katha

Sorry, I wasn't quite clear: My impression is that ballroom dances (as opposed to latin) are getting the short shrift in particular because they don't seem exciting enough or something: So foxtrot, slow waltz, Viennese waltz, ballroom tango and quickstep. That it has become possible for a celeb to get to the finals and not do many of those throughout a season.

I'm in two minds about this. I do enjoy contemporary on the show at times, same with jazz (but less so). I enjoy the elements of other dance styles that have crept into the choreos of the standard dances, at least when it's not too much and it's well done. Sometimes production does enhance performance. My problem is that it's all too much. That sometimes a couple gets to the finals without having done more than one or two ballroom dances for example, yet they have jazz and contempo and Bollywood and hip hop and whatever else. That's where the show IMO is risking to lose its identity. And hiring cross-trained people when you're expanding your dance repertoire like that makes sense. Allison still doesn't. I understand she came with fan base and reputation and she's great at her specialties, she has improved some on the latin and ballroom stuff and she seems nice. So from a promotional/fanbase etc. perspective etc. I get it, I guess. But she still very obviously doesn't look like a ballroom-trained pro. IMO she still hasn't proven that she can properly teach the technique (IMO Riker sold everything like crazy, I don't think he improved much throughout the season at all) as opposed to teaching her celebs the choreo and moves. She's a symptom of the show drifting too far off course in its search for innovation for me. Same with hiring Hayley Erbert for the troupe, another dancer with no ballroom background. It's the wrong direction.

Also, to be fair, DWTS is such a weird, pressure cooker format that even people with experience teaching ballroom dancing in studios haven't always panned out as pros. You not only have to teach the celebs to dance, you also have to somehow help them cope with the crazy show environment, the live shows, the mind games etc. And especially when you have young, inexperienced pros you don't know what qualities they will bring to the table when you hire them.

While it's true that various pros throughout the years have been guilty of overshadowing/outdancing partners (though I dispute that any single long-time pro does it all the time or even the majority of the time. No, not even Mark in his very worst periods.), I think a combination of two things makes Keo's case worse: He's drawing constant attention to himself in dancing and choreography and his partners look lost and like they haven't properly understood what they should be doing. IMO that second part is where you see that he struggles as a teacher. Derek, Mark, Peta, Maks, or whoever else you want to accuse of outdancing partners occasionally, their partners also usually know their choreo, they have learned technique (even the ones like Bristol Palin, Tommy Chong, Kristie Alley, Joanna Krupa). This is a more fundamental problem than what Carrie Ann is talking about, but perhaps she was reluctant to lay into Keo that hard in a public forum like a blog.

Something else that I've seen pointed out: This is the third season in a row that Keo's celeb couldn't really remember the choreography. I know he isn't being given homerun partners, but IMO at this point it's a pattern and suggests that he has deficits as a teacher. He's a great dancer and seems nice and as I understand it didn't really have experience teaching when he came on the show. I think this is a case where putting him in the troupe for one or two seasons might have helped him to learn how the show works and what he needs to do.

I think the pros have it tough in that respect. The show is very heavily scripted and manipulated. You're kind of expected to go along with their soap opera writing. If you don't, you risk falling out of favour with your employer. Various different pros have talked about this. Then you get situations like Val participating in a showmance yet also being resentful that he's accused of showmancing. Yeah, sure, he agrees to do it, but the producers are clearly encouraging that. Or apparently the infamous gorilla costume Bristol wore was a joke Mark made then the producers thought it was a splendid idea. Of course you can say no, but if they're insisting strongly, at which point are you jeopardizing your job? It's a very scripted show and the pros have to put up with a lot of BS.

