35 replies to this topic

[Marga]

Tomorrow's results show will have, among its guest performers, 17 year old dancer Patricia Zhou who studies at the Kirov Academy of Ballet and has recently been accepted into the Royal Ballet.

Patricia Zhou bio

[Marga]

Coming up right now on DWTS, Patricia Zhou is being touted, in DWTS's superlative fashion, as the "fastest rising ballet star in the world".

[Marga]

Well, she did a beautiful lyrical routine of the crowd pleasing ilk. Patricia danced barefoot in stirrup tights (the floor must have been too slippery for pointe) and performed in a lilting, freeform manner, showing her great flexibility and lines, good technique and some artistry. I wish she hadn't gone for the ankle-grab back extension at the end. It was just too gymnastic (or figure-skatingish), and began awkwardly as she fished for her foot. As usual, the audience screamed at random moments, not at all related to what was being danced.

I'd say, having seen her Nutcracker video on her site, that she may be one of the world's rising ballet stars, but the "fastest"? I'm quite sure she's on a par with a whole bevy of quickly rising stars (and you know that some of those always fall by the wayside).

I loved the segment before she performed, where they showed her in class and had her talking about her "dream". She's a lovely young woman.

Here she is dancing Grand Pas Classique last year:
Patricia Zhou variation

[carbro]

Semi-SPOILER ALERT

I can't believe Ralph wasn't eliminated!

[miliosr]

Did Tom Bergeron state that Ralph/Karina and Romeo/Chelsie were the Bottom Two?

When it came down to Ralph and Romeo under the red lights of doom, I knew Romeo was a goner.  There are too many aging Ralph Macchio fans out there for him to be going quite yet.

For those who aren't keeping score at the home, here is your Final Four:

Kirstie/Maks
Chelsea/Mark
Ralph/Karina
Hines/Kym

A Maks vs. Karina Final Two is devoutly to be wished for . . .


Really enjoyed the clip show featuring the greatest results night performances, especially Mark and Val (Maks' brother) dueting to Britney Spears' "Toxic" and the Derek Hough paso (w/ Mark playing guitar.)

[Helene]

While on the road home from a splendid wedding this weekend, I read Cheryl Burke's book, "Dancing Lessons:  How I found Passion and Potential on the Dance Floor and in Life".  It's structured a lot like Jacques d'Amboise's "I Am a Dancer", with an initial chronological section on childhood and then using types of dances as metaphors of a mix of what was going on in her personal and professional life, with a lot of repetition among chapters.  In some ways it reads like an info-mercial, but what I found fascinating was her "Thanks, Partners" chapters, which go into greater detail the reasons for the gratitude she expresses to them throughout the book.

Ballroom dancers, with all of the glitz -- hair, make-up, costumes -- and sex, particularly in Latin always seem so much older than they are, and it's easy for me to forget that 1.  Most of them are babies in their early 20's and 2. When the show started, aside from people who were interested in ballroom and their families, these dancers were unknowns, no matter how lauded in the professional ballroom world.  (Alas the demise of the yearly PBS competition broadcast, even if it was a small slice of ballroom, like watching figure skating once every four years at the Olympics.)  It's really like ballet, where so many great dancers apart from Nureyev, Fonteyn, and Baryshnikov elicit a "Who?" response from the general public.

Of course most of the stars go into the show knowing little about ballroom dance and not having danced it before, and the pros are the ones with all of the knowledge.  We see the stars struggle with technique, coordination, musicality, and confidence, but when it boils down to it, almost every star, no matter how much we roll our eyes about how E-list some of them are, and no matter how untalented in their own area we find them or how much we dis their boy band or reality show, knows what s/he is doing very, very well in some area, and most of them are grown-ups in real life, not just the token 60-and-over stars.  For example, Wendy Williams might not be able to dance, but she knows how to host a talk show, and I don't under-estimate what it takes to sit still, appear interested, enunciate clearly, keep guests' energy up, put them at ease, take live audience and viewer response into consideration, and all of the other things I couldn't even guess about the technique it takes to do her job.  Other pros have had cameras on them forever; to learn to dance when they were most vulnerable with a camera crew around taping everything was something they could do easily, but which Burke had a very hard time getting used to.

I found it fascinating when Burke described what each of her partners taught her, personally and professionally, things I would have assumed, being in show-biz of a kind, she would have been exposed to and would have known.  Ian Ziering, for example, was the one who suggested that she was a brand, and should capitalize on it, leading her to the idea of creating her own studio chain.  She had her self-described first worst moment with a pro with Emmitt Smith, when she yelled at him in frustration.  Taken in the context that she had had controlling, abusive, and over-bearing boyfriends, here is her description:

Quote

I rolled my eyes.  I was wound tight, seething, and I clearly didn't hold back.  As I stormed over to the music to turn it off, I could feel that Emmitt was focused on me.  He paused for a moment, staring intensely and unhappily at my face, then walked calmly across the room to where I was standing.

"Nobody talks to me like that," he said in a very quiet, controlled voice.  "Don't think that you're such a special person that you can talk to me like that.  None of my football coaches every spoke to me like that.  Do we understand each other?"...It wasn't his size or his strength that intimidated me, it was the way Emmitt spoke to me in a composed and controlled voice.  Instead of yelling at me, Emmitt took the approach of being understated and intense.  It had a big impact."

