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Season 10, Week 3, Dancing With The Stars
- Author:
- Phillip Stephens (philtex44@aol.com | 713-248-2299)
- Date Published:
- April 9, 2010
Phillip Stephens' Review
Dancing With The Stars – Season 10, week 3
If you remember The Beverly Hillbillies show, you'll know what I mean by saying that Pamela Anderson looked like a modern day dressed-like-a-girl Ellie Mae Clampitt.
In week 3, each couple was challenged to tell a story with their dance. Some did a better job at this than others and, in my opinion, a few of them - does the name Kate Gosselin ring any bells? - should have stayed off the dance floor altogether
Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya – Quickstep
Nice frame. Good articulation of feet and legs. His back is beautiful. He "plays" so well, you'd think he'd been doing this all his life. The cartwheel was amazing for such a long and tall fella. I’d give this performance 26 or 27 points
Len – Liked the story, didn’t like the feet (boo); Bruno – Gave her the ride of her life, then dumped her. Use your ankles; Carrie Ann – Great, good character acting, good job. 9+8+9 = 26 (dang, I’m good!)
Interlude: All this drama about shutting down! The tears, the walking out, the shutting the teacher out, the arguments – Bah!
Buzz Aldrin & Ashley Costa – Waltz
They got Buzz in real shirts instead of Ts this week. He over-analyzes and tries too hard. He was way too stiff and the costume didn’t help. Ashley did all the work and had trouble getting Buzz to move at the right time. He’s a nice man, but he really needs to be off of this program. This was a painful thing to watch. Even though Ashley kept his choreography simple, he still struggled to get from one foot to the other and she ended up pushing and pulling him. 12?
Bruno – thought he looked regal even though the dancing was not good. Carrie Ann – noted that the dancing didn’t improve. Len – The dance was charming, but the dancing was not very good. 5+4+4 = 13
Jake Pavelka & Chelsie Hightower – Quickstep
Her practice outfit made me want to barf. Jake's dancing hasn’t improved. His feet and legs are wild and his posture is not good at all. He did do a good job with the animation and telling the story and he remembered all the choreography. I felt his timing was rather weak in spots. Possibly 18 points?
Carrie Ann – Funky knees; Len – constantly flexed knees makes it heavier – dancing was a bit slack; Bruno – Good production value, but the dancing was not so good, lost the frame. 7+7+7 = 21, which is, for that performance, way too high.
Judges were nice in recognizing performance value and using that to temper their criticism.
Niecy Nash & Louis Van Amstel – Waltz
Their story was of a cross-racial couple. Louis outdid himself with simple choreography that blossomed to more complex actions. Niecy had trouble with some of the steps, and she didn’t move in the steps she got right. Some of her lines were lovely. The emotional quality of the performance was superb. Rise and fall, footwork and some technical details were not so good. 18?
Len – Liked the emotional story, but it lacked technique; Bruno – Good acting and she had some stumbles and she should work on her feet; Carrie Ann – Liked the overall story, not sure if the ending was correct, and feels Niecy needs to work on technique. 7+7+7 = 21, which was a surprise.
Chad Ochocinco & Cheryl Burke – Paso Doble
Something about Mr Ochocinco just rubs me the wrong way. It’s like he has a chip on his shoulder. Paso as seduction instead of fighting the bull??? How does that work, exactly? I didn't get their story at all. Chad is so whiny! He fights his teacher all the time. I can’t imagine he would talk to his football coach like that. Good posture and some good lines, but he's rather stilted-looking in his actions and his feet seem not to know what to do half of the time. For a sports player, he has no speed of movement. 17-19
Bruno – Liked the improvement, noted the stiffness; Carrie Ann – Way ahead of last week (Say what?!?), but work on shoulders; Len – Work on posture. 7+6+7 = 20, which is a bit too high
Pamela Anderson & Damion Whitewood – Paso Doble
In general, she performed quite well with loads of passion in her actions. She did look a bit lost in some areas and it looked like Damion manhandled her through some parts of the routine. Her hair was a big distraction. I've tended to like her performances so far, but this didn’t look as rehearsed as I’d like to see it. Possibly 18-20 points
Carrie Ann – Artistry? Body moves beautifully, but put too much in it and threw herself off a bit; Len – Needs refinement to match the intensity; Bruno – Underneath the sex-bomb exterior is a very good performer (I agree). 7+7+7 = 21. Perhaps a bit high for that “lost” performance, but she does have potential.
