Tag: Dancing With the Stars

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Specialized Social Networking Sites Are Becoming All The Rage…

Thanks to reader Sharon for alerting me to this new social networking site, Ballroom Dance Channel. Founded by Dancing With the Stars pro dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, and Elena Grinenko, it is geared toward, as the name implies, fans of ballroom dance, and of the show. It’s similar to Kristin Sloan’s The Intermission (for all dance aficionados but mainly ballet), and Ken Davenport’s BroadwaySpace.com (for those involved in theater). Perhaps these more specialized social networking sites can avoid some of the pitfalls of their mammoth brethren.

Ironically, as internet technology allows people better ways to connect with each other in virtual time, it works to hamper that connection in real time. Of all the talk about Amazon’s new Kindle (basically an ipod for books, blogs and online mags), Meghan Daum’s critique is my favorite. She basically says that glancing at the cover of a fellow airplane traveler’s book was a perfect conversation starter. A fellow book lover, I agree with her — not just on planes, but in cafes, the park, the subway — recognizing a favorite book in the hands of another is a sure point of connection. I guess there’s always Shelfari though, which likely can be accessed from one’s Kindle…

In other news, it appears that Elizabeth Berkeley is to host Bravo’s new reality dance show, “Step It Up And Dance.” I knew she had some connection to dance, since I saw her on the red carpet. Also, Pasha & Anya are scheduled to perform in Stamford, Connecticut later in December (thanks to Laurel for that info!), in a ballroom dancing extravaganza called “Rhythm of Love,” which also stars some of my other favorites, new national American Smooth and Rhythm champs respectively, J.T. Thomas & Tomasz Mielnicki, and Jose DeCamps & Joanna Zacharewics. If you love ballroom and you’re not too far from southern CT, this should be a fabulous night. Book-wise, if you’re in NY, this weekend is the (free) Small and Independent Press Book Fair in midtown. Go here for a schedule of events.

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Phew!

Marie just placed third. I can’t believe how intensely I am getting into these things; my heart was honestly pounding through my chest when they announced the first elimination. I was so nervous for Helio! Okay, onto the showdown between him and Mel!

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Lifts Are So Fun!

I always love the last, “free form,” dance on DWTS because everyone gets so into the lifts. They’re so much fun to learn as an adult; you feel like you’re a ‘real dancer,’ a ‘big person’ once you master a few (of the easier ones for me). Or at least I do because they’re so balletic, my ultimate dance passion. It’s so fun to watch all these giggly adults on the show, and in the studio. I think that’s why Dance Times Square’s student showcases became so popular; concentrating so hard on ballroom technique, as is required for the competitions, can get really monotonous; lifts are exciting, new and performancy.

I was really amazed by the level of difficulty of all the free form routines tonight. Those continuous assisted cartwheels that Helio and Julianne did blew me away — that he did them properly, I mean (I know Pasha and … geez, who did he do that routine with, Lacey??? … well I know Pasha and someone did them on SYTYCD, as did Benji and Heidi the season before, but it doesn’t surprise me that they were all splendid perfection!) I tried it with my old teacher, Luis, he wanting to put them into my Latin combo showcase. No way I said; not a sight anyone should see, believe me!

I really really really wish, though, that DWTS would have had ballet dancers appear on the show to teach the lifts. I had to go outside of my regular ballroom studio and learn from someone with a substantial ballet background; ballroom dancers aren’t used to lifts and, though they can do them, they’re difficult for them to teach. When Helio did that turn with Julianne laid out over his shoulders, he didn’t spot at all and I was afraid he was going to get dizzy because he turned several times. Plus, spotting just makes it look more polished. Ugh, another missed opportunity to have the greatest dancers in the world on the show 🙂 …

I was disappointed, though, with practically all of the ballroom routines tonight. I thought Mel and Maks’s was boring choreographic-wise, although Mel did well with the dancing … actually maybe that was a conscious decision on Maks’s part — to fill the choreography with basic after basic after basic (really, there was a lot of bronze-level stuff in that routine), and no tricks, so that she could just excel with the actual dancing. Still, I think for TV performance-quality, the pro needs to come up with something better than that. Marie and Helio’s routines I felt were choreographically more interesting, but Samba and Jive are their two hardest dances respectively. Marie did particularly unwell with Samba, and Helio’s Jive was fun because he put so much attitude into it, but, as Len said, he messed up the toe heel swivels and footwork in some places. I thought his Jive kicks were good though — those are hard. Well, Samba and Jive are my two hardest too so I sympathize…

Ugh, I dunno, I guess it’s anyone’s trophy really. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Lincoln Center Christmas tree lighting tonight:

New York City Ballet performing teensy excerpts from Balanchine’s The Nutcracker on the balcony of the New York State Theater. Above is Megan Fairchild doing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation.


