I figured, since I was spending hours upon hours looking over So You Think You Can Dance videos (and having a blast) for the best of the best, I might as well go back through past seasons of Dancing with the Stars, too!
I had to switch gears a little, though. Remember, these are NOT professional dancers. And the pros they work with need to bring their level down a few notches in order to match the stars’ speed.
That aside, when a pro and a star have great chemistry and the star really wants to dance, do well and have a good time, it can be magical. There have been quite a few of these magical pairings, and not all of them were season winners.
Here’s one, Mel B. and Maksim Chmerkovskiy dancing the Viennese Waltz, season 5. This was really beautiful and flowy. Even though they bumped heads a little, they had real chemistry. Just check out those “walking splits’ Mel does. That takes power and strength from Maks, and real focus from Mel. Plus just look at her dress and necklace. Beautiful!
I always have mixed feelings about the finals. I think I expect too much out of everyone, and maybe get disappointed. But I forget that these are the same people as before, just one more week along. So logically, they are not going to turn into full-fledged pro dancers in 7 days (or really 5 days because that’s all the time they get). Tonight I watched with that in mind so I could really enjoy myself. These three stars (and their pros) have really busted ass to get in the Finals and they deserved it! Now I wanted them to show me the stuff!
First the stars did one last regular-style dance by themselves. Kelly Osbourne was first with her Argentine Tango. Now this is my favorite Ballrooom/Latin dance, and I was crossing my fingers that she would do well, and better than her last effort. Fortunately, Carrie Ann Inaba made a visit to their rehearsal to give her some coaching specifically on her emotional connection with her partner. This is something she has always needed to work on, even though Kelly is really “The Transformer” of the show. She’s the one that’s come the farthest and really discovered dance. But she has never quite had that connect with Louis Van Amstel that would allow them to play lovers.
Let me tell you she did NOT disappoint. Her footwork was excellent, lines were beautiful and they really smoldered when looking into each other’s eyes. It was the real connection this time, yea! Strangely, this was the lowest scoring first dance of the night, with a 9-9-8, and I sincerely believe it was the best first dance of all three. Maybe the judges were warming up or something. The only big criticism that I heard was from Bruno Tonioli who said that Kelly’s “free hand” was doing odd things while she danced. Ugh, whatever.
Next up was Mya. Len Goodman paid her and Dmitry Chaplin a visit as they rehearsed. Len’s intention as they practiced was to really push Mya to her limits in the Paso Doble. He even yelled at her about her kicks, that she could kick his upper hand out of the way. This is a great thing, because I have thought through pretty much the whole season that Mya was too cool of a cucumber, and never really revealing much or reaching her limits.
Technically, the dance looked good and had that measure of anger and sharpness that the Paso calls for. But I really didn’t feel the passion that it needs. The Paso is such a difficult dance to pull off and make look super spectacular in my opinion, you really need a variety of great moves coupled with a really great passionate anger with your partner. Nothing can hold a candle to Mel B. and Maks Chmerkovskiy’s Paso in season 7. Incidentally, Len mentions Mel’s dance in his critique of Mya, saying hers was up there. As you can guess, I do not agree. Judges scores: 10-10-10.
Donny Osmond was next with his Cha Cha Cha. Bruno made a visit to him and partner Kym Johnson to help sharpen up his technique enough to match his showmanship. This is great because Donny can always pull out a crowd-pleasing performance, but not be technically perfect. Bruno took him to task and really put him through his paces. Oddly enough, I didn’t see much evidence of this in his Cha Cha, where he did what seemed as little actual dancing as possible. I thought I might be wrong, but my friend sitting next to me echoed my thoughts exactly. The judges seemed quite happy with it, so it’s possible I don’t understand the man’s role in the Cha Cha. Judges scores: 9-9-9.
A new element this season was the Megamix, where all three couples danced a “superdance” at the same time. Three dances, same choreography (by Nick Kosovich from seasons 2 and 3). This, in theory, is a great idea, I always love the pro dances where up to 5 couples dance at the same time–but those are not PRO dancers. Do you know how hard it is to have six people dancing in complete synchronization and stay in a specific formation? HARD. I personally thought that the Megamix was a mess, and the girls outfits were rather unflattering and distracting. They combined Viennese Waltz, Samba and Jive which to me was rather jarring.
