S24: Heather Morris - Dancing Her Way To The Mirrorball?

[radishcake]

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Heather Elizabeth Morris (born February 1, 1987) is an American actress, dancer, singer and model, known for her role as Brittany S. Pierce in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee.

 

*A note on this participant: If you want to have the "ringer" argument you must do so while respecting anyone else's right to their own opinions. I've ALREADY had a problem with this so you are warned that posts will be hidden if they are attacking other posters.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

She is a professional dancer, right?  How is that fair?  Anyway,  I always loved watching her dance on Glee.  I usually don't watch the show but may keep up on her performances.

[JeanneH]

Heather Morris  *_*  Holy Crap, they're not even trying to hide their ringer this time. Heather Morris was first hired on Glee to help teach choreography (specifically the Single Ladies dance) and they kept her on to play Brittany the cheerleader. Before that she was one of  Beyonce's back-up dancers on her world tour. Here she doing her back-up thing on Single Ladies (HM is the blonde who begins on the right).  I wonder how the heck they're going to explain this one.

Edit - She's with Maxim? Oh, this should be really fun, and most likely completely unfair at the same time. :)

Edited March 2, 2017 by JeanneH

[Dots And Stripes]

The best comparison to Heather I can think of is Corbin Bleu, who trained as a dancer under Debbie Allen and worked as a dancer in a Macy's Stars of Dance performance on DWTS before competing. There are also several other stars who worked as dancers or were hired for professional jobs with dance auditions. I still say the most egregious ringer would be Ryder who as a kid competed as a Latin dancer against some pros on this show (whereas his pro partner never did). 

The best dancer doesn't always win, so even if she is the best at ballroom and latin that's not really determinative. There have also been a handful of ringers who were shock boots. The finale isn't even guaranteed. She's also not the only major ringer this season.

I gave up on expecting the competition to be fair a while ago. It must sting for some celebrities who get booted week 3 or 4 and felt like they never really had a chance against the ringers. I mostly hope the ringers are people I will actually like. If someone is going to be around a while it might as well be someone I like watching. With Heather, she's paired with my favorite pro so I'm already rooting for her.

[Uke]

3 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

 I still say the most egregious ringer would be Ryder who as a kid competed as a Latin dancer against some pros on this show (whereas his pro partner never did). 

Yes, I think Ryder would be the #1 ringer.  He seemed like a nice enough guy but what bothered me was IIRC (and I was paying attention) the only mention of his ballroom experience was a quick mention of a "couple dance lessons when he was a kid".  That's not an exact quote but just the gist of it.  IMO you've got to come clean and just admit it, which Heather did, very briefly, but she did...followed by the standard disclaimer that she'd never learned ballroom.  What I don't tolerate is purposely hiding/lying/calling it something else.  Ginger was on a competitive dance team in college which was referred to as "cheerleading". As far as I ever heard, she never admitted to the dance experience. That doesn't sit well with me.

I happened to catch "The Wendy Show" today (Please don't judge! I was sick + couldn't handle CNN).  She put Heather on blast about the show not being about "stars" who are pro dancers.  Anyway, her shows repeat alot so if interested, look at the show listing for original air date 3/2/2017.

[Irlandesa]

I kind of loved when Heather was announced because the first name leaked was Simone and when I heard people talk about the show on the radio or even some places online, the gist was throwing their hands in the air that she was already the winner.  Then other names started leaking, including Heather's, and suddenly there is strong competition for Simone.  

I always liked Heather the little I've seen of her so part of me would root for her to do well. But then there's Max who I can't stand and then I'm back to the whole Meryl situation. Ugh. 

[doLLish]

I'm really looking forward to this partnership because I feel it will be a disaster.

Maks lacks creativity and his choreography sucks. Heather, with the experience she has, will recognize this and I can see her wanting to put her own spin on things and them butting heads a LOT.

This will be the drama couple, mark my words lol

[lrobinl]

Personally, I love it when there are Stars that are more skilled at dancing, it just makes the show much more interesting and less of a train wreck, like it can be earlier in the season. 