The tree is lit! There were SO many people there; I couldn’t believe it, especially since it was raining off and on, at times pouring even. There was a sea of umbrellas out on the plaza at one point. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ever find Kyle Froman since it was so packed out there. I’ll have to go to Barnes & Noble and check out his book this weekend. I looked for it at Books A Million in North Carolina, but they didn’t have it; had hardly any dance actually 🙁

Katy, from Burlington, says hello.

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Go Helio & Julianne!!!

So tomorrow night is the grand finale. My mom and I have been fighting about this all weekend. No, not really. But she wants Marie to win, or maybe possibly Helio, and I want Helio, Helio and Helio. In that order. No, not really; I’m just happy he’s made it to the finals. Okay, I say that now but on Tuesday night if he doesn’t get the championship I am going to be cursing all of America 🙂 Look at this website, by the way! He’s not the greatest speller, but it has a cool design and there’s tons of stuff to get into, including some funny video footage of him being interviewed for Brazilian TV, and some Carnival dancers teaching Julianne Hough solo samba. Of course she picks it up in all of two seconds.

Anyway, it still blows my mind how popular this show is. My mom and I went out to dinner tonight (my last night in North Carolina; I fly back ludicrously early tomorrow morning) and the family next to us was talking on and on about it. They were Marie fans. There are a lot of them I’m realizing. An interesting thing about this show is the variety of age groups it appeals to — far wider, I think, than SYTYCD‘s demographic.

Anyway, I want Helio to win not just because he’s a little cute who melts me with that laugh, but because, of the three left, I think he’s struggled and improved the most throughout the show. The other two remaining contenders — Marie and Mel (of course I wanted Jennie to be in the finals, underdog champ-rooter am I!, but oh well) are professional performers — maybe not pro dancers of a sort, like Sabrina, but they’re singers. So, they already had a sense of rhythm, and knew how to dance at least enough to give their singing some spice. Helio’s a race-car driver, not even an athlete who uses his body so much, so this is so foreign to him. He’s come the farthest and he should win!

Okay, truth be told, I also like him because he reminds me of the favorite. He’s very favorite-esque, albeit half the favorite’s size. And he’s from Samba country! And he’s cute! And he melts me with his smile! So go Helio, go Julianne! Merde!

Also on tomorrow night, if you’re in the New York area, is the lighting of the Lincoln Center Christmas tree. The ceremonies, scheduled to begin at 5:00, include a book signing by New York City Ballet dancer Kyle Froman of his new, diary-like photo book, “In The Wings,” excerpts of NYCB’s Nutcracker, to be performed, according to Philip, by Megan Fairchild and Tom Gold, and some opera excerpts by the Met Opera. Should be a lot of fun. I was hoping to be there, though I also supposedly have a Samba class, and I’m getting up at 4 a.m. and am working all day, and I can’t miss the aforementioned finale; I have no idea how I’m going to do it all… Happy end of the holiday weekend!

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Oh Roberto!

Hehehe, thanks to Jen & Jolene, I noticed this Gap ad right off when I opened my New York magazine tonight. The man is Italian ballet star Roberto Bolle, whom I saw dance with Alessandra Ferri in her farewell performance with ABT and couldn’t stop going on about. The ballerina is Greta Hodgkinson, whom I don’t know, but is, according to the J girls, with the National Ballet of Canada.

Great “Dancing With the Stars” tonight! I honestly liked all of them. I think the routines are so creative, ironically so much more so than those on “So You Think You Can Dance” (the Latin / ballroom routines I mean). So big huge kudos to those pro DWTS dancers. Helio can do no wrong in my world 🙂 And Jenny has improved so much; that alone makes me want to root for her. And I thought the band was fantastic — that rendition of “Satisfaction” was really surprisingly good. You don’t think about the band since they’re in the background, but songs like that are so very easy to screw up, and they didn’t.

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Is the FAA Allowing Airlines to Jeopardize Our Lives?

Am I the only one who’s upset about this? I saw it on 7 News (NY’s ABC station) after Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night, and I’m still all worked up over it. I still have post 9/11 stress and have only recently begun flying again, and just made a plane reservation to visit my mom in North Carolina over the holidays. And now this report about how in the past six months there’s been an insane number of emergency landings at Newark airport alone (guess which airport I’m flying into coming home…) because some airlines are cutting back on fuel, allowing each jet only the minimum amount necessary to get to its destination. Hence, any delay (because we all know those never happen) necessitating a detour, or circling around in the sky or sitting on a runway for any amount of time, equals very possible tragedy. The FAA seems not to even care. If costs of fuel are going up, increase the damn airplane prices???

