S19.E07: Week 5: The Switch-Up

[Buggin]

Not sure if that's the official title of this episode so feel free to edit, but since GMA announced the switch-up pairings I thought it would fit in the episode thread. Mods, please feel free to change if necessary. :)

 

New pairings for this week:

 

Sadie and Derek

Bethany and Mark

Alfonso and Cheryl

Tommy and Emma

Jonathan and Peta

Antonio and Allison

Michael and Witney

Janel and Artem

Lea and Val

 

 

Thoughts - I'll be interested to see if Witney can get anything more out of Michael. I think Emma does her best with him but sometimes it's good to see the worst dancers with a different pro just to see if they are truly that bad. Witney is super short next to him, though. Poor Emma once again gets the AARP partner even though I'm loving Tommy so I think they'll be entertaining. Was hoping she'd get Alfonso or Jonathan. I think Jonathan will do better with Peta this week. From what Tony said on GMA, they have a bunch of different dance styles this week - burlesque, mambo, Broadway, etc.

[mtlchick]

The dances:

 

Jonathan Bennett and Peta Murgatroyd – dancing the jitterbug
Tommy Chong and Emma Slater – the mambo
Bethany Mota and Mark Ballas – hip-hop
Janel Parrish and Artem Chigvintsev – burlesque
Alfonso Ribeiro and Cheryl Burke – flamenco
Sadie Robertson and Derek Hough – the Charleston
Antonio Sabato Jr. and Allison Holker – Bollywood
Lea Thompson and Val Chmerkovskiy – Broadway
Michael Waltrip and Witney Carson – disco

 

===

 

Antonio doing Bollywood?  Oooook there show.  But I can't wait for Tommy, Alfonso, and Sadie. 

[Stella MD]

Well, some of these could be good. I like the idea of Lea and Val, and I suppose Emma was as good a choice as any for Tommy (Cheryl is too stiff for him and the age difference was too jarring for Witney). And while I was hoping Michael would get Allison, if someone else had to be stuck with her I'm glad it's "he's still here?" Antonio, not Tommy or Alfonso. But Mark and Derek switching partners bores me, and I wish Jonathan had gotten Cheryl to teach him some decent technique, instead of Peta.

 

Also not sure why they chose to do the partner switching AND the unusual dances (Bollywood, flamenco, burlesque, etc) all in the same week. I would have liked to see what the new partnerships could have done with the usual dances, and, in later weeks, what the established/comfortable partners come up with for these odd-duck dances. As it is, this is too many layers of "fish out of water"  - I expect a lot of these will be a hot mess.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Stella MD

[ranchgirl]

I wish Sadie had gotten one of the taller guys.  That is all.  :)

[howmanywords]

Either the show weeded out spam on Twitter (the Lea/Derek pairing did seem almost spam if you look at Twitter) or they just decided on whatever the hell they wanted to do. And Witney with Michael? That height difference alone is going to be awkward. I expect Antonio & Allison to be a potential trainwreck. 

[tarotx]

Jessie J the guest judge

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Jessie-J-to-Guest-Judge-Perform-on-DWTSs-Switch-Up-Episode-1013-20141009

[truthaboutluv]

Also not sure why they chose to do the partner switching AND the unusual dances (Bollywood, flamenco, burlesque, etc) all in the same week.

 

 

Because anything for what they think will be interesting, even though it's mostly just annoying. Early speculation, Janel and Artem is an interesting pairing and I can see her doing a great job with burlesque. I also suspect Sadie is going to kill the Charleston with Derek and Peta might do a good job with Jonathan with the jitterbug. Kind of worried about Alfonso with the flamenco which as I remember when Derek and Kellie did it, is very similar to Paso in its staccato moves and tall/aggressive posture. Cheryl is an awesome teacher so it may work but as much as I like Alfonso, I have to agree that he's done better with things like the Jive, Jazz whereas his frame was not so great in the Quickstep. So I wonder if he'll get the character and movement of the dance right. Bethany and hip hop sounds like one big disaster waiting to happen but I think Mark may pull something out of his hat that will make her come off at least serviceable. 

[radishcake]

Thanks Buggin! I'm going to pin this at the top for all the new info. :)

On Monday’s show, the celebrities will switch partners, dancing instead with pros who were selected for them by viewers who voted on Twitter.

The stars will dance with these new partners on Monday’s show only, after which they’ll return to their original partners.

New pairings for this week:

Sadie and Derek
Bethany and Mark
Alfonso and Cheryl
Tommy and Emma
Jonathan and Peta
Antonio and Allison
Michael and Witney
Janel and Artem
Lea and Val

 

Dances: Thanks mtlchick!