[Fostersmom]

Is she a ringer? Yes. Is she likable enough to get the votes? I'm not so sure about that. She's got shocking elimination written all over her. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Agreed. I feel like it's set up for her and Maks to go out in about 8th place. She doesn't strike me as likeable in the least. Whatever your feelings about Maks are...it's never a good look on DWTS if the celeb seems like a know it all. I'm sure whatever contentiousness comes up in their pairing will be played up to the nines in the editing too.

[katha]

I think it depends how she'll come across personally and how she and Maks work as a pair. She mostly seemed reserved in the interviews I've seen, which is not something the DWTS audience tolerates. So Maks will have to strike a balance between making her more accessible, but not to a point where it's too much and forced. He did it with Meryl Davis.

That Maks is old school DWTS may work for them, if it keeps them away from jazz and contemporary. So she'll have the argument ready: "See, I'm doing something different from my dance specialty, this is new to me as well!" Maks is inconsistent, but he usually throws out a few fantastic dances when he has a good partner. As long as he doesn't drop below a certain level in general and doesn't deliver any clunkers, they should be fine on that front. He can do it, he did it with Davis and with Mel B there was "only" the freestyle trainwreck.

But yeah, my gut feeling is that she doesn't win this no matter how well she does. There will be backlash and stiff competition and I'm not sure she has the narrative and personality the audience likes in their winners. She strikes me as a Corbin.

[Toonces464]

16 hours ago, katha said:

So Maks will have to strike a balance between making her more accessible, but not to a point where it's too much and forced. He did it with Meryl Davis.

IMO Maks won the mirrorball with Meryl off their showmance. He doesn't have that ace up his sleeve this time.

[boyznkatz]

I have no idea who she is, but I like watching ringers. If I don't like someone's personality I just skip their package and watch their dance anyway. Maybe Maks will be more tolerable now that he's a dad.

[UncleChuck]

What's next?  DWTS announces "television personality" Derek Hough as contestant?????

[Uke]

1 hour ago, UncleChuck said:

What's next?  DWTS announces "television personality" Derek Hough as contestant?????

haha! He seemed pretty annoyed at his "treatment" from tptb and the video pkgs last season. At first I'd say no but then again, he might just for spite.  Haha!  But don't worry. Julianne will be fair in her judging. LOL!

[legaleagle53]

4 hours ago, UncleChuck said:

What's next?  DWTS announces "television personality" Derek Hough as contestant?????

Ugh. Don't give them any ideas!

[ocelot]

Heather tried out for sytycd a long time ago! This is crazy but again, she probably has zero ballroom experience. This season is going to be intense with Simone, Heather, Normani, etc. So much potential.

[realdancemom]

I don't remember Heather in SYTYCD so she must not have been a contestant.  Also, if it was in the early seasons, they let a lot of people in that would have never made it in the later seasons.

I don't mind ringers.  That means I will see good dancing.  This should be a good season.  As others mentioned, being the best dancer doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to win.

[Dots And Stripes]

I believe Heather was on Season 2 of SYTYCD and got cut just before the live rounds. Was Artem on season 1 or season 2?

Radar did an article with "sources" saying Heather is such a good dancer she'll win. Aside from the fact that Radar keeps churning out hit pieces on DWTS celebs, is there really anyone working for DWTS who thinks this is a pure dance contest? I see it as part beauty pageant, part America's Got Talent, part the X-Factor, part the Bachelor, with a little bit of a dance contest thrown in. Dancing will get Heather through the first few weeks easily, but several celebs will be getting 9's and 10's and being a better dancer starts counting less and less. Fifth Harmony keeps winning awards voted on by fans, Normani is probably the one to beat. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by Dots And Stripes
Typo

[realdancemom]

Artem was a contestant on Season 1 of SYTYCD.

[truthaboutluv]

3 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

Radar did an article with "sources" saying Heather saying she's such a good dancer she'll win.

Must have been the same article where they said Bachelor Nick was being a diva in training, complete with pictures of him and Peta that was supposed to show his diva tendencies but all I saw was someone looking stressed, trying to do something that's not natural to them. But just like some believed the stuff about Nick, I'm sure some will believe this one about Heather. 

