S32.E02: Latin Night

[crowceilidh]

OMG Mark's hair!  Gorgeous hair, but doesn't really suit him.  That was a real stop the damn recording and go back to look again moment.

[iMonrey]

How do they assign the dances? There were five Salsas, three Cha Chas, three Sambas, one Tango and one Rumba. WTF.  No Argentine Tango, no Paso Doble. They could have had two of each style minus one of those seven styles like Tango.

I'm no dance expert but everything I know about these dances I've learned from this show. Which it why it drives me crazy how inconsistent the judging is. Sometimes they point out whether or not a dance was done correctly, like the Samba, and sometimes they just don't care. This is where Len's absence is is most notable. 

Best dance IMO was Jason's Rumba, simply because it was probably the most proper Rumba I've ever seen on this show. Proper Rumba hip action from start to finish.

The Sambas were mostly a mess. The only ones who did a correct Samba bounce were Adrian and Britt, ironically enough, but only at the very beginning. Nobody else had the right up and down movement through the dance. 

It goes without saying yet bears repeating: Alfonso is a 100% improvement over Tyra. But am I right in thinking he's hosted or co-hosted before? I can't remember. 

Quote

Ezra is a cutie 🥰 Charity did well but all I could think of was William Hung on American idol. 

Agree about Ezra. They can drop Brandon and replace him with Ezra as far as I'm concerned.

[Quickbeam]

Jason was terrific. Jamie Lynn, sigh….such a sad soul. She looks older than her years. Not sorry to see her go. 

[ams1001]

6 minutes ago, crowceilidh said:

OMG Mark's hair!  Gorgeous hair, but doesn't really suit him.  That was a real stop the damn recording and go back to look again moment.

My former roomie and I were messaging during the show and she asked "was that Mark Ballas?" I had missed it so she must have rewound and sent me a screenshot. The hair is impressive but the shorts suit and giant boots are just...no.

[Lady Calypso]

9. Alyson and Sasha - Massive improvement from last week, she definitely wins for Most Improved. She was a lot more focused and you can see she put in some serious work in to do better. Of course, the issue she had was her facial expressions. She worked so hard to not be so goofy that her face turned into a statue instead. She was so expressionless the entire time; Alyson's an expressive person, so it sucked to see her go into statue mode just to do the dance well. Otherwise, the actual dance was great. Sasha just needs to help her find that happy medium of goofy and serious.

10. Charity and Ezra - Sorry that Artem had to sit out this week, but Ezra was the perfect replacement for him. For his first time stepping in for a pro, he did fantastic, and I think he helped make Charity a bit better. Charity was fantastic, but I think the one thing she's already doing is the Bachelorette Thing: Pageant Face. Instead of looking like she's in the dance and having fun, she looks like she's overthinking how she appears to people and it affects her ability to connect. She desperately needs to work on that, but Ezra's goofy personality seemed to help at points. Deserving scores, overall. Make Ezra a pro! (And also Alexis from last season!). He was such a fresh face to the dancefloor and gave a different vibe that was desperately needed.

11. Harry and Rylee - So, I will say, he improved from last week. He looked a bit more comfortable out there. That being said, my critiques go onto his pro. Rylee is falling into the Jenna Johnson Method, which is "if I can look good out there, maybe my partner will also look good by default." Several steps here: dance around partner, have them hold you as you spin, flip and get lifted, then do a couple of basic moves to make it seem like he is, indeed, doing something. It's noticeable because she's obviously fantastic but it's showing her complete inexperience in teaching someone. I think she needs a few years of teaching, unfortunately for her. She knows how to dance, but she doesn't know how to teach her partner to dance. It's something she needs to try to avoid falling into. Unfortunately for us, she'll be here with Harry for at least five more weeks, so he's going to knock out celebs with more potential, but I AM hoping Rylee can equally learn something as Harry learns from her. She can be a good pro, but she needs teaching/mentor experience, something I don't think she has, or she doesn't have mastered yet.

12. Jamie Lynn and Alan - She was fine, about the same as last week. Nothing too special from her dance; I'm not sad she's gone, but disappointed worse people weren't taken out first. Alas, I won't cry over her elimination.

13. Jason and Daniella - Now, what a dark horse in Jason. He's been killing it, and I think that's not JUST kudos to Dani. He really has that special oomph that is needed this season. I love that he's surprised people with being a frontrunner. Bar some unfortunate fanbase surprises, Jason/Dani could be locked in for the finale, which is fantastic. He oozes joy and charisma and his rumba was pretty damn good. I cannot wait to see the rest of his journey because he's so joyous to watch, and Dani's a fantastic teacher. 

