General Gabbery: DWTS

[BlancheDevoreaux]

On 5/4/2017 at 4:48 PM, calipiano81 said:

If that happens, Idol wouldn't necessarily have to be on Monday nights. When it was on FOX, it used to be on Tues/Wed/Thur.

------------------------------------------------

Dances for Week 8 (copied from Pure):

According to press release, judges picked the trio members for each couple.

Simone and Sasha – Foxtrot (song: “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction)
Trio with Brittany – Paso doble (song: “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers feat. Daya)
Phone 1-800-868-3412

Bonner and Sharna – Argentine tango (song: “Believer” by Imagine Dragons)
Trio with Britt – Jazz (song: “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars)
Phone 1-800-868-3401

Normani and Val – Contemporary (song: “Freedom” by Anthony Hamilton & Elena Boynton)
Trio with Alan – Jive (song: “Feeling Alive” by Earl St. Clair)
Phone 1-800-868-3410

David and Lindsay – Waltz (song: “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw)
Trio with Hayley – Paso doble (song: “Gangsta’s Paradise” by 2WEI)
Phone 1-800-868-3404

Rashad and Emma – Jive (song: “Shake a Tail Feather” by Blues Brothers)
Trio with Witney – Argentine tango (song: “Dreams” by Gabrielle Aplin & Bastille)
Phone 1-800-868-3411

Something I found odd about the trios is that aside from Sasha and Simone, all of the couples were given a trio partner that is the same sex as the pro. 

[lavenderblue]

That's traditionally the case, so the extra pro isn't there for the celebrity to have to stack up to, in a sense. Much drama when Sadie and Mark ended up with Emma for their trio instead of the male pro they'd initially hoped for -- though it turned out beautifully in that case. But generally the couples try to avoid using another pro of the celebrity's sex, so in this case Simone/Sasha/Brittany are actually the outlier trio.

[gimmeegimmeegim]

To anyone nice who's sat in that tree

You worked your butt off as hard as could be

Go for that win now, one, two, three

Hold that ball high in victory!

[kitcloudkicker]

Kind of related, I suppose, Shirley Ballas announced as a new Strictly judge. (I wish she'd replace Len here)

[legaleagle53]

I just wonder whether that means that Mark and/or Derek will end up as pros over there come fall.

[ceebee]

6 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I just wonder whether that means that Mark and/or Derek will end up as pros over there come fall.

Nah...I imagine Derek and Mark consider themselves bigger fish, plus, Strictly doesn't pay enough. Surely they'd just return to DWTS if they wanted back in?  Also I really doubt the Strictly audience would accept her ability to be unbiased if they were on the show.  I wouldn't be surprised if they appeared on the results show at some point though.

 

A great appointment I think.  She's the one I would have chosen had it been up to me.

[Uke]

15 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I just wonder whether that means that Mark and/or Derek will end up as pros over there come fall.

Not as a pro but I wouldn't be surprised if Mark did a one-time pro dance at his Mom's request, if only so she can be seen beaming with pride.   I doubt Derek would.  While Shirley considers him her other son,  that wouldn't be apparent to the audience and I doubt SCD would do a profile of him for the audience to understand their connection.   But, anything's possible.  Too bad DWTS didn't bring Shirley on as a judge/guest judge for this season since both Mark + Derek aren't on.  Though I suspect Shirley wouldn't go along with producer-driven judicial nonsense.   Great for Shirley though and for SCD!

eta: Mark was on SCD once before right after Katherine's season.  They danced her jive IIRC.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Uke

[classique]

The judges on SCD are pretty harsh, and give lower scores than the DWTS judges.  I don't remember 4s being given out on DWTS.

[Uke]

17 minutes ago, classique said:

The judges on SCD are pretty harsh, and give lower scores than the DWTS judges.  I don't remember 4s being given out on DWTS.

4s are not common but they are used sometimes. Chris Kattan got them in week 1, Geraldo (S22) got them in weeks 1 and 2, etc. 

[gimmeegimmeegim]

23 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I just wonder whether that means that Mark and/or Derek will end up as pros over there come fall.

LOL

IMO

Edited May 11, 2017 by gimmeegimmeegim

[kitcloudkicker]

This feels familiar 

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, kitcloudkicker said:

This feels familiar 

She must have found the shipper fandom by mistake!

