Well, I’m done with this show for the season. I’m really pissed that they gave Mark the shaft last night; although, I think they could have choreographed a much better cha cha cha. I hate Lacey’s choreography. Aaron looked like a mad squirrel tonight to me. And I am sooooooooooo sick of that girl dancing with Derek. She’s not that good.
Yeah, I agree, Mark got screwed tonight. OTOH, I don’t think he would have made final three, so it’s not OMG a travesty.
I liked Aaron’s jive Monday (actually both nights), unfortunately for him, I just don’t like Aaron - and it seems I’m not alone as they were relatively high on the leaderboard and still in the bottom three.
I think Mark would have done better with a different pro - yes, he can do gymnastic/martial arts moves. But it felt like he did them every dance at the expense of the actual dance-of-the-week. Or it may just be that I don’t like Lacey’s choreography either.
To me, it looks a lot of the time like Joanna isn’t strong enough (like some of the other models in the past), but I think Derek’s choreography covers a lot of sins. He’s a really good choreographer.
Singing, not so much. He & Mark need to stick to their day jobs.
I really dislike Aaron, I find him creepy and unsettling just to look at, so I’m disappointed he’s not going home, but at the same time, that was a pretty kick-ass bit of actual dancing, while Mark & Lacey’s dance didn’t involve much actual dancing. Lots of tricks might persuade the audience, but the knock-out dance was only for the judges, and it felt like Lacey forgot that completely.
So the real question is, given that Aaron doesn’t get audience support no matter how well he does with the judges, will Kelly or Joanna make it into the final three? I’m guessing that Louis’s Inner Nazi (I like Louis a lot, but he gets hypercompetitive when he’s got a contender) will break Kelly, so that she’ll score poorly with the judges, but the audience loves her sweet little girl shtick, and she’s not a bad dancer. Joanna is a slightly better dancer, she’s got Derek (whom just about everyone loves and who is a terrific choreographer for this kind of thing), and she and Derek look gorgeous on the floor together.
Donny needs a day or two of bedrest for his flu, but with two dances to learn, he’s not going to get it.
The only quibble with the results is that objectively, overall, Mark should probably have finished higher than Kelly. Neither one was going to win, so it’s not really a big deal.
It has to be a bit of an ego blow to Aaron to realize that America doesn’t like him very much. Top of the leader board & dancing for his life.
Well, the Nov. 9 ep was pretty entertaining. The ‘decade’ deal gave two fairly imaginative dances in Mya’s Samba and Joanna’s Paso. At this point, it seems like one of those two is a lock for the win. I’ll just mention regarding the latter that Derek’s always been one of the best at choreography anyway, but I daresay that was one of the two or three best single routines I’ve ever seen on this show.
Plus, Donnie Osmond’s Adam Ant impersonation was a hoot, even if the dance itself was a bit of a mess.
Who was mullet-boy during the “stars” medley?
And have I mentioned how much I love Derek this season? That was brilliant - but there were times where Joanna just didn’t fully extend and it wasn’t quite as cool as it could have been. Still, very cool though.
Derek is freaking amazing. That paso was just … wow. One of the best dances, not only of the season, but in the history of the show. What an amazingly talented young man he is. He has single-handedly dragged Joanna into the final five.
Who do you think is going home tonight? Donnie is getting very, very tired, but his fan base is enormous, he’s good for final four, if not final three. Joanna is safe because of the paso (which was amazing – have I mentioned that?). Mya, duh. So either Kelly (and Carrie Anne is right, her likability and ability to connect with the audience are enormous and far outstrip her actual dancing ability) or Aaron, who’s doing okay technically but who no one seems to like. His Latin was definitely the weakest of the five – due to a goofy decade (WTF does the '90s look like?) and the limits of Karina’s ability to choreograph.
And – my god, wasn’t Derek and Joanna’s paso a source of amazement?
I called my sister (who hasn’t watched this season) and made her watch Derek & Joanna’s Paso. Considering how young he is, Derek is so very talented as a choreographer, taking into consideration the skill levels of his partners, the preferences of all three judges, and what will wow the crowd and viewers.
Donnie’s outfit for his latin was just not right. The jacket was a little too short to disguise his stomache (I think he’s in good shape for someone his age, but he does have a tummy) and the silver lame’ pants were too light weight of a fabric. I think something that was a little tighter but heavier would’ve been okay. He could also have used a body shaper like Spanx. His dances were okay, but he just isn’t in the same level as Joanna and Mya, and maybe even Aaron.
