Whoever dressed Sabrina should be ashamed of themself. I know she doesn’t have a conventional dancer body, but that made the worst of it. Still, I liked that dance in spite of itself (and that they started out out of sync). Of the four, Apolo & Karina’s part was the weakest.
I liked the other dances, too. But nothing seemed spectacular.
The celebs seem nervous about this weeks voting. Fans may forget to vote since the dancing is split over two nights and no elimination.
I voted online for Melissa and Sabrina even though their dances are Tues. Not sure if I can vote for them again (online) Tues or not.
I didn’t vote last night since I wasn’t sure if that would use up all this week’s votes or not. If not, I halved my possible votes by not doing so, I guess. Hm. Didn’t think that one all the way through.
I guess it was good for Kirstie because she rarely makes it all the way through a Ballroom dance. There’s usually shoe or American Woman type nonsense so it absolves her of proper technique. What I’m not crazy about is Maks’ choreography or the way you can drive a truck between the two of them. That’s not even close to good dance position. Like Hough and Shawn, this is biggest problem I have with Latin dancers feining good Ballroom.
That’s funny, because my biggest problem with Latin dancers feigning good standard is when they glue themselves together, arch their backs to create an artificially big top, then try to move while shoving each other. I would much rather see distance between a couple where each member is on their own balance. (The other thing I hate is the way the men all stretch their left arm out to make themselves look bigger, dragging their partner in front of them. The left elbow should be a 90-degree angle, and the size should be happening on their right, not their left.)
My dance instructor always taught me tummies together and then a gentle roll back to dance position, arms up and shoulders relaxed. Properly connected you should balance on your own. Agree that Latin dancers are too angular so the shapes are boxy instead of flowing. But I also want to see appropriate dance position that allows movement as one, and that’s no where near achievable when so far apart.
Really? I know, these are professionals, not celebrities. But I think they’ve got the “movement as one” covered, without sticking their tummies together. I agree that Kristie and Max are too far apart, but I would vastly prefer a few inches of distance with each member of the couple dancing on their own balance, and I think that’s fully achievable.
What… did I just watch.
Where was the main character in the Gangnam Style dance? He’s central to the whole thing. At first I thought Emmitt was playing him but then it just turned into a blur of dancers. I didn’t see much of the original dance at all. I was expecting Kelly to be the sexy lady the Gangmam dude seduces. But that didn’t happen. What a disappointment.
I loved Sabrina’s waltz. She nailed the elegant sophistication. Melissa did pretty good too. I wasn’t thrilled with the choreography. The Tango just didn’t have the movement that I expected.
Shawn danced well but I didn’t see much passion in that Rumba. It was the same cold dance style she always does.
Ok, now that I’ve had time to process THAT nonsense…
There’s no way the scores for that group dance were anything close to fair. The “Call Me Maybe” dance was coordinated, skillful, and entertaining. The “Oppa Gagnam Style” dance was indeed a total hot mess - one that was amusing to watch, but mostly in the same way watching people fail the Cinnamon Challenge on Youtube is amusing. And Kirstie/Maks was painful.
This is a freaking dance competition. That was… I don’t even know.
The individual dances were pretty good overall. Len was right in criticizing Shawn’s Rumba. No hip action at all. Derek cleverly diverted attention with the heavy fog and elevated set.
Apolo did a very technical Samba. Karina really made him work this week. Some of those moves were pro level. Apolo did pretty good considering the tough choreography.
Lets all pretend the Gangnam Group dance never happened? It was just a figment of our imagination. 
Gangnam group number? It was announced but never happened.
Gangnam happened. Wish it hadn’t. It was beyond awful. Still the judges all gave them 9’s.
Much better dances tonight than last night. My personal favorite was Sabrina and Louie’s waltz. Seemed to flow beautifully. Loved Derek’s choreography for Titanic number. Shawn didn’t emote as well as the actresses in the group, but she is leaps and bounds over how she used to be.
Judges scores were way weird. Everyone tonight got 27 with Sabrina getting a 29.5. Carrie was just downright nasty and pickier than usual. Derek and Shawn had a catch that she ruled a lift and scored them down for it. An 8. Puleese.
Anyway, after the over the top performances last week, this week was bound to be a little bit of a let down. Next week will hopefully be back to their high standards.
