Glaadrial

I agree re: the shipping front, that it could end on Tuesday night for all I care. I do hope, however, that can find/create opportunities to work together in the future. They both seem open to the idea, but I'm sure it all depends on what Meryl and Charlie decide about continuing as a skating partnership in whatever form that takes. From a Glamour article: Zendaya is involved in a the Sway project with Val/Maks/Tony, along with other unnamed "special guests." Maybe talk of a future project is not just an end of the season "let's keep in touch" kind of thing.

This is true, but unless Amy doesn't make into the final three, the show runners will have to make adjustments to how the dances are assigned. It's been my understanding that certain dances require a specific prosthetic in order for Amy to perform the required movement for the dance. Possibly, it will be restricted to the classic Ballroom/Latin dances, but then, because Amy has done all the "lifts allowed" dances, she's left with a very narrow choice of dances because she's only done Waltz and Quickstep from the Standard Ballroom list. Since Quickstep is the only dance where they utilized the running blades, that, presumably, eliminates Quickstep as a possibility for Fusion. If they include the "special" dances that allow lifts, how will they determine what other dance is sufficiently in contrast? Contemporary/AT? Jazz/Salsa? There is the possibility that all three finalists will have to do the exact same mash-up, but that leaves out all the Standard Ballroom because only Amy has done Waltz and Meryl hasn't done Quickstep (Really!? Have we ever had a Finalist who has not done a Quickstep all season?). In this scenario: M/A/J could only do Salsa + (Rumba/Cha-cha/Jive) M/A/C could only do AT + (Rumba/Cha-cha/Jive) A/J/C could only do Contemporary + (Rumba/Cha-cha/Jive) M/J/C could do any combination of Rumba/Cha-cha/Jive/Foxtrot/VW (there's no overlap with any of the dances that allow lifts) It's gonna be a hot mess, regardless of how they deal with this particular problem. So far it seems like the judges' scores haven't been too big of a factor for determining who goes forward. However, it is possible that Facebook voting may be a better indicator of who is going home, rather than who is getting the votes to stay and win the trophy. I do vote, but I don't tweet, so perhaps the contest to tweet for Freestyle encore will not affect the outcome too much but I doubt it (e.g., James has notoriously good skills for making the most of his presence on Twitter but maybe not sufficiently enough to overcome the main demographic who may not be such avid Tweeters but do vote). The contest may be very much closer than what is currently being predicted. If it is, then the final judges' scores will matter and fusion dance assignment could make the difference. I wish that this situation had been avoided by asking the pros to choreograph the Fusion routine as part of their preparation for the Finals, especially since the producers knew that they were going to ask Meryl/Charlie to prepare a routine. It's a two night event, let these people rest between shows! I see no real value in watching a dance that has been slapped together overnight, or their other favorite piece of nonsense, the Instant Dance, blech!

So I went to what I think is the V&M Secret Baby site, because insomnia is a hard taskmistress and everyone but I is probably sleeping. I'm not quite sure if this belongs in the Meryl topic or the Amy topic, but since I'm scared to post anything about Amy, I'll quote it here since their post is mostly about Meryl even if it's negative. ETA: Sure it's a chore to wade through all the vitriol, but it's still a fascinating exercise to read about the DWTS content presented from the point of view of someone who follows Ice Dancing.

Meryl has done Foxtrot and Charlie has done both FT & Quickstep, I wonder if there's a possibility of getting to see their Short Dance on the floor. (That was a Foxtrot at the beginning of their SD, right?)