[Venee]

I don't know who will be the victor this season (Rashad most likely) but when I'm reading social media tea leaves, the prevailing sentiment seems to be Rashad, and the reason given is that he came in with no "experience" which is what this show is about. The shows tag line is "Vote for your Favorite" which negates that this is what this show is about. The fact that they stack the cast with very experienced celebs, also negates that this is what this show is about. The week before last, Julliane proudly proclaimed, after David's dance (I think), that this show was about taking people who couldn't dance, and watching their growth and journey. For the love of all that is holy, I would appreciate if the show would once and for all proclaim what this show is about. If it is about "Celebs" with little to no experience growing into Ballroom dancers, I'm going to need them to only cast "celebs" with little to no experience. IMO this will solve the core issue ,BTW I would never watch this type of show, but it would smash the number one complaint, and people would have to pay attention to the actual dancing.

[Uke]

56 minutes ago, Venee said:

I don't know who will be the victor this season (Rashad most likely) but when I'm reading social media tea leaves, the prevailing sentiment seems to be Rashad, and the reason given is that he came in with no "experience" which is what this show is about. The shows tag line is "Vote for your Favorite" which negates that this is what this show is about. The fact that they stack the cast with very experienced celebs, also negates that this is what this show is about. The week before last, Julliane proudly proclaimed, after David's dance (I think), that this show was about taking people who couldn't dance, and watching their growth and journey. For the love of all that is holy, I would appreciate if the show would once and for all proclaim what this show is about. If it is about "Celebs" with little to no experience growing into Ballroom dancers, I'm going to need them to only cast "celebs" with little to no experience. IMO this will solve the core issue ,BTW I would never watch this type of show, but it would smash the number one complaint, and people would have to pay attention to the actual dancing.

It used to be about taking people who couldn't dance and watching their growth and journey.  But then somewhere along the line, TPTB decided they wanted a "face" of DWTS and chose Derek.   Derek kept saying he wanted to move on, they finally believed him and then chose Val as the new "face of DWTS.   By all appearances, it seems they want to award Val with a third MBT, but now he doesn't want to do the tour.  They want an MBT "winner" for the tour. So the question is which do they want more - a "winner" for the tour or for their figurehead to get a 3rd MBT?

 

eta: I've heard Val made a little speech about not going on tour - does anyone have a link? Thanks.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Uke

[crossover]

6 hours ago, Uke said:

So the question is which do they want more - a "winner" for the tour or for their figurehead to get a 3rd MBT?

 

If I had the power, I'd rather advertise the tour with the MBT.  Season is over or basically over.

[crossover]

7 hours ago, Venee said:

I don't know who will be the victor this season (Rashad most likely) but when I'm reading social media tea leaves, the prevailing sentiment seems to be Rashad, and the reason given is that he came in with no "experience" which is what this show is about. The shows tag line is "Vote for your Favorite" which negates that this is what this show is about. The fact that they stack the cast with very experienced celebs, also negates that this is what this show is about. The week before last, Julliane proudly proclaimed, after David's dance (I think), that this show was about taking people who couldn't dance, and watching their growth and journey. For the love of all that is holy, I would appreciate if the show would once and for all proclaim what this show is about. If it is about "Celebs" with little to no experience growing into Ballroom dancers, I'm going to need them to only cast "celebs" with little to no experience. IMO this will solve the core issue ,BTW I would never watch this type of show, but it would smash the number one complaint, and people would have to pay attention to the actual dancing.

I THINK they originally wanted it to be more about the growth of the celeb.  They had a problem.  Most people really didn't know what to look for.  So they voted for who they liked to see.  It was easier to create pleasing routines (it is a TV show) with a so-n-so male than it was with a so-n-so female.  That's why in the beginning the female pros, as a whole, were more popular than the male pros.  TPTB opened the door wider when it came to dance experience.  Instead of 1 or 2, there were several or more accomplished.  Then the male pros started winning.   If voters liked you (favorite), you get a lot of leeway (see Bonner).  If they don't, you can jump through hoops and they won't vote for you (see Heather).  So now TPTB just say vote for your favorite celeb.  It's up to the judges to score based on improvement.  Oftentimes, they don't.  They have an agenda too.  But people get angry when a poor dancer gets the same score as an accomplished dancer.  You have to think that the judges feel the poor dancer improved the same as the accomplished dancer?   The "Sabrina" season changed a lot.  The judges try to keep the dance-experienced celeb around as long as they can because it makes for a better show.  But if the voters don't support that celeb, the scoring difference has to be huge for that celeb to win.  I would think more than 5?

