Tag: Latin / Ballroom

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Hustling With the Stars (Updated)

Can you guys believe I just now watched last week’s Monday night episode? Too busy… I’m now four posts behind (have play, opera, San Fran Ballet, and reading to blog about, and after tonight, DWTS, and Broadway thingy); I have no life outside of dance… I had to watch the tape so that I could re-tape tonight’s show, since I’ll be at this Broadway thingy majigger that Danny Tidwell is not dancing at. I’m glad I watched though: Samba’s my favorite. Just quickly want to say that I was completely blown away by Brooke — she looked like a natural Sambista in that club. What the h–? And then during her routine, she did a perfect ballet ronde, with outturned leg, beautiful kick, in addition to near-perfect ballroom Samba technique. Not in love with the fact that Derreck used Max & Yulia’s song, though — ‘cuz couldn’t get Max & Yulia out of my mind then. Also liked Lance’s tango — he’s really improving. And Warren, though I didn’t like what he did on the ballroom floor, was blown away by that capoeira. Those handstand walks — what the h–? Who knew that big guy could do that??

Anyway, I’m taping tonight’s show, but will blog when I get back from said Broadway thingy majigger. Also, I just got an email from my old studio — my first studio — Paul Pellicoro’s Dancesport — that their weekly Hustle party is going to be featured on tonight’s show. So, watch for that!

Update: So, I guess I am full of lies this week 😉 The email said the studio was supposed to be on, and there was a picture of Tony and Susan in its body… I think Susan and Tony were probably in NY for her One Life rehearsals and he decided to take her to the studio’s Hustle party to practice, and then she got injured and they showed the scenes of her getting the MRI instead… Oh well.

So, I think Julianne Hough should win an award for her choreography. She simply rocks. That jitterbug for Cody made me want to take Lindy all over again, and I haven’t felt that way in a long time. Her I Love Lucy routine with him as the upright / uptight businessman who can’t dance his way out of a paper bag and her the sweetly nutty wife who’s a lot more talented than she (or anyone else) thinks, so perfectly suited his lanky teenage body, his goofy boyish charm, his awkward broken lines (Lindy is all about bent legs, bent arms, oddly flexed feet kicking at the air), and his silly sense of humor. Bruno was right when he said it was perfectly acted, and perfectly danced — that the hilarious slapstick was only an act; a great act, but only an act. It was really so well controlled, all of his movements were — those Charleston kicks toward each other; if you don’t exert serious control over your leg and foot, your partner can easily end up looking like they got into a fight with a razor blade. And some of those tricks were insanely hard — how she jumped into his arms and they went right into a rag doll lift, and then he ran off around the stage with her in that position, legs wrapped around his waist play beating him about the head. He gets major kudos this week. They deserved three 10s I think.

My other favorites were Maurice and Cheryl — more excellent choreography, and he really nailed that Salsa both rhythmically and stylistically; Warren — what a super fun laugh-out-loud Hustle; Brooke, as always; and Toni too — judges were way too harsh on her. The moonwalks were perfect for Michael Jackson, and she nailed them. And she had that sexy, laid-back rhythm down pat. I didn’t see anything wrong at all with her routine this week; I thought she glowed.

My prediction is either Cloris or Susan is going this week, followed by the other next week, then probably Lance the week after. And then I don’t know what’s going to happen.

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Val & Val Split, US 2nd in Internationals

In the ballroom world, DanceBeat reports that Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Valeryia Kozharinova, current reigning US Latin amateur champs, have split. They just competed at Internationals, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London last Thursday, placing in the semifinals in Amateur. The U.S., predictably, took home two second-place trophies in Pro: Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko in Latin, and Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova in Standard.