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It goes without saying yet bears repeating: Alfonso is a 100% improvement over Tyra. But am I right in thinking he's hosted or co-hosted before? I can't remember. 

Wikipedia tells me he co-hosted season 31 with Tyra. I don't have Disney+ so I wasn't watching. He's also done America's Funniest Home Videos since 2015 so he's got other hosting experience, too.

[crowceilidh]

Can't remember who Bruno "sevenned" like Len to, but it made me happy.

Also, I think there is already no doubt that Alfonso and Julianne are very good hosts for this show.  I ff through a lot, but I wasn't seeing the same kind of line flubbing as last week.  Also, Alfonso's suit.  I'm really happy to have the show feeling so much about the dancers rather than the host's ego and just so much more fun.

[LexieLily]

4 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

11. Harry and Rylee - So, I will say, he improved from last week. He looked a bit more comfortable out there. That being said, my critiques go onto his pro. Rylee is falling into the Jenna Johnson Method, which is "if I can look good out there, maybe my partner will also look good by default." Several steps here: dance around partner, have them hold you as you spin, flip and get lifted, then do a couple of basic moves to make it seem like he is, indeed, doing something. It's noticeable because she's obviously fantastic but it's showing her complete inexperience in teaching someone. I think she needs a few years of teaching, unfortunately for her. She knows how to dance, but she doesn't know how to teach her partner to dance. It's something she needs to try to avoid falling into. Unfortunately for us, she'll be here with Harry for at least five more weeks, so he's going to knock out celebs with more potential, but I AM hoping Rylee can equally learn something as Harry learns from her. She can be a good pro, but she needs teaching/mentor experience, something I don't think she has, or she doesn't have mastered yet.

I don't know what type of relationship Rylee and Lindsay have, or maybe Rylee wanted to do this on her own and not immediately need to "go to Lindsay for advice," but at the same time it surprises me that this wasn't something Lindsay had a conversation with Rylee about as soon as Rylee got the job. Not after Rylee got her partner, but just a general sort of "here's the best way to go about this show" sort of thing. 

[Diana Berry]

11 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

My former roomie and I were messaging during the show and she asked "was that Mark Ballas?" I had missed it so she must have rewound and sent me a screenshot. The hair is impressive but the shorts suit and giant boots are just...no.

I follow him on IG . His wife is a singer and they make music together.  They had a really catchy song.  They are having a baby.  The hair sceeves me out.

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

The hair sceeves me out.

I don't really like long hair on guys. It's impressive in that I can't grow hair like that myself. 😉

[perfectstorm]

I felt Mauricio should have gone.  Worse of the night.  He probably got saved by viewers because he was in the Bottom 2 last week - where btw, Matt Walsh got a bum deal.

It seems like the only reason he was cast for the show was because of the drama rama around his separation.

[Stats Queen]

13 minutes ago, inandout said:

I felt Mauricio should have gone.  Worse of the night.  He probably got saved by viewers because he was in the Bottom 2 last week - where btw, Matt Walsh got a bum deal.

It seems like the only reason he was cast for the show was because of the drama rama around his separation.

I am shocked Mauricio and disappointed wasn’t eliminated - 

[peachyleisure]