[Toonces464]

1 hour ago, crossover said:

The "Sabrina" season changed a lot.  The judges try to keep the dance-experienced celeb around as long as they can because it makes for a better show.  But if the voters don't support that celeb, the scoring difference has to be huge for that celeb to win.  I would think more than 5?

I still think the show really started to change for the worse Season 12, when they brought in the troupe. One of the greatest things about the earlier seasons was seeing the pros dance and we got less and less of that with the troupe around. Now they force feed them down our throats trying to find the next big "star" and no one they've brought in qualifies. 

I also think a big part of that is that the original pros were all ballroom champions and now they tend towards former SYTYCD and BtF cast members, neither of which appeal to me.

[truthaboutluv]

24 minutes ago, Toonces464 said:

Now they force feed them down our throats trying to find the next big "star" and no one they've brought in qualifies. 

And some of them have started thinking they're more important than they are in my opinion. Looking at you Alan. I remember watching an interview with him where he came very close to suggesting that essentially they do more than the Pros, because they have to do the bumpers, learn the choreography for whatever couple's dance they're in and be ready to step in if a Pro is injured.

And that's all well and good but all I was thinking is that I wonder if Alan realizes this show was a huge success long before the troupe was ever a thing and it'd be fine without them. The Pros seemed to manage just fine before and frankly sometimes, the use of the troupe in a couple's dance amounts to them standing around being human props. So spare me with that crap. 

[Toonces464]

14 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

And some of them have started thinking they're more important than they are in my opinion. Looking at you Alan. I remember watching an interview with him where he came very close to suggesting that essentially they do more than the Pros, because they have to do the bumpers, learn the choreography for whatever couple's dance they're in and be ready to step in if a Pro is injured.

And that's all well and good but all I was thinking is that I wonder if Alan realizes this show was a huge success long before the troupe was ever a thing and it'd be fine without them. The Pros seemed to manage just fine before and frankly sometimes, the use of the troupe in a couple's dance amounts to them standing around being human props. So spare me with that crap. 

Oh I so agree with this. I think they also started getting big heads when a group of Twitter people realized the pros might ignore them but the troupe members were so desperate for a fan base they would spend hours responding to their tweets. Some even followed them. Then those people started pushing for them to be pros and the rest is history.

[crossover]

57 minutes ago, Toonces464 said:

I still think the show really started to change for the worse Season 12, when they brought in the troupe. One of the greatest things about the earlier seasons was seeing the pros dance and we got less and less of that with the troupe around. Now they force feed them down our throats trying to find the next big "star" and no one they've brought in qualifies. 

I also think a big part of that is that the original pros were all ballroom champions and now they tend towards former SYTYCD and BtF cast members, neither of which appeal to me.

I agree that the troupe was another major change.  As most people on this forum have stated, TPTB are trying really hard to bring in younger viewers.  Normani talked about watching the show with her grandmother; not a mother.  I THINK the SYTYCD pros were suppose to support this effort.  Another way is to have production-type routines, contemporary, jazz etc.  I remember on SYTYCD you'd have accomplished ballroom dancers but the viewers wouldn't vote for them.  Wasn't Karina and LVA the best competition pros?  There's 1 win between them.  And they don't have that many finals either.  MAYBE the DWTS viewers don't prefer them either?  In either case, they could have pro ballroom numbers in the later weeks instead of these "sham" challenges.

Edited May 15, 2017 by crossover

[truthaboutluv]

There is nothing wrong with adding production value to ballroom styles. People didn't not vote for someone like Louis because they didn't appreciate accomplished ballroom dancers but because Louis, like some others never understood that line between this being a ballroom entertainment show, in my opinion. In other words, yes, there needs to be some razzle and dazzle tied to the ballroom content because to the average Joe sitting at home watching and voting, that appeals to them. And for the record, Mark, Val and Derek were/are all accomplished ballroom dancers. 