Granted I didn't pay that much attention to her outside of just watching Glee but Heather never struck me as the type to say something like that. That said, I will say, every time I remember that she's on this season, it makes me laugh because I remember back to when Amber Riley competed on the show and many said she was a ringer. I remember a lot of times when people would argue she wasn't, someone would always make the throwaway comment, "I mean it's not like if Heather was doing the show..." Go figure.

Edited March 14, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[Dots And Stripes]

1 hour ago, truthaboutluv said:

Must have been the same article where they said Bachelor Nick was being a diva in training, complete with pictures of him and Peta that was supposed to show his diva tendencies but all I saw was someone looking stressed, trying to do something that's not natural to them. But just like some believed the stuff about Nick, I'm sure some will believe this one about Heather. 

Granted I didn't pay that much attention to her outside of just watching Glee but Heather never struck me as the type to say something like that. That said, I will say, every time I remember that she's on this season, it makes me laugh because I remember back to when Amber Riley competed on the show and many said she was a ringer. I remember a lot of times when people would argue she wasn't, someone would always make the throwaway comment, "I mean it's not like if Heather was doing the show..." Go figure.

My bad. The article said DWTS sources are saying she's so good she'll win. I accidentally implied it was Heather saying that about herself. 

I think there are degrees of ringers. I think Amber could have been less of a ringer than Heather, but a ringer nonetheless. It definitely took more from Amber than just being a good dancer to win though.

[kitcloudkicker]

Heather was sort of a "featured reject" on Season 2 of SYTYCD, getting cut right before the final 20. Here's her segment, if anyone's interested

 

To Maks' credit, he says he expects them to be judged to a higher standard. 

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"To say that we just have this massive advantage, I think so, but I don't think we're the only ones that could pull off beautiful, beautiful numbers. I'm ready for us to be scrutinized a little different and judged a little different and rightfully so, we'll do our best."

I think that's to a large part true. If you care about "ringers" there's no doubt she is one. But there's enough to balance that out this season that it doesn't lock it in for them at all, if Maks falters on choreography, or they edit them to look like they're not "having fun," or if everyone decides she "seems cold" or whatever they did to Nastia. 

[truthaboutluv]

16 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

My bad. The article said DWTS sources are saying she's so good she'll win. I accidentally implied it was Heather saying that about herself. 

Oh okay. Yeah I thought that was surprising. 

5 minutes ago, kitcloudkicker said:

or if everyone decides she "seems cold" or whatever they did to Nastia. 

I can see that one being the case. Heather is not really a big personality if I remember correctly. 

[Emily-D]

Maks is smart. He knows theirs no point denying it or it'll make them even more unpopular. Heather less so. I won't be voting for them personally, to be honest I get an arrogant vibe off of Heather, hopefully I'm wrong.

[Glaadrial]

11 hours ago, kitcloudkicker said:

...Maks falters on choreography, or they edit them to look like they're not "having fun," or if everyone decides she "seems cold" or whatever they did to Nastia

I'll take "arrogant" for the win.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Glaadrial
typo

[Beatrice]

Love her. Might have to finally vote for the first time in 24 seasons. Hope Maks does right by her. Wish she would have got Val but she's too tall.

They could give her the arrogant edit but she's really funny so hopefully they play on that instead.

[realdancemom]

On 3/14/2017 at 2:54 PM, kitcloudkicker said:

Heather was sort of a "featured reject" on Season 2 of SYTYCD, getting cut right before the final 20. Here's her segment, if anyone's interested

 

To Maks' credit, he says he expects them to be judged to a higher standard. 

I think that's to a large part true. If you care about "ringers" there's no doubt she is one. But there's enough to balance that out this season that it doesn't lock it in for them at all, if Maks falters on choreography, or they edit them to look like they're not "having fun," or if everyone decides she "seems cold" or whatever they did to Nastia. 

Thanks for the clip.  Too bad they didn't show her audition.  I remember her friend, Ben.  He was just o.k. not great.  I'm guessing that she auditioned as either a jazz or contemporary dancer.  It is tougher for a female to make it in that genre especially in the latter seasons.  There is so much competition.  Season 2 is when Allison Holker was a contemporary contestant.

[blaase]

She's ridiculously good and it's ridiculously unfair. But I kind of want her to go far anyway.

