realdancemom

I agree with you. Last week, I thought Roman should have been in the bottom. This week, I thought he had a break through during the group number. It's really difficult for a ballroom dancer to compete in the solo rounds. That has always been the case for this show. I don't know if Roman is a lot older than the others or if it's his Ukraine upbringing, he just seems more serious than the others and is always off to the side. Sorry Roman. You're out since TPTB don't see you causing drama. So stupid to have a showmance. This is not the Bachelor. Contestants previously got together but it wasn't the main focus of the show. I watch for the dancing. They purposely put Dakayla and Anthony in the bottom to showcase their relationship. Allison said that he was too goofy in the Broadway number which is dumb. If anybody is too goofy, it would be Jaylin. Mariyah should have been in the bottom too. She was great last week but the bump did throw her off. She was out of it more than Dakayla was. Maybe, they figured it was Braylon that bumped into her. In live shows though, you have to bounce back even from somebody else's mistake. Edit - Maks had a funny moment last week. Someone in the audience yelled "I love you" to Jojo. Jojo said thank you. Maks said, "Not if you had to sit with her for 12 hours" or something like that. At the same time, his hand was making the yakking motion.

Unfortunately with the ratings, they're not going to have a long season. I'm surprised the show came back at all. Except for the cast, it doesn't feel like the same show.

Although I agreed with the judges based on what the show wanted to show us, I think the two women will be fine. Olivia mentioned doing Broadway. I can see Avery joining a professional Classical company. Easton dances like a competition dancer. He's good but he tends to do more tricks than I like. I can see why though based on how competitions are judged.

I agree with the cuts from the top four. Although, all four solos were really good. Olivia was an obvious cut since she looked uncomfortable in the video. Too bad that next week is Broadway since that's what she is comfortable with. When Avery auditioned, I mentioned that she was technically the best out of the three friends. I did think that the third girl emoted better though. I think that emoting is Avery's weakness. I thought Braylon was out when they announced Easton and so did he. I was thinking they were eliminating one girl and one guy. That was cruel. I'm going to have to agree with the judges though. Not so much with what I saw with the video. His solos are outstanding. I mentioned that I liked his audition. During the choreography rounds, he didn't look as strong. He's a better soloist. Roman should have been in the bottom instead of Easton. I wonder if choreographers give feedback to the judges. Roman didn't even do much with the first number. I don't know why we have to keep certain genres since the show is not making them do different styles. Jaylin did well in the video. Phillip was a good choreographer for him since he knows how to mix hip hop with contemporary.

I also remember the look on Fikshun's face. This season reminds me of WOD where we don't get to vote. Before the season started, I didn't think we would vote and figured the show wasn't live. However, I thought it would be like the last season where the audience could vote. I thought they did a pretty good job and I think Alexis would not have won if voting was open to everyone. Female ballroom dancers previously didn't do so well with votes.

Even though Easton stood out, I thought the first group did pretty good. The last group was a hot mess. I guess they wanted a hip hopper. While I do agree that he has a big personality, that really only works for solos. I didn't think he partnered well. He was just trying to make himself stand out. I did like this episode since they mostly showed dancing. I don't remember some of their choices. Still leary about living arrangements since I only see drama doing that. I do like having the contestants experience different types of performances.

I think the "reality" part is going to get worse. It's already scripted. I just don't see how showing the finalists living in the same house is not going to show more scripted drama. I'm still watching since this was once my favorite show. From the auditions though, I didn't see any hip hop dancers go through and only one ballroom guy. We need variety. I think Avery, the pointe dancer from the three friends, tried out for SYTYCD Jr. She was technically the best from that group. I liked the first contemporary guy from this episode. I don't see how the girl with the wheel chair can partner with somebody without changing the choreography. I don't see her making the cut. I think it was fine to show her audition for awareness like Bryan Gaynor. Nigel was clear though that he couldn't see Bryan partnering with anybody.

I also liked that all three judges were experts on different genres. I also wish that Comfort could have stayed. At least, Nigel wasn't in this set of auditions so they could use footage without re-filming. I have no idea if he was in other auditions so they couldn't use that footage. I hope they don't try to have too much drama when they show contestants living together. I just want to see dance and the learning process.

Comfort would be great. I'm guessing that she's busy which I'm happy for her.

