DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 9 PREMIERE: THE WOMEN

Very excited to see Baz Luhrmann guest judge next week!

 

My favorites last night were Kelly Osbourne (and loved that her dad was on and that he became genuinely emotional over her splendid Viennese waltz! — as did her mum), Mya, and Macy Gray. What I really found endearing about Kelly was how blasted hard she obviously worked. She did not look so hot in practice sessions. And she was pretty down on herself. And then she came out there and did that gorgeous waltz with all that poise and polish and grace and watery fluidity. I almost cried for her — and I never watched her show!

I know, I know — overall, young swimsuit model Joanna Krupa was the best — her salsa alone showed that she’s rhythmic and used to moving her hips and, surprisingly her foxtrot showed she could be graceful and even delicate as well — but, I don’t know, I personally don’t find her as endearing as, say Macy. And Joanna’s full of confidence, which may not go down that well with the largely female voting public. I think she’ll be on for a while, but she may be the Sabrina Bryan of this season rather than the Brooke Burke.

I can’t help but love Macy’s ‘this is gonna be fun and I’m gonna work hard but I’m not getting caught up in all the competitive bullshit’ attitude. Love those facial expressions too! The judges were right on when they said she won the audience over with her magnetism. Not so good (I can’t bring myself to say ‘bad’!) as she was, I couldn’t take my eyes off her during that Viennese waltz. And I didn’t realize she was so tall — she’s got several inches on Jonathan Roberts!

I thought Mya was just so fluid in the Viennese waltz, and so killer in the cha cha. I disagree with whatever judge criticized the kick — I thought that kick was mad!

I like Debi Mazur a lot and she obviously isn’t a natural and doesn’t have training, but I want to see her improve. That’s what the show is about — working hard toward a goal and being able to do something you couldn’t before. I think she has the ability to improve. And she’s someone I can relate to and think others probably can too. So I really really hope she’s not the woman to go tonight. Bruno tells her she can’t dance but it doesn’t matter because she has great boobs. These kinds of comments are really not funny but clearly he’s not keen enough to realize that. Interesting how Maks covered Debi’s ears when he said that — I thought he was doing that to be funny but judging by the look on her face, it looked more that she was truly annoyed at Bruno and may haul off and sock him one.

I have to say Melissa Joan Hart didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I can’t really even remember her Viennese waltz to be honest. And I didn’t see her cha cha. Mark was kind of the star of that little routine 🙂 Oh Mark — you’re a hopeless show-off and we will always love you for it…

Kathy Ireland (whom I would never have recognized!) was like Paulina Porizkova all over again. Same problem with the lack of groundedness in the salsa, the bouncing around. Bruno told her there was no “sex,” and without sex there is no salsa. So, according to him, since she didn’t get down on the ground and practically perform a sex act with Tony Dovolani, she didn’t actually salsa. She did much better with the foxtrot I thought, though the judges thought she did only marginally better.

I feel like I shouldn’t be too angry at Bruno or Len for their comments though. It seems the producers have told one to lust all over the women and make as many sex-laced comments as possible and the other to spend the season doing his best impersonation of Dana Carvey’s old SNL character, Grumpy Old Man (or whatever that character was called) and piss on and on about the way no one is adhering to basic ballroom.

I personally thought Dmitry’s Viennese waltz for Mya was choreographically the most engaging routine of the night. Louis van Amstel is a master choreographer too and he’s largely the reason Kelly shined as she did.

Who did I leave out?… Oh, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin. Wow, beautiful arms — particularly in practice. The judges seemed to like her salsa, but I thought it had the same problem as most of the others — not grounded enough and too hop-py. I knew she was going to nail the Standard though — with those feathery arms! — and she did with the foxtrot.

I’m looking forward to tonight — particularly the Patrick Swayze tribute.

Photo of Louis van Amstel and Kelly Osbourne taken from Louis’s DWTS thread.

5 Comments

  1. I kind of think it's unfair for Mya to be a competitor. She has, if I remember correctly, a really strong dance background. She has a great advantage over all the other competitors in that sense.

  2. I loved Kelly/Louis together. They have great chemistry. The sheer joy on her face while she's dancing would have been enough to win me over but she can actually dance! And yes, I got a little teary eyed watching Mum and Dad Osbourne get so emotional. The Osbourne's may not be a typical family but they are very close.
    I was disappointed in Debbi/Maks. She needs to loosen up and feel that joy on the floor that Kelly has. I do think she can improve.
    Mya was beautiful but didn't engage my emotions at all.
    Really hope Natalie sticks around awhile. She's got great potential.
    Do you think Macy maybe smoked a Doobie before coming out on the dance floor? She seems so spacey. She was however very entertaining.

  3. So did Melissa. But so have a lot of people. But just because she has a dance background doesn't mean she can do Ballroom. Tap is a whole lot different than ballroom. I had Jazz and Modern training before I started ballroom and honestly? I didn't help me one bit. The thing that helped me the most was the fact that I have musical training.

  4. I'm still boycotting the show until they vote off Tom DeLay, but I did read a ton of “Oh, Kelly was so much better than I expected” on Twitter, so I watched a video. People love the “ugly duckling–swan” narrative, and Louis Van Amstel choreographed a lovely, simple but endearing routine that showed her off as a young woman who was radiant with her new-found grace and confidence. Very classy and I loved it! Her dress and hair were gorgeous–I loved that navy/fuschia combination andher blonde hair was soft and called attention to her radiant trust in her partner. For the Viennese Waltz, that is a sweet narrative, but most of all she rose to the occasion and put her heart on the stage. I didn't watch any of the other women's routines, but I'm glad I saw this one.

  5. I'm still boycotting the show until they vote off Tom DeLay, but I did read a ton of “Oh, Kelly was so much better than I expected” on Twitter, so I watched a video. People love the “ugly duckling–swan” narrative, and Louis Van Amstel choreographed a lovely, simple but endearing routine that showed her off as a young woman who was radiant with her new-found grace and confidence. Very classy and I loved it! Her dress and hair were gorgeous–I loved that navy/fuschia combination andher blonde hair was soft and called attention to her radiant trust in her partner. For the Viennese Waltz, that is a sweet narrative, but most of all she rose to the occasion and put her heart on the stage. I didn't watch any of the other women's routines, but I'm glad I saw this one.

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