kitcloudkicker

No, the freestyle is just a big dance with no rules and usually (but not always) lots of production elements. Since they've stepped up the production elements across the board the last few seasons, a lot of people complain (somewhat rightly, imo) that they've lost their impact and aren't a lot different from a regular week dance. You'll get a lot of disagreement on what's "best," but I would look up: -Kellie Pickler & Derek (stripped down, contemporary) -Sadie and Mark (big creative concept) -Val and Rumor (more ballroomy) -Whitney and Alfonso (more jazzy) and you'll get a good range of what they can be nowadays. If you look up ones from older seasons they're a lot different. And other people have probably disagree with me on my picks. (I also like Derek & Amber, Val & Laurie, and Calvin & Lindsey, but I don't know how popular those picks are)

This feels familiar

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is the sort of thing that feels pointless to argue and re-litigate, since none of us were in the room, but I followed Nastia on Instagram after that season and she likes and comments and posts to Derek and Sasha all the time, and never to Henry. If we want to guess at Nastia's feelings.

They usually say " Ray Chew Live!" which for the longest time I heard as "Ray Chulai" - like, as if his last name rhymed with July. It was only last season that I was like, oooooh, LIVE. I geddit.

Kind of related, I suppose, Shirley Ballas announced as a new Strictly judge. (I wish she'd replace Len here)

Tonight was a Normani standout for me. She's been good all along but I didn't love her dances as much as I did this week. The concept & choreography for the contemporary really worked for me - it tackled an emotional moment for her but felt triumphant and not maudlin, which was really nice. And the trio was a cheesefest, but it was danced with such fun that it was infectious, and it worked. (Was that the set that Peta used for her sexy gas station dance with James Maslow?) If I were to rank the dances, based on the very unscientific and biased standard of what I enjoyed watching, I'd put them: Normani's Contemporary Normani's Trio David's Waltz Rashad's Jive Simone's Trio Rashad's Trio Simone's Foxtrot David's Trio Bonner's Dances. Tied, I guess (Don't really care) David's waltz was adorable, especially that move where Lindsey stepped on his feet. His trio was sort of a disaster - terribly stiffly danced and completely overwhelmed by the costumes and the theme. Yeesh, one hit, one miss. I'm still wanting a Normani/Rashad/Simone final three though. I wouldn't hate it if David got in, this is the right final four for me, but Normani/Rashad/Simone are just so cute together, I can't help but root for them.

Oh yeah, I don't blame them for it, they're totally incentivized to try and get hot, and then ride that into the ground until they burn themselves out. (You see this elsewhere in showbiz too, like how a Benedict Cumberbatch or Jennifer Lawrence will be in every movie ever for a while because they're "hot," and the movies will usually start out great but get a liiittle iffier if they start to do too much.) Just for my enjoyment though I wish they'd switch it up a bit, so we get them at their freshest and most creative. Or maybe do a better job at bringing in guest choreographers to breathe a little more creative life into the mix. I know they do this some, I'd be a fan of more of it. I don't know that their egos would handle it, but I think you'd get some more variety.

So much of this. I get that the show is competitive and everyone wants to be on every season to "keep their spot" but I wish the pros were incentivized more to rotate in and out. A larger cast that trades in and out. I usually am a Derek fan but his worst seasons were when he burnt himself out trying to do too many things, you could just see he didn't have reserves in the creativity tank - it would have been better for him to sit those out and come back fresh if he wanted. The same seems to be happening with Val - he needs a break to get some new perspective and inspiration. Then maybe come back. Kinda feeling the same about Witney and Sharna as well. I don't dislike any of them. But I could see them benefitting from a break.

"Judges" aka producers ;P I like the mixup though. The world doesn't need another Val/Maks, Lindsey/Witney, or Sharna/Peta trio. (We get it. You're besties. It's boring.) It'll be nice to see them with new people. I wonder if Sasha/Simone got Brittany because they decided all the guys available were too tall for Simone?

For Britt fans, Kristyn Burtt did a nice interview with her recently. Her background isn't ballroom, but she's been competing in pro-am competitions since booking DWTS to immerse herself in the world. She comes off really level headed and hard working, and like she might be a great addition. http://www.dancenetwork.tv/news/2017/04/dwts-troupe-member-britt-stewart-has-big-goals-beyond-ballroom Also, for troupe watchers, the new guy is Artur Adamski - who apparently should have been there all season but who's work visa just came through. (Canadian)

She has said she plans to fly back for all shows but one or two? I'm not sure which ones though, next week might be one of them.

Yeah, All Access is gone. They've replaced it with (very) occasional Facebook Lives.

