S19.E08: Week 6: Pitbull

[kitcloudkicker]

Not "spot turns," the move - but the process of "spotting" a turn so you don't lose your balance. She doesn't always do this well - and therefore goes slightly off kilter - it's pretty obvious in her rumba especially this end sequence from about 3:10 onward. Bruno called her on it at the time, prompting Val to elbow her in the back and say "I told you so." (Which, since it's a known problem, gives me hope that Val is drilling her on it and she'll continue to improve.) 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70nl4e3EmSs&list=UULOIoa2aEGcM-z1hJx4vy4w

 

(But then this convo should probably continue in the Janel thread.) 

Edited October 23, 2014 by kitcloudkicker

[Andiethewestie]

Spot turns are a specific dance step in Viennese Waltz so there's that.  But thanks for posting the Rumba, it's nice to actually see Rumba content to comment on. No doubt she'll continue to progress on the latin dances as Bruno also mentioned that the turns were improving on the Samba.  

However, she's already demonstrated good turning ability on the Foxtrot and the Jazz so I'm not as concerned about it.   

Edited October 23, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[sinkwriter]

Andiethewestie, I'm just impressed by your level of Ballroom jargon talk. It's all Charlie Brown "Mwah mwah" to me but I can sure appreciate those who watch this show and have the knowledge to know whether or not the dancers are actually doing what they're supposed to. The only words I recognize are "turn," "hold," and "spin."  *GRIN*

[MarkHB]

I saw some other dancers' names mentioned earlier.  Do any of you know who the redheaded dancer was in Pitbull's numbers?  She's seated to our left of Sharna at 1:04 of this video (it's OK, it's the official version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8nqX0HIA30

 

Also, I was the person who asked who Jenna was, so thanks for the answer!

Edited October 23, 2014 by MarkHB

[Uke]

Someone else mentioned it upthread, but I hope Val pulls back a little on difficulty and focuses a bit more on precision. I'm not talking Michael Waltrip levels of easier, but enough that she can think less about the steps and lose herself more in the dance - harder choreography doesn't do her any good if she can only "mostly" execute it. Not to bring it back to Afterbuzz - but I liked Sharna's commentary this week - she said she learned from her experience with Charlie that packing with too much hard choreography doesn't do you any good if you don't give the dance moments to "breathe," more or less. That's when the star can really emote and connect with the audience. 

 

She has the Pretty Little Liars theme for music, which has potential for being a great creepy Halloween waltz. Her character on the show isn't particularly sexy either, so I'm hoping she can tap into that and show a different side to this crowd. I think she and Val have the potential to pull out something great, and I hope they do. 

 

Agree with you. Also, Len is back on Monday and the Viennese Waltz is his most favorite dance. He can get quite fussy about keeping it classic.  I hope Val doesn't go too far into a Halloween theme in his choreography or costuming so that Len doesn't give his dismissive "not my cuppa tea" critique. (It's maddening when Len does that.)

[Uke]

I saw some other dancers' names mentioned earlier.  Do any of you know who the redheaded dancer was in Pitbull's numbers?  She's seated to our left of Sharna at 1:04 of this video (it's OK, it's the official version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8nqX0HIA30

 

Also, I was the person who asked who Jenna was, so thanks for the answer!

 

I'm pretty sure that's Kim Gringras. I believe she is or was one of Pitbull's dancers. She was also featured in Mark Ballas's Get My Name music video.

 

ETA: just checked @kimgingras, she tweeted that she was on DWTS Monday night.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Uke

[crowceilidh]

If it is Kim, she also rose to "fame" on SYTYCD Canada's (sob) second season - she made top ten, I think.

[Andiethewestie]

Agree with you. Also, Len is back on Monday and the Viennese Waltz is his most favorite dance. He can get quite fussy about keeping it classic.  I hope Val doesn't go too far into a Halloween theme in his choreography or costuming so that Len doesn't give his dismissive "not my cuppa tea" critique. (It's maddening when Len does that.)

The problem is Val sees that Sadie doesn't do much if any real ballroom, or Bethany 's lack of heel leads, slip sliding on a turn and horrible dance position and may wonder why bother do any content, that takes hours and hours of practice, when you can get away with crap? Just play to the fanbase and screw Len, that's what the others do. Janel really wants to learn ballroom, it can help her with her musical theatre career in the future, and that's why she was paired with Val, but this show is about how popular the  bible belt is, or how much the youtubers will hump the vote button. Besides, when Len used to give proper critiques he was harpooned for it. Now he just goes along with who's got the vote, he'll be harsh on a couple only if the show needs him to be the bad guy. 

Edited October 24, 2014 by Andiethewestie

[spanana]

The problem is Val sees that Sadie doesn't do much if any real ballroom, or Bethany 's lack of heel leads, slip sliding on a turn and horrible dance position and may wonder why bother do any content, that takes hours and hours of practice, when you can get away with crap? Just play to the fanbase and screw Len, that's what the others do. Janel really wants to learn ballroom, it can help her with her musical theatre career in the future, and that's why she was paired with Val, but this show is about how popular the  bible belt is, or how much the youtubers will hump the vote button. Besides, when Len used to give proper critiques he was harpooned for it. Now he just goes along with who's got the vote, he'll be harsh on a couple only if the show needs him to be the bad guy. 

