Monday, October 20, 2008

DWTS - Week Five

It's narrowing down now. This week showcases four new dances that haven't been in this competition before. Descriptions of the dances are not on the website, so I can't help you (or me) with that here. We'll wing it. Apparently, so will some of the professional dancers. Some are champions in them and some clueless. Should make an interesting show. All right! Let's dance!

The dancetestants are divided into pairs who do the same dance, which makes it easy to compare them with each other.


Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer
Dance: West Coast Swing
Score: 21

Lacey's father Buddy Schwimmer "The King of Swing" brought this dance to the ballroom world and was west coast champion in 1977, and Lacey is a West Coast Swing world champion. They went to her father's studio and had him help. He's one of those types that Craig Ferguson loves - fat people with little feet. He thinks they are so cute. I think of Charles Durning. Ol'

Lance sort of stumbled through this at times and did OK for parts of it, but Lacey was really good. The judges all said that Lacey showcased herself and her talent more than she choreographed to show Lance's strengths. Yeah, that's what happened. The dancers are supposed to make the stars look as good as they can and do the best with what they have to work with. Don't we all?

Ha! George Hamilton was in the audience, and the camera panned over to him. When he realized it, he removed his glasses! Too vain and funny - and so HIM!


Toni Braxton and Alec Mazo
Dance: West Coast Swing
Score: 22

I don't quite get this dance yet. It's not like swing dancing I've seen, and Bruno said it wasn't exactly the west coast swing. Carrie Ann said it's a difficult dance and not quite it yet. Len said they need to regroup and come back strong. So much for specific advice. Hope it's some kind of code the pros understand. Alec said, "Michael Jackson song - you gotta do a moon walk." Sounds reasonable to me, but what do I know?


Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani
Dance: The Hustle
Score: 22

Susan remembers partying at Studio 54 in the 70's and dancing the hustle. Go, Susan, lady with a past! (pot = kettle) After having pain in her foot from when she hurt it before, she went to the hospital to get it checked. Welcome to DWTS: ER. She discovered that she fractured a bone in her foot, and the doctor (or an actor playing one) said the only factor is if she is able to dance through the pain. WTF? She is doing that in gold fringed boots and a gold sparkly dress and of course her boobs that have a zip code of their own. Susan is smiling and dancing through the pain. Tony's blindingly white teeth are, too.

Len wants Tony to quit treating Susan like a china doll. All the judges want her to wow them and get down and really dance! I see what they mean. She and Toni are both sort of aloof/detached with their dances in a way. That might not be the word for it. What do you think?


Warren Sapp and Kym Johnson
Dance: The Hustle
Score: 25

The competition is getting to Warren. He's tired and is pushing himself. I thought he rocked it, AND so did the audience and judges! Way to go!


Cloris Leachman and Corky Ballas
Dance: The Salsa
Score: 21

Cloris is happy to have made it to the half-way mark and wants to stay. I want to win the lottery. She didn't do as well as last week with the tango but moves much better than many people much younger. Not mentioning any names. Bruno said she actually did a salsa and entertained. Len said he likes her because she's the only contestant whose been on there who is older than he is. Cloris asked him how old he is and he said 64. ("Will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I'm 64?") She said he's just a baby, which makes me feel younger already. I thought he might be older, but no. They are giving him a break and having a guest judge sometime they said so he can rest. He and Bruno fly back and forth to London each week to judge the DWTS there as well. Ah the life of jetsetters must be getting to Len. That much overseas travel would wipe me out.

Cloris is a vegetarian and has stayed active. I'm glad to see her performing the dances the last two weeks instead of hamming it up so much. She's shown that she can do it.


Maurice Green and Cheryl Burke
Dance: The Salsa
Score: 28

Cheryl spoke strongly and fussed at Maurice. Well done, Cheryl! She said he was lazy and didn't care. He disagreed and vowed to show her that he wants to win. It turns out that she's trying to get a reaction from him. She's using her various teaching methods on him. Also she was having some problems figuring out the choreography and teaching it to him. It looked really good to me, but I was watching Cheryl more than I was him. Why does something about him bother me? It does though. Carrie Ann hugged him, and Len and Bruno said he was great! They also said Cheryl needs to do to him what she did this week because it worked. All 9's!!


Brooke Burke and Derek Hough
Dance: The Jitterbug
Score: 29

Derek has never done the jitterbug before in his life and did internet research. He's a quick study. They performed a fun dance to "Don't Be Cruel" which brings back good early Elvis memories. The judges praised Brooke again and said it was a stylish rendition of American Graffiti. Kudos all around! Two tens!


Cody Linley and Julianne Hough
Dance: The Jitterbug
Score: 28

The jitterbug is also new to Julianne. The Hough siblings are ignorant of the ways of this dance! No internet research for Julianne, yet ever the pro, she did it! The judges raved and said he was suited for this dance, which was fun and entertaining. Well done, Julianne for the choreography and Cody for performing it! I have never jitterbugged either but have done the bop. Who else has done that dance?

Hmmm, now who will get my votes? I can't get excited or enthusiastic about any of them all that much. I wonder what the dances will be next week?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Funny but this was the first performance I have liked. I thought everybody stepped up a notch.the only one i didn't turn on to was Susan..perhaps for the same reasons as her critics have said before. Seemed to me they carefully designed everything for her to merely walk through as elegantly as one can do a walk.I know she professed to care but she didn't realy come across that way to me.And the 54 reference made me laugh- that she even remembers she was there. Who did?
This time i liked Cloris more because she found a way to utilize her many talents that all complemented a focus on the performance. she never fails to "work the floor' as old burlesque fans would say. Overall there was more nuance to her work than slapstick.Pretty subtle in places and i loved the way she moved. I credit most of this to a young very talented insightful caring teacher.
-I should know...lol
-Charlie

Jimbo said...

You hit the nail on the head with your assessment of Susan and Tony. They do seem disconnected at times. I think she could be great and he is treating her a bit like a china doll. Look at how Corky whips Cloris around the room, she's doing just fine with it.

It was an interesting show...I wasn't thrilled with the West Coast Swing, I wouldn't be sad if they didn't bring it back. I LOVED the Jitterbug!!!

RookieRuggerLSU said...

While i liked the jitterbug routines - and i think Cody/Julianne got ROBBED as they deserved a 30 - both routines seemed more like the Lindy Hop than the Jitterbug....