Cue that theme music!

Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 by Travis Cody in
3

It's live from Hollywood!


It's guilty pleasures week.  Our 8 remaining pairs will dance individual routines to songs the celebrities choose.  There's a team group dance too...freestyle.

Plus, we've got two nights of dancing with no eliminations.

On this first night we have the pairs from Team G&P dancing their individual routines.  Team S&D dances their group freestyle.  The second night will switch up.

Cool beans!

Kelly and Val dance Samba.  When Kelly was on Season 1, this would have been the week before the finale after only 6 weeks of competition.  So she's in uncharted waters in terms of number of dances and training time involved.  It looks like it's sapping her energy.  Still, she's fighting through it.  This Samba doesn't have the pop and flash of a club Samba, but her footwork is clean and she's got the hip action.  I thought she took a relaxed approach.  I thought the Samba roll was good.  I may have had my eyes closed during what Len said was the raunchy part because I didn't see anything inappropriate to Samba.  I think overall this was a tired dance without enough content and very little of the Samba party flavor.  Good, but not great.  Judges say 8,8,8.5 for a total of 24.5.

Gilles and Peta dance Rumba.  There are not many male celebrities who have been on this program that are able to dance Rumba as well as Gilles does.  His lines are amazing.  His timing is fantastic.  His musicality is wonderful.  He interprets the flavor of the music, the choreography, the dance style, and the story within so well.  That was a first class dance.  We call Rumba the vertical expression of a horizontal desire.  This dance was that, but it had artistry as well.  Sensual, classy, elegant, sophisticated and romantic.  Pam is a puddle.  Judges say 10,9.5,10 for a total of 29.5.  Not good enough to get that extra .5 from Len, eh?

Kirstie and Maks dance Quickstep.  Looks like Kirstie might be breaking down a little too.  She's putting so much pressure on herself to entertain as well as to do the dances properly, and in her opinion she's not getting there.  I get the idea behind what she wanted with this Quickstep, but I don't know that you can play seductress in this style.  There was just no place for her to play on her strength, which is as a comedic performer.  I think she danced reasonably well.  But I also thought there were places where she was behind the music, and Maks covered it.  I did think she was able to pull her shoulders back and her ribs up, which helped with her posture.  I enjoyed the dance.  Judges say 8.5s across for a total of 25.5.

Emmitt and Cheryl dance Samba.  This is Emmitt at his best.  He makes it looks so easy and effortless.  His innate charm comes out and everything is smooth and cool.  I'll even add groovy.  He had the hip action and the Samba bounce.  He had musicality and great timing.  His technique was terrific.  For a guy who really isn't an entertainer, he gets on the floor and throws a complete performance.  I thought I saw just a little bobble at the beginning when he maybe got off on the wrong foot, but other than that I thought this was a great performance.  Judges say 9.5,9.5,10 for a total of 29. 

We've got the team freestyle from Team S&D to Call Me Maybe featuring Shawn and Derek, Sabrina and Louis, Melissa and Tony, and Apolo and Karina.  I think this team has a definite edge.  Melissa did have a very scary injury during rehearsal when her sneaker got stuck on the floor and she twisted her neck.  She's got a herniated disk in her neck, but she's been cleared to dance.  Gang, that was so good.  It had a mix of styles.  Each pair had a solo.  The choreography was difficult.  It was a complete performance.  I love how they introduced each individual section.  That was a routine I would have expected to see from our Dance Troupe, it was that good.  Judges say 9.5,10,10.  Len threw a 10 finally!  Here's the encore right now!


Here's our leader board after the first night of performances:

29.5 Gilles and Peta
29.5 Shawn and Derek
29.5 Melissa and Tony
29.5 Sabrina and Louis
29.5 Apolo and Karina
29.0 Emmitt and Cheryl
25.5 Kirstie and Maks
24.5 Kelly and Val

I think the next group's free style has a lot of pressure now after having seen the first group.   

New drill for this week!  Tune in tonight for Team G&P in a team freestyle while Team S&D perform their individual dances.  Then check back tomorrow for some encores.  Remember, no eliminations this week, so that means probably 2 couples will go home next week.

Later gang!

3 comments:

  1. Barb says:
    23 October, 2012 02:33

    ohoh... looks like Kirstie may be in trouble!

  1. Marsha says:
    23 October, 2012 08:05

    I'm thinking it may be Kelly that's in trouble, but we won't know until next week.

    What, no comment on Carrie Anne's fall???? It was the funniest thing I've seen in ages......

  1. Cherie says:
    23 October, 2012 09:04

    I think that was trying to put on his cranky pants, but he couldn't quite pull it off. Especially after, Carrie Anne had her "incident." lol

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