The issue with the troupe, as noted, is that it is currently a dumping ground of Jazz/Contemporary dancers who try to fake it till they can make it with the ballroom (obviously not including Alan and Jenna when she was on) and as we have seen with Alison, that does not translate very well to being a Pro on the show. So if the producers are hoping to transition them to that, they need to get better ballroom trained dancers who may be cross trained in other styles, e.g. someone like Whitney.

And the thing is, in fairness, when the troupe was first introduced, they were all ballroom dancers. I think the inclusion of Mandy Moore, herself a Jazz/Contemporary choreographer, that has increased this influx of non-ballroom trained troupe members. Because goodness knows her shake their asses here and there Pro numbers require diddly in the way of great ballroom dancing. 

Edited May 15, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[spanana]

My problem wasn't the creation of the troupe.  When they first started they were just kind of there and it was a breeding ground for future pros (Emma, Peta, Sharna, Sasha, etc.) My problem with the troupe was when the show moved to one night a week and since the show didn't have a separate night to feature pro dances anymore, they started shoving the troupe down our throats in the regular celeb dances because they needed to find a way to jam them in the show.

I get that the show isn't a true ballroom show and there needs to be some pizazz, but I think in the older days of the show it was harder to hide a celeb in dances than it has become now.  Yes, a female pro could dance around a male celeb to try and distract at their lack of movement, but for more of the time they were on the dance floor by themselves.  Now it's kind of like if you don't know what else to do, throw a huge production on the dance floor with six extra dancers and just hope your celeb doesn't muck up enough to detract from the supposed "ballroom" number.

I don't need the show to return to the ways of Louis and etc. I tend to find Louis a pompous ass.  But there is too much troupe and I do wish the show would return to the days when in some ways the celebs were asked to do more.  They lived or died by their own dancing.  Now everything has a theme and everything is a production and it's exhausting.  If I were to do a list of all time favorite DWTS numbers, I'm pretty sure there would nary be a huge production number on the list.

I also think there is truth to the fact that the troupe and the show in general has gone more contemp light since Mandy Moore took over.  I know people love her and think she's a genius, and maybe she is, but not in this context.  So now we get female pro numbers that basically just amount to them staring down the camera and shaking their asses, even when the female pros are way more talented than that.

Also what was the last successful troupe to pro transition?  Sasha?  Jenna got a 2 week run and I suspect she will be back but I appreciated the break from her camera mugging this season.

[crossover]

51 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

There is nothing wrong with adding production value to ballroom styles. People didn't not vote for someone like Louis because they didn't appreciate accomplished ballroom dancers but because Louis, like some others never got that line between this being a ballroom entertainment show. In other words, yes, there needs to be some razzle and dazzle tied to the ballroom content. And for the record, Mark, Val and Derek were/are all accomplished ballroom dancers. 

The issue with the troupe as noted is that it is currently a dumping ground of Jazz/Contemporary dancers who try to fake it till they can make it with the ballroom and as we have seen with Alison, that does not translate very well to being a Pro on the show. So if the producers are hoping to transition them to that, they need to get better ballroom trained dancers who may be cross trained in other styles, e.g. someone like Whitney.

And the thing is, in fairness, when the troupe was first introduced, they were all ballroom dancers. I think the inclusion of Mandy Moore, herself basically a Jazz/Contemporary choreographer that has increased this influx of non-ballroom trained troupe members. Because goodness knows her shake their asses here and there Pro numbers require diddly in the way of great ballroom dancing. 

You are correct.  Karina was that way as well for a long time.  Mark, Derek, Julianne may have been accomplished in ballroom but they were also cross trained.  Weren't they about 20 when they started with DWTS?  And in the beginning, Derek was really strict in ballroom.  I recall him as being a Len favorite but Len side-eyed Mark.  I guess Derek felt like he wanted his celebs to win.

I agree that the dancers' relationship with Mandy Moore helped.  But I also think the relationship they have with Derek and Mark count for a lot.  Allison, Witney, Lindsay, Brandon, Hayley and Brittney have both connections.  Alan appears to have the relationship with Maks, Val and Mandy.  Artur I think has ballroom experience but really don't know his connection.  Isn't he based in Canada?  If so, Mandy use to do a lot of teaching in Canada.  So that leaves Brit and she does have a Mandy connection.  So I can see them all being connected to Mandy.

