kitcloudkicker

Well currently it's been announced as Sasha. At least for this week, Derek is still doing the choreography, and who knows, that might be what Nastia prefers - she tweeted a photo captioned #teamhoughkinforever I don't think Henry got demoted for just the tweets, as Sasha's been posting a few snaps of rehearsals too. The switch did happen after he made that comment about not being able to build a partnership without "friction" - that might have stepped on some toes, or maybe something happened behind the scenes.

So this is the good old days, "before everything went downhill" and everything was very serious ballroom, eh?

The Meryl/Maks, Val/Janel dances had the exact same intro - they opened with the couple in silhouette against the backdrop in bright white light, and then they look at each other and hold hands as they slowly walk to the dance floor. After that they differ. I remember noting that because they came so soon after each other, and the Meryl/Maks one was such a plot point of the season ("Meryl is helping Maks not stress out omg they're so in love") that I thought it was kinda dumb for Val to reuse it so soon - I felt like it distracted from the rest of the dance which I really loved. In general I'm not against recycling or remixing pieces of staging or lighting ideas or small bits of choreography. That's how creativity works. (Good artists borrow, great artists steal.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAlDHw-Biew The staging of Derek's tango with Nastia reminded me much more of his tango with Bethany last year. Simple intro, walk to each other in the center of the floor surrounded by LASERS and then begin dancing.

Do we know yet if it's going to be Henry or Sasha working with Nastia this week? I'd imagine we'd find out soon, as one of them would have had to be heading to New York last night or this morning. Going by the last few weeks, it seems likely it will be Sasha.

Oof, I bet he feels real mad at himself. All those careful ice baths and cryotherapy, and then to take himself out in the dumbest and klutziest way possible. Though I'd have to guess exhaustion played into it.

That specific package was very very scripted, as it was filmed after Derek and Nastia's announcement on GMA. According to Derek's timeline Nastia signed on with 2 or 3 days to go to the GMA announcement, and since she had the stipulation that she needed to be in New York for the length of the show I'd be shocked if she didn't know she was getting Derek before she signed on. Now what she might not have known was how that would actually play out to impact her experience.

Well then... Derek seems to be down with injuries to (both?) feet? https://instagram.com/p/1uy7DENoqg/?taken-by=derekhough A bunch of his old partners were in the studio yesterday with rumors they were working on a group dance for the anniversary show. It must have gone very wrong.

Everyone seemed a little off to me this week - maybe a reaction to Spring Break being an incredibly lame theme? I didn't get what the problem was with dancing to Work It. Sure, it is sexually explicit, but nobody remembers that, the just remember the fun backwards lyrics and great beat, and the 9 year old who danced to it in the video. Is Riker practicing Mormon, is that where the problem came in? Though, he really didn't seem to care, it seemed like Allison freaking out about it and Riker being like, "Sure, whatevs, tell me what to do." It was interesting to me that Noah had such a negative reaction to that package, because right before I was just thinking how I liked how they worked together, and were able to work through one or another of them getting cranky in rehearsals. Like, it was a quick tiff, they worked it out, hugged it out, and got back to work, and I was sitting there thinking, "Man, I like them together, and how Sharna works with him" when he started getting upset. ETA. OH, I almost forgot my maybe favorite moment though, which was: Mark: "It could have a shark attack..." Noah: "I could play that!!" Also, just rewatched the Team YOLO dance, and I think Mark may have kicked a beachball into an audience member's face at the beginning of their solo. Oops.

She has a twin. They should check her to see if she's missing a few.

The more this is repeated, the more fascinating this conversation gets.

I'm less inclined to be worried about Noah, since it's a freestyle and likely he'll do a bunch of super impressive lifts with Sharna. They've also got three pros who have worked around prosthetics before (Sharna/Derek/Mark. As an aside - Amy was in the studio this week visiting Noah.) So while I think team Trouble is likely going to end up being fine, I'd agree Nastias team seems strongest on paper. (If I were Rumer I would have picked Noah over Patti - but maybe Artem and Val wanted to work together.)

So much this! Dancing with the Stars fans are cray! I can't think of anything else that's so very silly and fluffy that inspires so much crazy wars and knashing of teeth. (Maybe One Direction? People seem to go mad over them too. Can't we just calm down and let the sparkly people entertain us?) I have no insider knowledge on this, but I'd always assumed that these tv guide type entertainment "blogs" are done via interview - an intern/low paid staffer will talk to a celebrity for 10-15 mins, and transcribe it to look like they wrote it. That's not a slam or accusation on Derek, I think that's how a lot of these things get done? Derek, I have noticed, is not the most careful or linear speaker. (Or writer, if he did write it.) I reeeally wouldn't read too much into the details of how he phrases things. (Is that going to stop people? Nyoope.)

I'm putting this here because Darvina seems to have become a semi-permanent fixture on the Afterbuzz show, but I've been enjoying her little behind the scenes interviews with the dancers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJL81cfHpCOVeBgWdP9QuVQ She did one with Derek this week, and Val last week, and with both of them I feel like they were a little more relaxed in the interviews than they usually are. She's got a nice rapport with everyone.