And what’s up with 7 News not giving the names of the offending airlines? I would like to know if the airline I just bought my ticket for is one of those who has no value for human life so that I can demand a refund and take another. Which airline did the pilot who had to lie in order to protect his and his passengers’ lives work for? How can we protect ourselves?

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Sports Injuries

According to Ballet Talk (a reliable source), my other favorite Brazilian dancer (the professional one, not the amateur 🙂 ) is unfortunately injured and will be unable to keep his upcoming guest appearances with the Los Angeles Ballet. Thanks to Delirium and Barbara for pointing me to this. Poor Los Angeleans! And poor Marcelo — this is not his first injury.

Many people don’t realize how hard ballet is on the body; they think it’s just a beautiful art, which of course it is, but it is also one of the most physically demanding and difficult of all sports. I think it was Einstein who called ballet dancers God’s athletes. While it should come as no surprise that dancer injuries are not uncommon, it’s disappointing to me that they’re not treated the same in popular culture as sports injuries. Anyway, speedy recovery, Marcelo!!!

Also, for New York City Ballet fans: Ashlee Knapp recently left a comment on my former post, where there was discussion about her whereabouts. Poor thing; she has a really horrible-sounding injury. Go here and scroll down to the comments section to see what she wrote.

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Could They Please Stop Scaring Me

by waiting so late into the show to announce that Helio is safe?!

So Jane Seymour left tonight, which I don’t think was much of a surprise to anyone, though I did think she was a lovely Standard dancer. What was a surprise to me was that Kenny Mayne actually has quite a sense of humor, as exhibited in that little faux sports broadcast he did with Judge Len and Jerry Rice. I haven’t seen that skit before, if it’s been on. Did Mayne mean to wear all of that makeup?

I saw the Apple iphone commercial after the show was over and with My First Time guy doing the advert. Doesn’t it make more sense to show Kristin demonstrating her use of the phone and during the show?

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I Big Huge Heart Louis Van Amstel!

Ah, wasn’t he brilliant tonight on Dancing With the Stars! That, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest Latin ballroom dancer in the world! Excepting Slavik 🙂 Actually, not though – Louis is the best; really years after his retirement from competitive ballroom dancing he is still the world’s greatest I strongly declare. And damn was that a fast cha cha he and Cheryl Burke did to that Barry Manilow song! Kind of a funny thing with this show: they hire a certain singer to perform, the song their choice, and then tell the dancers to dance something to it. Sometimes there really isn’t a ballroom dance that perfectly fits the beat of that particular song, so the dancers really have to be creative. I think Louis and Cheryl could have gone with a Hustle, but they chose to do a crazy fast Cha Cha instead, and wow! That standing ovation was so deserved. Oh, I love him so!

And I thought Jonathan Roberts and his wife Anna Trebunskaya did a beautiful waltz to “Oh Mandy!” What an adorably sweet couple! And, am I a dork for loving that song?

I loved the group Swing number and am glad they showed it again tonight. Christian Perry, the choreographer, actually used to teach at my old studio, Paul Pellicoro’s DanceSport. Every Friday night they’d have a social dance party, and beforehand they’d have an all-levels group class. All levels can mean either hideously over your head or ridiculously easy. In his case, it was always the latter, which I appreciated because it became more of an occasion for fun, or to work on improving technique since you weren’t worried about getting the simple steps down. This group number was really sophisticated though, for a bunch of amateurs. I would think that would be so hard, to choreograph a routine that had sufficient amounts of fun, performance-worthy showiness with some good lifts and fast dancing for a group of amateurs of varying abilities. Of course these are all extremely hard-working amateurs. He pulled it off well. Good for Christian!

I also enjoyed their little footage of the amateurs talking about how great it was to connect with each other over ballroom and yet how competitive they were as well. I feel what they all said is so true: you do really bond with each other, especially when you do a performance showcase, and you do really compete with each other when doing a competition. I think that’s why I grew to prefer the former so much more over the latter. Competition makes me so uneasy.

But what a shocker are the results?! Hip hop Cheeta Girl dancer extraordinaire Sabrina Bryan, whom I think everyone fully expected to make it to the finals, was axed tonight unexpectedly, to make a ginormous understatement.