Link from the Finale thread re: Monday show. Also from the blurb about Tuesday lineup. It'll be interesting to see how they decide which two dances to fuse together; also what they mean by "contrasting." There's Ballroom, Latin and each of the special dances. Meryl is the only one who hasn't done Contemporary or Jazz. Interestingly, she also hasn't done Standard Waltz or Quickstep. Those are probably the dances with the most WOW factor as far as Meryl's strengths go. That leaves Salsa, Swing and Argentine Tango as the only possible dances that would allow lifts.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find a thread for her so I had to come up with a title. According to Wiki, her first dance on DWTS in Season 2 was a Cha-cha-cha to She Bangs. I promise not to be insulted if a better title comes along. Anyway, I brought this over from General Gabbery. That's fair enough. Being a back-to-back winner is impressive and making it so deep into so many seasons is also a credit to her ability to play the DWTS game. I saw on Wiki that she has some Latin Champion Awards from 2005 under her belt, but I'm really having trouble remembering her traditional Latin routines. The one standard Latin dance that she's choreographed that's the most memorable to me is Emmitt's Samba to the song Cha-cha which was wonderfully entertaining but seemed to emphasize the bounce and the party more than what we're now getting for Samba technique. I don't think she'd get away with it these days. I'm no expert, so, of course, I could be wrong on this point. It was definitely a fun dance. It's also possible that Cheryl may have been able to finesse a better schedule of dances for Charlie by coming up with a compelling through-line for the season.

I agree that Karina would have been able to get Charlie to the finals; possibly even more so than Cheryl. Karina can't always dance full out but when she's been able to work with partners who can keep up, it's been magical. The glimpses into her into her creative process that we've been given in the past, I remember to have been really impressive and more importantly interesting enough to include in packages. Plus, she's a Latin specialist and I think she would have been able to pick the right approach to make Charlie really shine. Nevertheless, I'm rooting for Sharna to stick around and refine her strategy for playing the DWTS game since there was little to fault about her choreography. I definitely prefer her over Peta, but they do different things well so I doubt that they're competing with each other for a place on the show. Speaking of places in the show, losing both Derek and Maks may leave a void among the male ranks (especially if Tony ages out of the line-up). Then again, we've heard the "he's not coming back" rumor before of both; yet here they still are. Mark and Val are both solid but less than in all departments to Derek and Maks respectively. That sounds worse than I intend because I'm not talking about anything really specific about their choreography, just the general buzz-worthiness of their contributions. Tristan can easily slip into Tony's role. Perhaps Artem can fill the larger than life male pro. I'm not familiar with his work but he's played the Strictly Come Dancing game (and won?) and has been a standout in much of the work he's done for the bumpers.

From Maks on Instagram, seems like the happiness high and spreading the love continued beyond the show.: And now this from today, he looks exhausted: Everything Maks does Meryl does only backwards and on skates! M&M ftw!

Can we blame Maks for the introduction of Contemporary to the show? I know that he called Mandy Moore for Erin's freestyle, but I don't know if it had been done as a style before that season.

I find it perfectly natural to look forward to hearing what a dance professional with a respectable body of work has to offer and then changing my mind when his commentary adds nothing too insightful. The compliment for Derek was somewhat over the top but the more egregious compliment that made me go "huh?" was comparing what Candace and Mark did to Ann Reinking (and to a lesser extent Shirley Maclaine). I've seen Ann Reinking doing Fossesque and what we saw was no where near or even evocative of that. Even professional dancers today cannot move the way they did when they were dancing for Fosse. I'll give KO props, however, for not bringing up Gwen Verdon & Chita Rivera.

truthaboutluv wrote in another thread: I don't know why but it took me to a very strange place of pondering the season with Meryl/Derek and Maks/Amy as partners. I think the internet might have exploded.

I used to be invested in the winner but after so many seasons where my favorite dancers didn't win and vowing never to watch again, I've decided that I like watching the dancing. Also, I miss the pro dances that were pointless filler in the results show, but then I'm inching my way into the demographic that is not preferred by advertisers.

I believe that it was pointed out either upthread or elsewhere that the running blades are only effective for forward movement. From that I surmised that using them for dances that require swiveling movements or actual turns would make them ineffective.

