sidwich

Lol, yes, I had a lot more respect Lindsey and Jenna after seeing that. In fact, Spicey is The White Guy who Claps on 1, 3, 5 and 7 (if he's on a beat at all!). (Most people with any rhythm at all clap/snap/bounce on the 2, 4, 6 and 8). To be fair, Lauren was okay on Hair Flip, Walk, Walk Walk, but started getting off once they got to hip, hip, hand, hand, pose. And I do think she's the shakiest of the remaining female celebs. I'd never heard of her before this season, but watching her, she seems like a singer who's been taught to walk to a mark and start singing, but very little as far as movement beyond that. The celeb who struck me as having real dance training this season was actually Kate Flannery, and it really showed in the choreography that Pasha was able to give her. Her routines were relatively "tidy" in a bunch of ways that aren't there for most of the other women, most of whom I want to tell to stay over their feet and get into their knees.

I was really confused at the end of the episode as well because I was like "What happened to Max the Cat?!?!" He just disappeared partway through the episode after running to his kibble. It bothered me so much that I went back to confirm there wasn't a throwaway line that the FBI agent's family had picked him up or rehomed him.

I liked the cooking movie a lot too. Definitely one of the best Hallmark movies I've seen in a while. The leads were both likable and believable, as were supporting characters like the executive producer and the best friend. And both the leads learned and grew over the course of their relationship. I liked the theme of nudging the kids (and the leads) to learn, but having to let them figure things out themselves. And she had a real job! That she really liked and was good at! And she got promoted in the end! And city people were okay!!!

I have to agree. This one was telegraphed from a mile away. I've never seen the actress playing the ex-wife in anything else before, and I knew it was her after her scene. They just emphasized the "He has NO FRIENDS. NO FRIENDS. NONE. NADA." so much that the only possible answer had to be the ex, and then the whole immigration and pornography elements really sealed it.

Ginger's really not good at moving her weight. She tends to carry her weight behind her, rather than on top of her feet and so she's not steady when she's moving from place to place. Her feet tend to arrive first, then her hips, then head and shoulders, which is very unsteady from a position perspective. Val's been hiding it by keeping her in place as much as possible, (seriously, how little did that samba move?!?!) but it does result in some really boring choreography. That's something that all of the athletes tend to have as an advantage. Some of them are hobbled by injuries, but they generally are good at keeping their feet underneath them which is a big advantage for a beginning dancer.

It's not impossible. I've both seen and danced with some excellent deaf dancers, dancers that you would never guess couldn't hear that can be every bit as musical as hearing dancers. HOWEVER, that comes from getting really good at learning to feel vibrations of the rhythm section of the music (which is where most of the musicality comes from in these dances), as well as dancing with experienced dancers (like Peta) and feeling what their body movement is like. It is definitely NOT something that can happen within the space of a few weeks. But as a general thing... yes, it's totally possible.

I don't remember seeing Derek do a pirouette on the show. But then I don't remember seeing Peta, Anna or Karina doing pirouettes either, and each of them have pretty significant ballet training. (You can see Sharna doing a double pirouette in the early Mary Poppins opening choreography, but It looks like Charlie struggled with getting it off and it didn't make it to the final show). Mark has done double tours on the show, and I think Derek has done those as well. And though it's fuzzy, you can see Derek doing a pirouette in this video from when he was in Footloose (as well as some of those other fancy pants ballet steps.) :)

By any normal standards (i.e. not compared to Julianne), Cheryl is quite tiny, and she was especially in her early seasons like here. (Yes, I've stood right next to her, and she's quite small). Her original dance training was also in ballet, and when she goes into the lift the background really shows. You can see her stretching her back in a very classic, ballet-lift way, much more so than Bindi does or even Jennifer Grey in the original film. Actually, the big difference I see with Bindi is that she doesn't know how to balance the lift. For ease of reference, I'm going to refer to the person being lifted as "the girl" and the lifter as "the boy." (Doesn't have to be this way. I had friends who used to do aerial work, and they used to do demonstrations with the girl as lifter and guy as liftee to show that it's really all about the technique.) When the girl goes into an overheard lift, one of the essential things she needs to be able to do when she gets to the top of the lift is balance her center of gravity and hold that position with her core. If she can't do those things, the lift is dead in the water no matter how tiny she is. To illustrate, imagine lifting a cat above your head. Not a lot of weight, but the cat is squirming around like crazy, and the lift is going to fail real quick.. Same thing with someone not trained like Bindi. She's not squirming like a cat, but she doesn't know how to balance and hold that position rock-steady like she needs to for it to work. The result is that Derek is shaking trying to compensate and maintain that position for her.

