he said.

Season 25 pro announcements will be made on Thursday.