Dancing With the Stars – Season 14 Episode 8

May 7, 2012 By 6 Comments
Logo for Dancing with the Stars TV show

Logo for Dancing with the Stars TV show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All kinds of twists this season, you would think it is Big Brother and not just a little show about dancing.

This week we have a regular dance and then we also have a trio dance, where each couple picks someone from either the dance troupe or an eliminated pro to dance with.  There is also a double elimination happening this week.  To top it off Chris Brown will be performing at the results show this week.  Really ABC?!

I wish they had spread all these new things out in different seasons and not shoved them all in to one.

Donald and Peta – Tango (People): I enjoyed the hell out of this dance.  To my untrained eye it was damn near perfect.  To the trained eyes of the judges it was close to perfect as well.  They rewarded him with a score of 27.  Very good score.

Maria and Derek – Viennese Waltz: Last week they scored the first perfect score of the season.  This week during the East Coast Live feed my sister updated her face book status with this:

So I was intrigued and worried to watch them dance tonight.  The dance was beautiful.  She did an amazing job.  Bruno and Carrie Ann gave her flourishing remarks.  And then came Len.  Len criticized Derek for poor choreography.  Len criticized Derek for not utilizing his partner in a way that would make her a better dancer.  Len told Derek he was disappointed in him.  This is what bothers me most about this show (and mostly about Len) when a Pro makes a mistake the celebrity is punished.  Carrie Ann and Bruno both scored Maria with a 10 and Len gave her an 8.  Completely unfair.  Score the celebrity in their dance ability not the Pro for their shoddy choreography.

Melissa and Maks – Fox Trot (Maggie May): Poor thing, lots of foot missteps by both her and Maks.  had it not been for those this could have been her rise to the top but instead it will probably put her in the bottom two. The judges scored her triple 8′s which is low for this point of the competition.  This could be it for her (finally).

Katherine and Mark – Viennese Waltz: Totally distracted by the costumes.  Newsies meets Little Mermaid.  There was a minor “lift” when Mark twirled her, but I think that was more momentum than actual lift.  And that is the part the judges really didn’t like, go figure.  Carrie Ann even compared it to Cirque Du Soleil.  Carrie Ann was low man scoring her an 8 while the other two gave her a 9.  Total score of 26.  Let’s hope she does better in the trio.

Roshon and Chelsea – Fox Trot: I am so glad Roshon stayed after the dance off last week.  This was a fun dance to watch.  he had a small misstep but other than that it was on point and very entertaining. The judge agreed and gave them a score of 29, giving Roshon his highest score so far this season.

William and Cheryl – Fox Trot (Stray Cat Strut): Wow!  Fully clothed you can actually watch his dancing instead of his chest and I was not disappointed this week.  Great dance, great footwork, great score.  A perfect 30!

Now it is time for the Trio Dances:

Donald, Peta and Karina – Jive: OMG!  I fell in love with Donald Driver during this dance.  At the end of the dance he pulled both girls through his legs and after they stood up he leapfrogged over BOTH of them!  Holy Hell!  His footwork was spot on and his energy was just amazing.  So much fun to watch!  I don’t know what the hell Len and Bruno were smoking tonight by only giving them a 9!  Their 28 added to their 27 gives them 55 for the night.

Maria, Derek and Henry (troupe member) – Samba: Hmmmmm if your dance is the Samba why are you going Bollywood?  Because it fits the song and was awesome.  Whether or not there was much Samba in it or not, well I’ll leave that up to the judges.  Which is where Len comes in, he said “If I was judging a Bollywood number this would have been a 10, but I am judging a Samba”.  Again he gives the celebrity a low score as a punishment to the Pro.  Their score of 25 plus 28 gives them only a 53.  They better hope their fans vote!

Melissa, Maks and Val – Samba (Too Hot to Handle): A Chmerkovskiy sandwich?  Yes please! (btw I typed that before Carrie Ann said it LOL)  Whoa, a complete turnaround from their first damce tonight.  This may have saved her.  She got her highest score of the competition a 27 add that to her previous 24 and she still has a low 51.

Katherine, Mark and Tristan – Cha Cha Cha (She’s a Lady): A wardrobe malfunction didn’t even faze her!  Sign of a true professional.  She will be a definite on the tour whether she wins or not.  Scoring a 29 on the trio and adding that to their previous score of 26 gives her a 55.