Alexa had a ton of jive content, more than both Bindi and Carlos IMO. Arguably Carlos put on more of a show and Bindi executed hers a bit better, but what she had was really tough for week 1 and she did well with it, though you saw she was nervous and a bit uncertain. Scores were totally fair for the rather challenging content and decent execution. Particularly with the overscoring going on around them (again, Hayes, wth?). And some more on Hayes: I thought some of what the show and particularly Carrie Anne pulled was inappropriate. There was massive handwringing with Willow last season and for no reason whatsoever. Now they're sexualizing a 15 year old boy and everyone thinks it's fine. The double standard is pretty blatant.

Yeah, I like Mark and I did think he did his best to stay gracious. But he needs a better game face in situations like that, he often has trouble keeping his real reactions to BS like that in check. Then again, these tendencies probably also played a part in keeping him around for so long, you know the producers like their dramz! He might have a sense of foreboding: A potentially good partner, with some talent and work ethic. Finally an adult. But on evidence so far doing her best to throw herself under the bus for her husband, to put it drastically. There will be vote splitting with Carlos (and those fans gravitate more towards him), she doesn't have a nostalgia factor as strong as Bindi's or Nick's. Too early to tell, but it could be a Danica/Charlie White situation: Good dancer gets drowned out. And since IMO so far she has somewhat contributed to getting drowned out, I understand the (presumed) frustration. Though yeah, better game face needed. LOL, this is all speculation anyway. Perhaps it's just a first week blip, perhaps it has nothing to do with any of that.

I don't know Mark, so obviously I have no idea what was going on there LOL. Perhaps a reaction to the married couple crap? It was very tiresome. And IMO Alexa not only today but since she was announced, has displayed a worrying tendency to almost promote her husband over herself. Carlos does no such thing in return, he's very much focused on his own success and promoting himself (nothing wrong with that, to be clear). How do you, as a pro, establish any kind of rapport or identity as a dance pair if your partner is so wrapped up in promoting her husband? Perhaps that's just the first week and things will calm down, but those were my impressions. Thought the jive was good, the choreo was great and pretty sophisticated and he gave her a lot of content. She did well with it, though she seemed understandably nervous. Scores were appropriate for what they showed, perhaps a tad low compared to the IMO overscoring going on around them. But nothing drastic, so no big deal on that front. Saw an interview with them where they basically confirmed that Alexa was terribly nervous and rather disappointed in herself because she had performed that dance much better in rehearsal. Oh well, the trappings of live shows...you never know how you'll do in a situation like that until you're in it.

Eh. That was underwhelming. Bindi, Nick, Tamar, Carlos were good. Alexa was good, but seemed super nervous (Mark's tweet afterwards indicated as much...). And yeah, the married couple stuff is already super tiresome and I hope they cut it out and cut it out quick. Don't have much hope, though. Agree that Mark seemed already over it. And if Alexa basically turning herself inside out to support her husband while he did no such thing in return is any indication...yeah, things will get dicey. There will be vote splitting, the boyband fans, the "hot guy" audience are already gravitating towards him, no need to put yourself in his shadow some more in interviews etc. and encourage those tendencies. Alek and Andy were decent but seemed overscored, Hayes was really overscored. The rest were plodding along.

I'm glad that they're not eliminating anyone first week. It's good that the celebs have more than one dance to make a case for themselves with the audience. Because sure, sometimes it's like with Lolo where everyone immediately sees that she's not a good fit for the show. But last season Redfoo had a terrible first dance and then in the second week he had really improved. He still wasn't great, but you saw a bit of potential. His bad showing the first week had already done him in and he was booted, whereas with two dances he might have had a fighting chance.

Holy Photoshop Batman! They all look like wax figures! Couldn't they have been more subtle with the retouching? Then again, it is DWTS, so why am I surprised... Allison and Andy weren't yet partners when the photos were made, then Peta dropped out because of injury and they slapped the individual pics of them they had together.

Well, I think all the pros have various foibles. Val is IMO someone who can get overinvested during a season. He admitted himself last season that he has a habit of sucking the fun out of it for his partner because he gets so intense about it all. I don't think he's doing it all the time, but he does have tendencies going in that direction. That's also why I kinda side-eye TPTB giving him celebs like Liz or Danica who are already nervous and totally in their own heads. He did the best he could with them, but their worrying and his intensity weren't always an ideal combination IMO. Tamar seems like someone who won't be going along with stuff like that. Who might loosen him up a bit. Or not, the pairings on paper look a certain way and promise a certain dynamic. Who knows how it pans out in reality.

