That’s what struck me as odd, I think - usually, Len’s just a point off from the other two, but this really seemed to be a swing at Derek. I boo’d, too!!
I was wondering whether they were prepping us for a Maria departure, given the low scores from Len and the uncharacteristically bad edit of Derek.
Derek deserves a lot of blame and so does the dumb a** that give him that crap Bollywood music. Derek’s job was to teach Maria Samba and choreograph a Samba routine. Bollywood would have been fine if it included a lot of Samba content. According to Len and Louis (in his blog) there was almost no Samba in it at all. Based on that, Len would have been totally justified giving a 4. If you order a T-Bone steak, how would you react if they brought you fried chicken?
A lot of the blame is the idiots assigning the music. If they would have given Derek a Samba piece then he would have delivered a killer Samba dance.
Maybe they were wanting to grab a piece of the Bollywood popularity like SYTYCD has done.
I’ve never understood this mindset, when a star’s low scores are somehow “aimed” by the judges at slapping down a pro. Seriously? Why would they do that? Why don’t people just assume that hey, that’s what the judge thought of the dance that the celeb performed, and it has nothing to do with personal feelings about the pro? Why would it?
Len’s tirade was justified, I think, because that dance alluded to a completely different dance style, and has been mentioned did no favors to either style. Len went off on Derek when he and Nicole Scherzinger did a Lindy/swing to a Quickstep and gave them a 6. So he’s done this before, and Derek was ready for that, taking a chance to try and anger the fanbase into voting. It’s a clear strategy on his part.
I think the reason the 7 hurt is Maria is not the dancer Nicole is and that score will dig at her ability as a dancer as well as anger her fanbase. Week 9 will demonstrate if the Hough strategy paid off, or if it solidifies in the voter’s minds Len’s justification for the score.
I’m anticipating a great semi finals - my two cents:
Katherine and Mark have Quickstep and Salsa
The Quickstep should suit Katherine like a pair of long sleeve gloves. Mark has to be careful though about his choreography. He had misses with his best dancers on this. Sabrina, Kristie and Shawn did well but not perfect, and I think in part because Mark did not chose to show the slower “shade” parts of the dance, but went full on with runs and skips and charleston.
The Salsa will be technically strong, but I feel Katherine lacks an earthy quality to her Latin dancing and needs to get into the floor more.
Donald and Peta have Waltz and Samba
Two technically challenging dances. I think Donald has to stop leaning forward with his head as it appears overly aggressive on the Ballroom dances. I think he’ll need to also demonstrate a more lyrical quality, since although the VWaltz to La Donna Mobile was fun, it tended to be rather choppy instead of flow due to the music stops and starts and that helped him compensate for what I think is his lack of flow.
I think the Samba can be fun for him, at this stage he’ll need to improve the legs and feet placement, he got away with a rather messy Jive because the sort of “James Brown” movement lent itself well to the dance, but it won’t be as acceptable on a ballroom Samba.
Maria and Derek have the Argentine Tango and the Jive
No question for me, some of the most beautifully choreographed Argentine Tangos on the show are by Derek Hough. So I anticipate something very lovely. I think all his partners are in love with that dance because of his ability to structure the dance so well. Maria should do as well as Ricki Lake and Lil Kim but it will be extremely difficult to reach the iconic dancing of a Scherzinger or a Jennifer Grey on this dance as the ochos and engaunchos do require precision leg work.
The Jive could be just okay. The feet are her major problem due to injury. I anticipate a lot more in hold work than side by side dancing. Unfortunately for her it’s the side by side kicka flicks and movement that energizes the dance. Derek has alluded to the fact that Maria doesn’t really “hear” the music… so if you lack musicality getting off time is the end result.
William and Cheryl have Tango and Samba
Two more technically challenging dances. I think William surprised himself and unknowingly made a major breakthrough scoring a 30 for a Foxtrot. Len rarely if ever awards a 10 in this dance, because it may look rather easy, but it is deceptively tough technically to do well. So, this for me will help the Tango. I think William went from a rather poor posture on the Quickstep to the best male posture in Ballroom in the competition. He has the Ballroom frame down pat. Arms up shoulders down and relaxed. He has a nice lyrical quality to his movement. The Tango will require more sharper, focussed contra body movement, with quick staccato footwork, but the Ballroom frame must still play promeniently, so if he can accomplish the arrogant style he’ll do quite well.
The Samba should also be fun for William. If he can get the appropriate Samba bounce for this dance the latin rhythms he heard as a child growing up will move this dance forward with a lot of energy. He does tend to get excited on these dances and rush things a bit, so if Cheryl can keep his enthusiasm contained to the footwork, this may be a very pleasing dance to watch. We really haven’t had a good Samba all through this competition, so either Donald or William should make it memorable.
Loved DanceCenter.
Literally, it’s the only thing on DWTS I’m watching this year.
