Season 19 Week 7

First week for two dances - individual and team

Janel and  Val – Viennese Waltz

Bethany and Derek – Paso Doble
 
Alfonso and Witney – Rumba

Lea and Artem – Argentine Tango

Michael and Emma – Jive
 
Antonio and Cheryl – Viennese Waltz
 
Tommy and Peta – Quickstep
 
Sadie and Mark – Paso Doble
 
Team ItsyBitsey (Song: “Black Widow” by Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora)
Bethany/Derek
Janel/Val
Lea/Artem
Michael/Emma

Team Creep Du Soleil (Song: “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Alfonso/Whitney
Sadie/Mark
Tommy/Peta
Antonio/Cheryl

The team dances are apparently freestyles.  Should be fun, but I'm torn between the teams.  Alfonso, Janel and Lea are my favorites, and they're on different teams.  On paper this looks like another easy win for Derek, since he's only got one real dud on his team - Michael.  And they can perhaps marginalize him most of the time.  Alfonso has Sadie, who while not my favorite usually does a decent to good job.  But then he's got Tommy, who can't remember steps and will probably be worse with 2 dances to remember, and Antonio, who seems to be getting better but is still one of the weaker dancers left.  Still, with the Halloween theme, it should be a lot of fun.

I think Bethany's team will have the edge.  With both Tommy and Antonio for Alfonso, it could be a lot of work that doesn't pan out.  Only robotics could get them through. 

I don't know either of the songs and am too lazy to look them up.  Both teams could get shafted with music.  How fair is the picking on these songs?  Random selections, with one getting good and the other, lousy?

Tommy was okay but didn't ring my chimes.

Lea looked more poised than she has but the joy is missing -and with it, my enjoyment of her dancing.   It was a clean dance, but I was left wanting her enthusiasm.

Bethany was FANtastic!  Best dance of the night.

For Antonio, the best I've seen him dance.  But at the finish, I thought he was going to hurl Cheryl into the third row.

Michael's jive *sigh* deserved the fives.   Makes one wonder why DWTS ever put "favorite" and "dancer" in the same descriptive phrase.

Janel danced beautifully, but not a VW.   And I'm sorry - but without a flowing gown, I'm disappointed.

Alfonso's rhumba did nothing for me.  Can't say why, just didn't.

Sadie?  Hated the concept of her being a little girl for the Paso.  Then, Mark began dancing like a wild man and over-danced it for me.   I really disliked this entire performance.   She's a natural dancer, but this didn't give her a chance to shine.

Team Bethany:   While I was forced to mute the rap portion, I really liked this dance.  Michael didn't do any damage to his team.

Team Alf:  Due to the music and concept, I actually preferred this one.  I liked how they played to the strengths (and avoided the weaknesses) of each couple.  Peta looked adorable as the Ring Mistress.   But I thought, again, that Mark was dancing like a madman.

SIDE NOTES:  I laughed aloud at Val's reaction to the refrigerator scare - and at Antonio smacking the sneak-up in the face.

Julianne was certainly a good sport when Bruno pulled her out of her chair.

I enjoyed hearing Dire Straits and "Walk of Life" on the Fanxiga commercial.

Question:  Does it seem to anyone else that Erin is doing most of the talking and Tom is taking a backseat to her?  Or is simply that she's forceful and seems to "claim" the front seat?

All in all, a good show.

Overall, I enjoyed the show.  I didn't think it was the greatest night of dancing, but Halloween theme night is always just so fun.  I had been really looking forward to Len's return, but I found myself getting rather annoyed with him and his issue with "mucking" about and having others in the dances.  Normally, I would agree with him, but it's Halloween theme night, and if there's one time the contestants/pros should be able to have some fun, it's this night.  It was not a night to be cranky.  Boo, Len.

Loved the troupe dancer hiding in the fridge.  Some of those reactions were great.  Also loved the guy sneaking up behind Cheryl while she was talking to Erin.  Cheryl's reaction was hysterical.  And Alfonso's was so unexpected!    That's the fun of live tv -  you never know what's going to happen.

I'll use the same order Singly did because I can't remember the order they danced in last night, and the review hasn't been posted yet for me to follow.

Tommy - He continues to be charming, but he's not so much fun to watch any more.  That quickstep really wasn't. 

Lea - I absolutely agree with Singly.  It was good choreography and a good performance, but I just didn't really feel it with her like I used to.  The 'fun' wasn't there again - I think she was trying too hard to do well, and so she missed out on the joy.  Shame.

Bethany - I honestly didn't like this dance.  I couldn't tell you whether I thought Bethany danced well or not because I kept losing her in the drums.  And there were times I didn't see Derek at all.  I ended up getting caught up in watching the 'dance' the drummers were doing.  Hit a beat here, move the drum over there, hit a few more beats, move the drums again.  I liked the idea behind the choreography, but the execution was just somehow lacking for me, and the only thing I really remember about that dance was watching the drums navigate out of the way of the dancers.

