DD's Dancing With the Stars (Week 8) (Read 673 times)

[DancingDays]

This…is…Dancing With The Stars!!!

We are down to the top 5, and they have to dance twice tonight; their individual dance and the instant dance. By the way, they totally know WHICH dance they’ll be doing (Cha Cha, Rumba, etc) but they just don’t know what song they’ll dance to. It’s really not THAT difficult. The routines are built around counts anyway and sometimes the music just gets in the way. At real ballroom competitions, this is how it’s always done. No one knows what song they’ll be dancing to unless they are doing a show dance.

Chelsea/Mark (Waltz) – (Individual Dance) In the practice footage, Chelsea took Mark to town for pouting and mouthing off last week about their lousy scores. But Mark got the message and decided to take fewer risks this time and just dance a beautiful waltz. It was still pretty artsy, but was full of enough traditional patterns that Len should be happy. But alas, he was still kinda cranky. Whatever. There’s no pleasing that old fart. My Score: 9 Judges Score: 29 (10, 9, 10)



Instant dance (Salsa) – Uh oh. The fringe pants are back. It’s hard (in my opinion) to make Salsa exciting. It’s a fun club dance, but not the best for shows. In any case (in my best Randy Jackson voice), “It was just aw-iight for me dawg.” My Score: 8 Judges Score: 26 (8, 9, 9 )

Combined Scores: 17/55

Hines/Kym (Foxtrot) – Hines says he want to win! So they decided to study Ralph’s foxtrot from week 1 to know what to emulate. They focused on his great technique and the smile on his face. And I think Hines did a great job! He was super adorable and just really got into it. It was a fun routine. Didn’t give me chills, but it was still really good! My Score: 10 Judges Score: 28 (9, 9, 10 )


Skip to 1:50 for dance.

Instant dance (Jive) – He was a little too loose in his kicks, but his energy was good and they did a nice job. Jive technique is incredibly hard and they did well with it. My Score: 9 Judges Score: 26 (9, 9, 8)

Combined Scores: 19/54

Romeo/Chelsie (Tango) – While I don’t really think of Tango when I hear Britney Spears, it kinda works so I’ll go with it. Chelsie’s red pleather dress has GOT to go though. Heavens that’s awful. The dance itself was very….aggressive. But there was something missing for me. I’m not really sure what it was, but I found it sort of boring. I think it was partly because of the song, and partly from his lack of leading. I know a lot of folks will probably disagree with me, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Oh well. My Score: 8 Judges Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)


Skip to 1:35 for dance.

Instant dance(Salsa) – What a great leader Chelsie is. *Rolling eyes* Frankly, that routine was REALLLLY boring. There’s almost nothing to comment on. Yawn. My Score: 7 Judges Score: 25 (8, 9, 8)

Combined Scores: 15/52

Ralph/Karina (Viennese Waltz) – Uh oh. Ralph was injured this week. He had severe pain in the back of his knee and it was discovered that he had a cyst that ended up rupturing. Overall he was ok, but it still hurt like the devil (no “Sweep the leg” jokes please). Suddenly, during Sunday’s rehearsal it was like a knife to the knee. Instead of the normal 40+ hours of rehearsal they usually get, they had 9 or so. For both dances. But for such little rehearsal, it was pretty good. A dark routine for Karina (looked more like Mark) but it sorta worked. I’m not sure why. Maybe because Ralph is a better actor than Cheslea. But he pulled it off. He limped off a little at the end, but was solid through the dance. My Score: 9 Judges Score: 25 (8, 8, 9)


Skip to 2:26 for dance. The rehearsal footage talks about his injury, so it’s a but long.

Instant dance (Cha Cha) – They, admittedly reused a good portion of the group Cha Cha from last week, which was a brilliant move! Re-use that stuff!! Heck yeah! And with their very limited rehearsal time, I think they did great. He was obviously in a lot of pain, but he overcame it and I give him props for that. My Score: 8 Judges Score: 21 (7, 7, 7)

Combined Scores: 17/46

Kirstie/Maks (Argentine Tango) – Thank goodness Maks’s beard is back. Don’t ever leave us again, ok? Ok. Good Lord Maks is strong!! Holy sheet!!! He picked her up a number of times with no visible strain and that, frankly, is incredible!!!! And Kirstie did a great job too! I didn’t want to look away. They had an amazing connection and it was really, really, REALLY good. Wow. My Score: 10 Judges Score: 28 (9, 9, 10)


Skip to 2:20 for dance.

Instant dance(Salsa) – Ugh. Another Salsa? Blah. Plus they did only beginner patterns. If you went to a club and asked some guy to show you how to Salsa, these are the steps he would lead you through. You’d have a good time, but no one would want to watch. Her hips did move well so she gets an extra point from me. My Score: 8 Judges Score: 25 (8, 9, 8)

Combined Score: 18/53

(Skip to 1:20.)


Judges Leaderboard…………………………………….My Leaderboard
Chelsie(55)……………………………………………………………….Hines(19)
Hines(54)………………………………………………………………….Kirstie(18)
Kirstie(53)…………………………………………………………………Chelsie(17)
Romeo(52)…………………………………………………………………Ralph(17)
Ralph(46)……………………………………………………………………Romeo(15)

Hmmm. Looks like anybody could be going home. But I’m afraid Ralph is going to duck out because of his injury. If it were just by scores, I’d say Romeo. But I guess we’ll find out Tuesday night. Tune it later for the results!

