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Wk 3 Review - Dancing With The Stars
- Author:
- Phillip Stephens (philtex44@aol.com | 713-248-2299)
- Date Published:
- October 6, 2010
Dancing With The Stars
Season 11 Week 3, 10/4/2010
The formation featuring the 3 pro couples was delightful
Jennifer Gray & Derek Hough – Samba
Is it just me, or has Jennifer changed her last name to Whiney-backside? They chose a "Schoolmarm" theme. Don’t schoolmarms get decent hairdos nowadays? What’s up with hers? A very lively piece of music that truly was a Samba. A lot of nice authentic Samba moves, including the Reverse Roll. The depiction of their "story" was done nicely within the context of the Samba. 25?
Len – Thought they kept the story throughout; Bruno – Did he say anything useful? Carrie Ann – She was out of sync in the routine. 8+8+8 = 24
To me the "hot dancing with the teacher" bit was overdone. And do we really want to promote that idea???
Florence Henderson & Corky Ballas – Waltz
Too much green – they looked like leprechauns. Overall, a rather basic dance. Her movements are not as clean as desirable, but she did a reasonably nice job. Soft, fluid and stylish, though Corky should have spent some time teaching her how to actually dance Waltz properly. 20?
Bruno – Simple, effective and very sweet, though there was too much stop/start; Carrie Ann – A little on the simple side; Len – Poignant, emotional & sweet, but technique in feet was non-existent. (Not true, Len, she did the classic "heel-toe, toe, toe-heel" at least 3 times.) 76+7 = 20
Kurt Warner & Ana Treybunskaya – Foxtrot
Quite a nice story set-up. His timing seems to be getting better, but his posture is still horrid. Ana’s dress was super. Kurt did a lot of "schnazzy" moves and looked fairly good, but his basics were woefully lacking. 18
Carrie Ann – In sync, great chemistry, she loved it. (And must have been drinkin’ somethin’); Len – Musicality in arms was lacking but everything else was great? (Not by a long shot!); Bruno – Overly unkind. (But more truthful than Carrie Ann or Len.) 8+8+7 = 23. Far too high for that lacking-in-basic-Foxtrot-technique routine.
Margaret Cho & Louis van Amstel – Samba
Over the top headdress. Gay Pride theme? Hard to figure that out from just the costume colors. They must have used heavy-duty makeup on her to cover up those tattoos. She had a lot of bootie shaking around out there. Margaret’s timing was pretty solid at times, but she went wonkers in other places and her movements were pretty rough. She did a lot of things on her own. She went wrong in a few spots, but did sell the dance. I thought it was great overall, though some technical aspects were weak or lacking. 20
Len – Started out good, but lost timing and it got heavy at times; Bruno – Lost her way out of the Copa; Carrie Ann – lost the story a time or two. (What story???) 6+6+6 = 18. Too low.
Audrina Patridge & Tony Dovolani – Waltz
Nice story about the returning soldier. She started by herself quite nicely. She had some strong body moves that were full of emotion. The story was told beautifully. Her actions were quite graceful most of the time. Her lines were very nice – a lovely job. 25+?
Bruno – Compelling and beautifully danced; Carrie Ann – Needs to point toes, but it was very well done; Len – A touching dance performed from the heart. 8+9+9 = 26, and it was deserved.
Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas – Foxtrot
They’re being filmed! Why do they look as if they just got out of bed? Mark wants to be seen on TV wearing miss-matched socks? Wal-Mart shoppers! And Mark’s earrings and short hair and lack of shaving are not appealing. Nice segue from plain & homeless to formal. Bristol looks rather slim in everyday clothing but so big in the hips and waist in costume. She did a nice job, but arm styling needs major attention. She seemed to get all the moves, though some of them were a bit rough. What was their story? Michael Schedler says he didn’t get it; even though they said what the story was, he didn’t see that they told it very well. I’d have to agree. 18
Carrie Ann – Not enough facial expression. (What facial expression???); Len – He told her last week to take a chance. She did and he didn’t like it; Bruno – Did all the moves, but didn’t express enough. 6+6+7 = 19
Brandy & Maks Chmerkovskiy – Samba
Right… after she was so argumentative and rude the first few weeks, she now says it was portrayed inaccurately? She puts the blame on Maks for the week 2 solo and then says she didn’t mean to look as if she threw him under the bus. Found out she’s not so popular and tried to pull off a "snow" job. The beginning took too long. It looked too harsh for my taste. Maks is good, but looked as if he was showing off while Brandy struggled. Her timing was OK, and her timing was pretty strong, but I didn’t like the solo bit, and the whole routine looked rough. 21
Len – Energy & punch. Some improvement, but didn’t get the story; Bruno – Starting to see the comeback of the diva. (He must have been drinkin’ with Carrie Ann.); Carrie Ann – Doesn’t condone the butt-slap teaching method, but it worked? 8+8+8 +24. Higher than deserved.