1.  Lele and Brandon - An improvement in choreography from Brandon. I do feel like he could give more but Lele's technique needs to improve at the same time. I do appreciate the energy and confidence that Lele brought tonight and thought it was a strong start to Latin night.
2. Tyson and Jenna - A lot of lifts! But there was some improvement from Tyson. Not the worst thing I've seen from Jenna when she's paired with a non-ringer, so I was glad to see him dance a bit instead of watching her dance around her partner the entire time.
3. Barry and Peta - Honestly one of my favorite partnerships so far! Didn't really like the song that was assigned for their cha cha. But Barry did well with what he was given and I think he's the second strongest male contestant right now.
4. Adrian and Britt - Not buying the angle that production is trying to push. I thought he was a bit stompy or heavy-footed at times. He needs to fix his facial expressions as well.
5. Mira and Gleb - Pleasantly surprised there wasn't that much fluff and at the amount of content Gleb put in the choreography. However, she looked very timid and unsure of herself which kinda took away from the performance.
6. Xochitl and Val - Good choreography from Val! Somehow I felt like the dance was over way too soon. Xochitl looked like she was really enjoying it and this was one of the better performances tonight. (Really like Val's curls!!)
7. Ariana and Pasha - Agreed with the judges' comments and needs to refine her movement. Second half of the dance seemed better to me. In the first half, it looked as if she couldn't finish the movements. Preferred her week one performance.
8. Mauricio and Emma - Glad he survived tonight's elimination. Can see that he was thrown off after slipping up. And thought there were too many lifts in this dance.
9. Alyson and Sasha - I thought tango was a ballroom dance? Big improvement from last week though and she looked a lot more focused, but to the point where it looked expressionless. I think Sasha gave her easy and an appropriate level of choreography to work with. 
10. Charity and Ezra - Charity did well considering the last minute switch. Agreed with the judges' comments. Hope we see Ezra as a pro soon! Especially with all the congrats he got tonight for his first performance as a pro.
11. Harry and Rylee - Better than last week (based on whatever dancing I saw from him) and hope he can become more confident in dancing. I do think Harry could've handled more than what he was given. Disappointed that this was another dance that heavily relied on lifts and tricks, or the pro dancing around their celeb. 
12. Jamie Lynn and Alan - Not much to say. I don't think that choreography did her any favors though.
13. Jason and Daniella - Great choreography and performance! Definitely deserved the highest score of the night. And probably one of the few male contestants who have performed the rumba well. But what was with the camera work for this dance? 

The strongest performances for me were Lele/Brandon, Xochitl/Val, and Jason/Daniella. Maybe week 2 is too early for Latin night? I know it's only week 2 but I thought it looked like a lot of celebs were struggling and many looked unsure of themselves, which kinda made many performances appear rather lackluster. 

 
I'm not really a fan of salsa on DWTS due to all the lifts and tricks involved. I don't enjoy watching the celeb do nothing but being a prop for their partner and it takes a lot away from the actual dancing.

 
 

Spoiler

And, I'm a bit surprised Jamie Lynn was the second one out and sad to see an early out for Alan. Definitely not the weakest one, but worse people should've went out first. I also would've preferred if Adrian was eliminated over her.

 

[Meowwww]

I feel for Charity.  The whole testing positive, wear a mask, is so 2 years ago. The CDC released a statement that it’s no worse than a cold.  I’m surprised the show would  be that way about it. 

[Lindsay Loo Hoo]

Jason and Daniella- Dani reminds me so much of Karina in the fact that she is not only one of the best dancers but also the best teacher who always has amazing choreo. Jason was incredible and this was a proper rhumba. 
 

Tyson had some improvement but I still feel like he’s missing something. It doesn’t help that he has “look at me look at me” pro Jenna. 
 

Alyson had massive improvement and I was happy to see that. That dress was amazing as well. 
 

Mira looked lost and unsure. I want better. I want a diff pro for her. 
 

Lele and Brandon could have been so strong on Latin night. However I was given lukewarm. The choreo and energy did nothing for me. This should have been a spicy routine. 
 

Xochitl- I can hear the complaints from Len here.. she was wearing shoes with no heel. He would have had words about this. She did okay but ofc she would with converse on. 

 

adrian can get off my screen. I think Britt even looked weird doing the samba. 
 

harry can’t dance. Rylee is using him as a pole. I wouldn’t mind them leaving now

 

Barry and peta -meh. Okay I guess. 
 

I love Emma but this dud she’s with can go. 
 

lastly EZRA FOR PRO NEXT SEASON! So cute and amazing dancer!

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I would've given Lele the same critique Derek gave Charity. Her chemistry w/ Brandon seems to be almost nil. Like she's dancing with a complete stranger (who just happens to know the same routine)

He's not great, but I guess I'm glad Emma gets one more dance over JLS.

Mauricio & Adrian need to be the next two to go in whatever order.

I'd like to see Harry try a waltz or a foxtrot before I completely write him off as hopeless. Rylee has to be willing put him (and herself out there) even if it is a trainwreck. It's the only way he might make some incremental improvement. If you keep giving him routines where he moves a grand total of 10 feel in any direction, that does him no good. If anything it highlights her own weaknesses or inexperience as a teacher/choreographer (as someone upthread highlighted).

Alyson was fortunate enough to get a dance almost entirely in hold where Sasha could cover up a lot of her weaknesses. That said, I do think both Harry & Alyson have the potential to outlast a number of "better" dancers.

Pretty sure the judges wanted to crown Xochi last week as one of the favorites, and they were kind of shocked she was as a underwhelming as she was last week. They made up for it night. She made up for it tonight too.