[JeanneH]

Interesting comments by Julianne Hough during the judging, that ballroom and what Heather does are two entirely different kinds of dance (and she'd know). Also they mentioned during the package that Heather's never done ballroom before. And someone commented that some people are complaining about Heather's experience level. Guess they're trying to beat down any negativity toward Heather that's not related to her on-show performance.

To be fair, Julianne is absolutely right. It would be like saying painting a house and painting a portrait are the same thing.

[blaase]

If you know how to dance in any genre, (and are trained like Heather), you know how to move your body to the beat, how to place your hands and feet and use the correct posture, and pick up Ballroom moves much faster  and that's a huge advantage over people that are complete novices to dance.

[McManda]

Yeah, I'm thinking that the constant "yeah, but she's not a BALLROOM dancer" is going to hurt more than it helps.

I think Maks was smart to come out and say that he basically expected them to be held to a higher standard because she has rhythm and knows how to train.

Edited March 21, 2017 by McManda
typos

[shoregirl]

I'm going to be super annoyed if a major theme is well sure she has dance experience but not in ballroom so its cool. Because she is a professional dancer who got hired on Glee because of her dancing (it was definitely not her singing or acting because neither of those were good imo). Also because of her professional experience she knows all about proper lines and she can pick up choreography probably a whole lot easier than other people.

[PBGamer89]

Maks was smart in a way to keep their dance a bit more simple instead of just wham bam in your face jam packed choreo.

Plus keeping her scores a it lower puts a little pressure off them at this moment. I don't expect her to win, but I do hope she gets far and gives us great routines. 

I can't wait to see her do Latin.

[Landonette]

There is a few contestants on the show this season with experience in dance.  But there is also a lot of contestants that has zero experience but a lot of rhythm.  Lot of talent this season.  Always gonna be people go that really, based on dance skills, should not be going.  Oh well.....that the show 

[seasick]

I was captivated by Heather's dancing on Glee. We've all seen plenty of dancers but there was something about her style or ability that grabbed me. She was so quick and sharp and precise-- I started watching the reruns of Glee to find her as I wasn't a consistent watcher of the show.   I also was a big fan of Derek Hough probably for the same reasons and watched DWTS to see him dance and then would FF through most of the rest.

The innocence of this show and the allure from that was lost many season ago IMO. Also the interest in seeing someone you know well from another genre dance is gone and so is the even playing field.   Now, in most cases I'm saying Who??? when they announce the contestants. I don't enjoy the show anymore and rarely watch since Derek is gone.  

Seeing sub-par dancing is not that much fun if you're not interested in the person (like that rodeo guy-- pffft-- who cares? or Charo  "hey you're still alive?  great-- hope  you're gone next week. ..or Chris Kattan? really. )    

I guess what I'm saying is yeah-- Heather is not a ballroom dancer-true--but she is a phenomenal dancer and great to watch.  It will help to balance out the time I FF through the lead-footed majority.   I'm actually hoping that they consider making her one of the dance pros in the future.

[Beatrice]

That waltz was beautiful and she is really great. I can tell they will be low balling her all season. That's fine, I wasn't expecting her to win anyway because others are more popular. I just hope she makes it to the finale.

[JeanneH]

17 minutes ago, seasick said:

I was captivated by Heather's dancing on Glee. We've all seen plenty of dancers but there was something about her style or ability that grabbed me. She was so quick and sharp and precise-- I started watching the reruns of Glee to find her as I wasn't a consistent watcher of the show.

Heather Morris and Harry Shum Jr just brought it when they were allowed to dance together and nobody else got in their way. Worth the price of admission.

[WhosThatGirl]

As someone who saw Glee Live! Heather and Harry were amazing on the stage . I'm rooting for her. I like her a lot!

[truthaboutluv]

Her scores actually really annoyed me. The show is getting way too obvious in later seasons and that was the most obvious "low-ball the ringer to avoid more backlash" that I've ever seen. And it annoys me because it's like they chose to cast her, knowing that there was no way her dance background wasn't going to be brought up. So why cast her and then low-ball her in scores. I guess it's actually an attempt to help her ward off some of the backlash but that's not going to work. Instead all they're doing is making it so obvious that's what they're doing and adding to the conspiracy talk from some viewers about the show and scores being fixed. 