I don't think it does. Laura Benanti and Melissa Errico were complete unknowns when they were cast in their first big shows, and both were supported by their schools in their decisions. (Errico graduated from Yale, and Benanti never returned to Tisch). Melissa Errico has talked openly about how Yale let her do "Yale by Mail" when she was cast in the National Tour of Les Miz before her freshman year of college: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/onstage-backstage-i-hit-ews-bullseye-corbin-bleu-is-jesus-melissa-errico-do-192595/P2 And Playbill just did an article on the whole situation with Tisch when Laura Benanti was cast as an understudy in "The Sound of Music" right before she was supposed to start her freshman year: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/skipping-school-for-the-biggest-journey-of-her-life-laura-benanti-on-the-sound-of-music-343568

In addition to everything everyone's already said, I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed McGarrett's speech about how he loves cats because they're adorable little ninjas, smart and fast and cute and cuddly at the same time. Absolutely hilarious. (And true).

One of the things that I appreciate about this show is that even though it's an ABC/Disney superheroish show is that it doesn't completely show the period as this ultimate, romanticized America of the past where everyone treats each other perfectly and upholds truth, justice and the American way. So often "The Greatest Generation" is held-up as as such an ideal that subsequent generations can't live up to that it's refreshing to have it portrayed with some degree of not-so-nice humanity. Yes, there were crappy jerks even then. Yes, "others" (women, disabled, etc.) could be treated really badly. Yes, white, able-bodied men really were the top of the food chain and could act like it. Yes, some veterans had terrible homecomings and never recovered. Substance abuse was a reality for some. I think Thompson and Sousa are interesting flip sides. If Sousa wants to see the ideal in the world, Thompson is the ultimate cynic who speaks the harshest reality. And there's no cynic like a former idealist.

Well, one thing is that with swing, for better or worse, people expect them. I THINK the more practical answer is that "Rock this Town" is BLISTERINGLY fast, especially for an inexperienced dancer. Doing the charleston steps that fast is VERY tiring, and Jonathan was already starting to fatigue halfway through the routine. (Seriously, try doing charleston steps for 90 seconds and see how fast you get tired...) I think Peta put in the aerials to give him a break actually. With a lot of aerials, it's actually much more on the woman to get the move done. The guy CAN plant and brute force it (not ideal, but this is DWTS, so a lot of circumstances are not ideal). I actually thought Jonathan and Peta got the most difficult assignment out of the bunch. You can't really half-ass the Jitterbug. There actually ARE steps to it that people expect to see (unlike Burlesque). There is a very real partnering component that you can't hand wave. (It's not a dance that you can mostly do as side by side, like the Bollywood or Charleston). The music they were given was blisteringly fast. All in all, I thought they did "not bad." Better than the judges critiques, certainly.

I honestly don't give the producers that much credit. I don't think the producers had any idea what would happen when they hired her. But they do follow the audience trend. So for example, if someone is getting big audience/fanbase support, they'll start getting better feedback no matter how poorly they're dancing (see Sara Evans or Bristol Palin). I think if Allison and Jonathan were getting good audience support, they'd be getting more positive feedback. But judging by the boards, Allison's been alienating the audience and her relationship with Jonathan doesn't look strong. Jonathan doesn't have a huge fanbase to coast on either. Honestly, if I were advising Jonathan, I'd tell him to go hire an outside ballroom/latin coach and ask them to coach BOTH of them. But I don't know if Allison's pride will allow that at this point.