This is an excellent point. What I remember most of her package with Cody was the drill sergeant/taskmaster approach she took to his training--no poopypants and the like. Also her approach to teaching him proper technique was very effective. This may have come from them both being Aussie's, so she knew how to frame her expectations in a way that was familiar to him. It worked really well. I agree that it was absolutely the right decision not to go the showmance route, the relationship they had and was highlighted was perfect for the two of them. I think with a bit more experience Sharna should be able to find what resonates well for her as a pro. I think the package with Cody is a good starting point for her to begin shaping her image going forward. Part of the problem is that they were given Contemporary on week 1. Had they given him a cha-cha-cha, it would have given them the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time on Latin movement. Latin movement was always going to be a struggle for him not only physically because of the way he has trained his body for skating on the ice, but also psychologically because the movement is perceived as effeminate in this country and, let's be frank, he's been facing that particular issue for as long as he's been a Figure Skater. Had he been given any of the Latin dances in the first round, Sharna could have built a narrative around his struggle with the movement. Since the movement is connected to the movement of the foot, it might have been a good way to focus on the challenge of transitioning from skates to dance shoes. Seeing his progress through the various Latin dances over the weeks culminating in the Samba (Which according to the pros on Afterbuzz incorporates three different kinds of movement within one style of dance), would have made for some really interesting rehearsal packages, especially if Sharna brought out the drill sergeant/taskmaster that she used while working with Cody. It's unfortunate that Peta had Charlie for Rumba. I read that she wrote on/deleted from her blog that working with Charlie was so easy because she didn't have to teach him anything, he already knew what he was doing. I don't fault the actual choreography of what she produced with Charlie so much as I fault her for not taking the opportunity to teach him proper Rumba technique. Peta's Rumba with James (which I wasn't overly impressed by) was not called out for being not a Rumba so I'm assuming she knows how to teach the man's part. I would have been interested in seeing Charlie progress on this journey to master Latin movement with another teacher. Sharna brought in Maks to help with bring the Latin character to a Tango, which I think was good, but then they ignored what Maks had to offer. I think a through-line would have been very helpful in getting him to the finals.

I learned the most about Sharna from her interaction with Cody.

OMG! I am mortified that you thought that my comment was directed at you. I sincerely apologize. I didn't get that you were a hater at all from your message. My comment was intended as a modernization of "You can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself" with regard to how Maks has chosen to go about creating what I believe are beautiful pieces of choreography on this show, at this point of his career with his current partner. I'd rather not comment about this point outside of the context of the show and Maks, in particular. In this context, I don't see how it could be easy to avoid such a debate because Maks doesn't control the narrative and there's a cultural difference in the way his actions are interpreted. Until the ALM comment, Maks had done a remarkable job of avoiding the kind of drama that had plagued him in packages in seasons past, and it really didn't make any difference. It's clear to me that the producers have an agenda to present compelling "reality" in their packages and that they pick an choose which moments they want to highlight and in what context. Contrasting the images of Derek/Mark with Maks/Tony, for example, makes for an interesting theme that can deliver across multiple seasons.

I don't know how to look up the most viewed information from YouTube. Are there different postings of dances that have different numbers what I see are: M&M Foxtrot 144,769 M&V AT 50,622 M&M Tango 180,783

Not really, I don't think. The debates are never gonna go away regardless of what one does or doesn't do. It's always the best choice for an artist to be true to himself and not worry about trying to be something he's not. Haters gonna hate and all that. I like what I'm interpreting as a personal quote from his Twitter Homepage: You know EXACTLY who I am! And I know EXACTLY who im not! Everywhere!

My mileage, indeed, does vary. I need many more seasons of Maks being exactly who he is with every ringer being put under his tutelage so that I get to see what exciting routines he can come up with; ones that showcase their talents and help them to grow as artists within the context of solid ballroom dances. That he is able to bring the Latin expression and sensibility to more traditional ballroom routines is infinitely more captivating for me than anything anyone else has done on the show choreographically (with the exception of Karina who has done some stunningly gorgeous work when she has been able to dance with complete abandon). Sadly, I get the impression that Maks may not wish to continue given the choices that the producers have made this season (i.e., Disney week assignment and their insistence on putting his personal and turbulent process on display).