Jonathan Bennett and Peta Murgatroyd – dancing the jitterbug
Tommy Chong and Emma Slater – the mambo
Bethany Mota and Mark Ballas – hip-hop
Janel Parrish and Artem Chigvintsev – burlesque
Alfonso Ribeiro and Cheryl Burke – flamenco
Sadie Robertson and Derek Hough – the Charleston
Antonio Sabato Jr. and Allison Holker – Bollywood
Lea Thompson and Val Chmerkovskiy – Broadway
Michael Waltrip and Witney Carson – disco

 

Guest Judge: thanks tarotx!

Jessie J the guest judge
http://www.broadwayw...e-1013-20141009

[spanana]

So nice to see that TPTB did not remotely pay attention to the twitter votes because if they had it would have been Lea/Derek and Sadie/Val.  But moving on, the female celeb/male pro pairings are so boring.   I expect they will all do well in their new pairings coupled with their dance assignements, except for Bethany.   Bethany and hip hop just screams a big fat no.

 

Janel and Lea will do fine with their dance styles, but I expect Sadie will kill the Charleston.  I'm actually excited for that one, especially with Derek's choreography.   It fits her personality perfectly and the audience is going to eat it up.

 

On the other side, I'm excited to see Alfonso/Cheryl but I think he got one of the harder dance draws.  I do think Cheryl is a good partner for him though and if anybody can find a way to pull that off it will be Alfonso.

 

I'm just excited to see Jonathan dance anything with anyone not named Allison.   Allison has to be freaking out this week, because if Jonathan comes out and does a strong dance, it's pretty much game over for her.  

 

But most of them got dance assigments that fit them at least.

[Dancingjaneway]

Antonio+Allison= Disaster. I was hoping Lea would be with Tony but I'm totally fine that she is partnered with Val(he was my second choice). I'm looking forward to Cheryl and Alfonso. I'm not sure about the Jonathan/Peta Pairing. She seems too harsh for him almost. Janel and Artem will do well together. I hate that Whitney is being saddled with Michael I would have liked to see her with Jonathan. I'm not thrilled about there being no actual balroom dances(unless flamenco is but I didn't think it was.)

[missysays]

Jonathan/Peta: Jitterbug. I think this could be good. Peta is a better height match for Jonathan and the jitterbug itself will be a nice light casual dance with a lot of separation to give him a chance to move independently from his partner. Plus, I think he'll be able to interpret it very well. I do sort of wish he had been given a true ballroom or latin dance so that his new partner could have taught him some basics he could have taken back with him to Allison but it may not matter if his overall score/vote combo is low. He may be out anyway though I hope he can stay at least for another couple of weeks.

 

Tommy/Emma: Mambo. The pairing is fine but the mambo could be difficult for Tommy to master- a lot of quick stepping along with hip rolls but hey he's surprised us so far this season so this may be his normal Tommy confident performance.

 

Bethany/Mark: Hip-hop. Pairing meh. I don't have negative or positive feelings about the pairing. Though hip-hop with Mark could be disastrous- since I don't know that he has a natural feel for that genre of dance and it could be a challenge for Bethany to pick up the necessary swagger to perform it. Guess we'll see. If anything they might do an old school more upbeat hip-hop number instead of a modern down and dirty one.

 

Janel/Artem: Burlesque. I think the producers are actually gifting Janel with this number. The reason I say this is that I think Burlesque is the dance that is most intrinsically suited to her natural level of dance ability - that is more posing moves and since she's so fond of the sexy big eyed pout already this will be right up her alley. She won't have to stretch, point, or ground her feet/legs in her steps. In fact, I don't think she'll have that many steps at all. I can imagine staging already- small stage area with maybe a poll or chair and a lot of feather boa action. Maybe some lifts with Artem. She'll do well and this will keep her in the competition.

 

Alfonso/Cheryl: Flamenco. I'm kind of looking forward to this. I've been wanting to see Alfonso do a strict dramatic dance with no "groove" factor to it. And this might be a very good one- it's also rhythmical and cadenced with a lot of quick foot movement so this could work well for him since he's good with his feet. I also think Cheryl will be the right teacher for him in this type of dance. She's very intense in her presentation and they should do well together.

 

Sadie/Derek: Charleston. I'm sort of bored with this already. I had been hoping she'd get Val bc I wanted to see how they got along in their package. I think it would have been funny making Val go back to LA with her and meet her extended Duck family. Hahaha!!! But I guess the producers didn't want that potential train wreck to happen. Darn it! As it is Derek will come up with a nice cute Charleston number for her and that will be that! She'll do very well but nothing unexpected.