Mira & Barry are doing a pretty good job of representing the older dance crowd through the first two weeks. I normally don't love Gleb but I think he's designed two solid dances for Mira that were tasteful & had a reasonable level of difficulty for where she is as a dancer.

Jason is awesome, & I already care about his journey way more than I will ever care about Charity or Ariana's journeys..

...and I forgot about Tyson/Jenna. Oh well..

[boyznkatz]

America got it right.

[TVMovieBuff]

13 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Barry better get lower scores than Tyson, all I’m saying.  I don’t think Peta came up with a good dance overall.

When a dancer is 69 years old, the pro has to design a dance around what they can do. I am 68 next month and balance isn't as good as it used to be. 

Jason really has the stuff! Having Daniella as a pro doesn't hurt a bit. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by TVMovieBuff

[boyznkatz]

Just out of curiosity, I googled Jason. It seems like he was a former cheerleader and theater performer. No wonder he is good.

I really like Jason, Lele, Adriana, Charity and Xochitl. And Barry! I wish he would win, but that probably won't happen.

Please producers, make Ezra a pro next season. He is adorable. And please bring back Keo and get rid of Gleb while you're at it.

[TVbitch]

Jason is an odd bird, but I'm into it. He's got more presence than the rest of them combined. 

I'm surprised the judges are no longer deciding who goes home from the bottom two. 

 

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

9. Alyson and Sasha - Massive improvement from last week, she definitely wins for Most Improved. She was a lot more focused and you can see she put in some serious work in to do better. Of course, the issue she had was her facial expressions. She worked so hard to not be so goofy that her face turned into a statue instead.

I made a note of that too. It made her whole dance feel rather stiff IMO. 

10 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I'm surprised the judges are no longer deciding who goes home from the bottom two. 

Yeah I wonder why they dropped that. I always felt conflicted about it though. I have a feeling they probably would have saved Jamie Lynn over Adrian.

You can tell the judges are recalculating their scores now that they see who is getting the votes. Barry Williams, for example, is probably getting a lot of nostalgia votes. I actually thought he was better than last week when the judges fawned all over him. This week they nitpicked his dance and gave him a lower score.

[crowceilidh]

I was impressed by Barry's hip movements in a short section that the camera really did no favours to.  Not stiff at all.  

[jennifer6973]

I was mad that Jamie went last night, I would have voted for her if I knew weather they wanted me to text vote Jamie Lynn or just Jamie.

[Andiethewestie]

5 hours ago, boyznkatz said:

Just out of curiosity, I googled Jason. It seems like he was a former cheerleader and theater performer. No wonder he is good.

Please producers, make Ezra a pro next season. He is adorable. And please bring back Keo and get rid of Gleb while you're at it.

I would like Jason to win or at least top two. Ballroom is a different animal and to nail a male rumba part on week 2 - talent. 

Erza is very adorable, and a fun latin dancer -  was lovely on SYTYCD

[Andiethewestie]

On 10/3/2023 at 10:40 PM, Lady Calypso said:

13. Jason and Daniella - Now, what a dark horse in Jason. He's been killing it, and I think that's not JUST kudos to Dani. He really has that special oomph that is needed this season. I love that he's surprised people with being a frontrunner. Bar some unfortunate fanbase surprises, Jason/Dani could be locked in for the finale, which is fantastic. He oozes joy and charisma and his rumba was pretty damn good. I cannot wait to see the rest of his journey because he's so joyous to watch, and Dani's a fantastic teacher. 

I hope fanbases remember just how great of a singer/songwriter Jason is and I hope he uses some more of his hits -because they are perfect for dancing Lucky is an adorable Foxtrot Let's See what the Night Can do would be a  gorgeous VWaltz.  Love Someone has an easy Samba vibe. There's so much dance tempo in his music not to mention his bangers like Im Yours and  I Won't Give Up that could be beautiful to dance to.Not all great musicians are great dancers but he's born with the rhythm gene. Combining all this that he brings to the competition with arguably the best dancer/choreographer this season, for me it's a winning partnership. Dani has got to be inspired! But of course Val has an adorable Cracker Jack partner and I like what Pasha is doing this season. We definitely can't count out Mr Ballroom Artem and his beautiful partner who will definitely grow, she has all the tools and fan bases all factor in.  Others may have their ups and downs but if Jason and Dani can stay consistent they should get to the finals. 