In any case, the stars seemed to enjoy themselves, which makes it all ok in the end. Mya came in first, Donny second and Kelly third for 30, 28 and 26 points respectively.
Lastly was the most anticipated dance: the Freestyle. They kept on saying that the Freestyle can make or break a dancer and they could win or lose the trophy with it. I have to say, I completely disagree, and the Freestyle is always interesting to me, but NOT my favorite. I feel that the Freestyle is some odd excuse to trot out every single trick, lift and leap you’ve ever wanted to do. It’s never simply been about dancing. Freestyles usually do not live up to expectations and don’t always get the best scores.
Kelly and Louis were up first with a disco Freestyle to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”,which she had adopted as her theme song, just because her DWTS trip has definitely been an up and down one for her. Yet she still came out shining. Her dance was fun and free, with lots of smiling and singing along from her (which I love). Also thrown in were lots of tricks, not all of which were completely pulled off. But she smiled and laughed the whole way along and never gave up. This got her kudos from the judges if not high paddles. Judges scores: 8-8-8.
Mya and Dmitry did a puzzling Freestyle to “Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray. I liked it a lot, mostly for the reason that they didn’t pull out every trick in the book. It was good dancing, but not show-stopping. And her outfit was super cute. I think they should have gone with Mya’s out-of-the-box idea. Judges scores: 9-9-9.
Donny and Kym were last with what was the most entertaining Freestyle of the evening. Donny did what Donny does the best: entertain us with energy, enthusiasm and style (why didn’t everyone do that?). “Hollywood at it’s best, ” yelled Bruno. Agreed. Carrie said his Broadway number went down into history with the best, including Drew Lachey’s “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” and Shawn Johnson’s Jabbawokeez-inspired Freestyle. Two really great ones in a sea of not really memorable Freestyles. Judges scores: 10-10-10. Well deserved.
The voting has been unpredictable this season. Almost as unpredictable as this season’s predictable winner. But the probability of Mya winning the mirror-ball trophy does not take away from the suspense. Will the obviously enormous fan bases of Kelly’s and Donny’s come out screaming overnight to deliver an upset? Even though all three stars have delivered a fantastic season (Mya included), I am keeping my fingers crossed for Miss Osbourne. Nobody deserves the win more.
The thing that I really, really love about dancing with the stars is that these people are NOT professional dancers. Yeah, some don’t have it and they fizzle. But some really DO have it. Apolo Ono Anton, Helio Castroneves, Mel B., Marie Osmond, Lil Kim, all sparked my interest because of their pure spirit of play as they trudged their tough road to performing on, ugh, LIVE TV (give ‘em props, people). That’s really what dance is about–getting it, loving it and showing that. And because of that, they’re good (and a pleasure to watch to boot).
And those aren’t the only ones. Last night, Melissa Joan Heart (who hasn’t aged one bit since her Sabrina days) did a Charleston that blew the roof off the place. She had been lagging in the scores and just not fulfilling the dances. The judges thought she was scared, and didn’t “believe it” from her. But she came roaring out of the gate with a fantastically cute flapper number that had energy, spirit, playfulness, and hard moves. This dance earned her a 9-9-10, her highest scores yet and a much sought-after 10 paddle. So now there’s no looking back for Melissa. She’s brought it and she needs to continue. But with enjoyment like that, things will most likely be much smoother for her now.
Interestingly enough, the other two couples who got the Charleston also took the bull by the horns and were really inspired to do sensational dances. Kelly Osborne and Donny Osmond did very themed dances that really got the crowd going.
I’m going to take a moment and speak about Kelly. It seems that all of America is witnessing this girl’s revelation through dance. I always believed her to be (sad to say) a nasty little spoiled brat. Of course this was through the eyes of reality TV. But this girl has talent and a really pretty spirit (not to mention gorgeous doe eyes). She found out that she LOVES to dance. And it’s changing her as a person. And she’s damn good. She was thrilled to get to do her Cabaret-themed Charleston and confessed that she was offered the role of Roxy from Chicago on Broadway–only to lose the role because she couldn’t dance. No longer.
Have I mentioned how much I love dance? It’s a wonderful thing.
