This fall ABC will trot out an interim dance show for the break between seasons of their juggernaut Dancing with the Stars.
Called “Let’s Dance” and an adaptation of the British reality show “Let’s Dance for Comic Relief”, the show will once again call on stars to dance. But instead of a lengthy and grueling time commitment, the stars will only need to work on their dance for a week. The dances will be re-enactments of famous dances from movies, TV, videos, or Broadway (like dances from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video or Baby and Johnny’s dance from “Dirty Dancing”).
The concept sounds pretty neat, but it seems with Kathy Griffin hosting, this show will not be too serious in it’s nature and in fact intends to be much lighter than Dancing With the Stars and focus on a comedic angle. Celebrity will compete against celebrity, be judged by a panel, then America will phone (or text) in votes for their favorite. The winner from the week will go on to compete in the finale for a $250,000 prize.
Let’s Dance will premier November 23rd, right after the Dancing With the Stars Finale. Another dance winner for ABC? Stay tuned to find out!
It’s getting down to crunch time on Dancing With the Stars. Time to see who is really in for the long haul.
Last night each of the remaining stars (Mya, Aaron Carter, Kelly Osbourne, Joanna Krupa, Michael Irvin, Mark Dacascos, Donny Osmond) did one dance and a team dance where they performed with other couples, either the Paso Doble or the Tango.
In the individual dances, I was once again blown away by my “little” Aaron Carter. Last week it was proclaimed that he became a man. He continued his journey tonight by turning in an amazingly energetic Jive. As I watched this guy, I said to myself: “he WANTS this.” And I don’t mean just that mirror ball trophy. I mean he wants DANCE. He loves it, he loves getting it right then reveling in it and having fun. Sure, he has his frustration moments, but that’s just because of his drive. And as Michael Irvin told him early on in the competition when he was being beaten down, “there’s nothing wrong with being real and being serious about winning.” (great locker room pep talk Michael!)
Aaron’s Jive delivered fantastic sharpness and energy (essential in a Jive), plus great chemistry with Karina Smirnoff and the crowd. Their song happened to be “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister, which added a great rebel attitude to their dance. The Jive takes real strength to make all those flicks hit with precision (and not look wimpy), and Aaron’s “young man strength”, coupled with the great precision workout she got him with Elite Athletics trainer Jade Molina gave him that edge.
Bruno Tonioli said he “kicked ass,” Carrie Ann Inaba said he’s a “roadrunner,” and Len Goodman said it was “wild but clean,” (high praise from Len). In fact, he was inspired to “dust off” his 10 paddle and Aaron was given his highest scores to date: 9-10-10! I said it before and I’ll say it again: this kid has it.
Kelly Osborne finally broke through last night after her initial amazing performances followed by a 5 week slump. As I watched her rehears with Louie Van Amstel and cry and stomp and get frustrated, all I really wanted this girl to do was R-E-L-A-X!! I can’t say what’s going on with her, but what I see is a girl who is letting her nerves and frustration get in her
Kelly and Louie week one (photo courtesy of ABC)
way of letting the natural dancer out (because she is a natural dancer). Her Salsa was refreshing and cheeky, and free from odd faces she makes whenever she stumbles. The judges were very happy with her performance and said she had mastered her nerves, but NOW needed to bring her technique up a few notches. I’m looking forward to even better performances from Kelly, as she was an early favorite of mine after her week 1 performances.
Other dances of note were Mya and Dmitry Chaplin’s Foxtrot, which really had old school hollywood style and grace, and Donny and Kym Johnson’s Quickstep, which Donny performed so well, I missed ALL the mistakes the judges say they saw.
Who will be eliminated next? Watch tonight on ABC to find out!
Last night was a very interesting night on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. I have been looking forward to tango/paso doble night for a little while, it never disappoints.
Argentine Tango is my favorite ballroom dance. Heat, passion, lust, anger and awesome legwork are always in order. The one contestant who really pulled it out of the bag and delivered wholeheartedly was “little” Aaron Carter. Damn if he didn’t pull it together, focus and connect with excellent precision and a LOT of lust for Karina (he’s a young man, who can blame him?). After his last two low-score weeks (and I don’t completely agree with the judges on that) this was new life in his dancing. Unfortunately, his scores were not as good as some of the other contestants, but I really think he gave it all and did excellently (and the judges did like it a lot).
The one dance that I was really looking forward to was Kelly Osbourne’s paso doble. She was doing it to her father Ozzy’s song “Crazy Train” and I thought “oh yeah, this will be great.” It was good, she looked great in her grey skirt and spiky hair, and Louis looked great in his Ozzy Ozbourne makeup.
Kelly and her Daddy 'do
But I think her nerves got the better of her again, I feel like she’s holding on too hard to NOT mess up. I think she held on less in the very first week of competition maybe because it was her first time doing this and she thought “what do I have to lose?” And now, she got such high praise (well deserved) that now she’s afraid to not live up to those standards. Just let go Kelly, and HAVE FUN–you’re great as-is.
On a different note, the hair was completely out of control last night. In fact, Tom Bergeron called it when he said “hairstyles by Fellini.” The ‘do I really liked was Kelly’s ,she looked like a blonde version of her father from the early 80′s. But Lacey’s ratty looking faux-hawk just didn’t read well on TV. As well, Samantha Harris’ terrible, frizzy curly ‘do made her look like she had it done in 1983 with bad hot rollers (and she’s the worlds most glamorous paper doll on TV, they really know how to dress her up). Ugh. THEN to top it off, all the guys wore the silliest, poufy wigs for the Hustle group dance–but that was pure fun! ;o)
This fall ABC will trot out an interim dance show for the break between seasons of their juggernaut Dancing with the Stars.