Aiden Turner & Edyta Slawinska – Quickstep
They looked out of step with each other at times. Aiden generally has good posture and a nice frame, but his footwork is not so good and he’s not very steady on his feet. 16-17?
Len – Should be care-free and it looked like it was too careful; Bruno – Looked happy this week, but it needs more control; Carrie Ann – Gaining confidence, but too light on feet. 7+6+7 = 20. As with some of the other dancing tonight, this is just unrealistically high for the level of performance.
Erin Andrews & Maks Chmerkovskiy – Waltz
A lovely dress for Erin - who is a beautifully statuesque woman - and for Waltz, which is to me the epitome of elegance in dance. She was a little stiff in the beginning, but relaxed and danced better as they went along. The blindfold bit bothered me, and it took too long to get the blindfold on. If a display of trust was the goal this was an interesting concept, but using the blindfold didn’t improve her dancing. Erin did a good job, though there were too many poorly-executed syncopations in the routine for me. I wish Maks had concentrated on technique more than the blindfold. I really think Maks cheated Erin in this routine. 22-24
Bruno – Liked it (but he's a bit odd, isn't he?); Carrie Ann – Liked it, but thought it lacked confidence (and let's see Carrie Ann dance confidently wearing a blindfold!); Len – thought it was a boring start. There wasn’t enough Waltz. (He finally went off the deep end). 8+7+8 = 23.
Kate Gosselin & Tony Dovolani – Paso Doble
Channeling frustration into Paso could mean that this is totally her dance? NOT! Didn’t like her outfit. Didn’t like the ploddingness of her performance. She looked like an animated corpse from "Night of the Living Dead". I would think Tony could at least teach her to point her toes. Certainly not a good performance. I'll be generous and give this one 15 points.
Carrie Ann – The emotion didn’t get to her face; Len – Too pedestrian, not enough “dance”; Bruno – Looked like the super bitch from hell, but there was no movement – looked like she was walking, not dancing. 5+5+5 + 15 Right on the money! (I have to agree with Michael Schedler on this – she’s worse than Buzz, who has an “age” excuse; Kate is just BAD)
Nicole Sherzinger & Derek Hugh – Quickstep
Nice and lively, though the mop-as-prop section went on a bit long and the out of hold bits were somewhat distressing because they shouldn' have been there. Nicole did a nice job of lifting Derek. A great performance, but I don't think it was a Quickstep in the sense that is needed for this show. But I'd give it around 27-28 points.
Len – Didn’t get a Quickstep, this performance had a lift & they broke hold; Bruno – Incredible performance… but Len is right – should have kept hold; Carrie Ann – Noted lift and break in hold, but liked the performance. 8+6+9 = 23. Too bad the lift and break in hold took points off because that was a really good performance.
DWTS Results – 4/6/2010
Derek and Chelsie’s Paso Doble number was superb. I truly enjoy waching Derek dance Latin, which I think is his “element”.
Glad to learn that, next week, separate scores will be given for technique and for performance. This should be the system used each time a couple dances. I also like that specific moves will be assigned for each couple.
Reba’s 2nd song – Dimitri & Lacey: So what’s with all the guys dancing with open vests, open shirts, no shirts, etc? How often do you go out dancing and encounter that? And who - or what - was Lacey portraying? Was she a wood nymph on a bad hair day? I can't enjoy their dancing when they have all these distractions and detractions working against them.
The drag-it-out-to-the-last-minute crap with the “who’s safe” & “who’s in the bottom 2” and “somebody’s goin’ home tonight” is just senseless drama that is unwarranted and unneeded.
A BIG surprise that Kate was not in the bottom 2 – SHE SHOULD GO HOME!
THANK GOODNESS Buzz was sent home. He’s a great man and I admire all that he’s done, but he just isn’t good enough as a dancer for this show. Perhaps we should have a show especially for seniors?
That's a wrap for this week.
