Since my two posts for the weekend were quite sobering (and long — that’s what 8 hours’ worth of testimony looks like, folks), I figured I’d end the Easter weekend with something a bit more upbeat.
So here it is.
Thanks to Sharon for this. It’s former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy‘s thoughts thus far on the show, most of which I agree with:
“Hey ‘KIDS’!
Just wanted to check in and say that I am proud of you watching the show and not doing the whole…..boycote…thing, because I’m not on it.
I will be back to share with you what I thought about the dancers/couples in couple of weeks. Simply because I need more time to evaluate everything and give you my opinion.
To give you a taste:
Kristy was AWESOME!!! (as expected). Let’s see if she would be able to pull off a latin dance with hip-action and everything (after all gliding in Foxtrot and gliding in skating may not be so different)
Jason Taylor was very good. He is the new Emmit Smith, but younger and (in my heterosexual opinion) sexier (sorry Emmit )
Christian DeLa….whatever WILL be better! I think that Cheryl is pacing herself and just letting Christian turn into the dancer that he should be instead of forcing him to become something unnatural.
Mario …..Not enough given his natural talent and ability. Will be the front runner later in the season.
Marlee…..GREAT! Fabian (not because he is my friend) did an amazing job catering to her needs and supporting her in every way while highlighting her strong points.
Marisa….HILARIOUS!!!, but that’s all for now
On the other hand…..
Shannon Elizabeth……… NOT what I expected and I’m hoping that Derek can get her to be what she is looked at as: Stacy Kibler of season 6, because for now she is not!
That’s all for now!
Behave you all,
ME!!!
Also, on a Maks-related note, I ordered my tickets this weekend to the Blackpool Dance Festival, the largest, most prestigious ballroom festival in the world! I’m so excited. This will mark my third year at the festival. And, it’s Maks-related because I always see him there 🙂 If not in the actual comp, then in the Italian restaurant across the street from the entrance to the Winter Gardens, where the festival is held. Above, in fact, is a surreptitiously-taken paparazzi photo, by moi, of him watching Valentin compete in amateur Latin two years ago. (Thankfully I now have a better camera…)
I’m so excited! Can it be the end of May now please!!
Here are a couple more pics from my first year at the festival:
Down the street from the entrance to the Winter Garden, where the comp is held.
At the lovely boardwalk. Unfortunately late May is still way too cold there to go in the water.
Inside the Garden.
A crowded street near the WG, where my trusty internet cafe is! It was like 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside on that day, by the way. English people are nuts!
Goddess Karina Smirnoff and her old partner Dmitri Tibouken.
Riccardo Cocchi, dancing for his homeland of Italy, with his old partner. This year he’ll be dancing for the U.S. with our wonderful Yulia Zagoruychenko, pictured below with her old partner, Max Kozhevnikov.
They performed this routine at America’s Ballroom Challenge this year as well, if you remember.
T
The brilliant, longtime Latin champs, Bryan Watson and Carmen, retired last year, leaving the Latin championship wide open. So, that’ll mean new champs. Extremely exciting!
As will be … the fact that my good friend, Mika, is finally competing in the amateur championships!
I’m so excited for her. I wish I was competing, but oh well. It’s far less stressful (and expensive) to watch anyway 🙂
Eep. Google picked you up, I hope Maks doesn’t get mad at me!
Haha! I’m sure he won’t, Sharon! He’s so funny! Thanks again for sending it to me 🙂
Sharon, if you happen to talk to Maks…Tell me him the livejournal.com DWTS community misses him to pieces!
Tanya, you better come back with lots of pictures… I’m so freakin’ jealous of you right now 😉
oh Sharon and Tonya(sorry about misspelling! I’ve been typing a research paper all day), with your permission, can I post Maks’ thoughts in the LJ DWTS community (it is a closed community so nobody but community members read the posts)?
Tonya,
I sure hope not, although if you google him you can get to his message board and find the post with little trouble, so if it was something all that private, I’m sure he wouldn’t have posted it. Katrina, I don’t get to talk to him unless I’m lucky enough to be at one of the tapings he is at. I’ve only been fortunate enough to get to speak with him twice, but he really is just darling. I can pass on your message through Ballroom Dance Channel, if you like, as he maintains an account there. I don’t see why you couldn’t post his comments there. He is really funny, and it makes me proud that I noticed a lot of the same things he did. 😀
Oh, and where it says ‘very happy’, that is an emoticon from his board, lol!
ok… see this is what happens when I don’t read carefully… I thought he’s told you these.. *sigh* I hate school sometimes.
I’m on the BDC 😉 But right now, school is kicking my booty so I’m not on there as much as LJ
I wonder why Maks left out Penn, Adam and Monica (not that I mind about the first two LOL)
Maybe because he thinks they won’t be around long enough to form an opinion about? I’m sorry, that sounded mean. But lets be realistic here, its going to be one of those two guys that goes, and if its not Monica that goes, it will be Shannon Elizabeth. She’s lucky in that she has Derek as her partner, he seems to be among the more popular of the pros, so maybe his fan base will help her. Poor Alec, no one remembers him from the first year so he doesn’t have a fan base to help him when they stick him with the bad partners. No wonder he didn’t come back…
LOL Sharron I totally agree! Although I love Derek and really like Jonathan (he can teach anybody to dance!) but Monica did not seem to want to be there. I really hope Derek can turn Shannon around. If my recollection is right (which at this point in the school year, I don’t know if it’s still working half the time ;)), Stacey wasn’t wasn’t great at the beginning either
No, Stacey was pure gold from week one. I just rewatched that season when they were showing on BBC America. The first week they didn’t just eat her up was the tango.
LOL yah see I’m losing my mind.. That’s what school does for me.. Thanks for the clarification.
Yes, I will defintely report from Blackpool!! You guys have to go there someday!