Roshon, Chelsea and Sasha (troupe member) – Paso Doble: Roshon is a great dancer, unfortunately he is also a young man who is still baby faced and not assertive enough for a dance such as this.  He had a hard time keeping the smile off his face most of the time and his moves were too smooth instead of being strong and striking.  Of course that is my opinion, there’s no accounting for what judges think.  They gave him a 27 which when added to his 29 gives him a 56.

William, Cheryl and Tony – Paso Doble: Wanna win me over?  Put Cheryl in a gorgeous purple dress and I am pretty much yours forever (have I mentioned my girl crush on her?).  Tony was great as well, but it is hard to compare him with Tony.  There were a couple of syncing issues and because of that he won’t have a “perfect” night.  But putting his earlier score of 30 together with his trio score of 27 puts him in the lead for the night with 57.

I think the double elimination will be Melissa and Maria.  It kills me to say that and I am off to vote for Maria right now!

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Blog, Screening Room

Dancing With the Stars Season 14 Week 7

April 30, 2012 By 12 Comments

It is Classical week this week, lots of orchestra (which hopefully means none of the horrible singers from the band).  .

This is also the first Team Dance of the season.

Katherine and Mark – Rumba (Cannon in D): Katherine is a classical singer in Wales and is knowledgeable of not only the feel of classical music but with the actual song they are dancing to as well.  I am a little off put, the music is beautiful and relaxing and yet the rumba is a very sensual and sexual dance, of course Mark dancing sans shirt doesn’t help my concentration level either.  It was a beautiful dance, perfectly executed I am pleased with the 27 the judges gave her.

Melissa and Maks – Argentine Tango (Marriage of Figaro): Maks is injured this week so her rehearsals were a mess.  Mak’s brother Val (former partner of Sherri Shephard) was a stand in throughout the week “just in case”.  I think this may have had an effect on her dancing.  It seemed stilted and stiff.  Poor thing this could be trouble for her at this point in the game.  The judges agreed and gave her a score of only 21 putting her totally in danger mode.  She better start practicing the Rumba for the dance duel tomorrow.

William and Cheryl – Viennese Waltz (Ave Maria sung by Jackie Evancho): I just watched Chris Mann perform this song on The Voice and am still recovering from the goosebumps he gave me.  To hear this little girl sing it is beyond amazing.  Someone put a fat lady’s voice into a tiny little girl’s body.  I had to rewind it and actually watch the dance because I was distracted by the voice.  A beautiful waltz deserving of the 27.

Roshon and Chelsea – Argentine Tango (Bad Romance): Let me just say I call Bullshit!  This is “Classical Week” not pick a pop song and have an instrumental version of it.  Bullshit.  On the dancing note, this is a manly dance and Roshon is still a boy.  He had Val come in to rehearsals and show him some “manly” moves and stances.  But it doesn’t help when you have a baby face and no stature.  His technical dance was very good, but he can’t help his carriage.  Scoring a 25 is right on point.

Donald and Peta – Viennese Waltz (La Donna e Mobile sung by Vittorio Grigolo): Remember seeing movies and cartoons where they would dance the Waltaz?  This is what they were dancing!  The costumes were on point the dancing was perfect.  Ah-Mazing!  I was disappointed in the score of 27!

Maria and Derek – Paso Doble (Montagues and Capulets): This is the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet but for Maria and Derek there are Vamipires involved.  Ugh.  Fortunately for them it totally worked.  I love the Paso and they just reinforced my feelings for it.  Another perfect dance with perfect choreography.  Obviously the judges agreed giving them the first perfect score of the season 30!

Jaleel and Kym – Viennese Waltz ( ): Not his best dance but not his worst.  Kinda stiff with moments of greatness.  meh.  I think he also should brush up his rumba for tomorrow night.  WIth a score of 24 it puts him in the “bottom 2″ for judges scores.  But there is still the team dance to go.

Team Dances:

3 or 4 couples compete together to perform a group number.  The group is given a group score which is then added to each couples individual dance for the night.

Team Tango – Maria and Derek, Katherine and Mark, Jaleel and Kym and Roshon and Chelsea: Great dance overall (loved the push ups at the end!), high points for me were Maria and Derek and the low were Jaleel and Kym.  Either way everyone receives the same score of 27.

Team Paso – Melissa and Maks, Donald and Peta and William and Cheryl: I think it is an advantage to have only 3 couples on your team, your have less potential to screw up.  There are a ton of synchronicity issues with a Paso Doble in team form and they had problems with a couple of them, unfortunately each one I noticed was due to William. They will share a score of 26.  Making Team Tango the “winner” of the Team Dance.

