Divas With Male Backup Dancers

Okay, everyone who said “Dance War” would get better was right. I think the show is generally more focused on the singing — both from the judges’ and camera operators’ perspectives — which disappoints me, but I’ll still watch it. This week I noticed that many times the camera would focus on the person singing — especially with the girls — excluding the people in the background who, in some cases were doing some of the more difficult dance moves. Just when someone (I think it was Kelsey) went to do a grand battement, the camera right then left her and homed in on the girl singing, so you missed the full extent of the kick. Movement definitely took a back seat. Anyway, that’s probably why I thought everyone was such crap at dance last week.

I thought the guys were overall the better dancers — although I’m still seeing a lot of floor gymnastics; but the choreography they were given was generally faster, more varied, and slightly more challenging than that of the girls, who basically just did sexy stylized walks and a few stationary pelvic rolls (and, happily, at one point, a set of double pirouettes) while belting out lyrics. The three-woman “Lady Marmalade” completely blew me away, and I have to say, that was the first time in the whole show that I think I actually understood what Bruno was saying. I definitely get when he’s excited or let down, but on this show I can’t always make out the English, which is weird since I don’t think I’ve had that problem on DWTS. I think Mariel, the girl Carrie Ann first picked, is going to be the main diva of the show, followed by Allysa, whom I was really surprised to see be one of the last two chosen. I can’t tell with the guys yet who’s going to stand out, but I foresee basically a battle of female voices backed by sexy male dancing peppered with acrobatic theatrics. We shall see…