Trav's Thoughts

It's final encores and results!

We've reached the end of our All Star season.  Unless you peeked at spoilers or watched it all unfold last night, you'll find out who danced away with the Glittering Globe of Glory at the end of this post.  Before I begin recounting our two hours of results frivolity, let me show you the three wonderful free style dances from the performance finale.

Kelly and Val gave us a sentimental Dirty Dancing tribute that beautifully described the arc of their dance partnership throughout the season.  Click here if the video doesn't play.


Melissa and Tony described to us in dance the strength of their commitment to the goal of being the best they could be with each routine.  Click here if the video doesn't play.


Shawn and Derek finally were able to disregard rules with impunity and show us the power and freedom of unrestrained creativity.  Click here if the video doesn't play.


Here's how our three pairs ended Monday night on our leader board:

60 Melissa and Tony
59 Kelly and Val
57 Shawn and Derek

Alrighty then.  We've had our encores.  We've had our cheese and our crackers.  We've had our nice merlot.  No CAKE.  We had cherry pie and Oreos.  We're wearing our fru fru finery.  Let's have a results party!

Our All Stars and their pro partners lead off the show with a terrific group routine, choreographed by Lacey Schwimmer.

The judges decide to pick the free style from Shawn and Derek as the encore.

Now there's one more competitive dance.  It's an instant dance, and each couple picks the style and music live.  Then they have to go and polish up the routine and dance it for scores.  So they had to prepare Jive, Samba, or Cha Cha Cha before they knew which one they'd have to dance and to what music.  Here's how the selections went.

• Kelly and Val select Jive to Cat & Mouse
• Melissa and Tony select Samba to Life is a Highway
• Shawn and Derek select Cha Cha Cha to Respect

They've got about an hour to pull it together before performing.  

Between now and the final competitive round, our eliminated All Stars return for one more performance.  Mark and Bristol share a little Cha Cha Cha.  Pamela and Tristan danced something with the fellas from our Troupe.  I say it was something because I was watching the BOOTSSESS and didn't actually notice what the steps were.

What?  Pamela was wearing BOOTSSES.  How am I supposed to concentrate on dancing when Pamela was wearing BOOTSSES? 

Tough to follow the BOOTSSESS, but Helio and Chelsie managed it just fine with their bit of Cha Cha Cha.  Drew and Anna return with their Cha Cha Cha, bringing Drew's daughter Isabella into the routine.  Can I get an awwww?

Remember the team free styles?  We had Team Call Me Maybe featuring Shawn and Derek, Melissa and Tony, Sabrina and Louis, and Apolo and Karina.  Then we had Team Gangnam Style featuring Gilles and Peta, Kelly and Val, Emmitt and Cheryl, and Kirstie and Maks.

Joey and Kym joined Team Gangnam Style to reprise that team free style, since K&V were busy preparing their final dance.  I didn't like this one any better this time around that I did the first time.

Now I could argue that Joey the entertainer went out too soon in week 2, but that's just personal preference because I enjoy his personality.  He showed that personality off with the great time travel Cha Cha Cha he danced with Kym and a couple of young ballroom dancers. 

And I could make the case that it really wasn't so shocking that Sabrina went out in week 6 again.  It often comes down to viewer votes more than it does best dancer.  She couldn't get the votes last time, and she didn't get them this time.  But at least she and Louis get to reprise their wonderful Rumba.  

Since S&D and M&T are working on their instant dance, Team Call Me Maybe recruits Helio, Chelsie, Drew, and Anna to round out the crew.  I loved this one the first time it was danced.  It was definitely due to the original group of dancers, although H&C and D&A did pretty well as substitutes.

Ah...it's a Cha Cha Cha from Kirstie and Maks.  I think this has always been her best style because it gives her the freedom to lead with her personality and not worry so much about getting the steps.  Gilles and Peta also return, with their Bollywood number.  This was surprisingly effective for them, but I think it also signaled Gilles' high water mark.  I thought his performances gradually fell off from this dance until he and Peta were eliminated.

Apolo and Karina reprise their outstanding Viennese Waltz from Country Week.  This was one of his best performances of this season.  Emmitt and Cheryl do what Emmitt does best, and that's Samba.  So full of charm and personality.  Great stuff.  Either of these guys would have been terrific in the finale.

OK gang.  Let's have our instant dances.

Kelly and Val dance their instant Jive.  I thought she would be at a disadvantage in this particular round no matter what style they got.  Getting Jive wasn't the best for her, but she handled it.  They did a fantastic job with that dance.  Val managed to put some originality into the choreography, so it was more than just an out-of-the-box Jive.  I thought Kelly's kicks were crisp and clean.  She didn't lose her balance in those spins.  The dance had energy and flair.  I liked the precision of their partnership.  Very well done.  Judges say 9.5s across for a total of 28.5.

Melissa and Tony dance their instant Samba.  This is a perfect choice for them because they just danced a Samba for their favorite dance on Monday's show.  I think it gives them an advantage, but they still have to execute.  I don't know if it was the tempo of the music, but the performance seemed a bit sloppy to me.  The choreography had all the Samba content that she normally performs very well.  And she looks great.  But there was just something off in the way they danced.  I think Melissa was challenged by the rhythm and tempo.  It was a good performance.  Judges say 9.5s across for a total of 28.5. 

Shawn and Derek dance their instant Cha Cha Cha.  I don't think there's a style that would intimidate Shawn.  She has attacked everything all season and has performed everything well.  Oh yeah.  They look like they practiced it all week.  They brought back a lot of the choreography from their Country Week routine.  It was sharp and clean.  Shawn is so amazing.  Her ability as a performer allowed Derek to do some things this season that I don't think he could have tried with anyone else.  Set all the rules issues aside.  No matter who wins, for my money this is the best pair.  Judges say 10s across for a total of 30.

Here's our final leader board including scores from the instant dances:

88.5 Melissa and Tony
87.5 Kelly and Val
87.0 Shawn and Derek

With that last routine closing up the scoring gap, it's certainly anyone's mirror ball.  Here we go with final results.