 

Antonio/Allison: Bollywood. At first I was like-- poor Antonio they must really want him off the show now to saddle him with Bollywood and with Allison. But the more I think about it the more I wonder if it won't be that bad. Antonio is naturally a stiff but athletic mover. Bollywood is all about posing in rigid poses and moving athletically. As for Allison, she might finally have a chance to shine a little bit with teaching a dance that's not a ballroom/latin dance that requires that specific technique. Bollywood has a specific technique too but at least it's more open and athletic and doesn't require too much partnering but more side/side moves. We''ll see. They'll either be fine or it'll be a trainwreck.

 

Lea/Val: Broadway. Hmmmm. The staging that Val created for his West Side Story Jazz was really impressive. I was more impressed by that than Janel's actual dancing in that number. Depending on which song they get if he can channel that again Lea may be the more apt technical dancer to execute it well. She's more grounded in her legs and feet and her placement of both are beautiful and precise. The one problem I've seen with her is that sometimes in partnering she loses her place and also hunches her shoulders but she prob won't have to partner too much or worry too much about posture in Broadway. If they get a good song this could be awesome.

 

Michael/Witney: Disco. I've come to love Witney this season but this could be the second trainwreck of the night. Michael cannot dance. Period. And with something campy like the disco the chance of him being able to perform any of it well - slim. Plus, it's such a fast paced dance I could see him completely losing his place. The height difference could also be a problem. If he were a younger, stronger man I could see them being able to execute a lot of the disco lifts but he's not young or strong in his upper body. If I were Witney, I'd be very nervous about attempting to put in any lifts for fear of being dropped.

 

This should be an interesting show next Monday. I sort of can't wait. I actually really like switch-up weeks.

[LadyMustang65]

Oh boy.  Don't know what I think about this.  Janel is doing burlesque?  I'm guessing burlesque is more than 'strip tease,' which is what I think of when I hear burlesque.  I love Alfonso, but I just don't know about the flamenco.  That's so hard to learn quickly, and the other attempts at flamenco on this show have not been good.  I'm not sure I want to see Sadie do the Charleston.  I love that dance, but with those long, gangly legs of hers, I'm not sure it will look all that good.  She can look like a deer on ice on the floor sometimes, but then again, it's Derek, so maybe he'll have her sit on a chair or a table and kick her legs while he dances.  <shrug> 

 

Antonio and Bollywood and Michael and Disco?  No.  Just no.  They haven't done a mambo on the show since Maks/Mel B., I think.  Tommy won't be anywhere near that good, but it could be entertaining.  I think the dance I'm most looking forward to actually is Jonathan with the jitterbug.  That could be good.

[superdeluxe]

Derek and Mark aren't the only ones who kept it in the family.  So did Val and Artem since The Fam adopted Artem.  Anyway.

 

Janel gets burlesque?  Rolling my eyes at the fact that they're actually doing burlesque and that she got it.  They'll probably throw some 10s at her.

 

I laughed out loud at seeing Bethany and hip-hop.  Yeah, I don't think that one is going to work.

 

Ugh to the guest judge.  Is Len coming back?  I didn't know he was going to be gone for so long.  I thought he was going to take a week off or something.

[Dancingjaneway]

Lea was in Caberet on Broadway for awhile so I wonder if they will do a number from that. So am I correct in assuming that whatever celeb goes home their original partner goes with them? I have never watched during a switch week.

 

ETA: The elimination I'm talking about is the one that takes place the next week after the switch week. Not this upcoming weeks elimination.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Dancingjaneway

[missysays]

Lea was in Caberet on Broadway for awhile so I wonder if they will do a number from that. So am I correct in assuming that whatever celeb goes home their original partner goes with them? I have never watched during a switch week.

 

ETA: The elimination I'm talking about is the one that takes place the next week after the switch week. Not this upcoming weeks elimination.

 

The celeb gets eliminated with their original pro. Last season Cody got eliminated with his normal pro partner- Witney.

[Dancingjaneway]

I thought so. Thanks for the confirmation MIssysays.

[Padma]

Sounds fun--and so much better than "weepy, my saddest story" week. They don't eliminate anyone this week, right?* Otherwise, I would have been hoping for "Michael + Allison" to get rid of my two least favorites (and give Jonathan at least a chance to show some skills for another week).  Allison's had her big break and I don't think she'll get a second chance. The judges comments each week show, to me, that they don't think much of her as a choreographer OR as a teacher. Her "But I'm so original!" attitude doesn't help either.