His partner has promised to keep him on the straight and narrow and has agreed to help him avoid throwing things . She's a doll, love her!

Yowsers! Facebook had her at 34% of Favorite Dance of the non-Duel dances and I thought that was a runaway. 50% is just mind-boggling. I'm definitely okay with a no contest win for her, but I'll still be on edge until it actually happens...if it happens.

Not this one.

The artistic process can be intense and the glimpses we get of real moments is what makes Maks so special. His most turbulent outbursts are not directed at Meryl and I loved seeing him bring her into the process of creating a dance from scratch when he was blocked creatively. I'd hazard to guess that working on the AT with Val might have been a more grueling experience for Meryl than putting these two dances together this week, but that's not the story that the show runners wanted to tell. I am skeptical that Maks is keen on the "Tame the Wild Beast," storyline that TPTB are insistent on telling because of his "You'd never know it from the package" comment but he pulled a fast one on them by showering the love on everyone this week even before the scores were announced. That particular out-pour of happiness and satisfaction seemed to come genuinely from the appreciation of performing the dance as well as intended. If his creative process takes real emotion and expresses it through dance, then that's just his process and, unfortunately for him and his image, it's being filmed and put on display. My take on the frustration expressed in the package is that he's not fearful of not winning; he's been there done that. I think that the frustration stems from a fear of not presenting Meryl in the best possible light on the dancefloor. The lack of turbulence in their relationship may actually be the cause of the block when the music inspires him to go in a turbulent direction. Incidentally, it looked like the outbursts made it into the VW, but instead of all the emotion coming from Maks, it came from Meryl and it appeared to be genuine and unforced. Although the theme was similar to what they did last week in the Rumba, in the VW it was more nuanced which is much harder to achieve and a sign of true artistic growth. Last week, the slap was a tool to get them into the story of the dance, this week the expression came from within Meryl and it set up a lovely dance that soared despite a dress made from Puffs (some athletes can take sponsorship too far!) and clunky boots. For what it's worth, for as long as Maks has been on the show, he's able to do this kind of expression through dance. The growth arc we are witnessing for them as dance partners is Meryl's maturation as an artist. She's very much coming into her own in this department. It's much less obvious than the growth that is getting Candace so much deserved praise. They both came into this competition with opposite strengths, in that Meryl brought a mastery of demanding extraordinary things from her body and Candace brought a mastery of artistically expressing emotion (her Contemporary Dance week 1 was excellent).

There's also the issue that this is the first "travelling" dance that they've had to do all season and they're the only couple who has been assigned all of the "special" dances that allow lifts. I was really impressed with the Quickstep. I wish they had brought the blades out earlier in the season, most especially for the waltz where they struggled to achieve the rise and fall required for the dance.

Maks has a commanding presence that makes it easy to focus attention on him. Sure his affect on his partners and theirs on him, whether one loves it or hates it, is noticed. Beyond the obvious there is other stuff going on that Meryl has been able to incorporate into the dances that takes the performance to a higher level. I've been aware of Meryl since before the previous Olympic cycle and I've been on my own journey of appreciation for what D/W bring to the ice. Perhaps the growth that appears obvious to me, is too subtle or easy to miss because it hasn't always been about learning dance steps. I've definitely seen her continued growth as a performer. I'm not sure that she would have been able to deliver the performance of the Rumba on week one. I have zero doubt that she would have mastered the steps, but the intensity that they achieved was possible because of building blocks they put into place most obviously in the Foxtrot which matured with the Tango. The weeks, in between, felt like interruptions with the switch up and the triviality of their Disney assignment, but even though the strides were smaller, the development continued.