A "ho-hum" Evening of Dancing With The Stars

Week 6, Season 6, April 21, 2008, was sort of disappointing to me.  The major highlight was the absolutely fun-tastic Jive performed by Kristi and Mark.  I was also quite pleased with the lovely and graceful Viennese Waltz Merissa and Tony danced.  Christian's Foxtrot was fairly good, Mario's Rumba was OK and I didn't miss Priscilla at all.  The group number was really good with lots of high-level energy.  The rest of the show was a bit ho-hum. 

Christian looked superb in his tux, Tony and Derek were both nicely turned out.  Jason looked a bit too casual for my taste and he and Fabian would have looked better in outfits with sleeves.  Edyta did a bit of back-sliding in the costume division and looked a bit too much like a ... let's not go there.  Samantha was in a very flattering frock, as was Cheryl B.  Shannon's dress was pretty, but was NOT a good choice for her body type and those long and awkward-looking legs.  In this forum, I can't really go into the details of the conversation Terri S and I had about Mario's trousers, but you could watch a recorded version of the show again and perhaps figure it out for yourself. 

OK, enough about that.  Let's talk about the dancing.

By this mid-point in the season, I expect to see technical improvement in the dancers.  They've been at this for 10 weeks now, and they should be able to grasp moves more easily.  They've been through the boot camp where they learn the way the Latin dances work as opposed to how the Ballroom dances function.  They should have the rise and fall or hip action, footwork, leg actions, arm styling, rib-cage motion, etc., somewhat more under control by now.  There should be MORE of all these techniques apparent in each routine that features them. 

At this point, we should be able to note that someone who couldn't keep their feet on the floor in week 1 is now able to do that.  We should see that someone who did heel leads in Cha-Cha in week 1 or 2 is now doing ball-flat actions in Rumba, Mambo, Samba, Jive, etc.  In Foxtrot, Waltz, Quickstep or Viennese Waltz, we should see the proper use of heels and toes, feet constantly stroking the floor, knees bending or straightening softly and rhythmically, bodies stretching and relaxing, better definition of arm and hand movements, better, more confident and bigger lines, and so on.

The April 21 show was a big disappointment for me in all of the aforementioned areas except for Merissa and Kristi, who both showed big improvements.  Christian did show some improvement and so did Shannon, but the rest of them seemed to have gone backward and I was especially disappointed in Jason's Cha-Cha. 

Well, let's discuss the individuals

Jason & Edyta - Cha-Cha
     As mentioned earlier, his outfit was a bit too casual looking and hers was ... well, you know.  Jason looked stiff in this dance.  He was off time quite a bit and he looked awkward, which is normally not the case.  He seemed slow and ponderous where he normally appears light and quick.  I thought Len was rather too forgiving of Jason's timing faults and Jason did NOT look great as Samantha said he did.  He got the 24 points I felt this routine deserved.

Shannon & Derek - Rumba
     I was not too taken with the Romantic Beach Scene.  And look how Samantha kept digging for a romance in the back-stage commentary.  (I don't like to see that aspect come out in this show, which I want to be wholesome and something the entire family can watch together without anyone feeling uncomfortable about what the youngens might hear/think/see/feel.)  Derek is a nice-looking young man, but he's not really built well enough to be filmed sans shirt.  Shannon was far too stiff in this dance, with no hip action and - somewhat of a surprise - not much true Rumba content in this routine.  There were some nice tricks in there, but the choreography was not on par with Derek's normal good taste.  Also, the dress was awful for Shannon and highlighted the fact that she needs more control of legs, hips and feet.  I would only have given this 21 points and thought the judges were a bit generous by giving this fluidity-lacking, content-starved routine 24 points.

Marlee & Fabian - Mambo
     The nicest thing I can say about this was that she looked really pretty.  I don't know if she tried too hard because Fabian is a former World Mambo Champion or if maybe this just wasn't her dance, but it was pretty bad.  I do think the choreography was too complicated for someone who can't hear the music.  Fabian did a bad job with two Latin dances that should not be any more difficult for a person to follow from visual and physical cues than a Foxtrot or Waltz, but he just didn't get the message across to Marlee in the Samba and Mambo.  The judges were sickeningly sweet in their effusiveness over her efforts which is probably because they could find nothing nice to say about her dancing.  If I had to pick someone to go tonight, she would be the one.  And that's a shame because I think she has talent.  21 points was about right for this one.

Christian & Cheryl - Foxtrot
     I was happy to see that Cheryl didn't over-dance Christian in this one, but his timing was bad, his footwork was often incorrect, his legs were stiff and he still had his head forward with shoulders pulled up, giving him a bad line across the top.  I nearly choked when Bruno said he LIKED Christian's footwork!  (Though I must admit that Bruno looked exhausted last night and seemed quite subdued compared to normal.  Perhaps he just didn't see what I saw?)  Well, 27 points was just too high for that performance which I thought only deserved about 24.5 points.

Merissa & Tony - Viennese Waltz
     I thought Tony did a terrific job of showcasing Merissa in this routine.  She looked graceful and elegant and very much at ease on the floor and the dress was very well suited for her.  She was a bit stiff in the knees, but traveled well and I saw no glaring foot faults.  Merissa's lines were strong and completely finished and her posture was quite lovely.  I'd have given this at least 26.5 or maybe even 27 points, just a touch above what she got from the judges.

Kristi & Mark - Jive
     This was a fabulous routine featuring "spot on" choreography that suited the music and the performers.  Mark and Kristi both portrayed the character of this dance beautifully.  They both looked completely at ease - as if they had been doing this routine for years instead of just days.  They displayed terrific animation and, though the dance was fast, they never looked rushed and simply flowed from one bit to the next.  This one deserved all 30 points awarded and then some!

Mario & Karina - Rumba
     Mario seems to become a bit more humble each week, which is definitely a plus as I don't like it when these stars have the "know it all" attitude at the beginning and think they can "direct" the dancing because that's what they do in their normal careers.  There were some nice tricks in this routine, but no finesse and not enough Rumba content for my taste.  I still think Mario looks stiff and heavy in the legs and feet when dancing and he never seems to get his legs fully straightened in the Latin dances.  I must agree with Len that this routine - instead of being sensual and sexy - was a bit too raunchy.  I can't imagine, at this point, what Karina must have been thinking to put 3 lifts in the routine when just 1 lift is against the rules.  And Bruno sure got a bit fired up over the sexual content of this routine and was far too effusive about THAT and didn't pay enough attention to the DANCING.  I felt this only deserved about 26 points and that the 28 it received was an inflated score.

I had several responses in favor of half-points and, as you probably noted, I started awarding some in this critique.

Well, you probably already know who got booted off the show.  My guess - as stated earlier - is Marlee.  I'll find out soon enough, I'm sure.  Until then:

Happy Dancing
and remember

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