 

And I still wish Michael had gone home before Betsy. At least she was fun and fun to see Tony's dances with her each week. Michael, for some reason, is one my my least favorite males on DWTS ever. Something about him just bugs me.

 

I might even watch this one live and dvr "The Voice" instead.   

 

ETA: Oh, from the post above, I see they do. That kind of doesn't seem fair, but if it's Michael I won't complain.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Padma

[sunnyheart]

Allison and Antonio doing Bollywood is gonna be chock full of LOLs. I hope Peta does something great with Jonathan to show us what could have been.

 

And Burlesque? Yowza! Can't wait to see what that's all about. I may have to tune in for the cringe factor.

[truthaboutluv]

They haven't done a mambo on the show since Maks/Mel B., I think.

 

 

Shawn and Derek did an excellent mambo during the All-Stars season. It's one of the dances that won him his Emmy.

[missysays]

Looks like Artem IS going to be incorporating lifts into his Burlesque with Janel.

 

http://instagram.com/p/t8FFx5mp5P/?modal=true

[spanana]

At least this will show people that Janel is just super touchy feely in general and it's not really just a Val thing.   Janel finding out that Artem is her partner through the touch method.

 

http://instagram.com/p/t8F9LzGp6h/

 

I have to assume they didn't encourage the male celebs to meet their pro partners the same way.

 

Jonathan and Peta:

http://instagram.com/p/t8HGDxyC9-/

 

Lea and Val:

http://instagram.com/p/t8HmMyPGf3/

Edited October 9, 2014 by spanana

[ChrisMcGraan]

Some of these pairings are pretty boring I think, especially the swap on the female side. Though I have to admit I'm pretty excited to watch a Sadie/Derek switch-up!

 

Think giving Janel Burlesque is a major gift a bit of a cop-out considering she just had Jazz. Give her Broadway next week producers, make the pimping complete.

[realdancemom]

Some of the dance styles are weird.  I never thought that I would see burlesque on this show.  Janel and Artem are the ones that can pull it off. 

 

Like somebody else mentioned, I wish Jonathan got a more traditional ballroom or Latin dance.  That way, he had proper lessons before he went back to Allison.  I think he'll do great with the jitterbug and Peta as his teacher.  Allison has never done Bollywood since it wasn't introduced into SYTYCD until Season 4.  Even if she did it, she wouldn't be able to teach it so I hope she gets somebody to help.

 

Val and Lea should be great.  I think Tommy will do fine with the mambo.  Ugh for pairing Michael with Witney.  There is such a height difference.  At least, I hope he will keep his creepy comments to himself since she's so young.

 

I agree that Bethany is not a performer.  I know I've seen a clip where she mentioned that she used to be a competition kid.  She said that she did jazz and hip-hop.  She must have been very young.  Competition kids tend to overexaggerate their facial expressions and be very animated.  She doesn't display any of that when she performs.

[kayma]

Think giving Janel Burlesque is a major gift a bit of a cop-out considering she just had Jazz. Give her Broadway next week producers, make the pimping complete.

I think Burlesque is anything but a gift. I can't imagine how they'll pull it off without it being cringe worthy.

[Andiethewestie]

Already getting a great vibe from Artem and Janel, I watched how he did really inventive lifts on Strictly, so this should be pretty fun.  and Val and Lea  I can't wait to see their Broadway.  

Edited October 9, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[tobysmom]

.  I love Alfonso, but I just don't know about the flamenco.  That's so hard to learn quickly, and the other attempts at flamenco on this show have not been good. 

But the good thing is I think, is if I'm remembering the dance, the Flameco has tap dancing type steps/moves, am I thinking that correctly?  So I think this might be fun to see Alfonso dance.

[tarotx]

Allison did do Bollywood on the S7 sytycd tour but I do hope she gets someone in to help her...

 

Some of the dance styles are weird.  I never thought that I would see burlesque on this show.  Janel and Artem are the ones that can pull it off. 

 

Like somebody else mentioned, I wish Jonathan got a more traditional ballroom or Latin dance.  That way, he had proper lessons before he went back to Allison.  I think he'll do great with the jitterbug and Peta as his teacher.  Allison has never done Bollywood since it wasn't introduced into SYTYCD until Season 4.  Even if she did it, she wouldn't be able to teach it so I hope she gets somebody to help.

.....

[luvthepros]

 

........Ugh to the guest judge.  Is Len coming back?  I didn't know he was going to be gone for so long.  I thought he was going to take a week off or something.

