Trav's Thoughts

Yup...it's live from Hollywood!

Our dances this week are Samba and Foxtrot.

Samba is the party dance, characterized by rhythmic hip action and vertical bounces. Dancers should be on the balls of their feet. Experienced dancers may go for the Samba roll. This clip is short, but very illustrative. This is Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagorouitchenko from 2008 Manhattan Dance Sport.


Foxtrot is a smooth and elegant dance characterized by long and continuous flowing movements. International style is done mostly in close standard hold, while the American version allows for dancing apart and side by side. Think Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Or think Marcus and Karen Hilton. I return to them again, because they are simply the most elegant and best examples I can find. This is from 1998.


That's the pros. Let's see how our 12 remaining couples fare.

Denise and Maks dance Samba. She's very unsure with her steps to begin. She didn't look like she even wanted to dance that. It was awkward and clunky. That just was not her dance. She was too worried about steps. She was afraid of the Samba instead of just going for it and not worrying about mistakes. This is the first time in awhile that Maks hasn't been able to make progress with his celebrity. She may be more suited to the ballroom styles than the Latin. Judges say 5,6,5 for a total of 16.

Chuck and Julianne dance Foxtrot. That was much smoother than expected based on the last couple of weeks. We're still not really feeling like they have a connection to each other. Although this is a much better effort, it's still lacking spark. He put his feet in the right places and Julianne made a classic Foxtrot. Chuck was a much stronger partner in this dance. He's getting his feet under him. With their fanbase, they just might stick around long enough for him to continue to improve. But he'll have to show the same improvement in the Latin styles. Judges say 8,7,8 for a total of 23. The 8's are a bit too high.

Holly and Dmitry dance Samba. Samba is a party dance and a fun dance, but it's also an intimidating dance. Holly had a lot of trouble. She let her fear of the dance get to her. Her lack of basic coordination was really exposed this week. The best we can say about this is that she got through it without falling down. Her footwork was very clunky. This is such a tough dance to learn in just a few days, especially when you don't have any experience. Judges say 5,6,6 for a total of 17.

Steve and Lacey dance Foxtrot. That looked like it hurt. He danced with a grimace on his face. That couldn't have been easy to do with a bad back. He gave it his best effort, and Lacey choreographed a classic Foxtrot. The dance started well, until he missed a step. After that the whole thing just fell apart. He really did try. Then on the last move he lost his balance and skidded into the bottom of the steps. It looked like he jammed his ankle. We kind of feel bad for him. As stupid as we think he is for the Jackass crap, we respect what he's trying to do and that he's not making fun of the show. Judges say 5's across for a total of 15.

LT & Edyta dance Samba. We really like his work ethic. The man gave up his golf game to rehearse and get the Samba. HA! And the big man gets his groove on! That was really terrific. He hit all the steps of a basic Samba, his musicality was good, and once again he was a strong lead. You know what that dance was? It was a man's Samba. He's not a natural showman, but he does have an easy charm. He worked the steps and had a good time with the dance. He's starting to get over his fear of looking silly. Judges say 7,6,7 for a total of 20. The 6 from Len is too low again.

Shawn and Mark dance Foxtrot. She just makes us smile. And wouldn't you like to have guns like hers eh? HA! That was quite the classy and sophisticated Foxtrot. She's very impressive for a 17 year old. She and Mark tell a story together each week. The dance was smooth and fluid. She gets better every week. They did seem to float across the floor. It was like dancing on a cloud. Mark is a great partner for her. Judges say 9's across for a total of 27. Yeah!! Well done my dear.

Gilles and Cheryl dance Samba. Hang on...I have to get the drool towels. OH. MY. WORD. That man knows how to play the crowd. He is sex on a stick! Woooo Mr Sexy! That was HAWT! Hey! Gimme that keyboard back. Sheesh! OK...so that was Pam's review. Here's mine. He is fantastic. He is ready to be held to a professional standard. He had every step and every hip roll, every bounce and every shake. Cheryl gave him some tough choreography and he rose to the challenge. Well done Sir. Judges say 9's across for a total of 27.

David and Kym dance Foxtrot. This should be a great dance for him. He should really be able to use his Broadway experience to perform. He's still got a touch of lean to his posture, but overall the dance is smooth and fluid as it should be. They really connected in this one. He didn't look like a character this time...he looked like a man enjoying a dance with his partner. We really enjoyed that. His technique was tremendous, but that dance was all about the performance. Kym did a fantastic job on the choreography. Well done! Judges say 8's across for a total of 24.

Steve and Karina dance Samba. The Woz now has a hamstring injury to go with his fractured foot. You know, he's doing ok for an older geek with a bum foot and a gimpy hamstring. He even got down on the floor and did the worm. You know, Samba is a party dance and he had fun. But let's face it...he's entertaining but he's just not a dancer. It really was a bad dance. The best we can say is that he got out there and did it, despite the injuries. And that deserves our applause. Judges say 4,3,3 for a total of 10. Ouch.

That's not the lowest score ever by the way. Rapper Master P and Ashley Delgrosso scored an 8 in season 2. But that guy didn't ever try.

Melissa and Tony dance Foxtrot. There you go...Tony described the woman's frame as like a martini glass with her head as the olive. You can picture that, can't you? Wow that dance was great! The choreography was difficult and sophisticated. She is charming, graceful, elegant, and classy and that dance was outstanding. Her background as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader gives her an understanding of how to perform, and Tony is teaching her how to dial down big movements and hold them within a frame. She's learning that lesson well, and she's got our attention. Judges say 9's across for a total of 27.

Lil Kim and Derek dance Samba. She ought to do very well with this dance. She's got the stuff to shake, and she is shaking it. Derek had several classic Samba moves in that dance and she was on every step through the middle. We were expecting a Samba roll too, but he didn't go that far. But then it looked like she got lost toward the end. That's too bad because she was on it right up until about 15 seconds to go. Everything else up to that point was excellent. Judges say 8,8,9 for a total of 25. She deserved to be just a knotch below the top 3, but if she doesn't make the mistake at the end she would have tied with a 27.

Ty and Chelsie dance Foxtrot. We're so impressed with how well he does the ballroom styles. It's too bad Chelsie got caught in her dress and slipped. But they didn't miss a beat in the performance. Dangit...then they tripped again. Despite the two trips, that ole bow legged cowboy was smooth and graceful. He's becoming a strong lead in ballroom. And how about some props for rookie Chelsie eh??? What a great job she's doing. That was really some elegant choreography. If I were a judge, I'd pick that for my encore to give them a chance to dance it without the slips. Judges say 8,8,7 for a total of 23.

Here's our leader board:

27 Melissa & Tony
27 Shawn & Mark
27 Gilles & Cheryl
25 Lil Kym & Derek
24 David & Kym
23 Ty & Chelsie
23 Chuck & Julianne
20 LT & Edyta
17 Holly & Dmitry
16 Denise & Maks
15 Steve & Lacey
10 Steve & Karina

Gotta say it...we really enjoyed the show last night. There were a couple of clunky performances, but for the most part everyone did very well. I'm still split three ways with voting between Shawn, Melissa, and Gilles. Pam, as I'm sure you could infer from her review, threw all her votes to Gilles.

Now we didn't realize that the dance off was going to continue. But we like the idea for each week, just to give the judges one more look.

Hey gang! Hall & Oates are in the ballroom for results tonight! Wooooooooo! Check back here tomorrow for encores and results.

Later babies!