ETA:  The ones who don't have ballroom as their specialty are Allison, Hayley and Britt.

Edited May 15, 2017 by crossover

[crossover]

9 minutes ago, spanana said:

I also think there is truth to the fact that the troupe and the show in general has gone more contemp light since Mandy Moore took over.  I know people love her and think she's a genius, and maybe she is, but not in this context.  So now we get female pro numbers that basically just amount to them staring down the camera and shaking their asses, even when the female pros are way more talented than that.

People who watch SYTYCD don't think Mandy is a genius.  I know the people who support DWTS don't like her.  But, contemporary started happening before Mandy.  I remember some of the DWTS pros stating that Mandy Moore had helped with the choreography.  And she wasn't with DWTS.  MAYBE the DWTS pros helped Mandy get her job?

[spanana]

3 minutes ago, crossover said:

People who watch SYTYCD don't think Mandy is a genius.  I know the people who support DWTS don't like her.  But, contemporary started happening before Mandy.  I remember some of the DWTS pros stating that Mandy Moore had helped with the choreography.  And she wasn't with DWTS.  MAYBE the DWTS pros helped Mandy get her job?

Yes, Mandy did do work on the show before she started working on the show in official capacity.  But her role has expanded over time.  As for the genius part, I mostly meant the dancers that work with her.  She's also gotten a lot of recent acclaim since she did the choreography for La La Land.

Contemporary and jazz, at least as regular dance styles for the celebs, started in S16.  But even then the celebs generally got one or the other in one season, but not both.  Before that the only time we really got any sort of contemp dances from celebs was usually in a freestyle, and often done badly.  But by the same token S16 was the last "regular" season that had its own results show so the troupe and etc. weren't really overly shoved into celeb numbers outside of freestyles.

[crossover]

5 minutes ago, spanana said:

Yes, Mandy did do work on the show before she started working on the show in official capacity.  But her role has expanded over time.  As for the genius part, I mostly meant the dancers that work with her.  She's also gotten a lot of recent acclaim since she did the choreography for La La Land.

Contemporary and jazz, at least as regular dance styles for the celebs, started in S16.  But even then the celebs generally got one or the other in one season, but not both.  Before that the only time we really got any sort of contemp dances from celebs was usually in a freestyle, and often done badly.  But by the same token S16 was the last "regular" season that had its own results show so the troupe and etc. weren't really overly shoved into celeb numbers outside of freestyles.

OK.  I was thinking you were referring to her as a main choreographer.

[TroopinFairy]

I've watched a lot of the seasons but, not all of them and I have a curiosity question. It might be that we're headed for an all black stars final and I'm wondering if this has ever happened before? 

[Toonces464]

6 hours ago, crossover said:

Alan appears to have the relationship with Maks, Val and Mandy. 

I don't know that Alan necessarily has a relationship with Maks and Val other than he's the latest troupe member that have hitched their wagon to Maks and Val hoping it would help them move up the ladder. See Peta, Henry and Jenna.

 

5 hours ago, crossover said:

But, contemporary started happening before Mandy.  I remember some of the DWTS pros stating that Mandy Moore had helped with the choreography.  And she wasn't with DWTS.  MAYBE the DWTS pros helped Mandy get her job?

Mandy helped choreograph Maks and Erin's freestyle in Season 10, the first contemporary done on the show. A couple of seasons ago when Maks hosted All Access, Erin went up to talk with him and she commented on how "we were the first to use Mandy Moore and now she's got a job on the show."

[realdancemom]

57 minutes ago, Toonces464 said:

I don't know that Alan necessarily has a relationship with Maks and Val other than he's the latest troupe member that have hitched their wagon to Maks and Val hoping it would help them move up the ladder. See Peta, Henry and Jenna.

Mandy helped choreograph Maks and Erin's freestyle in Season 10, the first contemporary done on the show. A couple of seasons ago when Maks hosted All Access, Erin went up to talk with him and she commented on how "we were the first to use Mandy Moore and now she's got a job on the show."

I was going to comment that Mandy choreographed Maks and Erin's freestyle. 

