Between Seasons Conversations

Psychee22 wrote:Changing the subject, I just saw the last three dances of Danny Mac and Oti on Strictly.


Wow. 



I have no idea who Danny Mac is -- is he a dancer?  Because he's really really good, and Oti's choreography is fantastic.  We have seen dances to these same three tunes, but I think she has bested our choreographers.

Lesallee wrote:I missed Danica in my Val comment, thanks for the memory jog bailadora. 

Are you going to join us on the Strictly thread? We are actively recruiting!

Psychee22 wrote:I have a question.


From time to time, I read folks here making a sort of big deal about the C-Bros keeping in close contact with former partners, like Zendaya, or Meryl, or Rumer Willis, or Danica.


I don't understand why that is touted as some extra wonderful thing for them to do when every one of the pros maintains close relationships with most of their former partners.  Take Mark, for instance, who maintains at least weekly contact with Sadie, Candace, Kristie, Paige, Willow and Alexa and even invited them to his wedding. Tony, Derek, Sasha, Tristan, Emma, Cheryl, Kim, Julianne, Sharna, Lindsey and Witney all maintain close relationships with their former partners, some more than others I'm sure, but still, it seems to be more the rule than the exception.



Related to that, I also don't understand why these extended time relationships are somehow considered evidence of generosity, when these relationships have mutual benefits.  Zendaya, who has 20 times the star power that Val does, has much less to gain from Val than Val does from her.  So why is his friendship with her considered generous instead of just a normal nice thing for two humans to share? 



So could someone please explain to me what I am missing here?  Why are these C-Bros partner friendships periodically mentioned here as if every other pro is not doing the same?


Thanks.

      I just brought it up because of the comment someone made about Val making all of his partners cry. I don't doubt that many keep up with each other to some extent........and then there are those that maintain a very close relationship like Kym and Robert  

Psychee22 wrote:Lesallee, did you think that I imagined Val as someone so one-note bad that he couldn't have close friendships with anybody?  That I didn't think he could have generous feelings for anyone?  That I couldn't see him caring and caring deeply about anyone?  Did you think that I thought that the stuff I see him doing that seems so Eddie-Haskell-like is ALL THAT IS IN HIM? 

Please understand that this is not the case.   I do not profess to know the man or his character.   I only know the image that he projects.   And I can only react to that image.  Clearly, the obsequious unctuous commentary from him on DWTS  turns me off.  But I do think that he does that in an overdriven need to be liked that is spectacularly backfiring on him with me, and that under that behavior is a much more complex human being.  I would hope that in his larger life, in situations where he feels more secure, a more genuine human being would be manifested.  But I don't get to see him when he doesn't think he is being judged.

But back to my question...  I was simply trying to understand why you and others thought that the Val-Zendaya friendship was so "unique".  I ask because it is a subject that is mentioned a LOT on this board.  I was NOT questioning that it was a REAL friendship with close feelings going both ways.  I was just questioning why it is mentioned as if it is something that proves that Val is so extra special kind and sensitive and generous for maintaining this friendship when I know of so many pros who have maintained deeply felt friendships with their partners, both young and old as well.. 

But I think you answered my question when you said that she was "just a Disney kid and not a huge star at all" at the time she joined DWTS.  You are thinking, perhaps, that Val took this barely known girl under his big wing and helped her thrive to become the mega star that she is today?

If so, then it is that assumption where we disagree.  The reason I disagree is that girl had 2.5 million Twitter followers in May 2013 when she was on the show (she has something like 9 million now).  She was the star of her own TV show for three years by that point.  She had recorded songs, she had her own concert tour, she had appeared in movies, she had acting credits from dozens of other TV shows, she had appeared in countless talk shows, TV specials, and award shows, and she had her own fashion line.  She had already acquired a half dozen or so Young Artist nominations for her performances.  She was raking in the money and had the self confidence of a young and very successful entrepreneur, already in talks for launching a show she was producing herself.  She was the next generation Selena Gomez on the cusp of even more spectacular things and she knew it.
She wasn't "just a Disney kid".

So I never saw her as some kind of young ingenue needing a big brother to protect her from the big bad world.  What I saw in their friendship was a confident girl who owned her place in that relationship as an adult from the get go.  She accepted him as a teacher, and he taught her well,  but she seemed perfectly comfortable teasing him about his hip-hop dancing and arranging with her own teacher to teach him how to do it right.  Whereas other partners like Elizabeth Berkeley tensed up with anxiety when he started to get overwrought, Zendaya teased him out of it.  She kept it fun.  And I'll bet you any amount of money that in spite of her age, she was more of an emotional support for him than he was for her, just as Meryl was for Maks.  And I say that because in my perspective, Val has always been in need of a confidence boost whereas Zendaya felt then and continues to know now, that the world is her oyster.

So, yeah, I would agree that his relationship with her was/is special, but not in the way that you and others seem to be suggesting.  I would say that this relationship is special because they have great chemistry -- he thrives in the environment of Zendaya's disarming honesty and humor. And I'm sure the fun goes both ways.

Off the soapbox now...

Lesallee wrote:Oh, sis! I can always count on you to make me laugh. I am glad we are Chongie family!

Just having some fum

GymGirlJane wrote:Kind of sad what passes for humor on this Board these days.

kincaid53 wrote:        Wait,  did I feel a burn

  

GymGirlJane wrote:

Personally, I do not think snark takes the place of humor.  And by the ever diminishing number of people who bother posting on this Board with you folks, I suspect other people agree with me.   The ABC Boards were hopping.  Most people never found their way over here but even amongst those who did many of the more entertaining and personable ones (Lux, WidderWoman etc) have dropped out.  I don't bother with it much and when I do log on most of the time I see the same 3 people talking to eachother.  Think about it.