Welcome back to
Dancing with the Stars!!!!!!!!!Donald and Peta – TANGO (27)If I thought, for even a second, that Donald led anything in that dance I’d pay you all ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for you) he wasn’t, so I’m in the clear. Sorry folks. I think your odds might be better if you played Lotto. Anywho, on the surface, this dance wasn’t that bad. His footwork was nice, but his bum was sticking way too far out. Tango posture is like standing against a wall and then lowering yourself about 6 inches. Your knees come out, but your butt doesn’t. Try it! Not super comfortable, right? That’s why it’s hard to do. And why it takes a lot of practice to get it right. Overall though, his dance was pretty good. I didn’t HATE it.
My Score: 8 Maria and Derek – VIENNESE WALTZ (28)Parts of that were nice and pretty, but some parts should have been better. We are in week 7 people. She should be moving on time! Yes, the tempo of the song is fast and it's easy to get left behind if you aren't careful. But that's how Viennese Waltz works. You have to attack it – with grace and elegance, but attack nonetheless. She was a little lazy with her footwork too. Just saying. As a follow up to her well deserved perfect score last week, I'm left feeling a bit let down. She should be better than this at this stage of the game.
My Score: 8 If you listened to the Len and Derek during the judges part you might have heard Len say there wasn't enough closed hold and Derek shouting back “It's Smooth!” This is what he's talking about.
Len always wants Standard dances (which Viennese Waltz, btw, has a TOTAL of 4 figures):
Beautiful, but kind of boring, right?
And all of the stars know that doesn't translate well to the ballroom, so they do Smooth:
Which one would you rather watch? I thought so. Side note: The couple that won (#132) – guy with the girl in royal blue – is fantastic and the man is my husband’s coach. The second place couple – she’s the one in the pale/icy blue – lives here in our town. Ok. Back to the show.
Melissa and Maks – FOXTROT (24)I wouldn't think “Maggie Mae” would be a good Foxtrot, but it actually is. Who knew? As for Melissa, I can see that she's trying, but bless her heart, her shoulders are still up near her ears and her footwork is still tentative. Perhaps she just doesn't have that confidence that you need when you perform like this. Or she just isn't able to show it. Either way, this will most likely be her last night in the ballroom. I hope she's had a good time.
My Score: 7Katherine and Mark – VIENNESE WALTZ (26)At first glance, this is a spectacular dance. And from her knees up, I would be inclined to agree with you. However, her feet were not as spectacular. Here's a ballroom secret – ballerinas are usually terrible at ballroom. They always dance on their toes and you can not be grounded when you are dancing on your toes. Katherine has a good bit of that. She's obviously studied (perhaps as a child) and it shows. With no heel leads in her Viennese Waltz, I can't give it a 10. Even though it was very pretty.
My Score: 9Roshon and Chelsie – FOXTROT (29)You know what? That was pretty good. His moves were decent, the footwork was better, and there's not much to complain about technique-wise. I still don't find him aesthetically pleasing to watch (too loose) but this was a good routine for him. Kudos young man.
My Score: 9William and Cheryl – FOXTROT (30)Ok, you really know what? Half naked or fully dressed, that man is still smoking hot!!! Not only was that Foxtrot wonderful, his technique was excellent too!!!! His feet were perfect!!! “How on Earth did you notice his feet?!” That's what you're paying me for, aren't you? Wait, no one's paying me? I gotta talk to my agent.
My Score: 10Donald and Peta and Karina – JIVE (28)Karina commented that she's never seen a three person Jive but we used to sell them all the time at the studio. The student had to buy lessons with both teachers and they always loved their routines. I'm surprised it's taken them this long to do this on DWTS. Now, as for Donald and his two partners, it was really cute! I'd be giving him a perfect score if his toes had been pointed, but otherwise, it was fun and flirty – just the way Jive is supposed to be.
My Score: 9Maria and Derek and Henry (?) - SAMBA (25)Henry is, apparently, part of the nameless/faceless troupe. I guess Derek absolutely didn't want anyone to outshine him.
Whatever. So they wanted to do a Bollywood Samba? Len is so not gonna like this. Not nearly enough Samba, too much Bollywood. I give Derek credit for trying something different, but this would have been much better suited for a Freestyle. As a Samba, it was just aw'ight for me dawg (as Randy Jackson would say).
My Score: 7Melissa and Maks and Val – SAMBA (27) It’s listed as an Argentine Tango, but ignore that. It’s clearly a Samba.
They picked Val? Ooooh. Big surprise there.
For Melissa, that was actually a pretty good Samba. Parts of it were a bit frantic, but otherwise, I'm surprised how much I liked it. She was cute and two Chmerkovskiy's ain't bad. Good for her.
My Score: 9Katherine and Mark and TRISTAN – CHA CHA (29)OMG!! Tristan is back!!!! YAY!!!! So we discovered the inherent danger of tear-off costumes – sometimes they don't tear all the way off! Ooops. And even though she handled it well, you can tell it threw her off for the rest of the routine and I can't say that I blame her. Poor gal. But she looked great and Tristan was wonderful as always. Oh, and Mark was there too.
My Score: 9Roshon and Chelsie and Sasha (?) - PASO DOBLE (27)Another troupe member? Ugh. In the rehearsal footage Sasha tells Roshon that he won't be in the bottom two anymore – guaranteed – because of how wonderful Sasha is. Chelsie gave him (Sasha) the dirtiest look and I laughed my butt off. What a jerk!!! As for their routine, I don't think Chelsie understood the whole 3 dancers thing. If you're going to dance Paso with two guys, that's fine. But you have to have the men square off against each other, which they didn't. Chelsie danced with Roshon the whole time and Sasha only came in for a few bars at the end. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of a three person dance if only two of them actually dance. Boo to Chelsie,but Roshon DID look better. I have to give him credit for that. This one is a hard one to judge. Hmmm.
My Score: 8 <-- That's only because of how good Roshon looked, the routine itself (within this category) was crap but Roshon was much, much better.
William and Cheryl and Tony – PASO DOBLE (27)Oooh. It's like good Zorro vs. bad Zorro. This could get fun. Attention Chelsie: THIS is how you do a two man Paso. William and Tony squared off against each other and tossed Cheryl between them the entire time. VERY WELL DONE!!! William didn't get lost even though he was the only non-pro out there. He was fantastic!
My Score: 10 PS. Kicking Tony in the face at the end was hilarious. I love it.
Judges Leader board......................Solo.......Trio........Total
William……… 30….. 27….. 57
Roshon……… 29….. 27….. 56
Donald………. 27….. 28….. 55
Katherine…. 26….. 29….. 55
Maria…………. 28….. 25….. 53
Melissa………. 24….. 27….. 51
My Leader board..................... Solo.......Trio.......Total
William……… 10….. 10….. 20
Katherine…. 9….. 9….. 18
Donald……….. 8….. 9….. 17
Roshon………. 9….. 8….. 17
Melissa………. 7….. 9….. 16
Maria…………. 8….. 7….. 15
So it’s a double elimination night. Who will be the bottom two? Based on the scores, could a favorite be exiting early? Stay tuned!!!
Whatever. So they wanted to do a Bollywood Samba? Len is so not gonna like this. Not nearly enough Samba, too much Bollywood. I give Derek credit for trying something different, but this would have been much better suited for a Freestyle. As a Samba, it was just aw'ight for me dawg (as Randy Jackson would say). My Score: 7