Jenna knew other people at DWTS before she started.  She's known Witney and Lindsay since they were little girls.   She also knows Mandy Moore from SYTYCD.  Then Mandy started using her in other non-DWTS projects before she became a member of the troupe. 

Alan was also on SYTYCD but I don't know if he knew Maks and Val before that.

[Toonces464]

3 minutes ago, realdancemom said:

Jenna knew other people at DWTS before she started.  She's known Witney and Lindsay since they were little girls.   She also knows Mandy Moore from SYTYCD.  Then Mandy started using her in other non-DWTS projects before she became a member of the troupe. 

Alan was also on SYTYCD but I don't know if he knew Maks and Val before that.

I'm talking about the ones who have attached themselves to Maks and Val and their fam and think being part of that group will open doors for them. I know Jenna grew up with Lindsay and Witney but she's also worked her way into the fam. See her participation in the fam project "Sway" and also last summer when she was following Val around on tour.

[realdancemom]

8 minutes ago, Toonces464 said:

I'm talking about the ones who have attached themselves to Maks and Val and their fam and think being part of that group will open doors for them. I know Jenna grew up with Lindsay and Witney but she's also worked her way into the fam. See her participation in the fam project "Sway" and also last summer when she was following Val around on tour.

I knew that she was in Sway.  I thought you were trying to say that she got the job at DWTS because of Maks and Val.  Same thing with Alan.  Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

ETA - I like some of Mandy Moore's routines in SYTYCD and not others.  I think I prefer her jazz routines vs. her contemporary ones. 

Edited May 15, 2017 by realdancemom

[Toonces464]

36 minutes ago, realdancemom said:

I knew that she was in Sway.  I thought you were trying to say that she got the job at DWTS because of Maks and Val.  Same thing with Alan.  Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

Oh no, sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant the ones who get the job on DWTS and then think attaching themselves to Maks and Val will open more doors for them.

[PBGamer89]

I think season 5 was when TPTB was actively trying to get a female star to win, up to that point only Kelly won season 1 and 2,3,4 were won by men and some of those seasons had the top female celeb placing 4th or 3rd.

Cue season 5 which brought in the likes of Mark and Derek and celebs like Jennie, Mel B, and Sabrina all of which had previous experience. It was also the first season that allowed the female stars to start with a Latin routine. Up till then, all the female started with Ballroom and the males with Latin.

When season 5 started to continually self implode on the women stars (Sabrina's shocker, Marie's constant drama taking her to 3rd place and knocking out better dancing Jennie, and then Maks epically screwing up Mel's freestyle), TPTB decided season 6 had to have a women win.

So cast a hugely popular and loved ringer, Kristi and pair her with Mark who was coming off the heels of his huge debut with Sabrina, and all the men were duds and the most popular one (Jason Taylor) give him a pro thats never made the final and the other women not as much as experience or fanbase as Kristi and it was a perfect storm and that started the castalyst of females winning (Brooke and Shawn right after, break for Donny and then Nicole and Jennifer, etc).

[Toonces464]

18 minutes ago, PBGamer89 said:

Maks epically screwing up Mel's freestyle

Again, I don't know why people blame Maks for Mel's freestyle when Mel herself has said she was too busy to rehearse so she just chose to wing it that night. I'm the first one to criticize Maks but in this case I really think it's undeserved.

[crossover]

1 hour ago, realdancemom said:

Alan was also on SYTYCD but I don't know if he knew Maks and Val before that.

I thought I had seen an interview where Val said he's known Alan since he was 9?

[nic]

who had the best freestyle? (i want to look it up on youtube to see what it looks like. the star is dancing by themselves?)

[kitcloudkicker]

1 hour ago, nic said:

who had the best freestyle? (i want to look it up on youtube to see what it looks like. the star is dancing by themselves?)

No, the freestyle is just a big dance with no rules and usually (but not always) lots of production elements. Since they've stepped up the production elements across the board the last few seasons, a lot of people complain (somewhat rightly, imo) that they've lost their impact and aren't a lot different from a regular week dance. You'll get a lot of disagreement on what's "best," but I would look up:

-Kellie Pickler & Derek (stripped down, contemporary)

-Sadie and Mark (big creative concept)

-Val and Rumor (more ballroomy)

-Whitney and Alfonso (more jazzy)

and you'll get a good range of what they can be nowadays. If you look up ones from older seasons they're a lot different. And other people have probably disagree with me on my picks. (I also like Derek & Amber, Val & Laurie, and Calvin & Lindsey, but I don't know how popular those picks are)

[vibeology]

14 hours ago, Toonces464 said:

Again, I don't know why people blame Maks for Mel's freestyle when Mel herself has said she was too busy to rehearse so she just chose to wing it that night. I'm the first one to criticize Maks but in this case I really think it's undeserved.