I’m thinking the bottom three this week was Kirstie, Emmitt and Kelly. But they have a chance to redeem themselves next week.
Wow.
That was just awful. Multiple levels of awful. On the chance that any of them make it to the finals, they should be very worried about their freestyle choreography because that was terrible. There wasn’t a single redeeming feature of that dance.
As for the rest, I liked the rumba. I thought Sabrina’s arm choreography was weird. And neither the samba or tango wowed me.
Just re-watched the dances and Emmitt and Cheryl did not do samba roll in their routine. Karina made a big deal about that when rehearsing with Apolo, saying how it is a basic samba move that the judges would be expecting to see. So why then did Emmitt receive a 29? Apolo’s routine was infinitely harder, yet judged harshly receiving only a 27.
I freakin loved the Gangnam Style! The audience was entertained and it had so many fun references to the video. Thank heavens people can lighten up on this show. I sure as hell loved it over a bunch of so called “technical” cheerleaders. Leave it to a cheerleader and a cheetah to choreograph something you’d see in highschool. Besides it’s been done before and better. Kym Johnson’s cheerleader/drumline freestyle was so much better and more creative in Season 12. Gangham is all the rage because it’s ridiculous, and the team did ridiculous justice.
As for the other dancing:
Shawn did something resembling a Rumba but no Rumba to be found. Absolutely no hip action. I’m sure Derek made sure they kept the camera off her vacant face, because one shot was all it took to know she didn’t know what the hell she was supposed to feel, so just don’t smile, that will do it. The catch was a lift, since in Rumba you can never have assisted two feet off the ground, if Derek didn’t assist her, she’d be over the edge of the stage.
Apolo did a very ambitious Samba, but I fault Karina for putting in bachacatas, when Apolo clearly can’t do them. Rule one of good choreography, never make a dancer look awkward, and those brief moments that Bruno commented on happend precisely because she choreographed it right in front of the judges. As for Carrie Ann she’s on crack, Apolo had a very fun personality out there. But Len gave the appropriate score 9.5 tying him with Gilles and Emmitt and Sabrina.
Melissa Rycroft’s feet were simply horrible in the Tango, I was shocked there was no mention of the footwork, very messy, no heel leads, she simply got dragged around by Tony in frame. Also there was no staccato. I guess that’s an accomplishment.
Sabrina Bryan’s dance was a little over the top, for me it requires softeness of movement through the topline and she’s still pushing it a little too hard, the footwork was clean and very nice to see.
I don’t think you heard Karina correctly. It’s an advanced move that the audience appreciates when it’s done well. Apolo did it pretty well. But putting in advanced moves only makes it easier to make mistakes, like he did on the bachacatas. Even Derek Hough wouldn’t let Nicole Scherzinger the so called ringer of season 10 do bachacatas because they’re very difficult to do and she would have struggled with them.
It takes smart choreography to play up a celebrities strengths, as Cheryl plays up Emmitt’s natural rhythm for Samba, rather than advanced moves that can easily knock points off if not clean.
Louis and Karina (his former International dance partner) both insist on putting difficult moves in their choreography. They are former champions and don’t settle for 2nd rate anything. It does bite them on the ass once in awhile. The judges are much harsher on a failed advanced moves than not doing one at all. Difficulty of routine means nothing to these judges.
That’s why I’ve always disliked Derek. Not only does he keep the moves simple but he often doesn’t even bother doing the assigned dance. Like Shawn’s non-Rumba last night. I’m guessing he couldn’t get her hips going in rehearsal so he just skipped that part of the dance. He puts her out there in a sheet, cue the fog machine and it’s showtime! The judges lap it up and rarely say anything. He’s gotten a lot of mirrorballs that way. But I respect Louis and Karina a lot more as real competition dancers.
I agree about Derek,particularly this season as we’re getting far too much gym time in dances that should never be about gymnastics, but I think Louis often pushes the envelope too much with difficult choreography and his celebriites end up looking awkward. He’s had a lot of “deer in the headlights” moments from a lot of his celebs. Sabrina is the first one who can take it on, but she’s a choreographer herself and has a shorthand dance vocabularly to make it work.
I think Karina sufficiently dumbed down the choreo for JR to look good, again, JR has a natural rhythm for Samba like Emmitt so you take advantage of that rather than complicated technical dancing to put across a strong performance.