 

Sadie has done plenty of "real ballroom".  Or whatever real ballroom on DWTS looks like when you are dealing with celebs attempting to learn a dance style in one week.  Some weeks she has gotten lower scores than Janel.  This is Val's 7th season with the show and he knows how the game is played.   He's not suddenly realizing that some people can get away with different things on this show.  But Val himself has always been fairly traditional because that is his thing.   None of these celebs are remotely perfect at their technique.  Sadie is being taught ballroom, and while she may have her flaws, I certainly don't think her flaws are any more glaring than Janel's.  They just have different technical issues.  Plus if we want to be technical, Janel openly admits to have taken all sorts of dance classes over the years and has a performance background to draw on.   I know she hasn't done partner dancing so this is all completely new to her, but Janel should have a leg up on Sadie since Sadie really doesn't have any experience nor is she a performer by trade.  Sadie doesn't have years of theatre experience.  Also Anna called out Janel's rumba for lack of content, as she did Bethany's.  So if we're calling lack of content in rumbas, might as well call all of them out.

Edited October 24, 2014 by spanana

[ChrisMcGraan]

Sadie has done plenty of "real ballroom".  Or whatever real ballroom on DWTS looks like when you are dealing with celebs attempting to learn a dance style in one week.  Some weeks she has gotten lower scores than Janel.  This is Val's 7th season with the show and he knows how the game is played.   He's not suddenly realizing that some people can get away with different things on this show.  But Val himself has always been fairly traditional because that is his thing.   None of these celebs are remotely perfect at their technique.  Sadie is being taught ballroom, and while she may have her flaws, I certainly don't think her flaws are any more glaring than Janel's.  They just have different technical issues.  Plus if we want to be technical, Janel openly admits to have taken all sorts of dance classes over the years and has a performance background to draw on.   I know she hasn't done partner dancing so this is all completely new to her, but Janel should have a leg up on Sadie since Sadie really doesn't have any experience nor is she a performer by trade.  Sadie doesn't have years of theatre experience.  Also Anna called out Janel's rumba for lack of content, as she did Bethany's.  So if we're calling lack of content in rumbas, might as well call all of them out.

 

Well said! I think it's important to remember none of these celebs are going to be technically perfect and each one has their advantages and disadvantages. I also think it's difficult to say Janel and Val aren't using their own tricks to "get away with crap". All the couples do it. The pros have been doing this show for a VERY long time and they all want to make sure their partner looks the best possible and will give in to gimmicks and easy choreography if need be (even Janel and Val). I'm all for calling a couple of what they are lacking but I think it's important to also recognize the flaws of even your favorite celeb.

[Andiethewestie]

Nothing in the history of the show has been more pedantic and boring than the Sanitary Rumba.

Edited October 25, 2014 by OnceSane
tone

[katha]

This is a dancing contest, coupled with a popularity contest, coupled with reality tv shenanigans. I'm sure at least all the more seasoned pros know what the deal is, and that the best celeb dancer doesn't necessarily always win. Most of the time the celeb that wins is at least "pretty good", because the audience wants to be entertained by good dancing as well. But they don't know or care all that much about technical details. And since the celebs don't start from the same place (some come in as total beginners, some are ringers, most are somewhere inbetween) it's also not  always "unfair" IMO when someone who improves a lot and becomes merely "decent" wins over someone who started "excellent" and stayed "excellent". And yeah, all the pros are pandering.

 

I think this season Alfonso is clearly the one with most ability. Then perhaps Lea and Janel. Sadie has some talent IMO, but I think you can see that she hasn’t had any dance training.  Mark had to start teaching her from scratch, while Lea and Janel have some dance background. So the audience and perhaps also the judges mark her in that context. And it's not like she's gotten outrageous scores, she gets mostly 8s, sometimes 9s so far, which seems more or less reasonable for what she's shown and in comparison with the others. And IMO so far she's improving, so it makes sense if her scores stay at that relatively high level or also improve.

 

I think what may help her more than just the "bible belt vote" is that she herself seems nice enough (the helicopter parents are rather off-putting to me), her dancing is pretty entertaining and Mark so far seems to know how to choreograph for her. (I've really enjoyed Mark's work in these last two seasons, he'd become a bit tiresome before that IMO, but he's been doing great teaching and choreographing for two celebrities with limitations. Candace and Sadie also have different limitations and weaknesses, and he's adapted well to both.)

 

That said, I think Alfonso has been a delight and I hope his injuries don't hamper him too much and he can keep on dancing. He’s my fave this season.

Edited October 25, 2014 by katha

[Donny Ketchum]

Re the second point, I respectfully disagree. I've followed Jonathan Bennett's career since he was on All My Children, which was before Mean Girls.

Oh, he was on a soap opera over a decade ago?  Oh, what a mistake I made!

 

. . . But seriously, he still wasn't gonna win.

[DollEyes]

 

But seriously, [Jonathan] still wasn't gonna win. 

 

  I already knew that Jonathan wouldn't have won. My point was that he shouldn't have been cut before Michael, who IMO is way worse.

 

  Regarding Jonathan's fate, I heart Tommy, but sometimes he's held Peta back and it's shown in some of their dances. Peta was probably so excited to get a partner who's close to her age again that she got carried away and Jonathan paid the price.  Pushing a student is one thing; making one partner pay for the sins of the other, however inadvertently, is another. Re Jonathan's Jazz routine,it had just the right amount of difficulty, which made things easier for Jonathan. Not much easier, but easier.

[realdancemom]

  I already knew that Jonathan wouldn't have won. My point was that he shouldn't have been cut before Michael, who IMO is way worse.

Unfortunately, I think Michael is going to stay over a lot of better dancers because of NASCAR voting.  He probably will last longer than Lea which would be a shame.

[sinkwriter]

 

Unfortunately, I think Michael is going to stay over a lot of better dancers because of NASCAR voting.  He probably will last longer than Lea which would be a shame.

 

If that happens, I will throw things at the TV. That would be insulting to viewers and to the hard work Lea's put in. If Michael's not gone by next week (or the week after, if they boot Tommy first), I'm going to be livid.

Edited October 28, 2014 by sinkwriter