I was going more by the fact that they present themselves so strongly as a unit. And her husband has more of a following on social media, but we know that can be treacherous. The fans that comment there seem to be more BTR fans? So their ultimate loyalty will probably lie with Carlos, not Alexa. But yeah, I'm not some specialist on fan dynamics and social media can be deceiving on a show like DWTS that skews older. And it's true that Alexa will have the recognition from her work as an actress, so perhaps it won't matter that much. But my impression is that people that come in as fans of both of them will rather skew towards Carlos when push comes to shove. Of course we haven't seen them dance yet, so this is all wild speculation.

I think Alexa and Mark have potential. And selfishly as a fan I'm glad that Mark isn't on babysitting duty this season. But yeah, I don't know how it will work out for her with all the "louder" personalities around her. She'll split some votes with her husband and I suspect that he with his boyband following will get more of that particular cake. Some people will probably know her from her work as an actress and through Spy Kids nostalgia, so hopefully that generates some interest. Both she and her husband seem nice enough on social media and in interviews. Generally I think the female celebs this season don't seem that strong on paper. Bindi will have more recognition due to her father, but has no dance experience. Alexa looked decent in that short nae nae video, so I think she'll probably be at least all right as a dancer. But there aren't any ringers or frontrunners among the females that I can see.

Yeah, it was only for one week, but IMO you clearly saw that he understood that she was very sensitive and reacted accordingly. Bethany was more the stoic type and could probably deal with him being a bit tougher on her. Of course he had Sadie in the switch for one dance, which is very different from the pressures of a whole season run. But still.

I think Derek did okay with Bethany. She came with not much fitness, not a lot of dance experience and a closed off personality. Yeah, some of the dances were short, he controlled her rather tightly, there were props, but she did learn and improve IMO. Not in all aspects and not super dramatically, but it was there. But yeah, IMO he was also a bit passive aggressive with her at times, which is usual for him when he's frustrated. Anybody's guess how that works out with Bindi. She hasn't got dance experience, she seemed a bit nervous and overcompensating for it in the clips I've seen of her. I hope he gets her to calm down in her performances and also in her general demeanour and explains to her that it's not necessary to go 400% all the time. If he plays into that aspect of her persona, they might get a bit tiresome together. But I see potential in this pair and she already has goodwill from the audience because of her father. IMO Val and Zendaya was a bit different: She was 16, but she had extensive dance experience. So she could handle pretty much anything Val threw at her and could deal with his intensity. I agree he did super with her, but it was not exactly like with Bindi. Both Val and Derek would have to accomodate someone like that (or Sadie or Willow) to some degree and tone down their natural intensity. But since they're both generally really good at their jobs, I'm sure they would (or will, in the case of Derek) do their best.

Yeah, that's my thinking as well. He's absolutely right for the demo, he should be good dance-wise, there's no one else super outstanding in the rest of the cast. Carlos might be perhaps better as a dancer, but he'll lose some votes due to boyband vote splitting and he's more known to a younger demo that's not as interested in the show. Unless Nick's personality somehow proves problematic for the audience (not even unlikable, just not what they're looking for) or his dancing is much weaker than expected. Interested what Sharna does with him. I think she did good with Andy Dick and Noah. I'm in the camp that thinks she mishandled Charlie a bit, she gave him stuff that was a bit samey at times and was too much for him so he couldn't properly execute it. Of course TPTB also threw him under the bus, but IMO they only started doing that once it became clear he wasn't generating the votes and excitement they wanted. I don't know if that pairing not being as great as it could have been was more on Charlie or Sharna, but IMO something was lacking. Will be fascinating to see how she handles another highly capable partner.

