87 replies to this topic

[perky]

I'm not sure Karina can fix the pigeon toes problem in such a short amount of time, which is a shame because it's all I look at when he dances. I can't help myself! He also needs to work on connecting with the music more. He was counting out the steps in his head during his quickstep and it showed in his movements.
He was better in his personality this week though, not as smarmy and pseudo homeboy.
Leigh, join us in the great cheesefest that is DWTS. You'll have a guilty pleasure blast and actually see some wonderful dancing (from the pros).

[miliosr]

I saw Jennifer/Derek (samba), Florence/Corky (waltz), Kurt/Anna (foxtrot), Margaret/Louis (samba) and Audrina/Tony (waltz) before I switched over to Gossip Girl at 8:00PM.

Jennifer/Derek -- Tonight was story night and I HATED their story. (Female teacher hitting on underage student -- blech.) The samba was good enough.

Florence/Corky -- The Sound Of Music story was nice but Len and Bruno were right -- the dancing was very creaky.

Kurt/Anna -- I love when Anna told Kurt their story would be about an upbeat, optimistic guy meeting a, "depressed, negative Russian." Oh Anna! The dance was pleasant.

Margaret/Louis -- Points for the rainbow flag dress but -- oh God -- the dance was a mess. Overscored (three 6s) to boot.

Audrina/Tony -- Nice story (soldier returning from war) and nice dance.


You know you love me . . . XOXO

[perky]

I thought it was a bit of a snooze last night. No one really stood out for me.
Even though she forgot a few steps, I did like the Margaret/Louis dance. It was like they took every over the top flamboyant gay thing they could think of, stuck it in a giant rainbow colored bomb and exploded it over the dance floor. It was fun.
I don't like that they are making the celebs do such hard dances as the quickstep, samba and jive so early in the competition. I miss Latin night.
Nice to see Jonathon during the Pro demonstration.

[perky]

I thought it was a bit of a snooze last night. No one really stood out for me.
Even though she forgot a few steps, I did like the Margaret/Louis dance. It was like they took every over the top flamboyant gay thing they could think of, stuck it in a giant rainbow colored bomb and exploded it over the dance floor. It was fun.
I don't like that they are making the celebs do such hard dances as the quickstep, samba and jive so early in the competition. I miss Latin night.
Nice to see Jonathon during the Pro demonstration.

[miliosr]

Week Three - Elimination Three:

Margaret Cho and Louis von Amstel

Of the contestants I saw on Monday night, Margaret was clearly the worst. She was an interesting contestant in many respects but, alas, the dance element just wasn't there. An appropriate boot.

[miliosr]

I saw Kurt/Anna (rumba), Brandy/Maks (rumba), Rick/Cheryl (Argentine tango) and Kyle/Lacey (rumba) before I switched over to Gossip Girl at 8:00PM.

What a snooze the first hour was -- I nearly passed out it was so boring.

Interesting that, in the fourth week, I have yet to see Bristol or The Situation perform in the first hour. ABC must think they're bringing the ratings by saving them to the second hour.


You know you love me . . . XOXO

[miliosr]

Week Four - Elimination Four

The Situation and Karina Smirnoff

I never got to see him dance (and I'm not fired up enough about this season to look him up on YouTube) so I can't render an opinion on his elimination.

I did get to see Jennifer and Derek perform their encore tango. If Jennifer can keep up the goodish quality of her dancing through the rest of this competition, I would think she has this in the bag: Nostalgic Dirty Dancing fanbase + Derek Hough + goodish dancing = mirror ball trophy

[Treefrog]

One wonders how long Bristol Palin will hold on.

[sidwich]

I did get to see Jennifer and Derek perform their encore tango. If Jennifer can keep up the goodish quality of her dancing through the rest of this competition, I would think she has this in the bag: Nostalgic Dirty Dancing fanbase + Derek Hough + goodish dancing = mirror ball trophy

My money is one Kurt and Anna to win. Kurt is incredibly beloved and Anna has a fanbase of her own. Between that and that cutesy shots of him with his wife and kids, I'm betting on them going the whole way.

[miliosr]

Week Five - Elimination Five

Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas

Not a bad showing considering Florence is 76. But, the competition is to the point now where there is no way she would be able to keep up with the likes of Brandy and Audrina. So, it was her time.

I managed to see Greg, Peter and Cindy Brady in the audience over the course of the season. Did anyone spot Marcia, Bobby and, especially, Jan? (Eve Plumb must have been holding out for more money again!!!)

[miliosr]

Week Six - Elimination Six

Audrina Patridge and Tony Dovalani


When it came down to Audrina/Tony and Jennifer/Derek as the "Not Necessarily Bottom Two Bottom Two", I knew Audrina and Tony were done for -- no way do I believe Jennifer and Derek were in the Bottom Two. As for Audrina, she wasn't the worst dancer left -- that "honor" could have/should have gone to Bristol, Kurt, Kyle or Rick. However, she had two things going against her:

1) Fanbase -- Audrina was only a supporting player on The Hills so I highly doubt that she has the kind of fanbase that, say, Lauren Conrad has, and

2) Personality -- Audrina was known for her somewhat vacant personality on The Hills and she didn't change anyone's opinions with her technically adequate but emotionally lifeless performances on Dancing With the Stars.

It wasn't her time but, as she wasn't going to win in any event, hers was a fair boot.


In other news, Heart was one of the musical guests last night. They're not my kind of band but I have to say that they rocked the house with "Barracuda". Ann Wilson has lost some of her upper range but she can still belt it out:



One last thing: I wish host Brooke Burke would work with a vocal coach. She always speaks in that flat, affectless voice.

[mimsyb]

I somehow don't think Brooke was hired for her speaking voice!