I really don't think they need Len this week to judge these "different" dance styles. I want Len back when the show gets back to basics and assigns ballroom and Latin dances. If they have a Latin week, Len had better be sitting on the panel.

[DancingD]

Witney and Michael do disco. Disco is all about lifts. Are they trying to kill her?

 

I've seen Emma performing live and she is an amazing dancer. Would be nice for her to get someone she could cut loose with ONCE.

[howmanywords]

But the good thing is I think, is if I'm remembering the dance, the Flameco has tap dancing type steps/moves, am I thinking that correctly?  So I think this might be fun to see Alfonso dance.

At first I couldnt remember a thing about Flamenco, but oh wow! I just watched Kellie Pickler and Derek's and YES you are correct there is indeed a tap element to it.  This should be GREAT and I'm so curious to see how Cheryl will choreograph it.  Cheryl is really terrific when she has a great partner.

[Uke]

Interesting that the pairings matched the vote counts exactly, except Derek + Val. Derek/Lea had an overwhelming lead and Sadie had more than 3 times the number of votes with Val than she did with Derek.  To politely disagree with Spanana, those who put in the time and effort to tweet votes probably don't think it's "so nice to see that TPTB did not remotely pay attention to the twitter votes".

 

Another interesting point, the female pro/male star combinations got 6% of the total votes, the male pro/female star combinations got 94% of the total votes. There was very little activity for the male stars and the pairings were holding steady. All week the numbers showed Michael getting Allison. But then in the last few hours of voting, there was a sudden surge of votes ending with Allison going to Antonio.  I guess either Antonio's fans really wanted Allison or Michael's fans really didn't.

 

As for the dances,

Jonathan/Peta-Jitterbug: Hope he does really well. He's got a pretty bad score to recover from.

Tommy/Emma-Mambo: Somehow I think Tommy will pull it off charmingly, if not technically.

Bethany/Mark-Hip Hop: For this dance style, Bethany couldn't have gotten a better pro.

Janel/Artem;Burlesque: How is this a partner dance without making Artem a stripper pole?

Alfonso/Cheryl-Flamenco: Already commented with info in the week 4 thread.

Sadie/Derek-Charleston: Expecting something fun, she can pull it off.

Antonio/Allison-Bollywood: A gift for Allison, another one for her to overdance.

Lea/Val-Broadway: Lea will do well + Val will do good choreo. Wonder what the song/theme is.

Michael/Witney-Disco: Michael will do no better or worse than he usually does.

[Andiethewestie]

Eh, Twitter voting has a lot of spam,  the show probably did the appropriate thing and  eliminate the spam, like they do for the #Voicesave. and other such social media contests.  

 

Besides the Hough/Ballas people got what they wanted, their teenage contestants switching places so they can giggle about it on that childish internet show. 

Edited October 9, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[spanana]

Besides the Hough/Ballas people got what they wanted, their teenage contestants switching places so they can giggle about it on that childish internet show. 

 

Sadie is still a child technically.  I'd rather see her acting like an actual teenager than play acting like she's 25.  Bethany is only 18 herself.   I don't see anything wrong with their internet show, which I'm also assuming they only do because DWTS asked them do it.  It's posted on the official DWTS youtube channel.

[RetailTherapy]

Zzzzzzzzzz...what a snoozefest. 

 

Yet another week in another season of Derek phoning it it in so we can now watch Sadie stand there like a doofus, flapping her hands in the air and be praised as if she magically managed to wave out a miracle.  Because weeks of Bethany sitting around and flailing away wasn't nearly enough. No wonder his sister was such an expert on it last season.  She sees it so regularly at home. 

 

I rather look forward to poor Jonathan having pretty much anyone but Allison.  Peta is incredibly creative in her choreography so perhaps she can help the guy out a bit. Lea will do very wll with Val, as will Cheryl and Alfonso.  Kind of iffy with Janel and Artem, but she's a good performer. 

[truthaboutluv]

Frankly I don't get the attitude about Mark and Derek switching partners when many fans of Val and Maks were all too happy about them switching last season and worked hard to make sure that only they got each other's partner. And this season I saw many comments on tumblr about making sure Derek didn't get Janel because, and I quote, "it would be a betrayal to The Fam" and "let's keep The Fam together..." 

[Uke]

Frankly I don't get the attitude about Mark and Derek switching partners when many fans of Val and Maks were all too happy about them switching last season and worked hard to make sure that only they got each other's partner. And this season I saw many comments on tumblr about making sure Derek didn't get Janel because, and I quote, "it would be a betrayal to The Fam" and "let's keep The Fam together..." 