[PBGamer89]

I actually didn't mind the 7's too much, only because in relative to David or Nancy it felt low.

I did see a moment where she might have rushed and got caught in Maks' arms plus not as much content as I would've liked. I do think Maks is trying to make it seem like they can build up to something. I don't think he wanted a situation where it's too much too soon.

She danced well and turns well too, but I was only slightly disappointed and it was mostly the choreography honestly. Maks needs to channel his choreo with Mel B, Laila, and Meryl because those were when he was on fire.

[Irlandesa]

45 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Her scores actually really annoyed me. The show is getting way too obvious in later seasons and that was the most obvious "low-ball the ringer to avoid more backlash" that I've ever seen.

This. And after Carrie Ann's comments, I have a feeling we're going to a "no personality" drumbeat even though I think she had very good expression in her dance.

[Beatrice]

Very sad to hear Maks is out for a few weeks. Will he still choreograph? I really liked Heather and him as partnership so far.

[smiley13]

She did not come off very well this week.  Between her standing there like a knot on a log when Maks got hurt and waving off Len's constructive remarks, she looked like a "rhymes with witch."

[Beatrice]

She killed that dance. Loved everything about it. Alan was great too and I'm glad Heather gave him props for coming in on one days notice to learn the dance. I thought they played well off each other. What do people expect when they give her a song with a huge hip hop break in it. The show knew exactly what they were doing. Hope Maks has a speedy recovery but I did enjoy Alan.

[PBGamer89]

I actually think Len was quite mean in his comments. Ok there was a few bars of hip hop style, but the rest was authentic and well danced Jive steps, he made it seem like they completely ignored the style.

I get his not liking hip hop incorporated into Latin routines, it goes well back into earlier seasons, but the tone seemed a lot meaner than it needed to be.

[Lady Calypso]

I don't know much about the show and the behind the scenes aspects of it, although I have heard various gossip tidbits here and there. Seeing as it's my first season watching more than just the dance portions, I'm still getting a feel of what this show is about. But for me, it feels like the show is deliberately having Heather look worse so that she doesn't make the finals. She's a good dancer from what I've seen but the judges make it seem like she's so much worse than she is. I also thought her Jive was good, not spectacular but way better than how Len was making it seem. It's not like she did Hip Hop the entire time. 

I don't know; it does feel like they're setting her up to be eliminated about halfway through. 

[Beatrice]

1 minute ago, Lady Calypso said:

I don't know much about the show and the behind the scenes aspects of it, although I have heard various gossip tidbits here and there. Seeing as it's my first season watching more than just the dance portions, I'm still getting a feel of what this show is about. But for me, it feels like the show is deliberately having Heather look worse so that she doesn't make the finals. She's a good dancer from what I've seen but the judges make it seem like she's so much worse than she is. I also thought her Jive was good, not spectacular but way better than how Len was making it seem. It's not like she did Hip Hop the entire time. 

I don't know; it does feel like they're setting her up to be eliminated about halfway through. 

They wanted her on the show for the controversy. They will never let her actually win the show. I'd be very surprised if she even makes it to the finals. I also don't know if they knew she was a good as she is, I assume the show did their research but who knows.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, smiley13 said:

She did not come off very well this week.  Between her standing there like a knot on a log when Maks got hurt and waving off Len's constructive remarks, she looked like a "rhymes with witch."

Len's comments weren't really constructive, though.  Constructive comments would be telling her things she could do to improve on her next dance.  That wasn't what he did.  Instead he went into the bitch eating crackers mode he gets into when one of the dances commits one of his unforgivable sins...things like not enough content, breaking the rules of the dance or flash over substance. And 99% of the time, the decision that ticks him off comes from the choreographer and not the celebrity.

If Max can't go, I wonder if they'll keep Alan or if they'll try a different dancer. Alan was kind of meh for me. 

[WhosThatGirl]

Yeah I get really angry when a star is blamed for the dance as they can only do what they are taught. I mean.. maybe heather had some input into her dance because of her background but most of the time it's something she was taught.

Theres been stars who are ruder to the judges than she was tonight.