TV Theme Week on Dancing With the Stars

I’m sorry for getting this up late, you guys! I went to a continuing legal education class last night (cross examination in buy and bust cases – I know, excitement uncontained!) and then I met up with a former colleague and we spent the whole evening catching up (and watching Yankees lose to the Rangers 🙁 ) Well, Jonathan was happy; I was sad. I need a parade! Anyway, I’m watching DWTS late. Here are my thoughts:

Since this is the mid-way point, they start out with critiquing the contestants’ progress. I understand why they do this but I can’t help but find it boring. I like to decide who I think is most improved myself.

First on are Brandy and Maks dancing a Quickstep to the theme from Friends. This week is going to be hard for me to judge since I don’t watch TV, but I did think her dancing was really marvelous. Her footwork was really near perfect. And she had the perfect pizzazz, sass, everything. She looked pretty polished, not perfect but really really close. By far her best dance. Good for her.

Predictably, Florence and Corky dance to The Brady Bunch theme. Aw, sweet how “Greg” (Barry Williams) shows up. I actually do remember him! How crazy that he’s older than Corky! They dance a tango (a standard tango, not Argentine), which doesn’t seem to fit the music theme-wise at all, though I guess rhythm-wise it does. Well, they do another purposefully cartoonish, purposefully goofy dance. I’m not understanding why Corky’s choosing to do these kinds of purposefully overwrought dances with her. Why isn’t he serious? I do think she did the footwork well and had the timing down, and she came through very well with what Corky asked of her. I don’t know. I didn’t like it but feel I can’t blame her for that. What did you guys think? Do you like to see her do goofy and comical instead of seeing how well she can really dance ballroom? Maybe people think it’s more entertaining this way?

Kurt and Anna dance a Quickstep to Bewitched.

Haha, she hasn’t heard of the show and he has to explain it to her! He also says in practice that he had to work at a grocery store at one point because people said he couldn’t play football. No! Oh my gosh, that was one of the best dances I think I’ve ever seen on this show! At least one performed by someone without dance training. Wow, I’m stunned! He was so polished, so swift, he just glided around that floor. Musicality, timing, perfectly acted, perfectly performed, perfectly dapper, perfectly Darren! I can’t believe he just did that. I’m predicting he and Jennifer will be the last two standing in this. And she did the little twinkly things with her nose perfectly as well 🙂

Audrina and Tony dance to The Hills, which I’ve never once seen. They dance a rumba. I didn’t recognize the music at all! Dance was pretty, and pretty well done, if not a bit boring. She did have pretty good hip action – especially in those natural openings out and the sliding door. She’s tracing the floor with her toes more, she’s really doing very well with the technique. You can tell she’s working hard to do things properly, and that should go a long way. And this was a pretty basic routine so she was able to show it.

Kyle and Lacey dance to Charlie’s Angels. They dance a foxtrot, which is another dance that doesn’t seem thematically connected to the selected show. And it’s a Slow Fox – ugh, the most boring of all ballroom dances! Bluck! But it’s also the hardest, and whoa, he did awesomely with that! I do like that Lacey funked it up with all the disco-y moves. If she hadn’t done that, that dance would have bored everyone straight to tears. And disco was perfect since Charlie’s Angels is that time period. Len is nuts. He’s just angry about the disco. Because, seriously, I’m stunned by how right Kyle got that crazy hard rise and fall action, the handhold, the footwork – Slow Fox is damn hard!

Cheryl and Rick dance rumba to Hill Street Blues. I love that he introduces her to Kobe Bryant and his Lakers teammates so he can prove he’s a hard worker and people have actually respected him. She’s so hard on him. She’s a great dancer, but I’d never want to work with her. She, like many dance teachers of adults, forgets that just because people aren’t natural dancers doesn’t mean they’ve accomplished nothing else with their lives. Ugh, she brings back so many bad ballroom memories for me… Anyway, I thought he did well with this. The cucharachas were very nice, very rounded pelvic movement, very good hip action, and very good leg movement. It looked like he was pointing his toes with every step he took and his feet were more turned out than they have been in the past. He’s trying and I think he’s learning well. And, I thought he was a good partner, focusing on her, allowing her to be the picture and himself the frame, and really supporting her.

Bristol and Mark dance a jive to The Monkeys. It’s interesting because she seemed to do much better at the beginning when she was in the monkey costume. She seemed to lack some kind of insecurity with that mask on. She had kind of a hard time getting out of it and then it seemed to make her nervous. Interestingly, she seems to have a way with movement, she’s a good dancer, but she seems to forget the steps when she’s dancing in closed position with him. She does much better when they break apart and dance separately. She does okay with him though, and there’s something fun about watching her dance even if she’s nowhere near pro. There’s just something about her that makes you want to watch her.

And finally, Jennifer and Derek dance a foxtrot to the Love and Marriage song from… what was the name of that sitcom starring Christina Applegate? What was it, what was it? And why didn’t they mention the name on the show? Weird; I couldn’t stop trying to remember what the name of the show was. Anyway, I thought she looked beautiful, and her dancing was lovely. She looked nervous and didn’t have the height on some of her jumps and kicks that he did. I think she seemed more restrained than last time. Probably the stress of the rehearsals when she got into a kind of nasty fight with Derek, who was hard on her like Cheryl was on Rick. I understand how frustrated the pro dancers get, but sometimes this show just brings back bad memories for me. This was one of those weeks…