They also gave the hint that their dance is "very cold." Do you think they're stuck with "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" Because that's a bummer. Its been a few years since Frozen took over the world but I'm still not over being sick of it. And they've already done "Let it Go" and "Love is an Open Door." Snowman seems like the next best known song. (Bleh)

I find this season interesting in that I haven't been able to figure it out yet. The last few seasons, after the first episode I was pretty damn sure who was going to win. (Was fairly confident about Laurie, Nyle, Bindi, and Rumor after the first episode.) This season, I really don't know. I feel fairly sure Normani will be in the finale. I think Rashad might join her, though that might be wishful thinking because he's becoming my favorite. At the same time, if he ends up in fourth or fifth I'm not going to be surprised. I like Simone, though agree with the comments that she seems a bit flat for some reason. I like Heather, but not convinced she's going to garner the backing. And then there's Lindsey and David -- she's taken a "likable bad dancer who just tries real hard" to third place before with Alek, I wouldn't be shocked if she does it again. Once we get through the obvious low hanging fruit, it's going to get interesting. It might be a season where someone having just one bad week might be enough to sink them.

I didn't get emotional, but I thought it was beautiful, and pretty touching. Especially, as I understand it, the story is their parents basically split the kids down the middle and each took custody of two (they have an additional older sister who was already 18). I've never been divorced, and I don't like to pass judgment on decisions made without all the knowledge of the circumstances, but that seems like an incredibly traumatic thing to do to a set of really young siblings, and probably goes a long way towards explaining why they're so close. They both put some lovely statements on their social medias about how they've been in a space of closure and forgiveness recently, (childhood hurts take a while to process and get over) and wanted to create something others could relate to, knowing they're not the only ones who have had similar experiences, and I thought they definitely did. They also worked with Tessandra Chavez and Kyle Hanagami on the choreography, and NappyTabs on the staging and creative, and those are all people I've enjoyed seeing their work evolve over the years, so I loved getting to see them showcased here.

So this is an interesting curveball. Cheryl is going to be taking over Dance Moms??? http://www.etonline.com/tv/213917_abby_lee_miller_to_be_replaced_by_cheryl_burke_on_dance_moms_exclusive/ (um, what?)

There is a difference between being nude and being sexy. The Bodies issue is more about showcasing the power and beauty of the human form, not a sexual thing.

I'm not against the idea of a hip hop breakdown in Heather's dance, especially the way the music broke at that point, but I did feel like the way Maks choreographed it was really awkward and a bit jarring. The way Alan disappeared, Hayley and Brit popped up outta nowhere, and then ran off just made it feel like they launched into a completely different performance. There needed to be SOME sort of throughline. I imagine Maks choreographed himself out of it because he couldn't handle the hip hop, but maybe something as simple as having Hayley and Brit behind them jiving for like 5 seconds of the intro, so when they popped in for the breakdown it wasn't out of thin air? My brain was wanting some sort of storyline cohesion.

What I've heard is that it's for the first four weeks, and there's plenty of fodder to get rid of in that time period, so if she doesn't completely burn out she should be able to pull through. (I like her so happy to have her go the distance.) The travel really is insane though, even four weeks of it is going to be brutal. They only thing saving them is having it this early in the season, I think. And that Normani seems like a quick study. Other celebs who have had as tough a schedule, there was Tamar (which did NOT end well) who had a pretty grueling performance schedule. In terms of traveling the distance they are, I remember Bethany Mota having an event in Australia, which Derek had to follow her to and even then they only got in about 6 hours of rehearsal across the whole week (which was rough for them but only for the one week.)

Maks is out this week with an injury- Alan will be filling in. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/exclusive-dwts-star-maksim-chmerkovskiy-sidelined-calf-injury/story?id=46392400 (Alan strikes again, someone keep an eye on that guy ;) Nomi Maloned another pro.)

This clip of Dave Chappelle miming waiting for scores from the judges on DWTS is kind of the best. "If you see me on that shit, it's over. My spirit is broken."

I've been watching since a few seasons ago, and I'm convinced the show has lasted so long because it seems to be such a damn Rorschach test of a show. I'm sort of fascinated by how passionately people will argue that "The show has always been about X, and Y is ruining it," while the other side is all, "The show has CLEARLY always been about Y, and X is ruining it." (It's probs always been about both X and Y guys.)

Pretty much a lot of their dances with Shawn, which as mentioned they got in trouble for getting a little too flippy. In addition to the freestyles: Derek/Shawn quickstep: Jive including a cartwheel down the stairs None of that's going to win an Olympic medal, but its more tumbling than a classically ballroom trained Val would be inclined to do. To bring it back to this season, Sasha has got them all beat, he's posted videos of full tumbling runs from Simone's gym.

Heather was sort of a "featured reject" on Season 2 of SYTYCD, getting cut right before the final 20. Here's her segment, if anyone's interested To Maks' credit, he says he expects them to be judged to a higher standard. I think that's to a large part true. If you care about "ringers" there's no doubt she is one. But there's enough to balance that out this season that it doesn't lock it in for them at all, if Maks falters on choreography, or they edit them to look like they're not "having fun," or if everyone decides she "seems cold" or whatever they did to Nastia.

Week 1 songs and dances http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Scoop-DANCING-WITH-THE-STARS-on-ABC-Monday-March-20-2017-20170314 Getting "Go Cubs Go" and "What is Love" out of the way right out of the gate.