 

Actually, it was apparently TPTB that wanted Mark + Derek to swap. Derek's fans worked hard for Lea/Derek and for Bethany/Mark. Mark's fans didn't really care which female but didn't want Sadie to go to Tony.  Mark's fans were power voting for Sadie/Val but for some inexplicable reason, Derek's fans were powervoting for Sadie/Tony even though they claimed to like Sadie. (The reason for "anyone but Tony" was for all that went down last season when he got Candace in the switch.)  Someone even tried to explain it to a few of them but to no avail. Tony gets eliminated and Mark's fans were, oh well, at least Sadie's with Val. So you can just imagine the reaction at this morning's GMA announcement.

 

About the "voting" being "spam": yes, it is. And the producers are loving the social media activity which ties into Nielsen ratings. But if they're going to eliminate spam (votes), they should define what they're eliminating beforehand so everyone isn't wasting colossal amounts of time. They could control it if they'd just put the voting on their own site (which does generate tweets) and then state that only site-generated tweets would be counted.

[Andiethewestie]

Sadie is still a child technically.  I'd rather see her acting like an actual teenager than play acting like she's 25.  Bethany is only 18 herself.   I don't see anything wrong with their internet show, which I'm also assuming they only do because DWTS asked them do it.  It's posted on the official DWTS youtube channel.

That's official?  They could have sprung for better production values.  Anyway a couple of dorky kids talking about their "experience" is as about as exciting as watching paint dry.  But hey, abc can put up as much crap as they want, doesn't mean I watch it.  I want my 30sec. back that I spent clicking on it. 

[spanana]

Frankly I don't get the attitude about Mark and Derek switching partners when many fans of Val and Maks were all too happy about them switching last season and worked hard to make sure that only they got each other's partner. And this season I saw many comments on tumblr about making sure Derek didn't get Janel because, and I quote, "it would be a betrayal to The Fam" and "let's keep The Fam together..." 

 

It's all the same thing on both sides.  The only difference is that this season both fandoms weren't fighting over the same thing.  Last season everybody was fighting over Meryl.  Derek fans wanted her for Derek and Chmerkovskiy fans wanted her for Val.  This season I think people cared a lot less, also in part because unlike last season, everybody knows it's just a one week thing with no huge consequences.  

 

One thing I do think was interesting about the switch up voting though is it's really all being done, on twitter anyway, by the hardcore fandoms of the pros.  It's the Derek, Val and Mark fans IMO that are doing most of the voting.  I don't think the fans of the celebs, particularly those that never really watched DWTS before, bothered to vote.  Or even knew enough about how to vote unless their celeb specifically tweeted directions.

 

However, what we wound up getting IMO is incredibly boring on paper--on the female celeb/male pro side anyway.  I think it would have been far more interesting to see Sadie/Val and Lea/Derek.   Or even Janel/Mark.  

Edited October 9, 2014 by spanana

[RemoteControl88]

Interesting that the pairings matched the vote counts exactly, except Derek + Val. Derek/Lea had an overwhelming lead and Sadie had more than 3 times the number of votes with Val than she did with Derek.  To politely disagree with Spanana, those who put in the time and effort to tweet votes probably don't think it's "so nice to see that TPTB did not remotely pay attention to the twitter votes".

 

I voted a lot last season and was really into it. So glad I skipped it this season. 100% guaranteed I won't be voting for any of their other  twitter stuff.  I'll just stick to voting for the actual couples.  All these "new" half baked ideas they keep coming up is such BS since they don't even work.  On a night when producers had folks:

1. watching the show

2. voting via raise your paddle

3. voting for the switch up

4. regular voting

 

Seriously there is 0 incentive to even bother to do all that when either the website doesn't work or your vote doesn't matter.

 

Way to get you fans feeling like a part of the show guys.

---rant over---

[Andiethewestie]

Actually, it was apparently TPTB that wanted Mark + Derek to swap. Derek's fans worked hard for Lea/Derek and for Bethany/Mark. Mark's fans didn't really care which female but didn't want Sadie to go to Tony.  Mark's fans were power voting for Sadie/Val but for some inexplicable reason, Derek's fans were powervoting for Sadie/Tony even though they claimed to like Sadie. (The reason for "anyone but Tony" was for all that went down last season when he got Candace in the switch.)  Someone even tried to explain it to a few of them but to no avail. Tony gets eliminated and Mark's fans were, oh well, at least Sadie's with Val. So you can just imagine the reaction at this morning's GMA announcement.