That’s so funny, all the people who say they tuned in just for Dance Center.
This is the only episode I skip in the season because I cannot stand Dance Center.
Quick clarification: I agree about the Bollywood number - that wasn’t a samba…I was commenting on the waltz they did earlier, where Len compliments Maria as having the best hold of the competition, then reams Derek for not enough holds in the routine - and gives them an 8, even tho the routine had been performed well - it seemed he gave the 8 as a ding on Derek not putting enough holds in the routine to suit Len, tho Carrie-Ann and Bruno were happy enough to dole out 10s. Totally agree about Bollywood. Derek earned that 7, and yes, the pickers of the music are ka-RAY-zy. How on earth one is supposed some of those dances to the songs selected? Maybe that’s just to make it more interesting for the pros?
Well, Len explained himself on Good Day LA, yes he felt 5 bars in hold was not enough content in hold for him. And he’s pretty consistent throughout the seasons on that score. I’ve noticed that he definitely wants to see at least two lines of dance in hold on a Ballroom dance. The fact that Maria dances well in hold made him a little miffed that Derek flowered it up . He’s dinged far better dancers, like Mya giving her a 5, or Nicole giving her an 8 for dances lacking the in hold element.
I sure hope Katherine is all right. The way she got all twisted up at the end of her dance was scary. Anytime an athlete gets all twisted up bad things often happen. I just hope it’s not a slipped disc. Mark did his best to keep her from falling and that’s a big plus.
Praying it’s only a sprained muscle. 
It would be such a shame to get injured right at the end of the competition. That belly dance/Salsa she was doing was incredible.
I was outside working in the yard the first hour. I’ll have to acquire the show later tonight and watch. I got in just in time to see Katherine’s salsa and injury.
Recap of tonight. Geez, these scores are insanely close. It’s all coming down to the popular vote for sure.
I gave all 5 of my online votes to Katherine.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2012/05/dancing-with-the-stars-semifinals-tons-of-10s/1#.T7G7U1IRE3E
Yeah, I think they only gave the judges one paddle apiece tonight, with a 9 on one side and a 10 on the other. Not to sound cynical or anything.
Well, this sounds good. Some muscle relaxers and a few days rest will do wonders. Wait! She’s on dwts, there’s never any rest. 
Here’s hoping they don’t find any other issues with her back. I’d guess that a MRI will be done to confirm everything is ok???
She’s still got the freestyle next week. That’s usually lots of lifts and tricks. I sure hope she’s up for it. That’s assuming she doesn’t go home this week.
I wouldn’t even try to guess who may go home. It could be any one of them.
I’ll guess. Either Katherine or Donald.
A Theme has emerged. Or almost emerged. Either it’s “from another country/recent immigrant” or it’s “grew up in poverty.” If it’s “other country” then Donald goes. If it’s “poor” then it’s Katherine. I mean, she did sort of say there wasn’t a lot of money, but compared to the other three? Uh huh.
Actually guessing it’s going to be Katherine.
The scores were a joke for just about everyone tonight.
So they decided to tell William his chaine turns weren’t crisp on the Tango. wow.
And they they proceeded to give Donald with visible footwork mistakes and a slip the same score on that boring unemotional Waltz
Katherine’s QS was okay, except the footwork was bogus on two of the corners and she gets a 10.
And that Salsa was horrible all the way through, absolutely no proper attack, regardless of the ending.
I’d like to know why they threw technicality out the window when it came to Maria.
Her legs were ugly throughout that AT, a re-tread of everything Derek’s done to this point, It was painfully slow and lumbering.
What the hell was that Jive? Fosse toe points? Really…if they were even close to Fosse, where the heck was the Jive? Lost on the Table? a fricken joke.
At least William had a lot of Samba content in his dance. If he goes home over any of this mess tonight it would be crime. Cheryl actually respects ballroom dancing enough to compel her celebrity to learn it, not hide from it.
I loved both of Maria’s dances the best and think she will win it.
At the end of Katherine’s dance when Mark was sweeping his leg over her it looked like he hit her stomach and I thought maybe that’s why she was in pain.
I hope nothing is really wrong with her back and that if she’s sent through to the finals that she’ll be alright.
THANK YOU! I have no training in ballroom, but after watching the show for a while you start to get a basic idea of what’s what, and I was just stunned by those scores. While I love Derek and the AT is my favorite dance, I could easily pick out parts from ATs he’s done in the past. And I do know a bit about the jive (my grandparents were champions back in the day), that was not a jive.
I was telling my hubby that it would be nice if they gave a bit of a primer at the beginning of a season, kind of like they do in figure skating (“For this dance, the judges are looking for X, Y and Z. The contestants are each required to do X. Penalties occur for Y.”) But then I realized it would totally expose what a farce the voting on this show actually is.
I still love the show, but I’ve had to learn to ignore the judges’ scoring. It’s just silly.
Louis van Amstels blog on Semi finals week.