That's probably unfair to Allison. We don't know that she didn't work on her Latin. Samba is a much, much more difficult dance than Cha-Cha. Cha-Cha's really a beginner level dance and is usually the first Latin dance taught to beginners. Samba is a much more advanced level dance, arguably the most difficult Latin dance. In addition to other Latin technique issues, it has the "bounce" AND it travels (it's the only traveling Latin dance) so the dancer has the negotiate the motion and the pushing of weight from foot to foot as they move around the floor. Even if Allison worked on the notes that Len had given her, she'd have much more to worry about with the Samba, both with her own dancing and choreographing/teaching it for Jonathan. I actually am not convinced that Allison is going to be awesome at contemporary or jazz. She'll be awesome dancing it, no question, but I for one have never seen anything she's choreographed outside of this show, and we have no idea how she teaches it. People who are naturally gifted at a subject, often aren't great teachers (look at Tony or Edyta for example) and as we've all noted, the teaching/coaching/working with beginners element isn't as ingrained in the culture of contemporary/ballet/jazz dancers as it is with Ballroom/Latin/social dancing.

It's not that Allison needs ballroom cred from titles. The show's been moving away from titled ballroom/latin champions for a while now. The last several new pros on the show are much more "show dancers" than competition dancers. Peta, Sharna, Tristan and Keo are all "Burn the Floor" alums with much more show dancing experience than titles to speak of, and Kym had almost no competition cred either. They've all been excellent additions to the show (well, the jury's out on Keo still, but that's not his fault). Frankly, the level of dancing on the show doesn't require somebody on a Louis van Amstel credibility to coach, and if anything it's a hindrance, Those pros can get caught up much more on trying to teach good technique and that's kind of lost on the home audience. Not to mention Carrie Ann and Bruno. But it does need someone who can teach basic level Ballroom and Latin and choreograph to it in an entertaining way. And keep this in mind: Kym's Latin was painfully weak, not very far above beginner level. Cheryl's Ballroom isn't much better. But they could get through those dances and make their partners look good and competent (and themselves, too). Allison's not even that level. I think the producers were much more interested in the audience Allison could bring in as a SYTYCD favorite. Not sure they counted on how much she would alienate their core audience with her lack of experience and performance skill in ballroom/latin.

To be fair to Allison, I think A LOT of the pros choreograph with their celebs based on how they're progressing during the week. And that makes sense, especially this early on, when the pros are still getting used to what the celebs are good at and what they're not so good at. We've certainly seen pros trying to teach things during B-roll that doesn't end up in the final routine whether it's Sharna trying to get Charlie to do the crazy double pirouette in the first 8 of "Mary Poppins" or simple things like Val trying to get Elisabetta to do a Quickstep basic. As far as running routines by Derek, for some reason I think I remember hearing that the producers put the nix on pros getting choreographic help fairly early on in the series after complaints about the "help" that Cheryl was getting on some of her routines. *hidesfromtheCherylsuperfans*

I actually don't think that Allison means to make the dance all about her. I think it's her lack of partner dance experience showing. As I said in my earlier post, she just doesn't have the experience of dancing with people from many different levels. If she really were learning to ballroom/latin dance, she'd be forced to dance with people of different levels (expert, advanced, moderate and beginners) and learn both parts (lead and follow). Let me tell you, it's a really different experience dancing with a champion like Derek than it is dancing with someone with no dance experience like Jonathan. I think she's also having problems because I don't think she's ever really learned how to lead, and no, it's not the same as flipping everything around. Timing is different because the lead (gentleman) has to account for the transitions of the follow's (lady's) weight. I think that's why the transitions are messy. Actually, Allison's transitions are messy even when she's dancing with the other pros. The timing's off, so her weight's not quite in the right place when the male pros try to lead her and she looks surprised. As I said, it's like learning a different language. It's like Allison's been speaking Spanish all her life. There are elements of it that are like French, and yeah, she's spent time speaking French with Derek, but now she's having to teach French to Jonathan and have full on conversations with him in front of millions of people. And she's competing with people who have been speaking French all of their lives. She's having a tendency to fall back on some of her Spanish roots and it's not working that well. I'm positive Allison can't think in French (ballroom). She's still thinking of things in Spanish (contemporary/jazz) terms, and it's a problem. In my experience, former ballet/jazz dancers who try to do ballroom/latin can have a tendency to be rather snobby about it and think that they can pick it up like that *snaps fingers*. They do have a HUGE leg up on people who have never danced before, but it's not quite that simple, and for some it can be quite a shock. I don't know Allison, but I would not be surprised if Allison's having a little bit of that now.