Mya and Dmitri were their usual competant selves.
There’s something off-putting about Aaron’s personality. I think he’s confused and hurt because he tries hard and dances pretty well, but people just don’t like him. He can dance, and given more time and maturity, he might really be able to wow people. Unfortunately, he’s running out of time. He’s so long-legged that he looks almost spidery on the dance floor.
I wasn’t nearly as impressed with Kelly’s latin as the judges were. And Carrie Ann’s right - the thing with the doll went on a little too long. But she does seem to have conquered her fears, and I’m glad for her sake that she’s gotten this far.
It’s hard for me to see people who really, truly try hard get the boot. It’s one thing if they just go through the motions, or don’t have any talent. But to watch people do their best, only to have theat not good enough, breaks my heart a little.
StG
Derek is a freaking genius. But the fact is that Joanna has danced pretty well from the first episode. He’s a hell of a choreographer (especially, but not limited to, the Paso last night), and he knows how to get the best from his partners. But he still needs the raw material. He couldn’t have done what he’s done with Joanna with any of the other women this season except Mya. Joanna merits some credit. I agree with El_Kabong that that Paso was one of the best dances ever on the show.
I don’t understand why Donnie’s Paso was marked so low, especially compared to Kelly’s jive immediately preceding, which I didn’t care for at all. As Carrie Ann mentioned, the doll was a bit creepy (and I didn’t see a connection with either the song or the sixties), the jive itself was a bit sedate, and it didn’t have many sixties elements. I was old enough to be aware of dances during that decade, and as far as I can remember, nobody ever did the fingers at the eyes thing; that, to the best of my knowledge, was an invention in Pulp Fiction.
On the other hand, while Donnie and Kym’s costuming was a tad over the top (he looked more like Prince than Adam Ant to me, but then I don’t remember Adam Ant very well), I thought they did a quite competent Paso.
Mya and Dmitri were perfect, as usual. But she doesn’t get the audience love that Donnie and Kelly do.
I will be extremely surprised if Aaron doesn’t go down tonight. The big question is, who will go down next week?
The doll was a reference to the first line of the song…“When I was a little girl I had a rag doll…” (River Deep, Mountain High – Ike & Tina Turner), which was released in 1966.
The finger/eye dance was, I think, part of the “Batusi”, as done by Batman on the TV show.
Aaron and Kelly in the bottom two, Aaron down this week. Next week, Kelly, and I suspect that Joanna will be the one sharing the red light.
Derek’s choreography on the paso was awesome. I understood why their quickstep looked a little underrehearsed after I saw that dance.
Oh, geez, and I forgot to say that I think Mya’s may have been the technically best samba we have ever seen on DwtS.
You’re quite right about the first point, and I don’t remember but can’t refute the second part. Thanks for setting me straight.
Behold…the Batusi!
I love the internet. Batman…not so much.
Well, that was pretty horrifying. But it sure as hell wasn’t indicative of general dancing during the sixties. I suspect that, but for Pulp Fiction, the Batusi would have remained as obscure as it should have.
…aaaaand the results are in:
Aaron’s out the door.
Yo, ABC: this is the first results show I’ve watched all the way through this season. Why? Dance Center. Just pointing that out.
(Although the first segment was a lot funnier than the second, IMO.)
It’s on against So You Think You Can Dance, which is – sorry – my favorite show, so I was mostly checking in during commercials there. Missed “Dance Center” (dammit, that is usually funny), but did catch the reprise of Derek and Joanna’s paso – and the glimpse of Hugh Hefner in the audience, which was creepy and weird. Oy!, you’re right, Joanna isn’t completely without talent – she’s actually turned out to be a pretty good dancer, which I don’t think was a given at the top of the season.
So probably Kelly will go home next week, leaving Mya, Donnie, and Joanna for the final three – not a bad final three.
Went back to check my predictions from the beginning of the season. This post was made on 9/29, which I think was Week 2:
Not gonna reconstruct who left when – but I was right on two of the final four, and had identified all of the people who made it to final five. Still think Mark got screwed by that week when Lacey was sick and no one could really work with him, and that if that hadn’t happened he would have outlasted a couple of other people, like Michael.
So – not brilliant prescience, but pretty good. buffs nails