I think they just have difficulty finding willing celebs after 20 seasons. DWTS is not an easy show to do. At this point everyone should know that you have to put in quite a bit of work and if you don't, you get called out on it on national television. You're doing something totally new (unless you're a ringer...cue discussion what a ringer even is LOL), you don't know if you'll be good at it. You get assigned a teacher who you'll have to spend loads of time with and you have to hope that you two get on because otherwise the experience turns into hell. There's the distinct possibility that you'll get embarassed and humiliated in front of millions of viewers. I can understand that people stay away. Perhaps they should think about doing it once a year?

Bummer that Artem is apparently not on this season. I thought he did great with Patti! So either an injury or I guess his or Val's partner backed out at the last minute and they were scrambling? Val didn't have a partner till late last week so perhaps they were switching around and trying to find a solution there? It seemed Artem was set as a pro until a few days ago, then he went quiet. Whatever it is, I didn't think his season with Lea was ideal but really enjoyed him with Patti and looked forward to seeing more of his work.

The situation with Peta sucks. I hope she's able to dance. Or if she has to sit out the season, it won't be to her disadvantage. She injured herself at the end of last season, then couldn't ever properly heal because she had the DWTS tour commitment. She probably felt she had to dance through the pain to stay in the good graces of her employers. Now, should she be out this season, her place in the pro line-up is potentially jeopardized again through no fault of her own.

Peta is rumoured to be with Andy Grammer (if he's on, but the leaks so far have proven to be all correct...). Witney is rumoured to be with Carlos. Both her and Mark were photographed the last two days at rehearsals, the moment Alexa and Carlos started (official) rehearsals as well. Bindi is supposedly with Derek.

Alexa Vega, actress from the Spy Kids movies, and Carlos Pena, from the boy band Big Time Rush (? same one James Maslow was from). They are also married to each other. Rumoured to be paired with Mark and Witney, respectively. And a good deal of that info comes from Krystin Burtt and Courtney from the Pure website. I think people are taking it seriously because they both have inside sources and a good track record of getting these things right. Like 90% of the time. And a week beforehand is about the time when things start leaking in earnest, last season was an outlier with how mum everyone kept. I suspect that this time around with the new structure of the celeb rollout, they don't have things tightly under control and so news are trickling out all the time.

Agree that the celebs so far look rather high caliber, considering the show is in its 21st season and someone A-List won't ever do DWTS. But plenty of people had problems with Willow being on the show last season. I think she did great, I think Mark did great with her, but IMO the show had questionable judgement bringing her on. She ran into the usual "really young fanbase will be iffy voting-wise" problem, they had to learn and create dances on severely limited practice hours and Mark was super restricted choreography-wise. And then when the inevitable boot came she took it rather hard, understandable since she was better than a few of the remaining contestants and probably didn't quite get that the main DWTS audience will usually favour showmances and Bachelors over youngsters, no matter how talented and that it had nothing to do with her dancing. DWTS is a lot of mind games and stress, I'm not sure it's a good environment for a kid that age. And Willow's run didn't convince me otherwise, even though she personally did awesome.

Well, DWTS is heavily scripted. So what sort of partner a pro gets, if judges smack down on rule-breaking, what sort of edit, and so on...that's not handled in an even-handed manner. Derek is a "leading man", he's arguably the frontman of the show. So of course he doesn't get totally hopeless cases, he usually doesn't get the "filler" since the show wants him around for many weeks every season. Same goes for Val these days, though. You could perhaps even argue that since Derek staying with the show isn't such a sure thing anymore and he's mounting a competing tour, they've transitioned their most fervent focus onto Val these days. But yeah, I also agree that though Derek's partners usually have potential, they're not all Nicole Scherzingers LOL. And he does a good job teaching them and choreographing for them. He does have his foibles, like tightly controlling partners (particularly weaker ones) and using props to hide limitations of weaker partners. But all the other pros have faults as well. And he does bring the show attention and headlines.