[MrsM]

It was ATTACK OF THE FRINGE PANTS night! AHHH!!! Hide the children! Lol!

Chelsea and Mark's waltz reminded me more of a lyrical dance than a waltz. Their salsa was so-so for me. It seemed awkward and they looked like they were having seizures with the way they were shaking.
Hines was great. His jive could have been a little sharper, but all in all it was fantastic!
Romeo and Chelsea tango was ok. It was a little strange to me and I agree DD the pleather dress HAS to go!! There Salsa was awful.
I normally don't care for Karina but I did like the Viennese waltz she choreographed this week. It was different and Ralph looked hot. Maybe that is what I liked about it was that he was able to channel a different character and seemed a little darker and sexier. Props to him for getting out there and dancing the way he did!
Maks!!!!! I could NOT take my eyes off of them during their Argentine tango. Holy hotness!!! He can man handle me like that ANY time!!! The chemistry is amazing. I totally believed that they only had eyes for each other and the way they were almost whispering in each others ears was completely sexy! Salsa was so-so, but I was happy to see her having fun.

[DancingDays]

Hide yer kids. Hide yer wife. Cuz they puttin' fringe pants on errbody out here.

(PS. If that makes no sense to you, click on this --> )

[rockfordfosgate]

Chelsea/Mark. It was absolutely a beautiful waltz. I'm glad Chelsea did talk to Mark about his reactions. Their salsa was entertaining but wasn't a wow for me. Her facial expressions or her make-up, I can't figure out which, threw me off that dance.

Hines/Kym. I loved the foxtrot. At first, it was just so-so, but as it went on I really enjoyed it. He's always fun to watch. Their jive was good. I would have loved to see him do the jive regular, not instant. He totally would have rocked it if he had more time to prepare and practice.

Romeo/Chelsie. DD, I agree there was something missing from their tango. For me, it wasn't her dress that bothered me; it was him wearing all black and the dark lighting. It made it hard to see what he was doing. The salsa, at least he got to do some 'club moves' in there and there was the little flip/slide thing they did around the 40 second mark. But yeah, she did more than he did.

Ralph/Karina. I liked the routine for the waltz. It was edgier than I thought Karina would do and it did work mostly because of his acting. That and for the 'vampire/undead/whatever they were supposed to be', the stiffness worked. The cha-cha, if they hadn't have had the team dance, they would have been screwed. I did notice it was a lot of the same moves from the team dance, but they were good. Especially considering the lack of rehearsal and the injury. He's really shown a lot of character and integrity between this and Karina's fall the other week.

Kristie/Maks. Yowsers! That was HOTTTT! I love the Argentine Tango anyway, but man they were steamy! The salsa did look very basic and wasn't all that impressive.

[ghoulgirl]

HAHAHAHAHAHHAAH @ DD! I saw that video a while ago and it totally makes me laugh. Ava was walking down the stairs a few days ago and was singing hide yer kids...hide yer wives...over and over. It totally cracked me up! I don't even know where she saw it. I watched it at work.

[DancingDays]

May 10, 2011 11:40:50 GMT -5 rockfordfosgate said:

Romeo/Chelsie. DD, I agree there was something missing from their tango. For me, it wasn't her dress that bothered me; it was him wearing all black and the dark lighting. It made it hard to see what he was doing. The salsa, at least he got to do some 'club moves' in there and there was the little flip/slide thing they did around the 40 second mark. But yeah, she did more than he did.

I agree with everything you said about everyone. And you pointed out something interesting about Romeo. I was so distracted by her fugly dress, that I didn't even notice he was all in black AND the lighting made it almost impossible to see him. I bet you a million dollars that was NO accident. Seems like she's hiding his shortcomings with distracting choreography, crazy costumes, and, shall we say, creative lighting. If Ralph doesn't bow out, I still say it's Romeo going home.

[DancingDays]

UPDATE: Romeo is sent packing. Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Thou art on yo way home.

[MrsM]

Glad he is gone!

[MrsM]

Ruh Roh. Kym got hurt! They say she is fine, but she is wearing a neck brace.

[DancingDays]

Oh man! I hadn't heard that. What happened?!?

[MrsM]

All they are saying is that she fell during rehearsal and went to the hospital to have it checked and everything is ok she is just bruised and sore.

[DancingDays]

Yikes! I hope it wasn't Hines that dropped her (I'm assuming it was a failed lift).

[MrsM]

They really aren't saying a whole lot and are trying to down play it but a neck brace is pretty serious in my book.

[DancingDays]

You aren't kidding! It was NEVER this dangerous at my studio. Guess we weren't doing it right.

[MrsM]

The training has to be insane for the show. I am not sure how it is in the competitive dance world, but I would assume they have trained for most of their lives to be a dancer and then when it comes to rehearsals they are with other professionals. In training for this you are pairing a pro with someone who most likely has never danced a day in their life and you are trying to make them look like they know how to dance in a very short period of time. Injuries are bound to happen in a situation like that.