S14.E05: Academy Week #1

[MV007]

I'm super excited Lex chose Gabby.  I think Gabby is really underrated.  She gives great performances every time.

[saks10111]

On 7/21/2017 at 0:41 PM, crossover said:

As I recall, Jenna is as much a contemporary dancer as a ballroom dancer.  She was a favorite of the contemporary choreographers when she was on sytycd.   That's one reason Nigel kept saving her during her season.

True. I guess I just don't like Jenna very much. All the other All Stars I am fond of, even if some of them weren't necessarily my all time favourites during their respective seasons. An exception is obviously Cyrus, but that's more because of him not being great in other styles, not really a personality thing. Idk why Jenna just leaves me cold. If they had to get a ballroom girl, I would've loved Lindsay (who Jensen unfortunately doesn't hold a candle to, in my opinion) or Chelsie.

[calipiano81]

My theory as to why Jenna is not well-liked by many (I personally don't mind her) is due to her super-flirty/sassy personality. It's fine to bring it while dancing, as most of the female ballroom dancers do, but viewers don't seem to like it when a dancer carries it to her off-stage persona as well and in her interactions with other people. I feel like Lacey Schwimmer had the same issue, but it helped that her brother was so popular.

Not surprisingly, when Jenna tones down that aspect of her personality, I think she gets a more positive response from viewers. For instance, when she did the duet with Mark Kanemura, which required quirkiness rather than sexiness, and when she partnered Jake in the kids' edition, where she had a more motherly/big sisterly vibe.

Edited July 25, 2017 by calipiano81

[marriedaniac]

FikShun and Dassy are a PERFECT match!

 

Has Cyrus learned to dance yet? :P

[spanana]

10 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

My theory as to why Jenna is not well-liked by many (I personally don't mind her) is due to her super-flirty/sassy personality. It's fine to bring it while dancing, as most of the female ballroom dancers do, but viewers don't seem to like it when a dancer carries it to her off-stage persona as well and in her interactions with other people. I feel like Lacey Schwimmer had the same issue, but it helped that her brother was so popular.

Not surprisingly, when Jenna tones down that aspect of her personality, I think she gets a more positive response from viewers. For instance, when she did the duet with Mark Kanemura, which required quirkiness rather than sexiness, and when she partnered Jake in the kids' edition, where she had a more motherly/big sisterly vibe.

Partly?  I don't mind people being super-flirty/sassy off the dance floor.  The issue is more when it reads fakey-fake and not genuine that I think it's a problem.  I think for Jenna part of the issue has always been self confidence.  She doesn't have it (her own admission on her blog) so puts on this fakey fake persona that I guess she thinks people want to see in a means to get attention.  Nowadays I think she has come more into herself and while I still find her personality uber annoying, it's less out of the neediness and lack of self confidence then it used to be.  

As a result, I also think she comes off selfish, as a performer and otherwise.  It took her a good two years to figure out it was her job to blend in in troupe routines on DWTS instead of dancing on different beats as everyone else to draw attention. Or that she wasn't supposed be drawing attention from the celebs she was backing up. She was probably doing the same things she did in real competition life to stand out, which is understandable there, but it takes some of these dancers a long time to figure out there is a big difference between being a competition dancer and being a tv performer.

She's also just incredibly ignorant from a world view perspective, but so are most of these all-stars so I can't exactly pin that on her alone.

Edited July 25, 2017 by spanana