“Dancing with the Stars” was particularly enjoyable for me last night. (And I swear that’s not a veiled Kate Gosselin slam. Well, not completely.)The two main dances Monday night — the samba and the Argentine tango — are among the sexiest, most dynamic and (in the case of the tango) liftiest featured on this show. (Although I didn’t get to yell out “samba roll!” as often as I like to.)
On top of that, the evening was capped off by a Swing Dance Marathon competition. I’ve actually competed in a few of those things in my life, and I’ve even managed to come in second place a few times. (I should’ve won…it was political…I was robbed, I tell ya!)
Enough about me (ha! There can NEVER be enough me), let’s break down the couples, in order of appearance.
Jake Pavelka and Chelsie: I’m a fan of Jake’s enthusiasm — even if it continues to get the best of him and causes him to trip at least once in all his performances, as he did near the judges’ stoop last night — but I’m just not buying him as any sort of serious threat to the top 2 (Nicole and Evan). I don’t care what the judges’ leader board says or how hard the judges try to sell us on the idea that Jake is on their level. Still, the guy IS fun to watch, even if you’re only watching to see when he will make his inevitable stumble.
Evan Lysacek and Anna: I was pretty cold to Evan’s dancing early on, but now I’m enjoying him more every single week. Sure, the judges were absolutely right to point out that his balletic samba was completely wrong for that style of dance, but I definitely enjoyed it while it was happening. The judges made a good point, but they were WAY too harsh during their critiques and saddling him with straight 7s (the same score as Jake) was ridonkulous. You’d think THEY were the ones who’d been dropped on their head during rehearsal. (That fall looked nasty — Evan’s lucky he didn’t hurt his neck too.) The silver lining is that Evan was treated by Dr. Axel (I assume Dr. Lutz was out of the office) who informed him he had a mild concussion.
Niecy Nash and Louis (pictured, right): No, Niecy — no one had ever done a funny Argentine tango. And while the judges may have been mixed on the comedic aspect of their performance, I actually welcomed the reprieve from the standard, sexy tango we always get. It WAS unnecessary, but it was also pretty funny. Niecy’s footwork was improved from last week, but still a wee bit lethargic and lacking bite. In a related story, did you know that Niecy likes to eat?
Erin Andrews and Maks: Somehow, Erin is able to leave her over-analytic ways in the rehearsal room and deliver strong performances on the dance floor. (Although when Maks doesn’t show up to a live show soon, we’ll now know he checked himself into a mental institution.) I thought Erin’s samba was light years ahead of her week 1 Cha cha cha, in terms of fluidity and strength during a Latin number. I also think Maks ripping off his shirt (after Erin ripped off his sleeves) probably scored them a few thousand votes.
Nicole Scherzinger and Derek: The show really needs to stop trying to convince us that Nicole seriously struggles during rehearsal. As she prepared for her salsa, I mean samba this week, she whined about camera angles. I can appreciate that the producers have to show SOMETHING for their rehearsal packages, but pretending like Nicole is struggling in any way is more annoying than how freakin’ good she is. Her vigorous samba had a LOT of shakin’ and bakin’ in it, so I can understand why Len downgraded them the way he did. Carrie Ann also offered helpful advice about Nicole watching her facial expressions. (WTF, Nicole!)
Chad Ochocinco and Cheryl: This was CLEARLY Chad’s best performance to date. (Maybe that Bengals fan in Cincinnati was onto something when he said the judges had been overlooking his boy). I felt that, though their Argentine tango DEFINITELY highlighted Cheryl, it gave Chad just the right amount of dancing to do (and he did it well). Hopefully, this will serve as a bridge to an even better performance next week in which he actually dances more. (In the past, he’s severely regressed after a breakthrough.) I also agree that Chad definitely “grew” last night during his Argentine tango. (Ick.)
Pamela Anderson and Damian: I don’t know if it’s because she was (unjustly) in the bottom 2 last week (and the lady loves to be on top!), but she’s coming off as someone who’s stuck in a rut. Once again (as Bruno pointed out), she nailed her character and had several very strong individual moments. Unfortunately, she also had just enough missteps and messy bits to keep her from seriously challenging for the Mirrorball Trophy. She’s basically a more polished Jake Pavelka.
Swing marathon: Did Chad go overboard by making that food joke about Niecy during his strategy session? Personally, I think Niecy has opened that door herself – I actually think the Erin/tree comment was harsher, only because Erin will undoubtedly now obsess about her branch-like appendages from here on out.
As for the competition itself — it was obviously hard to keep track of everything, but here’s what I saw and enjoyed. I like Tom’s golf-announcer voice during these things (“Erin is upside down now.”) I saw Chad doing 92% (messy) aerials and 7% dancing (and 1% unnecessarily ripping off his shirt to spite Maks.) Chad lasted WAY longer than he should have. I didn’t see Jake and Chelsie at all (they were the first ones out). I also saw Pamela last WAY longer than she should have because her aerials were messy and she was clearly out of gas (she’d just danced minutes earlier.) Finally, I saw Derek and Nicole take the competition by doing the spread eagle 69, marking the second consecutive year that Derek has put his partner’s head in the vicinity of his crotch during a group dance competition. Congratulations, Derek!
So what’d you think of this episode? What are voltas and bota fogas? (I know a bit about dance, but I have no idea — Len realizes that it’s not exactly 22 million dance instructors who are watching this show, right? Finally, who do you think will go home tonight? (I think it’ll be between Niecy and Pamela, with Niecy going home.)
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