She then describes how she had to change her approach as a teacher:

Quote

I've been on the receiving end of blunt criticism for so long, both from other people and from my own nagging perfectionism, that sometimes that's just how I communicate.  But that night, Emmitt's words made me realize that criticism delivered without respect is only belittling and rude.... Emmitt and I never talked again about our confrontation, and I think that's because we didn't need to.  He had addressed the problem he'd seen, and I had taken action on it... I am much more aware now, thanks to Emmitt, that respect is a two-way street.  You've got to earn it from others and emand it from yourself.

She almost seems surprised by the extent to which he and other partners have continued to keep in touch and have supported her, but it's very clear she considers them teachers in both how to perform (as opposed to dance) and how to live.

It's at the point of the show where I'm sorry anyone has to go, and it's bittersweet that Burke was the one, with her partner, who was eliminated.  I thought she and Romeo did some remarkable dances along the way.

[miliosr]

Oustanding post Helene!

I've always loved Cheryl and some of her partnerships (particularly the ones with Drew and Emmitt) are among my favorites.

It's so interesting how, over the life of the show, pros like Cheryl, Maks, Tony, Louis, Julianne, Derek, Mark and Kym (to name just a few) have become celebrities themselves.  I would even go so far as to argue that they're as much of a draw as the "stars".

[Jayne]

Bravo!  I am a fan of Cheryl and it's good to read the behind the scenes views.  I was pulling for Romeo because I felt he really had potential, was serious about the craft, and was entertaining to watch.  I hope he finds other outlets to dance publicly in the future.  I really enjoyed Kirsty's argentine tango on Monday night as well.  

This is both my favorite and least favorite part of the season - the worst performers have been culled - and we get to watch very entertaining dances from the committed contenders.  This year I felt the right people were knocked off early and we are left with the "stars" who are giving their all to perform, and not just "winging" it.  Chelsea is something of a "ringer" as she grew up in dance studios preparing for Disney shows.  

Brooke Burke is a huge improvement over Samantha's idiotic comments and questions in the "fish tank".  Tom Bergeron is - as ever - pitch perfect in his role.  The judges are over the top, but I've stopped paying them much mind.

[Marga]

Helene, on 11 May 2011 - 09:02 AM, said:

It's at the point of the show where I'm sorry anyone has to go, and it's bittersweet that Burke was the one, with her partner, who was eliminated.  I thought she and Romeo did some remarkable dances along the way.

Great post, Helene. Just one thing...Chelsie Hightower was Romeo's partner, not Cheryl Burke. Cheryl's partner was Chris Jericho, who was eliminated a couple of weeks ago.

[Helene]

Oh, Marga, you're right.  I didn't see last week's elimination show or this week's shows -- for some reason Shaw won't treat DWTS as a series, and I forgot to set my PVR to record.  I read the book after Cheryl's elimination but before I learned of this week's results, and glommed the couples together.  It was Hightower who had some wonderful dances with Romeo, and Burke with Jericho.

[Helene]

I just read that Cheryl Burke and Louis van Amstel danced together on this week's elimination show.  Did anyone see it?  I love both of them.

[Marga]

I saw them, Helene. I thought they were superb together. Cheryl looked so sultry, I wasn't even sure it was her in the beginning (she had long, loose hair for the dance). Louis van Amstel is cream of the crop, so to see him dancing with a pro is always a treat.

(The Australian singer filled in for the intended singer with only a short, same-day rehearsal. The one who was to sing that song [Adele] had a problem with her voice and could only sing low, which she did later that night.)


The clip's on youtube already:
Cheryl and Louis

Edited by Marga, 13 May 2011 - 01:15 AM.

[Helene]

Thank you, Marga!

[miliosr]

And your final finishing order:

1st  Hines/Kym
2nd  Kirstie/Maks
3rd  Chelsea/Mark

Congratulation to Kym, who joins Mark Ballas (w/ Kristi and Shawn), Cheryl Burke (w/ Drew and Emmitt), Derek Hough (w/ Brooke and Jennifer), and Julianne Hough (w/ Apolo and Helio [barf!]) as a two time-winner.  (Kym has won w/ Donny and now Hines.)

Poor Maks -- he has become the Susan Lucci of Dancing with the Stars!

[Helene]

I thought he finally had it with Kirstie Alley.  I am pretty surprised that Johnson and Ward won -- I thought that Alley would have had a bigger fan base, but I guess I underestimated football fans.  I'm also surprised at how disappointed I feel, although I've really loved Johnson and Ward's simpatico partnership throughout, and I appreciate how he actually managed to lead her, or at least look like he was really leading her.  

There was a TV interview with Chmerkovskij and Alley aired before the final in which he answered the interviewer's question and said that it wouldn't be possible to top this season's partnership, and he implied that he wouldn't be back next season, if at all.  That's what it sounded like when he thanked all of his partners last night, but I'm sure he would have liked to out with the win.  

I read a suggestion that Alley should return as the co-host with Tom Bergeron, which I think is genius.