[sidwich]

As for Audrina, she wasn't the worst dancer left -- that "honor" could have/should have gone to Bristol, Kurt, Kyle or Rick.

Audrina is physically stunning, but her technique is poor. The only one of that group that I'd say is a consistently weaker dancer is actually Kurt.

Leaving aside her vacant performance quality, Audrina has the same technical problems that all of Tony's celebrities have. Leaving aside Sara Evans and Kate Gosselin who were just poor dancers all around, none of Tony's celebs including Stacey Kiebler, Jane Seymour, Audrina, etc. really use their feet, ankles and knees when they dance. They're dancing "on top of the floor" rather than really using it. It makes their dancing "brittle," and it's part of why Audrina's paso has this strange stomping quality to it. Tony's also a poor teacher of partnering; Audrina's frame is weak and floppy, which is why Audrina goes flying a few times during the paso (and not in a good way). Unlike most of the rest of Tony's celebrities, Audrina is fairly inconsistent in keeping time with the music. She loses it more than a few times in the paso.

Kyle and Rick are benefitting from a combination of innate talent and Lacey and Cheryl who are actually both pretty good teachers. Bristol's not as physically blessed as Audrina, but Mark's a pretty good teacher and her technique is actually quite clean for a beginner. Kyle, Rick and Bristol are actually generally improving week to week.

Kurt's physically talented but he has Anna T. for a partner, so I doubt we'll see him improve any more than we saw Audrina do. Anna and Tony are both excellent dancers, but as far as I can tell, they both suffer from "blessed with natural talent syndrome." The re-creation of movement seems to come easily to them; I think it's hard for them to articulate it in teaching others, and their students suffer for it.

[miliosr]

I somehow don't think Brooke was hired for her speaking voice!

True, but as a "bachelor of a certain age" I find myself immune to Ms. Burke's particular "charms". (Oh, it's so unfair -- why couldn't they have hired Mel B. [w/ her lively intelligence/personality] to be Samantha Harris' replacement instead of cold, robotic Brooke? Bah!!!)

As for Audrina, she wasn't the worst dancer left -- that "honor" could have/should have gone to Bristol, Kurt, Kyle or Rick.

Audrina is physically stunning, but her technique is poor. The only one of that group that I'd say is a consistently weaker dancer is actually Kurt.

Leaving aside her vacant performance quality, Audrina has the same technical problems that all of Tony's celebrities have. Leaving aside Sara Evans and Kate Gosselin who were just poor dancers all around, none of Tony's celebs including Stacey Kiebler, Jane Seymour, Audrina, etc. really use their feet, ankles and knees when they dance. They're dancing "on top of the floor" rather than really using it. It makes their dancing "brittle," and it's part of why Audrina's paso has this strange stomping quality to it. Tony's also a poor teacher of partnering; Audrina's frame is weak and floppy, which is why Audrina goes flying a few times during the paso (and not in a good way). Unlike most of the rest of Tony's celebrities, Audrina is fairly inconsistent in keeping time with the music. She loses it more than a few times in the paso.

Kyle and Rick are benefitting from a combination of innate talent and Lacey and Cheryl who are actually both pretty good teachers. Bristol's not as physically blessed as Audrina, but Mark's a pretty good teacher and her technique is actually quite clean for a beginner. Kyle, Rick and Bristol are actually generally improving week to week.

Kurt's physically talented but he has Anna T. for a partner, so I doubt we'll see him improve any more than we saw Audrina do. Anna and Tony are both excellent dancers, but as far as I can tell, they both suffer from "blessed with natural talent syndrome." The re-creation of movement seems to come easily to them; I think it's hard for them to articulate it in teaching others, and their students suffer for it.

Well, I remain unconvinced that Bristol, Kurt and Rick are better than Audrina. (I'll spot Kyle to you, sidwich.) However, I am willing to admit that I may be judging Audrina more on her (unrealized) potential in my mind's eye rather than what she actually showed us.

In any event, I think we are headed toward a 1-2-3 finish of Jennifer-Kurt-Bristol or Kurt-Jennifer-Bristol. (If the latter occurs, it would be a variation of the Season 5 finishing order of Helio-Mel B.-Marie Osmond.)

[sidwich]

Well, I remain unconvinced that Bristol, Kurt and Rick are better than Audrina. (I'll spot Kyle to you, sidwich.) However, I am willing to admit that I may be judging Audrina more on her (unrealized) potential in my mind's eye rather than what she actually showed us.

In any event, I think we are headed toward a 1-2-3 finish of Jennifer-Kurt-Bristol or Kurt-Jennifer-Bristol. (If the latter occurs, it would be a variation of the Season 5 finishing order of Helio-Mel B.-Marie Osmond.)

Kurt's not better than Audrina, and suffers from a lot of the same problems (see my notes on Anna's problems as a teacher). He does benefit from being a great athlete, but he's had his share of injuries during his career, so I suspect he has some physical limitations. I still think he's going to win, but that's mainly because he is such a beloved figure in the heartland.

Bristol and Rick have much cleaner beginner technique than Audrina, and I'm a purist... to me, that means a lot. They both maintain better position relative to their partners, their basic movement from foot to foot is much more secure, and Cheryl and Mark both choreograph more substantive routines for their celebs (more balanced routines with combinations of movement in all directions, partnering, side-by-side work, etc.) Both Bristol and Rick do have problems, but their basic technical foundation is more solid, so on my armchair scorecard, I would have them ahead of Audrina.

Don't get me wrong. Audrina's a gorgeous woman and there is definitely a not-insignificant school of thought that a woman's main job in ballroom/latin is to look beautiful and be where the man puts her which Audrina succeeds at beautifully. I just don't subscribe to it.