Season 19 - Week 9

So, it seems we have an extra week this season.  Haven't previous seasons been 10 weeks?  This one will be 11. 

The trio dances are back tonight.  I usually enjoy those a lot.  Here's who's dancing what:

Alfonso and Witney
Foxtrot
Paso Doble with Lindsay Arnold


Janel and  Val
Quickstep
Salsa with Keo Motsepe


Bethany and Derek
 Viennese Waltz
Argentine Tango with Tony Dovolani
 
Lea and Artem
Samba
Paso Doble with Henry Byalikov
 
Tommy and Peta
Viennese Waltz
Samba with Sharna Burgess
 
Sadie and Mark
Jive
Foxtrot with Emma Slater
 
Should be an interesting night!

Alfonso, I think, will handle the foxtrot well.  I think he'll be quite capable of the grace and elegance required for that dance.  Paso Doble should be good given that he did the flamenco well.  There is a similar feel to those dances.

Janel could have trouble with the quickstep.  Her frame is not always good.  Salsa should be good for her, though.

Bethany, I think, will do fine with the V. Waltz, but I'm wondering if she'll be able to pull off the AT. 

Lea may not be so well suited to the Samba.  I think a lot is going to depend on whether Artem can get her to really relax and cut loose.  If yes, then this should be good.  If not, it'll probably be somewhat lacking.  I think she can handle the paso.

Tommy may well have the grace to pull off the V. Waltz, but while I'm sure he'll give the samba his best shot, I'm not expecting much from him.  Still he'll be better than Michael ever would have, but it makes me sorry again that we didn't get to see more from Betsey.

Sadie could go either way on the jive. It should suit her youth and exuberance, but she could also end up looking clumsy and awkward if those long legs get away from her.  I remember the judges saying several times over the years that it's harder for taller people to do the jive well.  A trio foxtrot doesn't really sound like it would work, so we'll see.  I'm not sure if Sadie is capable of the elegance that works best with the foxtrot.  And again, there will be 3 of them, which on paper anyway doesn't sound like it should really work to me.

Can't wait!  I'm expecting to enjoy myself tonight. 


Almost forgot to mention - apparently there was some 'drama' over the trio dances.  Generally the pros try to hook up with another pro of the same sex, but Mark had to go with Emma because Sasha was the only guy left, and he's too short for Sadie.  According to the rumor mill, Mark was pissed about that.  Conjecture seems to be that he wanted to work with Tony or Keo, but Derek and Val took them.

Wow.  What a first round.  The audience should choose the dance and costuming every week!!  Those gowns added so much to the performance.

Alfonso's FT was beautiful.
Despite a few bobbles, Tommy's VW was lovely.
I thought Lea looked good and danced well for the Samba, but I didn't like the crotch straddle - crude and awkward.
Bethany's arms and hands were lovely during the VW.  And I thought she acted it well.
Sadie's jive looked pretty good, but Mark's high knees distracted my eyes from her.  He can't seem to control himself when it comes to out-dancing his partner.
What a shame we had Val's little slip-up during Janel's QS.  Still, it was fantastic!

Unlike you, mustang, I am not a fan of the trio dances.  I need my sync and symmetry to make me happy.  lol.  I thought the Paso people had an advantage for this round as it lent itself more to three dancers.

Alfonso:  It worked for me because there wasn't the constant girl on each arm.
Tommy:  Where was his dancing?
Lea:  Dislike the whole first half.  The lighting made her look like an "old" witch.  Second half was great.  I'm really beginning to have an active aversion to Artem.  The clips they show are not at all flattering to him and his personality.
Bethany:  I would have liked it with two dancers.  Three?  Meh.  But this girl has some talent.
Sadie:  She looked absolutely lovely.  Tall, lithe and elegant in that costuming.  However.... Despite everyone's applause for Mark's genius in choosing a female, I thought he looked like the star of the number.  Sorry, Mark just turns me off.  I always seem to latch onto what I perceive as flaws.
Janel:  From the trio dance, to the costuming, to the lack of Samba content - everything about this number said I should have hated it, but... Wow!  Just WOW!  This girl has the juice!

Aside from Tommy, it seems anyone's game.  If I had to choose a favorite, it would be between Janel and Bethany, with Janel having a slight edge.

I know what you mean, rkc.  It bugs me when a "fan favorite" stays over a decent dancer.  Lea had her moments, some good and some, well... she was head and shoulders above Tommy.

On the ABC board, they rant over how the show asks you to vote for your "favorite," and not the best dancer.  That was the excuse for keeping Michael for so long.  G-r-r-r.

Tommy's Samba was not dancing.  He stood, took a couple of steps away from the seat and wriggled his hips.  Then, he nearly fell as he backed up to sit down again.  It didn't deserve 7's.  He'd better go home next week.  I mean, I like the guy, but please....

I've never had the problem you're describing.  I tried to go to that other site you recommended and my Kaspersky told me not to do it.

I'm thinking that maybe because I'm working on my laptop that I'm hitting something that causes it to go back? I don't know, but it's happened many times to me both here and on the TWOP site.  Knowing me, it's "user error."    I'm not sure why Kaspersky would be telling you not to go to previously.tv.  I've been on it for months without any issue.  But sometimes if the site certificate doesn't match the owner of the site, then it will give a warning.  All I can say is I have had no problems with it.

Just a few thoughts from last week - I'm not going to try to recreate my 'opus.'  ;0  Basically I agree with most of what you wrote, Singly, except I did not care for Sadie's jive.  I liked the concept, but she did not dance it well.  This is one of those times when her gangliness worked against her.  Her footwork was sloppy and just sort of 'off.'  Her energy also seemed low compared to Mark's.  She's usually pretty good at matching him that way.

I loved her trio dance.  I understand what you're saying about Mark being the 'star' of it, but I think that was probably the only way you were going to get a foxtrot to work as a trio.  If he had been able to get another male pro, then Sadie could have switched off between partners, but with another female pro, it really had to be set up that way to work at all.  I have to give Mark props for making that work so well.  It would have been nicer had Sadie been able to be front and center, but I think danced that way it would have been awful.  Emma did a great job of dancing to Sadie's level, so they looked pretty together, and Sadie didn't suffer by comparison.

Lastly, I am really super annoyed with the way the show is just refusing to allow Sadie to just be the star.  In weeks past they have shown her parents in the audience multiple times every show.  This week it was just Sadie's mom there, and they actually put up a caption that read "Sadie's mom."  Really?  I cannot recall a single time in 19 seasons when they have identified an audience member like that.  That was bad enough, but they couldn't even call her by name - just "Sadie's mom?"  I'm not sure why that annoyed me so much, but it really did.  Just let Sadie be Sadie, show.