Well, Jojo is better than Leah. At least, she gave a little more dance advice. However, I don't really see her adding much. They should have a hip hop specialist. I thought Dominic was pretty good. Not as good as Twitch but better than Laurieann Gibson.

I didn't like Mary's screeching either. I'm glad that there is a ballroom judge but it would have made more sense to use a previous ballroom contestant. I know that they probably can't use current pros like Artem and Jenna. But there were previous pros like Lacey, Dmitry, and Chelsie Hightower. Or you could use others that haven't been DWTS pros like Kiki, Ryan, Iveta, etc. I guess followers/fans play into it and Make probably has a lot of fans. And Make is a great ballroom dancer. He has great presence. I don't like his teaching style, e.g slapping Brandy's butt, being too aggressive with Hope, etc.

I agree that any of the five could have won for various reasons. I'm also a non-Latina senior that doesn't do TikTok. I watched Dr. Strange but not the second one. I didn't know Xochitl before this season but she won me over. As for Charity, I thought she had a strong night. As I previously mentioned, I think she won the redemption round. Her freestyle was the one that was the most unique and showcased her talents.

Yes, it has happened before but not for the semi finals. I had a crush on Greg Brady growing up but I'm glad that Barry didn't win.

Three hours was long and they still waited until credits were rolling to announce the winner. Sheesh!! Redemption round - don't know what CAI saw but Charity won this round to me. She was fierce. I think Xochitl should have been the one that scored a 9 instead of Charity since there was an obvious missed hand grab. A little bit after that, there was a slight pause as if their arms got a little tangled. Jason also deserved 10s for his foxtrot. Ariana's samba was not that good and should have been a 9 instead of a 10. Freestyles: Charity - almost anything goes for freestyles so I loved the high flying tricks and flips in her freestyle. If I was going to give a critique, she looked a little hesitant again and it was probably because of her previous injury. I wouldn't say that out loud if I was a judge though and she deserved 10s for her stunts. The top four scores were really close so she might have been the one to go last week. Jason - Wow!! That was fast and technically difficult. Also, Jason still put plenty of his personality in the dance. I think Jason got what he wanted from the show which is publicity for his tour. I'm sure he didn't go into this show thinking that he would win. He and Alyson were the only finalists that I knew before the show. I'm old though so he probably got new fans. Ariana - she is a strong woman and the freestyle would have been great if it was a contestant stronger in hip hop. I think doing this show probably gave her leads on more acting roles. Also so nice to see Pasha thrive this season with a good partner. Alyson - lovely beginning and fun ending. Freestyles don't always get 10s and she's not on the same level as the others. Still would have given a 10 and let the fans decide. Xochitl - I loved her freestyle. It was a nice mix of cultural styles. Production was great. I even saw Derek standing up and taking notice. The audience was shouting her name afterwards just like they yelled Barry's name after his dance off. Friends and family - highlights were Jason's cat and Milo's comment. Extra performances were fun. Happy with the results since Jason and Xochitl were my top two all season. The finalists pretty much finished in the order that I liked them all season although I liked Jason as much as Xochitl. Xochitl is joyous when she dances and I like her partnership with Val.

I did not watch the season with Donny and Mya. I was rooting for Normani to win but I was ok with Rashad winning. He worked hard for that win. I think he put in double the practice as everyone else. Plus Emma got her first win. Back then, I didn't want David Ross to win until Bobby Bones won. After his win, I said on this forum that if somebody can't really dance, I would rather have a nice guy like David win.

They need some youth on the male side too. Derek, Mark, and Val used to get the minors but they're getting older. Val mentioned that he's 20 years older than Xochitl. I think Alan and Brandon are the youngest. Maybe, it's time to promote Ezra.

We never know what ABC or production is thinking. Overall, they care about ratings and attention which translates to advertising dollars. So I'm going to play along with conspiracy theories for fun. Maybe, they weren't trying to hold onto a specific contestant but a certain group. I'm talking about the Swifties. They had the most votes that night. For the freestyle, Alyson is doing a mashup which includes one of Taylor's songs. So maybe, they're hoping that they tune in again to watch. They did vote for Alyson and Xochitl since they saw that they went to her concert. This might get Sasha's first win.