Kyle Massey & Lacey Schwimmer – Waltz
What is this outfit she’s wearing in rehearsal? Did it have an upside down cross on it? And whatever their story was, the pants-with-apron-bare-midriff didn’t look very Waltz-like to me. Kyle went wrong on several steps and his head was too far forward in general. He has virtually no technique in any dance I’ve seen so far. What was that excited puppy "I’m a ballerina" thing where he ran around Lacey? This performance with no discernable story was not my cup of tea at all. 20
Bruno – As usual, too effusive; Carrie Ann – Loved the arms. (Well, dear, what about the rest of it?); Len – Accurately (for once!) noted that the footwork was atrocious. 8+7+8 = 23, which was far too high for that poorly executed Waltz
Mike Sorrentino & Katrina Smirnoff – Foxtrot
Though trying hard, Mike seems lost in dancing. He admits that, though he knew it would all be hard, he didn’t know it would be this hard. His attitude seems to have changed quite a bit, which is nice to see. Entrance took too long, but was effective. He did a fair amount of Foxtrot. His mannequin-like posing actually worked for this song. His feet are better this week, but the heel lead technique is over-done in places. I liked the routine and thought it was a unique and bizarrely endearing performance. 20
Carrie Ann – Better musicality; Len – Comments were too negative; Bruno – Noted that it was entertaining. 7+6+7 = 20.
Rick Fox & Cheryl Burke – Samba
Nice entrance, though he didn’t dance any of it. The open shirt worked OK, but was unnecessary and he seemed uncomfortable about baring his chest in public. His stand-still-and-gyrate worked OK, but his Samba was stiff and lacked the proper bounce action. The story was nice and well-played. 24
Len – Went up a notch in standard; Bruno – Wants to see more of the hot side; Carrie Ann – Likes that hot & sexy portrayal. 8+8+8 = 24.
Season 11, Week 3, DWTS Results Show
We got treated to "The Situation’s" Foxtrot again, which was bizarrely fascinating.
The dance-n-music duel between Val Chmirkovskiy (Maks’ brother) and Mark Ballas promises to be interesting. I guess they were so busy practicing that neither of them could find time to shave until just before the show?
Ne-Yo: What was that one gal thinking when picking out that short little dress with the decoration on the side that made her hips look so big? And those big ol’ black shoes? They sure didn’t help. The singing was pretty good and the group had some pretty cool moves.
So: Did Derek wash that bit of dusty dirt off of his lip and chin? It was difficult to see if there was a difference or not.
Wouldn’t it be "sweet" if filling in at the last moment Michael Bolton dedicated his song to Bruno???
Kyle Massey thinks he has a sexy side???
OK, though the whole thing was staged, the comment that Mark made about embarrassing Val all over the world and on national TV was, to me, less than tasteful. The "showdown" was nice and well presented.
This bit about who’s safe and who ain’t gets to be a bit old. I must say it was a surprise that The Situation was safe. No surprise that Bristol was in jeopardy. Florence, like The Situation, is saved by fans.
All this fuss about the difficulty of learning a new routine also gets old. Buck up and get on with it, Buckeroos.
I’m disappointed that I must watch Kyle perform again next week as he’s one whose dancing is falsely praised by the judges and who I would happily not miss if he got booted.
I was a bit surprised that Margaret got the boot as I thought she had more fans. She or Bristol could be given the axe, but I’d rather Bristol went than Margaret.