I loved the concept, the staging, and the performance level of Rumer's dance. The dancing itself looked slightly sloppier to my eyes than I feel like we've seen her do before, but thats holding her to a high standard. Also not sure that I love sambas in general? But I thought it was great. (And so glad the rumor that they'd be doing it to a terrible Jonas Brothers brat punk version of that song was off base.) And yay Val as Flotsam or Jetsam. On first watch I was blown away by Riker's dance. On second watch, eesh, there was a lot of messy in there. I think he got helped out by the song and the staging a lot - I'd forgotten how fun the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack is. I agree with whoever mentioned that it just feels like Allison is Pushing. So. Hard. All. The. Time. Every dance shouldn't feel like a sprint - I want to see them do a soft, gentle dance with plenty of space to breathe. Derek & Nastia were a little on the nose in that performance, but honestly, I don't know what else you could do to that song. It's pure musical theater exposition. And it looks like Rob Wade was dead set on someone getting it, and I thought they did a good job with what they had. They looked like they could be performing that in one of the parks tomorrow. And I think it was good for Nastia to get to be silly and giggly, and do something that didn't put her in "competition mindset." Hopefully a stepping stone to getting her to express more in dances. Willow was the most perfect casting for Alice. And I don't like Suzanne, and happy she's gone, but if I was going to pick any Disney character for her to be, Peg from Lady and the Tramp is dead on. So good job on casting, producers, it worked out for a lot of them.

Ooh, the eel thing sounds fun, and it's topical, Ursula's minions are eels: Flotsam and Jetsam. That was actually my second choice of casting for the song, if Val's not going to be in drag to be Ursula. The only think I don't like is the Jonas Brother's cut of that song. This is one of the only times I've thought, "I hope the band sings this one" because that's the only actual chance it's got of it sounding any good. (The band's singers are consistently terrible, but better than the Jonasi sound on that song.)

:( I just googled that version and it is terrible. If that's true I feel bad for them this week. The whole fun of Poor Unfortunate Souls is Ursula's campy sinister delivery. (Speaking of, I'll be disappointed if Val is not Ursula to Rumer's Ariel. He can get Mark's makeup person to paint him purple and borrow someone's black bustier, it would be faaaaabulous.)

For me I wish they'd get rid of the stupid no lift rule all together, they only complain about it half the time, and it feels like "there wasn't enough content in that and you relied on too many tricks" is a criticism that gets contestants the same score as breaking the "lift rule," they could just go with that if there was any lift abuse. And it would have the added bonus of never having to listen to Carrie Anne call them "lifty-poos" again.

Yeah, it lends itself to emoting to the crowd more than emoting to each other, but I think Nastia struggles a little with both, so while I doubt this will be their "breakthrough emotional week" it might help on the first. And while most Disney songs are "animated" this one is definitely on the extreme end of musical theater bounciness, which is a different thing than we've seen her do. (Contrasting with, say, "You'll Be in My Heart" which is a Disney song but really a Phil Collins softrock song). Interesting he missed the show, my guess would be that missing the buffer day of having Tuesday off lead to a "Oh damn, misjudged how tired and jetlagged I'd actually be."

They have "Love is an Open Door" for next week, which I'm hoping is going to force her to open up more, I would think you've got to be cartoonishly animated to pull that one off. However, Derek's schedule this week is insanity, he's got two shows a day every day, (including today which he usually gets off,) and three shows on Saturday. After this week it looks like it drops to several days a week with only one show, which may end up feeling like a break for him?

Hmm, I'm not a dancer, but Emma said on the live stream that he should have come down slightly to match Allison's height, and he was emphasizing their height difference by holding her too high. Is that wrong, or are there two schools of thought on that?

I caught a clip of Emma critiquing Riker and Allison on the live feed, and she was very very critical of Allison's choreography. "Not enough tango, too fast, and so packed with content it didn't let the dance breathe." She also said he was holding his frame too high for Allison, and she should have taught him to bring it down. It was interesting to hear, and perhaps one of those weeks where Allison's background was really working against her. I know they're the most obvious picks, but still love Nastia and Rumer. Rumer made me cry, I was wondering if she was going to address some of the shit the media put them through growing up, which had to have been awful. Willow and Mark, very entertaining child murder ;). Though maybe a little overscored. But I'm kinda loving Mark lately. ETA: BUT not loving the Riker-hair Mark is sporting again this week. Is this really the new look, Mark? Because eeeeeh. I had a feeling Michael was going to be the one to go home, which kinda bums me out because I would have rather had him stick around longer than a few others (*cough*Chris&Suzanne*cough*) but not exactly surprised.

I feel like there are always several Viennese Waltzes. Less Ballroom Tangos and Waltz Walzes - Bethany & Derek were the only ones to get tango last season, though Wikipedia has a whole ton of tangos happening in S18. The last waltz I remember is Amy/Derek, though Wikipedia has Cheryl/Drew getting one that season too, and Michael/Emma getting one last season.

http://www.theawl.com/2014/05/the-life-and-times-of-%C2%AF_%E3%83%84_%C2%AF Or in shorter terms ;)

There seems to be about as much evidence as there is that Janel and Val had post-show fling that blew up in a bad way, which is to say, is it plausible? Sure. Does anyone really know anything? Nope. My opinions (not that it matters) boil down to: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All parties are adults that can deal with their own shit. Robert is this season's affable older dude that's going to make it just past halfway. Maybe a week or two longer than that if the public really loves him that much.

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Patti LaBelle kill a guy.