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Chaz Bono is dancing right past the controversy surrounding his casting on "Dancing With the Stars" — and he's not even the dancing type.

"I like it, but I'm kind of an introvert," he said from the nondescript dance studio where he has been rehearsing for the hit ABC show for up to five hours a day. "My natural tendency is to go in, not show off. I get embarrassed really easily, which is something you have to get over on this show."

Bono will be over it by Monday night, when he and 11 other celebrities, including actors, TV personalities, and sports stars, will make their ballroom debut on the season premiere of "Dancing With the Stars."

Of the 11, Bono may be the most controversial: As the show's first transgender contestant, the 42-year-old author and activist has been the subject of hateful blog posts by some viewers and conservative media groups. Some have even called for a "Dancing" boycott.

But other groups, such as the Transgender Law Center and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, have lauded his casting and urged their members to support Bono's appearance on the show.

Meanwhile, he and professional partner Lacey Schwimmer are too focused on their cha-cha to listen to all the chatter and they're confident that once the show begins, the controversy will fade as quickly as its requisite spray tans.

"I feel like if people who are on the fence just watch the show, I think they're going to feel comfortable with me pretty soon," said Bono, wearing double knee braces under his long basketball shorts. "I'm a really kind of regular guy. I think I'm a pretty nice guy. My heart is in the right place and I think if people just watch, they'll see that."

The last contestant to perform Monday night, Bono earned 17 points out of 30 for their routine, which judges praised as "joyous."

"You light up this room!" judge Carrie Ann Inaba said after Bono's performance on the season-premiere episode.

Though his casting on "Dancing" makes him the most visible transgender person in America, he doesn't feel pressure to make any kind of statement.

"No, other than to do my best dancing," he said. "That's the statement that I'd like to make: that I'm an OK dancer. That's about it."

"I just hope people understand that he's just like everybody else and he's here on a dancing show to shake his groove thing," said Schwimmer, Bono's instructor and partner.

Coaxing out Bono's inner groove thing, however, isn't always easy, she said. Despite his legendary showbiz roots, Bono is pretty reserved. Though he opened up to the world about his transition from female to male in the Emmy-nominated documentary "Becoming Chaz," dancing in front of millions almost feels more intimate.

"It's completely different because I've never done this before," he said. "I can sit down and talk to Oprah about myself or subjects that I'm really comfortable with and that I really know and have information to put across, but I'm not a dancer. All I know about dancing is what I've learned in less than (three) weeks!"

And the process has literally been painful.

"I have aching everything," Bono said.

"He's using muscles he never even knew he had," Schwimmer added.

The two, who never met before they were cast together on "Dancing" and now call themselves Team Schwaz, have developed an easy chemistry, sometimes finishing each other's sentences.

They talk about the tattoos they'll get to commemorate the show, crack jokes about their age difference and laugh about Schwimmer's love of legwarmers. She's 23 and thinks the fashions of the "Flashdance" era are the coolest. She has promised she won't force Bono to wear "a hot pink catsuit with legwarmers," but one gets the idea she'd really like to.

Bono has been too busy with the intricacies of ballroom dancing — "posture, the head in the right place, arm movement, fingers" — to think about the sequins that may await him. He said he's left the design of his costume completely up to Schwimmer.

He joined the show to challenge himself, he said, and wasn't really a "Dancing" fan until after he signed on and watched a bunch of past seasons to prepare.

"It's so positive, it's very wholesome, and though I know some people think that I'm not, I actually am," he said. "I appreciate that there's stuff on this (show) that the whole family can sit and watch. It's positive and it's people trying to do their best and having breakthroughs. There's nothing salacious about this show, and I appreciate that."

He has devoted himself full time to dancing, and when it came time to film a freestyle segment for the show, Bono made his partner proud.

"He was kicking and turning and jumping and shimmying," she said. "He mixed a little bit of disco, '80s and Fred Astaire."

"I guess it is in me," Bono said, "but I have to dig deep to get it."

"Dancing With the Stars" unveiled its new ballroom and new cast Monday, and when all the dancing was done, singer Chynna Phillips and actor J.R. Martinez were tied at the top.

Phillips and Martinez each earned 22 points out of 30 for their Viennese waltzes. Basketball star Ron Artest landed in last place with 14 points. Head judge Len Goodman said the Lakers forward's footwork was "atrocious" and his cha-cha was "all sizzle and no sausage."

Artest, who recently changed his name to Metta World Peace, had the Hebrew words for "world peace" shaved into his hair for his "Dancing" debut. Despite his low score, he said after the show that he "came to entertain" and felt the judges were fair.

Scoring one point better than Artest was Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, who is better known in the United States for being George Clooney's ex-girlfriend. She said her nerves got the better of her in the ballroom and she left the episode worried about Tuesday's results show, when the season's first celebrity contestant will be dismissed.

Judges' scores are combined with viewer votes to determine who is ousted each week.

Also making their dancing debut on the hit ABC show were World Cup soccer player Hope Solo; reality stars Robert Kardashian and Kristin Cavallari; TV personalities Nancy Grace, Carson Kressley and Ricki Lake; actor David Arquette; and author and activist Chaz Bono.

Kardashian brought his famous family along: Sisters Kim and Khloe, mom Kris Jenner and brother-in-law Lamar Odom sat in the ballroom. The reality star scored 16 points, as did Grace. She said after the show that she hopes to make it through Tuesday's elimination episode, but Kardashian said he needs to stay on the show for at least four weeks.

"It's obvious I need to beat my sister," he said of former contestant Kim. "She was only on it three weeks."

Bono and Kressley each earned 17 points for their cha-chas. Bono, this season's most talked-about cast member, did the night's final dance, which Goodman said showed "good footwork and a great attitude."

Kressley turned in the episode's most entertaining performance, smiling and making faces throughout his high-energy routine. Goodman said the dance had "elements of Jagger, swagger and stagger." Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said it was her favorite of the night.

"I cannot get over all the sparkle that's happening around you," she said of Kressley's bedazzled blazer.

"This is not even a costume," the celebrity stylist quipped. "I had it in my closet."

Arquette, who said that he has been sober for eight months, impressed the judges with his elegant Viennese waltz, scoring 18 points. The actor said after the show that dancing helps support his sobriety.

"A lot of the themes that are in dancing are in living just a clean life and an honest life: Just being balanced, living life gracefully, staying focused, being connected to something, letting yourself step into the light," he said. "It's all connected, and it's really great for the body and the soul."

His estranged wife Courteney Cox and the couple's daughter, Coco, sat in the audience Monday.

Cavallari collected 19 points for her cha-cha. Judges rewarded Lake's romantic waltz with 20 points and Solo's with 21.

A special meet-the-cast episode of "Dancing With the Stars" is set to air Tuesday before the live results show.