Even though Amber came in with lots of Glee fans, this is how you get new fans. Technically, Corbin was the better dancer the whole season. He was a nice guy but had a Disney persona. So he was proper, a little reserved,etc. in contrast to Amber's contagious personality. I think finale night sealed Amber's win. Corbin did make a mistake in his fusion dance. His freestyle was good and he would have probably won on a different season. Derek choreographed a unique freestyle with Amber that used her knowledge of stomping. It was the better freestyle. This is why I hate that the finale is three hours on one night. Previously, I always voted for the best freestyle. That's who I want to win this season. Now, I don't vote since I live in the West coast. Wish the finale was spread over two nights.

She had an ankle injury. It's probably not fully healed just like Ariana's back isn't healed. So maybe, she didn't get the jive because of that. She certainly has the personality to perform a jive. I only watched her samba once. I didn't think it should have earned a 10. I said that in a previous post. Did she do an awkward body roll? I thought she was attempting a slowed down bachacata but didn't succeed. They were practicing them during rehearsals. It's also the reason why I don't think Val took it easy on her when it comes to choreography. That step is harder than a samba roll and she has the back flexibility to do samba rolls. Maybe, Val wanted something different.

When voting is involved, the best technical dancer doesn't always win. That's why Nigel stressed that SYTYCD is finding America's favorite dancer not best dancer. SYTYCD mostly has unknown contestants while DWTS has stars and some of them have big fan bases. Bobby Bones won and he definitely was not the best dancer. He didn't even have an appealing personality. I'm saying this because Alyson could win even though she's not on the same level as the others. Do I want her to win? No. At least, I can say she did improve a lot and I like her personality. It would also be Sasha's first win. I would have preferred if he won with Suni but I would have also preferred if Sharna won with James instead of Bobby. I'll just enjoy the free styles. Also Alyson does seem joyful when she dances. That's what I like about Xochitl. Or sometimes, people just want to see somebody give it their all like Barry did during his dance off. Jason was better technically but he was sick that day so he didn't perform as well as he usually does. Before the dance off, I thought Jason was going to win easily.

I remember Charli getting lots of criticism about lack of personality on this forum and I know CAI mentioned it. Her mom got the same criticism. CAI also gave the same criticism to other bachelorettes except with Gabby. I will say that both Charli and Charity did improve when it comes to performance. Nobody could touch Charli when it comes to technique. That's to be expected with her dance training even if she never trained in ballroom.

I'm grateful for the Swifties. I don't need to see Harry doing a freestyle. I think it was always planned to have five finalists. You can't just insert an extra person and have them do two routines, their journey story, etc. My theory is that they wanted extra stuff like Alfonso and Julianne, Mark and Charli, previous contestants stuff, Jason's song, etc. It was already over two hours so they wanted to fill three. Votes and scores for this week still count. They just get added to next week's votes and scores. I think judges will give a lot of tens. They were handing them out like candy last night. I don't think anybody earned a 10 during the first round. I would have given 9s except Alyson. I would have scored an 8. Second round was better. Len would love Pasha's and Danelle's choreography. It's back to traditional ballroom and Latin not fused with other styles. Danielle did mix it up with Iman to work with his strengths but not this season.

I first saw Pasha and Daniella in world of dance. That's why I knew they were married.

Yay!! Jason is back and Harry is gone!! I was resigned to having him in the finals. What a come back for Jason. His AT deserved a perfect score. So much technical difficulty and I loved the wink. In the cha cha, he won with just his walk. After watching Harry's rusty hips, it was so nice to see Jason's hips move so effortlessly. Xochitl is so joyful when she dances. She makes me smile. I did see improvement with Harry. He seems better with faster dances like quickstep and jive. Still glad he's gone. Sorry Alyson. Even though you improved more than Harry, I would rather see the other four freestyles. They will have more content and Sasha gives you elementary school choreo. Latin is not your friend. You have a lot of fans though so if not you, I hope it's Charity since she still doesn't perform. Although she probably has a lot of Bachelor fans too.

This season is interesting since we don't know who could go home at any week. Except for Harry, I would be ok if any of the other contestants win for various reasons. It doesn't mean that I I don't have favorites. Getting the first big Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy is a big deal so it would be a shame if Harry won. That article linked above states that Taylor is voting for Harry and it sounds like she's encouraging others to do so too. Yikes!! I didn't know Harry before and I don't know why he has such a big fan base. However, even an old person like me, knows Taylor and we don't need her influencing young people to vote for Harry even more.