Dancing With The Stars – Season 10, week
3 By
Imperial
Society of Teachers of Dancing Fellow
and Examiner and Championship
Adjudicator Phillip Stephens
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?
