Dancing With The Stars – week 7, season 9 by Phillip Stephens

Commentary by  Phillip Stephens | 713-248-2299

Dancing With The Stars – week 7, season 9

An interesting Pro Paso to open the show. It was difficult to recognize Edyta in so much clothing!

Dmitry fully clothed! What is becoming of this show?

So if this is the week that the pros wear an outfit designed by their celeb … what does this say about the pros’ normal taste in dance clothing? Most of these outfits were quite tasteful, and the normally skin-baring pros were fairly well covered up. Colors nicely coordinated, hmmm

Michael Irvin & Anna Demidova – Foxtrot
Michael is not a graceful dancer, and his basic actions need lots of work, but he did put a lot of personality into his Foxtrot performance. Some of his lines were good, he knew the choreography, and his timing was pretty sound. 21?
Len – Liked last week’s waltz and thought this week’s Foxtrot was good.
Bruno – Liked the musicality and timing, did notice bum sticking out and funny arms.
Carrie Ann – liked the costume and other aspects of the routine.
8+8+7 = 23 – just a bit higher than I’d go, especially at this point in the contest.

Donny Osmond & Kym Johnson – Quickstep
The normally well-clad Kym’s pink-n-gray practice outfit was a bit tasteless, showing so much of her backside. Even her performance outfit was overly “bare”, but that seems to have been her theme in this season of the show.
This was not one of Donny’s best routines. His posture was weak. His frame was weak. It looked like a lot of “filler” instead of good dance moves. Though he normally has a lot of “charisma” in a routine, this one seemed strained on just getting through it. I’d not give this one more than 21.
What was with the audience booing because Bruno noticed the mistakes?
Carrie Ann – noted it was good but not his best.
Len – Thought it was a full on Quickstep??? He’s daft!
8+8+8 = 24 – not, in my opinion, honesty from the judges.

Mark Dacascos & Lacey Schwimmer (subbed for by Anna Treybunskaya) – Samba
A bit wild on the entrance – too much gimmickry for me. He was a rather spastic with some of his actions, but he did seem to know the routine, he put a lot of energy into it and hit some pretty good lines. His leg and foot actions were odd and his Basic Samba was lacking but, in his defense, he had 3 different teachers during a hectic work week and the 3rd teacher put together a load of crap instead of a nice routine that incorporated the man's abilities.
Carrie Ann – noted all the weaknesses, lack of flow, etc.
Len – kissed his backside with excuses and false praise
Bruno – Planet of the apes Kung Fu Samba? (Yes, that was an apt description)
I must agree with Michael Schedler that you can’t blame the celeb – blame the choreographer!
6+7+6 = 19, which was a bit unfair considering the difficulties Mark faced in learning the routine.

Mya & Dmitry Chaplin – Foxtrot
Costumes were quite simple, but looked very nice. I didn’t like Mya's hair hanging down loose. Nice rhythmic body actions. I wish they’d confined Dmitry’s tie. Their basic Foxtrot lacked movement and showed some rather odd body lines, and I just didn't follow the story line that involved the man crawling on the floor with the gal on his back, but the routine was OK and it was well performed. 27?
Len – too many gimmicks, not enough Foxtrot
Bruno – captured the essence of Hollywood’s golden age
Carrie Ann – Noted Dmitry’s look & thought the performance was excellent
9+7+9 = 25, which is lower than my evaluation, but Len just didn’t like it.

Aaron Carter & Karina Smirnoff – Jive
During clips of their practice, they both looked like they woke up and dashed into the rehearsal hall without brushing their teeth, combing hair or even considering that they might be viewed by the public. Fortunately, they did get a good “look” going for the performance on the show.
Nice and energetic; Aaron seemed more at ease with this dance than with some of the others he's done and it was miles above that sad Lambada of a week or so ago. Of course, there was very little dancing in hold, so he cold just do “stage” dancing at a fast pace. I saw very little of what I’d call Jive in that routine. 24 or so
Bruno – Overly effusive
Carrie Ann – It was SO good? Bah
Len – Overly effusive.
Yes, from a “relaxed performance” stance, the routine was good and energetic and he looked comfortable out on the floor. But I just didn’t think it was all that superb. Although, as Michael Schedler noted, Aaron went through training that helped speed up and tighten his leg and foot actions, most of that went out the window during the performance.
9+10+10 = 29. Well, that was way higher than it deserved.

