Season 17 Week 6

Okay, here are the dances for this week:

Amber – Samba
Brant/Bill –Tango
Elizabeth – Cha Cha
Corbin – V. Waltz
Jack – Paso Doble
Nicole – Foxtrot
Leah – Quickstep

Also, the marathon is happening tonight, but it's apparently not the normal marathon.  This is from Corbin's blog about it:

On top of all that, we’ve also been practicing for this thing on tonight’s show called the switch-up challenge. For the challenge, four couples are brought on the stage and they play music that we don’t know is going to be played, and you just have to dance to it. They start tapping people out and they bring out the other four couples. So we have to prep for this challenge that we can’t really prep for.

I thought some did really well last night.  Leah did a great job on that Quickstep.  And I noticed that the judges seemed "in the loop" about smoothing over any rough edges left by Leah's "glare" last week.  She was redeemed.

I truly enjoyed Brant and Elizabeth, and I think Eliz may have also smoothed over her negative residuals from starring in Showgirls.

As for the others, meh. 

Snookie spent most of her time watching out for the foliage around the lampposts.  Her choices of classy ladies were sad.  Anna Nicole???  OMG.

Karina & Corbin's Viennese Waltz was a joke.  That routine might have gone over in contemporary.  As a waltz, it sucked.  I don't like it when they do that crap with "creative license."

For the first time, I thought Amber didn't look that good.  Her routine was just okay for me.  And I thought Jack was WAY overscored.

Who chose Buffet for a Tango????  If the show assigned it, it was clearly sabotage.  If Bill and Emma, they're missing a few screws, or he's secretly ready to go home.  I voted for him anyway, but it's been harder to do the last couple of weeks.  As long as I enjoy his dance and he makes me smile with pride for him, I'm onboard.  But stuff like this??  My conscience is starting to chafe.  I'd rather Leah, Brant or Elizabeth take the ball than to see him turn into a dancing comedy act.  I HATE it when they do that!

The marathon mix-up was another way to skew the leader board at the hand of the judges over the audience.  A nice boost up the ladder for Amber and Corbin - who are exactly the ones the judges want at the top.  One of each couple per team.  Guaranteed wins.  I actually thought Val and Elizabeth were looking pretty good out there.

In summary, if Bill doesn't do well next week and Leah looks good, I may have to switch favorite dancers.  I can't - in good conscience - vote for someone who's stopped improving.  Jack should go next.  Then, *ouch*, probably Bill.

I liked Karina and Corbin's dance, and think they have a good chance at the finals.  I also think Derek and Amber have a good chance.  I liked Elizabeth and Val's dance, too.  I think, though, the finals will end up being between Corbin and Amber for the mirror ball. 

I think Bill, Leah, and Jack will be the next to go - in any order.  I think Snookie will hang on to close to the finals simply because of her fan base. 

I liked the extra dance last night.  I think it really showcases the talented dancers.

I thought it was a mixed bag last week. I loved Corbin/Karina's dance but not as a waltz.  As a waltz, it wasn't very waltz-like.  But it was beautiful and well-danced - just not a waltz.  I thought Elizabeth did well, as did Leah.  Bill and Jack were just okay for me, although I still love that Bill always looks like he's having a great time.  Amber seemed to struggle a bit.  Brant also seemed to do a nice job, although he is somewhat forgettable for me.  And I still don't get the "Snooki" love.  I thought this was perhaps her worst dance so far.  Aside from the lampposts and shrubbery, which I found very distracting, I thought the dance itself was rather poor.  She seemed rather stiff and a bit awkward to me, which is unusual for her but, as Singly pointed out, since she doesn't seem to have any idea what a "classy" lady is actually like, maybe she just was out of her depth?  I don't know, but I thought she was way overscored.  I also felt that she and Sasha didn't have much of a connection at all during the dance.  It was like they just happened to be in the same vicinity as each doing roughly the same thing.  I don't know how to describe it.  They seem to have a decent partnership during rehearsals, but I don't think they connect well during the actual performances.

I thought the switch-up marathon (or whatever they called it) was a waste of time.  The judges have already decided that Corbin and Amber are their top two, so was anyone surprised by the results?  I'm not sure what the point was, but I didn't like it.  A few bars of this, a few bars of that, and not a whole lot of actual dancing.  Much of what was being done was more "club" dancing until they had a chance to figure out what the song was and do some actual steps.  And then they'd change the music again.  Let's hope this particular experiment never happens again.

I have no idea who will go home tonight.  I think it could be any of Jack, Brant, Bill, Leah or Elizabeth.  I hope it will be Snooki.