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DWTS: Brooke, Toni, Warren & Cody R My Faves This Wk

Okay, I almost just spit out my wine when Cody looked all innocently at the camera and said of the Rhumba, “This dance is about sensuality, sex, passion, and to be honest,” cute shrug and conscious laugh here, “I don’t have all that much life experience.” He’s too funny! He did really well — the attitude was there, he supported her very well in all of those rather complicated (for a beginner) tricks, and his hips while not completely correct were a good try. Cute cucharachas 😀

Haha –Maks did not look so happy about being in the middle… That was actually rather funny; wonder if he knew the camera was on him…

Other favorites this week: Warren. I’d like to see someone other than a footballer win it again, but I have to say, big guy though he is, he is really good. That Paso was right on. And Toni and Brooke are damn good. Brooke: whoa! Perfect lines, perfect shaping, gorgeous ronde, great arms, steps completely polished. Holy crap! At this point I’m rooting for Brooke because she’s kind of the underdog, is probably the least well known, yet she’s very, very, surprisingly good. I’d like to see the person who no one knows take the trophy, if she continues to deserve it that is…

My little foodie man didn’t do so hot this week 🙁 I did love his comparison of risotto with rhumba (both the basics of their respective disciplines, romantic and seductive, like “cashmere on the lips” — mmmm) and his whipping up that dish for Karina, who finally seemed to appreciate it. I do hope he’s given another chance to improve next week.

Poor Cloris. She behaves this week and the judges are all confused, tell her they miss the wackiness. What’s a girl to do?

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DWTS HuffPo Piece Up

Here.

Hehehe, I already “tweeted” Sharon, who runs the BDC discussion of the show that I was kidding about the little remark at the beginning of my Cloris Leachman assessment. I’d gone to bed Wednesday night, only to have my cell phone start beeping off the hook with angry tweets from West Coast BDCers annoyed about McGinley getting the boot over Leachman. Very 21st Century 🙂

Anyway, happy Friday everyone!

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DWTS Season Premiere

What did you guys think? I actually haven’t finished watching it yet! I got home from North Carolina late in the afternoon then had to go to a dance /fashion event at the Guggenheim (which I’ll write about later today), and arrived a bit early for the unveiling of the building’s restored facade. When I got home I was too tired to watch all of DWTS and only watched the tail end and about the first quarter of the tape. I loved the last guy on though (Warren Sapp?), and I also liked Maurice Greene, and Toni Braxton, and thought Rocco DiSpirito was a little cutie with an adorable personality. And who doesn’t love a man who can cook 🙂 I love his attempted bribe… I haven’t yet seen Cloris! How did she do??!! Will write more when I’ve seen it all.

Update: Okay, now that I’ve seen the whole thing, I want to add Lance Bass to my list of favorites. I thought Kim did better than expected, judging from the practice clips. Latin will probably be the real test for her though, balance-wise and all. I thought Cloris did well (particularly with the turns and pivots), particularly taking into account her age (which is part of what makes this show so different from SYTYCD, and so much harder to judge). And I agree with you guys (see comments) that she went a bit too far after dancing, though I can’t help but still love her! Len was so good-humored about it though — I sometimes just want to squeeze him he’s so cute 🙂 And so sweet of him to say, “Everyone who comes on this show is a winner,” after the comedian danced. I think he’s going to be the first to go tonight…

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DWTS Fall 2008 Season Contestants

1) Grammy winner Lance Bass;

2) TV Chef Rocco DiSpirito;

3) Olympic Gold Medalist (just crowned) Misty May Treanor;

4) Gold medalist sprinter Maurice Green;

5) Broadway star and singer Toni Braxton;

6) Reality TV star Kim Kardashian (who seems to have just injured her foot);

7) Hannah Montana star (and youngest ever to be on the show; will be paired with Julianne Hough) Cody Linley;

8) * Actress (fabulous, I might add, and excellent comedian, and the oldest star ever on the show) Cloris Leachman;

9) Actor Ted McGinley (to be paired with new dancer Inna Brayer);

10) “Everything woman” (whatever that means) Brooke Burke;