Ballroom dancers (Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, V. Waltz, Tango) pass their legs between each other with no turnout, but Latin dancers (Rhumba, Cha-cha, Samba, Paso, Jive) do dance with turnout. And indeed, the turnout/no-turnout problem is a really common one with ballet dancers when they first attempt Ballroom dances. I think Allison's problem is twofold from what I can tell from the Jive. Her legs are indeed somewhat wide for Jive. Latin dances are danced on a single axis (like a balance beam), and she's dancing it more like a double axis dance (like on skis, which is what Ballroom dancers do so the legs can pass next to each other). The bigger problem is that I think she's contriving a lot of the motion rather than letting it happen from her core and partnership. She's making it happen rather than letting it happen, and so it's coming across as flailing. For example, she's throwing the Jive arms out there rather than letting it happen from the natural rotation of her back during the figures which is resulting in surprisingly awful airplane arms. You see the problem I see with a dancer like Allison crash coursing is that she's plainly had good coaching from Derek, but just good coaching does not a partner dancer make. It also takes a lot of hours of dancing with a lot of different people at a lot of different skill levels. It's one thing to feel what it feels like to dance with a champion like Derek. It's totally a different ballgame to dance with a beginner like Jonathan, and understand the what the common mistakes are and know how to help them learn to dance. The best analogy I can make is it's like learning a foreign language. It's one thing to learn to speak to your French teacher. It's another to actually go to France and try to speak French to French people, let alone try to teach French to someone new to it.

That's what I got out of it as well. I think that it was pretty clear that Charlie was not okay with manufacturing drama for the B roll. I really think he is pretty much what he presents himself as, a happy guy with a great family in a long-term, stable relationship, and he wasn't going to try to be anyone else for the cameras. I don't think he he was willing to try to pretend that he was overcoming some great life issue, and based on how many times in the early weeks he mentioned his great girlfriend of SIX YEARS with whom HE WAS BUYING A HOUSE, I don't think he was going to do the showmance thing either.

You know, what I think is really hard with this dance is that Argentine Tango is what's called a "walking dance." It's a dance where the technique is specifically built around walking, and using balance and the muscles in the feet to push from foot to foot. And the fact of the matter is that Amy can't walk in the way that a dance like Argentine Tango requires because she doesn't have those muscles in her prosthetic feet to do that with. Now as far as I can recall, TPTB have been tremendously kind to Amy by really limiting how much Ballroom (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, etc.) dances she's had to do (vs. non-Ballroom: Rhumba, Salsa, etc.) because the Ballroom dances are all about foot pressure, rolling through the feet from heel to toe and pushing across the floor which Amy obviously can't do. In the one Ballroom dance, I can remember her doing, the Cinderella Waltz, Derek made no bones about it.... he had to carry her from place to place and fog up the place like mad to disguise as much of this essential technique problem as possible. Other than Samba (the only traveling Latin dance which could also be a problem for her, and which they did for her dance off), TPTB have already gone through all of the Latin and Rhythm dances, Argentine Tango, and Contemporary. I'm not sure if they're going to start repeating dances for her, or whether they're really going to have her try another Ballroom in there. Anyway. Was what she did well done? Yes. Is it musical and interesting? Yes. Does Amy move beautifully to the Argentine Tango music? Absolutely. But I have no idea how you can judge it as an Argentine Tango.