Now I feel badly for criticizing her pro partner, Mark Ballas, earlier… it could have been that people were displeased with him either for the reasons I stated — that he was spending too much time showing off and not properly framing Sabrina (although I thought he did much better on that front with their foxtrot last night — hard to show off in standard ballroom though), or perhaps because people might have felt Sabrina had an unfair advantage getting to work with Mark’s mother, ballroom dame Shirley Ballas. Or, perhaps they thought it was unfair that she already had a good deal of dance experience and the scales were unfairly tipped to begin with? I think the show’s producers do that on purpose though — try to get people of varying levels of ability. I think they want to make sure the audience doesn’t get too bored with too many “bad” people. But they also want to have enough low-level beginners who can grow and improve during the show so the audience can have an underdog to root for. I think here their thinking might have backfired a bit, unfortunately for Sabrina.

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Lit ‘N Latin Lunch

Help. I’ll usually find an intriguing-looking book on a blog or at a bookstore, then order it online at NYPL and have it delivered to my local branch. It often takes a matter of weeks, sometimes even months, to arrive, but somehow this time they all came in at once. I now have two weeks to read all these books, and I’m still only about half-way through the Kavanagh.

Anyway, the book on the bottom left, The Epicure’s Lament, is not an NYPL order, it was actually just given to me by my friend, Dee, when I met her for drinks Saturday night. She was raving on and on about the author, Kate Christensen, whom I hadn’t read. Now, I see that today, one of my new favorite lit bloggers, Maud Newton (whom Terry Teachout led me to) has posted a short interview with the author. Funny, Dee actually told me she likes Maud too (though my friend never reads my blog! It’s okay, she’s not a dancie… 🙂 )

The book in the top middle is a collection of Laura Jacobs’s dance writings from The New Criterion. I think it’s such a lovely title, “Landscape With Moving Figures,” because that’s one really nice way of looking at dance: a painting, but one with moving instead of still figures. I was led to the book after a dance writer friend pointed out to me, regarding a recent ranting post of mine, that a NYTimes review just can’t be compared to the longer, in-depth articles the New Criterion allows. So, I decided to check out those articles. Will post more as I read along, but so far am really enjoying it. Her prose is very poetic and it really immerses you in the world of dance; she calls the arabesques of the great dancers “more than a pose … a phenomenon…”

Last night I went to Dance Times Square‘s biannual pro / am showcase, at the Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. It was sadly Pasha and Anya-less, although maybe I shouldn’t be too sad: if Pasha was still there, I’d be spending loads more money that I don’t have on exorbitant privates. Happily, though, there were some new teachers, lots of new students (and a lot more men, which is great to see since ballroom classes are usually quite women-heavy), and some really cute routines Tony and Melanie designed that perfectly showcased the students’ varying levels of ability. In the pro section, Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz, the new national Rhythm champs, performed a couple of fast fun Latin routines, likely in Pasha & Anya’s stead. I’m sad that Andrei Gavriline, former U.S. Latin champ, is no longer teaching at the studio, because it was always hugely exciting to see him and his partner, Elena Kruychkova, perform. There were a lot more people in the audience than before, likely because of Tony and Melanie’s now regular stints on So You Think You Can Dance (people behind us were definitely new to the showcase as they kept saying things like, “yep, yep, that’s her, that’s the one that danced with Pasha on the show!”), so it seems to me this is a great opportunity for all the ballroom pros to be seen by a larger audience than just the regular dancesport fanatics (like me). I know they’ve been on Dancing With the Stars before, but that show just doesn’t highlight the professional dancers so much. Now they’re having Jennifer Lopez on tomorrow night. She’s not a dancer. I knew continuing the streak of Savion Glover-caliber results-show performers throughout the season was too much to expect.

Speaking of that show: I found it very frightening when Marie Osmond fainted. Ridiculously, I was sitting there on the edge of my couch all throughout the commercials waiting and waiting to see what happened. Right before the show returned, I realized I was watching a tape and could have hit fast-forward. I’m glad it was nothing. I was very annoyed how the judges were harping so on Helio. I thought his rhumba was so cute, so sexy in its own charming way. Why can’t a smile be sexy? And why can’t rhumba be romantic or beautiful or soft and sweetly lyrical instead of some kind of lust-filled mating dance where everyone has to make goofy sex faces at each other? It’s just not natural for some people; let them be themselves. And that car, that car, THAT CAR 😀 I still worry about him getting hurt, but when he pulled up in that thing to scoop Juliana Hough off to the beach…ooh la la! Also, Mark Ballas is starting to annoy me. He’s such a show-off, doing all those cork-screw jumps and high kicks and snake dive things all over the floor while his partner dances by herself. A ballroom man is supposed to be the frame, not the picture, or the picture and the frame. And it’s just my pet peeve when pro men out-dance their female students like that. I was so glad when he went to do some crazy trick and the camera homed in on Sabrina. Thank you, camera man.

Okay, that’s all for now. Sorry this post is so all over the place.