Dancing With the Stars Season 11 Premiere

Oh gosh, I hardly know any of these celebs. Did Margaret Cho mean to trip going down the stairs? Why does Bristol Palin look so frumpy? I guess we’ll find out the answers to these questions and more as the show progresses 🙂

Okay, Tony and Audrina’s Cha Cha: Wow, she looks like a young Marie Osmond. Well, she had no turnout, which, you know always bugs me. And she lifted her feet off the floor too often; you’re supposed to trace the floor with your toe in Latin. And she looked nervous and thus a bit stiff. You can tell she’s not a natural. It looked like she was trying hard to concentrate and remember her steps. But that’s totally normal for a first-timer. But I think she’ll do okay. This was just the first week. I think she can definitely improve. Hmm, her scores (19) were pretty low for the judges’ relatively high praise.

Kurt and Anna’s Viennese Waltz: Aw, sweet how he walked up and kissed his wife at the end. You know, compared to those okay, somewhat hideous rumba and Argentine tango walks in his practice sessions, his VW was really quite nice. He had decent shaping in his upper body, he had a certain debonair (as Carrie Ann said) quality about his lower body movement, and he was a good partner for her and made her look good. He jumped a little in some of those pivot turns, but overall, he did far better than I was expecting. He’s not a natural either and if he doesn’t work hard, he’s going to be out early on, but I do think if he got the waltz down that well after those horrid-looking rumba walks early on, he can work hard and do well. He gets a 19 as well.

Kyle and Lacey’s Cha Cha: I love this guy’s personality! I’ve never heard of him before, but he’s so sweet! Loved that Cha Cha! As does the audience! He doesn’t have dance training because his feet weren’t turned out and his hip motion wasn’t proper, but he totally has a natural sense of rhythm and he’s willing to do anything and really go over the top, and wow, he can just really move! And they work well together because she’s a goof too. Why why why do I always think of Ashley Bouder when I see her?… Even with her new blonde hair. I totally agree with Carrie Ann – he’s my first season crush. The judges are being nuts tonight. He only gets a 23, and he was so much much better than the first two?…

Rick and Cheryl’s Viennese Waltz. Cheryl’s got another tall tall athlete. Why don’t they give her people more her size!? Whoa, was that polished and beautiful and romantic and charming and sensual and dreamy and gorgeous and elegant and just perfect or what? I’m so shocked. Mr. smoothie, totally. That was absolutely beautiful. No height problems whatsoever. I don’t know how, but his posture was absolutely stunning. Wow. I mean, that kind of dancing is what made me fall in love with ballroom. He just epitomized that, really brought me back to the first time I walked into the Marriott Hotel at the Brooklyn Bridge during the Manhattan Dancesport Championship and knew I had to do this. Hehe, I love Carrie Ann’s comment about him being a “fox.” Dorky, but, I mean, I totally agreed 🙂 I mean, seriously, what a name! 22???

Margaret and Louis’s Viennese Waltz: Haha, I love her: “When I signed up for this I thought I was going to be putting on dresses and being all pretty. I didn’t know I was signing up for therapy!” It would have been fun if they could have had a little illustration of that during her following practice session, because learning to ballroom dance as an adult is definitely similar to therapy in many ways. Well, I wasn’t sure exactly what they were doing with this. I thought she did pretty well with the steps, but it was obvious they were trying to have her be vicious and nuts with that cape, and it was obvious to me she intentionally got all twisted up in it. I didn’t think they needed the humor and theatrics. She could dance pretty well, it seemed, and I agree with Len that the Viennese Waltz wasn’t a really good dance to try all the comedics with. That would have worked much better with a Paso Doble.

Brandy and Maks’s Viennese Waltz: Well, I thought they looked lovely in closed position. She had good shaping and kept up with the footwork. I didn’t like as much when they opened out into open position. I didn’t like her arms; they looked a bit spaghetti-ish. She just kind of threw them up and out and didn’t really finish the line. And it looked like she was getting a bit dizzy with the turns – which is not at all odd – they’re hard especially when done so fast like that. I mean, I know on the first one she was supposed to swoon, and fall into his arms. But then when she went and did the chaine turns on her own it looked like she got dizzy again. They’re hard though. Maybe Maks was just giving her a lot. I’m kind of shocked at the judges though. They gave her a 28. I didn’t think she was that good.

Bristol and Mark’s Cha Cha: I loved it! And I loved her! She seems really sweet and shy, like a regular girl who didn’t ask for all the attention she got. She was nervous, like anyone who’s not a natural performer would be, but she was really good with the rhythm. Her hips were working really well, even though you can tell she felt uncomfortable. She had a hard time getting the steps down – she forgot a few, and was looking down at her feet a bit, which can really put you off balance. But wow, I thought she had a natural talent. She had the leg action right for a Cha Cha. She kept her legs straight, which a lot of newbies don’t do and it looks sloppy. She had really good leg lines, unbelievably. With a lot of training, honestly, she could go far. Wow, I’m really pretty stunned. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for once I was actually kind of annoyed at Mark for being his usual show-off, because I really wanted to watch her. Her scores were too low.

Florence and Corky’s Cha Cha: Cute. I mean, I don’t have much else to say. I really like Corky so I hope she doesn’t leave too early. I don’t think she will just because of who she is. But to me she was reminiscent of Buzz Aldrin, Cloris Leachman. She is better than they were though. She got the steps right, no flubs. She got an 18, which is okay.

Michael and Chelsie’s Viennese Waltz. He was fine. He was actually pretty good, especially his posture, since his frame was so hunched over during practice. He looked a little unsure of himself, and flubbed a step or two, and looked a little unbalanced. He also didn’t really have the rise and fall down; he was too jumpy, which I think results from making every step into a rise. But it’s only the first night; I think he can do better with more practice.

Mike (am I supposed to call him The Situation?) and Karina’s Cha Cha. Ha, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at someone’s practice session! He was just such a joker. Really making fun of himself, and, yeah, he was pretty funny. He didn’t have the form down at all, but he was so much fun, and he has rhythm and a natural movement ability. Those knee and shoulder shimmies were really good. And he had a section of really fast cha chas that were really really good. He definitely has potential. One of my favorites if mainly because he makes me laugh. He gets a 15 from the judges.

Jennifer and Derek’s Viennese Waltz. That was really good. It’s interesting though – because it seemed she did some of the harder things better than some of the easier. She did those turns beautifully, and the arabesque, and those hard pivot turns and her beautiful frame that she maintained throughout during all of that dancing in closed handhold. But then some in-between steps just looked a bit awkward, like it seemed like she was on the wrong foot when she went to arch back at one point, and she couldn’t arch as far. Anyway, it was really lovely and I’ll be excited to see her go further and see what more she can do. It’s so odd how that nose job makes her look so fundamentally different. I couldn’t get over that when she had that TV show on several years ago and I still can’t. It’s like she really isn’t that same person who was in Dirty Dancing. Wow, a 24. I didn’t think she deserved the highest score of the night.

Kim and David’s Cha Cha. Kim looked cute. But him? Well, he seemed to have fun, but he doesn’t have a natural sense of rhythm or musicality and he seems to have a hard time learning steps. So I’m not sure how far he’s going to go here. “It’s never too early to panic,” is what Len says. He gets a 15 from the judges.

So my early favorites are Bristol, Kyle, and Rick. And I’m interested to see how Mike / The Situation and Jennifer progress. What about you guys? Did you guys like Brandy? I feel like I missed something with her…