I put a small part of it on Maks and the bulk of the blame on Mel. Mel didn't prepare properly and forgot over half the dance. That's on her. But I do think their freestyle was never going to be a stunner. The Way I Are isn't an upbeat enough song and the bit of choreography Mel did get right wasn't inspiring. I don't think Maks had the skills then to choreograph the freestyle Mel needed to overcome Helio's big personality but at the end of the day we'll never know because Mel messed it up so bad it didn't make a difference.

14 hours ago, nic said:

who had the best freestyle? (i want to look it up on youtube to see what it looks like. the star is dancing by themselves?)

The freestyle that defined the show was Drew and Cheryl's Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy. It really doesn't reflect the show now, but I think everyone will admit it's the iconic dance of this show.

My favourite recent ones were Alek & Lindsay (yeah, he's not a good dancer but Lindsay did an amazing job with that choreography), Alfonso & Witney, Sadie & Mark and James & Sharna. But I am one of those that thinks the Freestyles have been lackluster in recent years. Having the troupe and props and themes every single week makes the freestyle just blend in with all the other dances. It takes something pretty special to be memorable now.

[boyznkatz]

I can't remember a single freestyle Maks or Val did. Actually the ones I remember most were choreographed by women: Drew and Cheryl, Peta and Donald, Witney and Alfonso.

I didn't care much for Sadie's dancing, but her freestyle was cute, as was Shawn Johnson's. 

That's not to say I never liked Maks and Val's stuff. They do some great paso dobles, tangos, and AT's.

Edited May 16, 2017 by boyznkatz

[Toonces464]

I know I'm in the minority, especially all these years later, but I loved Maks's freestyle with Erin. It was so different at the time and just what they needed to set themselves apart from Evan and Nicole (who knew Evan's would suck so bad). On the other hand, I thought his worst freestyle was the one he did with Kirstie. 

[majormama]

Donald and Peta's freestyle is one of only two to make my top 10 favorite DWTS dances. (Alfonso and Witney's is the other.) He may not have been the best technical dancer, but he was a charismatic performer who performed the hell out of it. He definitely had that star-athlete ability to thrive under pressure. When they did the encore the following night, it wasn't nearly as good.

[Sister Havana]

1 hour ago, vibeology said:

 

The freestyle that defined the show was Drew and Cheryl's Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy. It really doesn't reflect the show now, but I think everyone will admit it's the iconic dance of this show.

My favourite recent ones were Alek & Lindsay (yeah, he's not a good dancer but Lindsay did an amazing job with that choreography), Alfonso & Witney, Sadie & Mark and James & Sharna. But I am one of those that thinks the Freestyles have been lackluster in recent years. Having the troupe and props and themes every single week makes the freestyle just blend in with all the other dances. It takes something pretty special to be memorable now.

Yes to all of this, especially the bolded! I liked it better when they saved the elaborate props and extra dancers for the freestyle - it really made the freestyles feel much more special and memorable.

That said, I loved all three freestyles from last season. They were all very different from each other and all perfectly suited for the celebrities doing them. Other freestyles from more recent seasons that I loved: Maks and Meryl, Derek and Amy, and Alfonso and Witney.

[spanana]

I agree Drew/Cheryl's Save a Horse number was the freestyle that really defined the show for a long time.  Out of context, and with the way the show has changed over the years, newer viewers probably don't understand why.  But the show was a totally different beast at that time.  Also the celebs never got to dance outside of the ballroom genre during the regular season, nor where there such huge freestyle expectations at that point.  At that time, it was new and different and exciting.

I do agree with Sister Havana too.  Nowadays it feels like the celebs do a freestyle every week, so what do you do to stand out for a freestyle?  For instance, in the last two weeks Normani did an emotional contemporary and fun jazz and now she is doing a freestyle?  What is the difference?  In any season, either of those numbers could have been her freestyle.  What is there left for her to do that isn't ballroom?  Or I remember Janel doing yet another contemporary in the freestyle round when she had just done a contemp a few weeks before.  How exciting.