Kelly Osborne & Louis van Amstell – Salsa
She is just such a whiner. Every week she whines about how difficult things are. What makes her so special? Doesn’t she realize that it’s difficult for ALL of them?
Kelly got on the wrong foot in the same move at least 4 times when rehearsing. Why didn’t Louis just change the move to be on the other foot and get on with the rest of the dance?
Kelly looked quite nice in the blue, and she did, at the end of the performance, show more maturity than during rehearsals. Perhaps she IS growing up?
Kelly’s figure has certainly improved over the course of the show. I was not as impressed as I’d like to be, for Kelly has more talent than she displays. She still looked a bit uncertain, but it was stronger than normal.
All 3 judges were a bit over the top with their praise, but Bruno did offer some sound advice about the dance. 8+8+8 = 24, which was good for that performance.

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough – Rumba
What was this romantic crap on the beach? They’ve done this several times on the show with various performers. Personally, I’ve been teaching for 37 years and have never felt the need to rush off for a romantic interlude on the beach while teaching Rumba.
Dreadful leg actions and uncertain footwork with way more heel leads than I can forgive. Her actions were not very sensual, and many of them were slightly off time and her feet just looked awkward. 24?
Len – too praiseful
Bruno – too praiseful – he noted a tiny little stumble, which I can forgive, but her footwork was atrocious, she had no hip action and she was not self-propelled. Grrr – it bothers me greatly to have all that praise heaped on someone who is not doing a good job.
Carrie Ann – too praiseful
9+9+9 = 27, which I’d expect from the judges praiseful comments

Note: Overall, I’m growing more disappointed with the show and the judges. I do recognize the need of the producers to reach a big audience, but this is all giving a false impression of dancing. Even competitive dancers do not have to learn such a wide variety of dances, and they do get more than 2-4 days in which to learn and perform a routine. In this show, it seems that all the razz-matazz of showbiz is becoming more important than the technical aspects of the dances. The music is divorced from the dance performed to it and yet, when the dancers choreograph to that music, the judges give them grief. The performers make many technical faults, but don’t receive any criticism for bad footwork, lack of rise and fall, lack of hip action or bounce, etc, but get slam-dunked for missing a step here and there.

Team Paso:
Didn’t really care for the vest-with-no-shirt look for the fellas, which is not what I associate with a matador fighting the bull. The gals had an unusual yet somewhat exotic look. Karina had costume problems, losing balance in her opening move and during her solo due, I think, to stepping on the skirt’s hem. Though this was a good number, I think they are challenging the performers a bit too much in expecting them to learn so many things in such a short time. They are doing a good job of getting through the choreography, but they are not learning the dance technique that should become more apparent each week.
Bruno – lost sync
Carrie Ann – Choreography a bit basic at this stage?*
Len – Routine got better as it went along?
8+8+8 = 24
* This is an unfair criticism. These people had to learn 2 routines and had to have a "knock out" dance rehearsed in case they had to dance for a chance to remain on the show another week. Aaron Carter had not danced Paso before this week, so was a complete novice. They all had to rise to a huge challenge, so I think the level of complexity in the choreography was rather high considering these other factors.

Team Tango:
Sounding more like a disco number than a Tango, this was tough to watch because it was a bit harsh in a non-tango way. Kelly was very uncoordinated in her solo. Donny and Kym lost balance. Lines and posture were sometimes lacking in the dancers. Derek and Joanna had the best frame. The team did create some pretty shapes. I think this was, overall, a better routine than the Paso, both from a musical and a choreographical perspective.
Carrie Ann – got on a bit about the lift
Len – thought this was superior to the Paso
Bruno – praise, praise and more praise
9+9+10 = 28, which was deserved.

Week 7 Results

The glitz was nice. I was not really taken with what looked to be “lip-sync” performed by Mark Ballas and Derek Hough, though the routine was nice.

Rod Stewart looked good, but it still amazes me that he is an acclaimed singer/performer.

First to go home: Michael and Anna
I’m confused: What did his standing ovation have to do with the economy?

Dance off: Aaron & Karina | Mark & Lacey

Mark & Lacey – Cha-cha-cha
The dance quality was not really that much better than his very first Cha-cha, but he did look more relaxed on the floor and had better footwork and timing. There wasn’t a lot of true Cha-cha-cha in the dance
Len – back in comfort zone – top notch
Bruno – The little Cha-cha-cha that was in the routine was good.
Carrie Ann – Loved how he flowed from tricks to Cha-cha-cha

Aaron & Karina – Jive
That was a fairly fast piece of music and it seemed a bit unfair to have them dance to it. From my perspective, this was not as good as their previous Jive, and they had trouble keeping up with the music this time.
Bruno – thought this was as good as his previous Jive
Carrie Ann – thought it was better than previous Jive
Len – thought Aaron was the “come back kid”???

Mark and Lacey were eliminated

Happy Dancing
and remember

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