 

About the "voting" being "spam": yes, it is. And the producers are loving the social media activity which ties into Nielsen ratings. But if they're going to eliminate spam (votes), they should define what they're eliminating beforehand so everyone isn't wasting colossal amounts of time. They could control it if they'd just put the voting on their own site (which does generate tweets) and then state that only site-generated tweets would be counted.

Oh please. If people are spending huge amounts of time voting on a silly dance show that's on them not the network. 

Looks like Artem IS going to be incorporating lifts into his Burlesque with Janel.

 

http://instagram.com/p/t8FFx5mp5P/?modal=true

This gonna be fun. 

Zzzzzzzzzz...what a snoozefest. 

 

Yet another week in another season of Derek phoning it it in so we can now watch Sadie stand there like a doofus, flapping her hands in the air and be praised as if she magically managed to wave out a miracle.  Because weeks of Bethany sitting around and flailing away wasn't nearly enough. No wonder his sister was such an expert on it last season.  She sees it so regularly at home. 

 

I rather look forward to poor Jonathan having pretty much anyone but Allison.  Peta is incredibly creative in her choreography so perhaps she can help the guy out a bit. Lea will do very wll with Val, as will Cheryl and Alfonso.  Kind of iffy with Janel and Artem, but she's a good performer. 

Jitterbug is so much easier than any ballroom dance. This is going to help Johnathan big time. Peta can practically do her own lifts. :)

Edited October 9, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[RemoteControl88]

It's all the same thing on both sides.  The only difference is that this season both fandoms weren't fighting over the same thing.  Last season everybody was fighting over Meryl.  Derek fans wanted her for Derek and Chmerkovskiy fans wanted her for Val.  This season I think people cared a lot less, also in part because unlike last season, everybody knows it's just a one week thing with no huge consequences.  

 

One thing I do think was interesting about the switch up voting though is it's really all being done, on twitter anyway, by the hardcore fandoms of the pros.  It's the Derek, Val and Mark fans IMO that are doing most of the voting.  I don't think the fans of the celebs, particularly those that never really watched DWTS before, bothered to vote.  Or even knew enough about how to vote unless their celeb specifically tweeted directions.

 

However, what we wound up getting IMO is incredibly boring on paper--on the female celeb/male pro side anyway.  I think it would have been far more interesting to see Sadie/Val and Lea/Derek.   Or even Janel/Mark.  

Last season it wasn't clear at all of the switch would be permanent or not so folks were a lot more invested.  I agree with you...I was looking forward to Val & Sadie.  I though Lea/Derek would be a nice change of pace from Bethany.  I'm ok with Mark & Bethany I think he can maybe pull some more emotion out of her.

[Uke]

Last season it wasn't clear at all of the switch would be permanent or not so folks were a lot more invested.  I agree with you...I was looking forward to Val & Sadie.  I though Lea/Derek would be a nice change of pace from Bethany.  I'm ok with Mark & Bethany I think he can maybe pull some more emotion out of her.

 

True enough. Though I don't recall seeing it in the press release that it was for just 1 week (this season).  But most of the pros + stars were making it known in the post-show interviews. Last season, neither the pros nor the stars seemed to know what was going to happen.

[Andiethewestie]

I for one am thrilled Val got Lea, it would be a waste of good choreography if Val had to dumb it down for duckie.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[smiley13]

Curses on this show for putting Sadie with Golden Boy.  Now I actually have to pull for him and that just goes against every fiber of my being.

[McManda]

Burlesque? Broadway (is that different from Jazz?) Bollywood? Disco? WTF are these dance styles? I know they've done Bollywood and disco before, so okay, but we're really going to give the female sex kitten burlesque? The woman that's been on Broadway, Broadway?

*sigh* I miss the days of the quickstep and the waltz and all the other traditional ballroom dances.

 

The only good to come from this week is going to be that Alfonso didn't get stuck with Allison.

[superdeluxe]

I really don't think they need Len this week to judge these "different" dance styles. I want Len back when the show gets back to basics and assigns ballroom and Latin dances. If they have a Latin week, Len had better be sitting on the panel.

 

Should anyone on that panel really be judging these "different" dance styles?  Does Jessie J know anything about these dance styles?  I don't think so.

 

I'm not saying that they need Len this week.  I just want to know if he's coming back.  Because like I said, I thought he would be gone for a week.