[boyznkatz]

22 hours ago, TVbitch said:

 

I'm surprised the judges are no longer deciding who goes home from the bottom two. 

 

Thank goodness for that! Now they can't manipulate who gets in the finals. It would have been good last week, though. JLS is a vile person, but Adrian P is even worse. They would have probably sent him home since she was a slightly better dancer. At least he was in the bottom two and hopefully he goes home next week. 

[SHERMDOG]

On 10/3/2023 at 7:27 PM, iMonrey said:

My understanding of the Samba (per this show) is that it is defined by a distinct "bounce" - an up and down movement throughout. I saw none of that in Lele and Brandon's Samba. But sometimes the judges point it out and sometimes they don't. I did think their Samba roll was good but otherwise I saw little to distinguish it from Salsa.

She seemed like she was stomping...kinda heavy feet?

[mirandroid]

So excited Alyson's dancing got better, but her SERIOUS FACE was a bit over the top. Starting to see some potential for my boy Harry. And Jason Mraz was great again. I agreed with the judge's comments about Charity not connecting with her partner. It seemed like she was always searching for the camera instead of looking at him. I also couldn't help but think that Julianne's dress was a subtle (not so subtle?) dig at Tyra's monstrosity from whatever season.

[Ilovepie]

On 10/3/2023 at 7:40 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Harry and Rylee - So, I will say, he improved from last week. He looked a bit more comfortable out there. That being said, my critiques go onto his pro. Rylee is falling into the Jenna Johnson Method, which is "if I can look good out there, maybe my partner will also look good by default." Several steps here: dance around partner, have them hold you as you spin, flip and get lifted, then do a couple of basic moves to make it seem like he is, indeed, doing something.

This has been going on since the beginning of this show a billion years ago. My favorite of all time was Lady Leg Warmers herself Edyta Sliwinska - the queen of just dancing up a storm around a mostly still partner. I feel like Kym Johnson would do that a lot too. In my mind it's just making lemonade with the lemon dancer you've been given - mostly happens with older or generally terrible dancers, and unfortunately, Harry is terrible.

On 10/4/2023 at 5:34 AM, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Mauricio & Adrian need to be the next two to go in whatever order.

This! But unfortunately, I feel like Mira or Alyson will be next - women of a certain age that are kind of forgettable. Kinda bummed that JLS didn't get a few more weeks.

Pretty good improvement from week one from Tyson. Hopefully he can keep leveling up, but unfortunately I don't feel like he's with a pro that will help him get there......

I am here for Jason - he's with my current favorite pro and wow on that Rhumba!  Also weirdly, Barry - props to the older guy for the surprising pep and hip movement!  Lele, Charity, Xochitl, and Ariana are all pretty good, but they don't entertain me like those two guys.

[Andiethewestie]

10 hours ago, SHERMDOG said:

10 hours ago, SHERMDOG said:

She seemed like she was stomping...kinda heavy feet?

I think she definitely has a Latin feel in her movement meaning she's very rhythmic and that's what Brandon chose to highlight because she's the opposite of stiff but it's sloppy. For me Samba needs to be more exacting in foot placement and body movement it seems like she could easily get out of control.Brandon did give her some traditional Samba like the botofogo but blink and the content is gone.

[MMLEsq]

On 10/3/2023 at 10:17 PM, MerBearHou said:

I think it may be “not necessarily the bottom two” that kept Mauricio off the final 2 stage there. 

What I heard them say was the last three couples were "not necessarily the bottom three," but that the final two were the bottom two.

[MerBearHou]

48 minutes ago, MMLEsq said:

What I heard them say was the last three couples were "not necessarily the bottom three," but that the final two were the bottom two.

Aaaah, true true.

[coffeebean]

On 10/3/2023 at 8:54 PM, Annber03 said:

You're welcome, and dang, you are going to be occupied, for sure! That's great, though, hope everyone has a lovely birthday month, then! And thanks to you in turn as well :). 

Holy crap, Xochitl! That was good. I like her. 

Val and Xochiti were great but I did  not like the sneakers. Latin dancing should be danced in Latin shoes.

[coffeebean]

On 10/3/2023 at 10:33 PM, iMonrey said:

It goes without saying yet bears repeating: Alfonso is a 100% improvement over Tyra. But am I right in thinking he's hosted or co-hosted before? I can't remember. 

 

Alfonso has co-hosted with Tom B. before. Not sure how many times though. He subbed for Erin.

[babyhouseman]

Alfonso cohosted with Tyra.