I think ratings have generally been on a downward trend even without the All-Star Season. I'll give a little background. I'm a former competitive ballroom/Latin dancer (of about 15 years), and I've taught dance students myself. What I find interesting about the show is that it's really about the journey of people learning to do something that's outside the comfort zone of many of them. (With usually a couple of ringers each season for variety). To me, the show is really about how each of them approaches the challenge. I personally think the most interesting seasons and stories have been about the ones who unexpectedly embrace the challenge and/or are doing it for some kind of personal reason (like Jerry Springer). Although I enjoy it when there's good dancing or choreography, I don't really consider it a show about dancing per se. I have a friend who works at ABC and has worked with the show (although it's not her main job). Anyway, during the All-Star Season, I mentioned to her that I didn't really understand why they were doing it when their main storyline, this journey in a new challenge, was essentially totally negated by having just All-Stars. And she shook her head, and said, yes, the challenge with the All-Star Season really was trying to come up with what the show was going to be about that season and what the storylines were going to be. I don't know that they ever figured it out.

As I said, I have no problem with what Cheryl or any other pro does for their extracurricular activities with consenting adults. My post was a reply to the poster who took it as given fact that it was well-known that Peta was engaging in sexual activity with her partners. I don't think it's known about any of the pros, and if you're going to take rumor, there are other pros about whom such activity is much more of a rumor topic.

Well, first of all, I don't think that either skimpy clothes or enjoying sex is a moral character flaw. Second, if you're really getting right down and dirty into the DWTS pro gossip, the pro with the reputation for sleeping with (most of) her partners is Cheryl, going back to Drew Lachey. Who, if you recall, was married at the time. (And wasn't his wife pregnant?). Cheryl's reputation for sleeping around goes way back to when she was dancing on the competitive circuit, when her nickname was "California Open." Yes... That aside, I think that one of the storylines that the producers like to push every season is a hot and sexy showmance. It's changed around amongst different pros at times (Derek with Shannon Elizabeth, Maks with Erin and now Meryl, Val with Kelly Monaco, etc.). Peta seems to have gotten it the last couple of seasons. I blow hot and cold on Peta's costumes. I actually have liked some of them and some of them... not so much. I do feel like some of them are unfairly criticized like the "Frozen" costume. Because it's a leotard basically, and not even a particularly high-legged one. Not a lot you can really do about that for contemporary. The "Gasolina" samba one is pretty hideous, though. On the whole, though, I think Peta has been a great addition to the show. Probably the strongest female dancer after Karina, and actually more versatile that Karina. Definitely the strongest of the female pros on the choreography front, along with Sharna at the moment. Oh, and in my opinion, Charlie is a much stronger dancer than Meryl. Much. Meryl is a badass, and absolutely fearless, but relatively speaking her dance quality is not nearly as strong as Charlie who has better line, musicality, dynamic and partnering skills. As much flak as the Charlie/Peta rhumba got, Meryl hasn't really come close to anything like it with either Maks or Val. For example, you can see the different in partnering when Charlie turns Sharna/Peta vs. when Maks turns Meryl. Considering how astoundingly badass Meryl's twizzles are, the turns in the salsa last night were surprisingly weak and it's a partnering issue. And maybe it's me, but I've been finding Maks' choreography for Meryl to be really busy. Like he's so excited he finally has a good partner, that he's throwing everything he ever thought of in the past several years into his routines. He could really calm it down.

After the missed pass, you can see Sharna is ready to throw the umbrella back to Charlie but he's not in position to catch it so she keeps it. That's the part she's probably referring to when she says they missed two beats because it looks like it's supposed to be a pass over then pass back combination. You can see Charlie give a slight shake of the head on the next pass when he realizes he's holding the wrong prop, ... and then he keeps going. (Sharna also slips a bit backing up from stage left during the second chorus, and loses her balance for a split second, but that's a minor glitch that didn't seem to cause any other problems).

Sharna's routine for Charlie was INSANE. And the thing is, it looks like it was actually toned down from what was originally intended. In the B-roll, it looks like they're practicing an opening with a double pirouette which is absolutely crazy. I can't remember a previous routine with any celeb attempting a double pirouette, let alone a male celeb. (Most of the male celebs are struggling with ... well, everything). In the routine they performed, it's just a baby single pirouette that's not nearly as fast as what they were rehearsing. Still much more than is in most of the routines.