For the record I think Carrie Ann Inaba was smoking something tonight.  Her scoring tonight (especially on the team dances) were odd.

My bottom two for the week are Melissa and Jaleel.  I would like Jaleel to go home but I don’t know how the dance duels will go.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Blog, Screening Room

Dancing With the Stars – Season 14 Episode 4

April 9, 2012 By 7 Comments

Lots of rumors spreading around the interwebs this season, mostly about Jaleel White.  Is he the black sheep of the cast?  Is he facing domestic abuse charges? Do I care about any of that and do I think the judges should care? No.  he should be judge for his dancing and his dancing alone – by the judges.  Now, whether the “voters” will still support him, that is another story.

This week is Rock Week!  KISS opened the show with Rock n Roll All Night!  Wonder which member of the band will be a contestant on the show next season?!

Sherri and Val – Tango (Come On Feel the Noise, Quiet Riot): The Tango is one of the hardest dances, it isn’t fast but it is technical.  You have to hold a pose a certain way and can only be separated for a certain amount of time before and after the actual Tango part.  Sherri did a fine job with it.  Her only problem is that she is so soft and fluffy that she doesn’t do hard and edgy very well.  Her score of 21 is a let down, I hope her View-ers don’t let her down by not voting.

Katherine and Mark – Paso Doble: The Paso is one of my all time favorite dances.  I really liked the way Katherine danced tonight.  I know there were some “technical” errors but it still was very entertaining.  Scoring a 24 in a normal season for episode 4 is GREAT, but this team scored a 29 last week, so it is a bit of a let down.

Jaleel and Kym – Tango (Satisfaction ,Rolling Stones): I love how the professional dancers/choreographers work with the non traditional songs and make the classical dances work.  It always amazes me.  Unfortunately Jaleel’s dancing tonight was too loose for my liking for a Tango.  He needed to be a little stiffer and edgier.  The judges him a generous 22.

Melissa and Maks – Paso Doble: Can little Laura Ingles be the aggressor in a Paso?  HELLS YEAH!  Maks had a bit of a tumble but thankfully that doesn’t count against her.  Loved the costumes and even enjoyed the song.  That has never happened for me before LOL.  I think her score of 22 should have been a smidge higher.

Donald and Peta – Paso Doble (Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix): The old joke is that people used to sing the wrong words to this song.  Correct words are “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”.  Incorrect lyrics are more appropriate tonight “Excuse me while I kiss this guy!”  Maks and William have nothing on the body of Donald Glover!  To top it off he rocked the dance altogether.  The judges scored him a fitting 27.

Gladys and Tristan – Tango (Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen): As the only contestant that is an inductee to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, she better pull this off!  Oh well, hopefully she had fun.  her kicks were very low and her footwork was sloppy.  I think this may be her swan song.  With the low score of 20, I don’t think her fans can save her this week.

William and Cheryl – Jive (We’re Not Gonna Take it Anymore, Twisted Sister): This is a guy who has no concept of a “Hair Band”, but what he has a concept of is dancing.  Unfortunately there was a breakdown during a trick move and his partner lost her shoe it through off his timing and could be his demise.  His screaming fan girls better get their votes out to help with his score of 22.

Roshon and Chelsea – Viennese Waltz: Roshon has the length of limbs to make a beautiful waltz I have been waiting for this.  Unfortunately he is more like a young duckling having to move like a swan.  It wasn’t horrible by any means, but it was kind of gaangly teenager awkward.  I don’t know what dance the judges were watching however since they gave him a score of 26.

Maria and Derek – Tango (School’s Out, Alice Cooper): Dancing with a stress fracture is actually common during Dancing With the Stars.  Possibly my favorite Tango of the night, but still not as “sharp” as I would think it should be.  The judges agreed with me in their criticism and actually I recited their scores before they showed them LOL.  A total of 26 for tonight should keep her safe another week.

Gavin and Karina – Tango (Paint it Black, Rolling Stones): He is the Rock n Roll performer of the group, this is his element.  Whoever was in charge of the lighting for this dance number needs to be slapped, I could hardly see anything.  The judges liked it so I guess that really is all that matters.   With a score of 23 even Gavin thinks he will be in the bottom 2 once again.

Wow, what a whirlwind of dances this week.  My pick for bottom 2 this week are Gavin and Gladys once again, with Gladys going home.

What do you think?

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Blog, Screening Room