 

Actually, it was apparently TPTB that wanted Mark + Derek to swap. Derek's fans worked hard for Lea/Derek and for Bethany/Mark. Mark's fans didn't really care which female but didn't want Sadie to go to Tony.  Mark's fans were power voting for Sadie/Val but for some inexplicable reason, Derek's fans were powervoting for Sadie/Tony even though they claimed to like Sadie. (The reason for "anyone but Tony" was for all that went down last season when he got Candace in the switch.)  Someone even tried to explain it to a few of them but to no avail. Tony gets eliminated and Mark's fans were, oh well, at least Sadie's with Val. So you can just imagine the reaction at this morning's GMA announcement.

 

Really?  Where did you see that?  And it's funny how these groups of fans band together and do this one thing.  Where do they all hang out?

Edited October 10, 2014 by superdeluxe

[Zuleikha]

I think Burlesque is anything but a gift. I can't imagine how they'll pull it off without it being cringe worthy.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned about that. I'm assuming by Burlesque they really mean Burlesque Jazz because they simply can't mean real, actual burlesque. That is not appropriate for a family show because it's straight-up striptease. It can be done in veins that are moderately more appropriate (comedic, macabre, political), but not in 90 seconds. I don't think it's good for Janel, though. Historically, women don't get votes when they have to emphasize sexiness.

 

I also have some feelings about seeing a signs of the mainstreaming of a niche, DIY movement, but that's not really related to DwtS.

 

I don't have a quote handy, but for those who think flamenco is like tap, no, it's not at all. They both involve rhythmic footwork but that's it. The shoes don't even make the noise with the same kind of thing (flamenco shoes use nails pounded into the bottom). It's a different technique and different rhythms. I do believe Alfonso's background with rhythm and quick footwork will give him a leg up at faking flamenco, but I would neither expect nor assume too much from his tapping. The fact that he's generally a good dancer is going to help him as much.

 

The question mark for me is really Cheryl. She's a good choreographer, particularly when she has a challenge that gets her fired up again, but flamenco just doesn't relate to anything the pros are trained in. In general, I think Val's a great choreographer, but he did a horrible job with flamenco and Kelly Monaco (I think because he overestimated the relationship of Dancesport paso to flamenco). Then Derek blew me away with what he did with Kelly Pickler. What I'm hoping is that Cheryl is able to work with a real flamenco dancer to get Alfonso one solid escobilla passage and uses clever choreography to keep the other sections very simple and manageable. If they end with Alfonso killing an escobilla section, I think they'll be golden. If she repeats Val's mistake and tries to treat it as paso-lite, I think they'll have a rough time.

[spanana]

Alfonso tweeted something this morning along the lines of that he and Cheryl would be doing an authentic flamenco routine this week.  As I don't think Alfonso knows a thing about flamenco, I can only assume he's just parroting what he has been told by Cheryl.  But it did make me wonder if Cheryl had brought in someone for help this week to try and get a more authentic routine put together.  I don't think she's a pro that would have a problem asking for help where needed.

 

As for Janel and burlesque, based on the pic that was posted it looks like Lindsay and Sharna are in the routine and it will have some sort of bar setup.  I think when people say it's a gift to Janel it's more in the sense that in theory it's a style she should excel at.  She can vamp and pose and do some crazy lifts and make sexy faces and the judges will likely eat it up and give her 10's.   The number will almost assuredly look good and there's no real technique she would need to learn.  The part I question, which somebody brought up earlier, is how one makes burlesque into a partner dance.

 

Where I'm not sure it's a gift is in terms of if it's the kind of thing the audience will get behind in terms of voting.  It's a fine line between sexy and raunchy.  Janel has plenty of fans that will love it and vote for her no matter what, but is it the kind of thing that will pick up casual votes or will she wind up turning off some of the more conservative viewers?  

[missysays]

...The part I question, which somebody brought up earlier, is how one makes burlesque into a partner dance...

 

D'uh! Her partner can act like the pole she wraps herself around!

[LadyMustang65]

To be the "negative nelly" here, I've seen several people mention Derek's flamenco with Kellie Pickler as being great.  The thing is - Derek was really great, but Kellie didn't do a whole lot of anything.  As I remember that dance, she did very little that could be considered flamenco and a lot of posing and walking around while Derek did all the parts that actually looked like flamenco.  To me that does not make a great example.  I know the judges ate it up, but the less said about that the better probably, but as a viewer, I found it lacking.  Val at least tried to get Kelly Monaco to do steps, but that wasn't good either.  The only bright spot in this is that Alfonso is a much better dancer than either of the Kelly/ies, and Cheryl will, I think, bring in an expert to help.  But for me anyway, if Alfonso pulls this off, it will be the first good flamenco on the show.