Antonio - I thought this was the best he's danced, and I was annoyed with the judges for the low scores.  He was better than that.  The judges have said before that they judge the dancers against themselves and their expectations for them, so there was no justification in my mind for more 7s.  He has definitely been improving each week; they could have given him an 8 outside of the team dance.  I feel bad for him.  He was a good sport and tried hard every week.  The upside is that Cheryl can now go visit her dad before the finale.

Michael - can people just please for the love of God stop voting for him?  The man is in his 40s to Tommy's 76, but Tommy has far more pep in his step than Michael can seem to muster.  That jive was horrendous, and I got really tired of listening to him excuse his poor performance with "I can't."  How would you know?  Did you even try? 

Janel - this was one of my favorites of the night.  I don't know enough VW to know whether Len was right or not when he said it was a beautiful flowing 3/4 time dance but not a VW, but for me it was a beautiful flowing dance with rise and fall and plenty of turns.  I didn't think they took overly long to get started, and it did set things up nicely.  I loved the choreography, and I thought Janel danced it beautifully.  It wasn't 10-worthy, but that 7 from Len was crap.

Alfonso - I am so glad to hear you say his rumba did nothing for you because I had the exact same reaction, yet on other boards everyone is raving about it.  But something just felt 'off' to me - I don't know if it was his posture or what.  I also didn't see a lot of hip action - it was there in places and in others not so much.  This is probably my least favorite of his dances, even though I love this partnership.  And I did appreciate that Alfonso took the time to praise the singer.  That was nice.  And congratulations to him and his wife on the new baby.  Also loved Tom's quip right after the announcement. 

Sadie - First off, let me say that Mark looked incredible.  Whoever did that makeup did a fantastic job.  And I actually loved the choreography and would love to see that done with one of the female pros in the lead.  But Sadie just could not handle this dance at all.  Her hands were weird at the beginning - kind of splayed open.  She couldn't get the right 'feel' for the paso.  She looked more mad than intense, and her dancing just wasn't good this time.  For me it was just all wrong.  I loved the concept and really would love to see it done with someone who could dance the crap out of it.  I think it could have been great.  But this was just not a good dance for Sadie at all, and I thought the judges were kind with their scoring. 

Team ItsyBitsy - The dance was well done, and even Michael didn't screw it up, but I'm feeling a kind of 'sameness' with Derek's team dances.  Clearly he knows what the judges want with that 'military style' precision, but it's beginning to feel like variations on a theme for me.

Team Creepy - I actually enjoyed this dance much more.  From a precision standpoint, they were not in sync the way TIB was, but I just really liked the different personalities and characters in the dance.  Much the same way I preferred Team BomBom (or whatever they were called) over Team Foxing Awesome a few seasons ago.  I can look at it objectively and say that one was danced better than the other, but also that one was far more fun to watch than the other, and they weren't the same teams for both.

Does it seem to  you that Erin is doing most of the talking?  And that Tom has taken a back seat to her?

Hmmmm.

Right.  Nor am I a stickler, but it needs to "look" like the dance I'm expecting.  If they're going to look for content, they need to eliminate these theme nights that are supposed to be "fun."  Fun doesn't necessarily equate to good ballroom.  Personally, I agreed with the judge's evaluation of both Janel's artificial VW and Sadie's warped paso.  The blame falls on Val and Mark, IMO.  They know perfectly well what is required.  They also know that lack of content is going to cost their celeb in points, fun night or not.

More and more, it seems that both Mark and Derek are pushing boundaries.  They seem to want to add some excitement with new moves and choreo.  Derek is brilliant, but I find Mark too over-the-top for my tastes.

There are a few threads on the ABC board about the Michael fans.  A couple of people are sticking to the show's format of telling the viewers to vote for their "favorite."  Doesn't matter if they skip across the floor or sit through the music.  These people insist that if he's your favorite, it's your prerogative to vote for him - regardless of how bad he is.  And to vote for him proudly, because you're following the show's instructions.  IMO, the NASCAR fans have the potential of bringing this show to its knees if Michael wins.  And where will the NASCAR people be next season?

I agree, rkc.

The thing is they don't even need to tune in at the end.  All they have to do is go to abc.com to vote.  Or look up the phone number--they don't change them every week, so it's not hard to vote without ever watching a single second of the show itself.  That jive was just an embarrassment.  It didn't even look like he was trying out there.  A couple of half-hearted kicks and then it was like 'oh well, I can't do this,' and he just flat out quit.  I don't know if there would be the votes to win - some NASCAR fans think not - that his fans just want to get him to the finale.  I'd like to think that's true.  But if it's not, then it seems like yes, he could win.  Has he ever been in the bottom 2? 

As for Erin - I honestly haven't noticed that she seems to be talking more than Tom, but then I enjoy her most of the time, so it might not have stood out.  Tom is still fantastic, and imho, he's the best in the business at this job.  I really hope he'll be there as long as the show is on.  It just wouldn't be the same without his quick wit and good nature.