I generally hate overwraught contemporaries, so I haven't liked most of those, even when well executed (the last contemp I truly enjoyed on this show was Riker/Allison).  The only recent freestyles I remember liking were Alfonso/Witney and Sadie/Mark, and the latter had nothing to do with Sadie's actual dancing, but everything to do with Mark's Mario theme come to life.  I also remember thinking Lindsay's choreography for Calvin was clever last season.  I liked the moving walkways and thought it was more fun than whatever Laurie & James did.

Probably the best contemporary freestyle that I remember was Kellie/Derek, though I'm still bitter about the ending of that season and the complete online voting malfunction in the finale that the show barely addressed, so that season always has a bit of an asterisk for me.  Though they clearly won the freestyle round since Val completely bungled that one, and both Jacoby and Aly Raisman's sucked.

I'm clearly dead inside since the Meryl, Nyle, Amy or any other super emotional ones never did anything for me.

Edited May 16, 2017 by spanana

[TroopinFairy]

Could anyone else not vote at abc.com using safari or though Facebook last night? When I tried to vote at abc it wouldn't load and when I tried at on Facebook I got an error message saying that I was at an invalid link. I did get to vote but I had to use a different browser to do it.

[DancingD]

Just looked up Season 10 on SYTYCD, a lot of the cast is from that season! Jenna, Hayley, Alan, Brittany, Paul (wouldn't mind seeing more of Paul). 

Do you have to grow up dancing ballroom to be considered a "trained ballroom dancer"? Asking for a friend who started at 26 and was a bit of a natural at it, ha.

Hayley has said she is not "trained" but I remember her on SYTCD dancing ballroom several times and she was darned good at it then. And  she may have had some excellent training for the last 3 years. I find myself watching for her.

Edited May 16, 2017 by DancingD

[marykat71702]

On 5/15/2017 at 9:42 AM, crossover said:

Mark, Derek, Julianne may have been accomplished in ballroom but they were also cross trained.  Weren't they about 20 when they started with DWTS? 

Julianne was actually 15 or 16 when she started on the show.

[smiley13]

3 hours ago, marykat71702 said:

Julianne was actually 15 or 16 when she started on the show.

She was born in 1988 and started on the show in 2007, so she was not that young.

[marykat71702]

12 hours ago, smiley13 said:

She was born in 1988 and started on the show in 2007, so she was not that young

Ok. I guess I misheard. :) I was probably thinking about the fact that she was the youngest pro to win.

[truthaboutluv]

Julianne was 18 when she won and it was her first season on the show.

Quote

Hayley has said she is not "trained" but I remember her on SYTCD dancing ballroom several times and she was darned good at it then. And  she may have had some excellent training for the last 3 years. I find myself watching for her.

And I still found her mediocre in the trio with Lindsay and David, just as I did for the trio she did with Sharna and Antonio. I've also seen the so-called amazing ballroom dances she did on SYTYCD and yeah, wasn't impressed. I've seen far better non-ballroom dancers nail those styles over the years. 

Actually, the thing I always find amusing regarding Hayley and SYTYCD is how much I DIDN'T remember her and I watched most of that season and she made it to the Final 6. When I first found out she was from SYTYCD, I assumed it was one of the seasons I didn't really watch, since I haven't watched as much in recent years. Because I didn't remember a single thing about her.

Come to find out it was Season 10 and that baffled me because I knew I watched that season as I remembered Alan, Paul, Fik-Shun, Amy, Aaron and Jasmine. Hayley - nothing, nada. Then when I finally put it together, I just remembered she was paired with this guy where they were totally mismatched and they kept giving them these dances that were always meant to be over the top sexy but were anything but since she and the guy had zero chemistry.

Oh and she had the same annoying habit that Whitney had where they talked in annoyingly baby voices about how they just couldn't help being really sexy when they dance, all while Nigel creepily and grossly perved on them when they were both only 18 at the time. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[kcrabtree06]

I'm not sure where to put this one so I am putting it on this thread. Has anyone here ever been to the DWTS tour? I am going in July and I cannot wait!!!