11) Supposedly more raucous than Adam Carolla, Comedian Jeffrey Ross (who will be paired with Edyta Sliwinska);

12) Footballer Warren Sapp (paired with Kym Johnson, whom the annoyingly ingratiating Good Morning America host kept pronouncing “gorgeous, gorgeous”); and

13) (first time contestants number over 12 btw), the most famous actress in all of daytime, Susan Lucci. After making a big deal of her numerous unsuccessful Emmy nominations, said annoying GMA host pronounced being accepted to DWTS “better than any award.” Yeah, okay…

Anyway, it appears DWTS producers have tried to cover every demographic base conceivable: young Hannah Montana guy should appeal to the teenagers, while Leachman and Lucci older women (though Leachman really should appeal to EVERYONE — for people who may not know her, the woman quite simply rocks). And with the football and Olympic stars they’ve got the sports fans covered. Braxton appeals to Broadway lovers, the reality TV stars to the twenty-something crowd. And, in an attempt at creating nostalgic continuity, McGinley should remind viewers of Steve Guttenberg and Ross, the lovely Carolla.

Best thing about the Good Morning America broadcast by far: the mention of Maks Chmerkovskiy’s return. At least the silly TV talking heads haven’t forgotten the pro dancers make this show.

The new season begins September 22nd, the day after the Emmys in which host Tom Bergeron is apparently nominated for an award in the newly-created category of reality TV show host.

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Except for "Trepak" Pretty Blah Finale…

I thought tonight’s finale was rather eh. Nothing blew me away; last week was so much better. Well, that’s not entirely true — I loved Twitch and Joshua’s Hip Hop / Russian thing choreographed by Youri Nelzine. At first I thought the choreographer was calling it a Chekhov dance; I was like, Chekhov choreographed? Then I realized he was saying “Trepak,” as in the Russian Dance from The Nutcracker. I thought it was actually pretty ingenious of him to combine Russian folk and Hip Hop like that, playing on both dancers’ strengths — Twitch’s amazing thigh muscles and all that movement close to the floor, and Joshua’s crazy jumps. Loved the splits jumps, that twisting corkscrew of a jump. I wonder if we’re going to see a Nutcracker this year somewhere with those two performing that dance, like we saw Sabra and Neil do last winter…

Anyway, too much fun, those guys. I really want one of them to win. Twitch grew on me this week, so now I’m divided between him and Josh.

I was also impressed by Courtney, who I think has improved tremendously. She’s standing out so much more now. She really has become so theatrical. She’s become a real actor, and her movements are so much sharper than before. I don’t think she’ll win — I think the others still have more overall clout by this point, but I think she should be very proud of herself.

The two last dances were the worst, unfortunately. The Jive totally lacked energy and bounce and height. The kicks and the sailor shuffles, and just all the fancy footwork — not there at all. That’s what’s so fantastic about jive — the lightening-fast footwork, the crazy fun, the electric charge of the dance, not the aerials — which were excellent by the way, but it’s like they saved their energy for those. And what was that Mia Michaels number in the end? It looked like Shakers who’ve been kept from society for a little too long and have gone a bit haywire. I liked the very beginning though, with the unfolding of the satiny-looking crimson sheets. But that’s the only part I liked…

Anyway, my post on the results should be up on HuffPost on Friday.

Who do you guys think will win??? I predict Josh or Katee.

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NY in the Summer

The other night, despite my headache, I went out to Lincoln Center to see Midsummer Night Swing — not to participate, just to check out its new location at Damrosch Park (it’s usually held on the Lincoln Center Plaza but with all the construction, they relocated it for this summer). I think it’s actually a much better location than the Plaza. There’s much more space to set up food stands, sell drinks, and there’s even a nice little gelato place in the front. And there’s tons of space in the park’s wide walkways — far more than on the crowded Plaza — to dance without having to pay the $15 to go into the bandshell’s dance floor (which is probably why they don’t normally hold it here).

Anyway, Dance Times Square (Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin’s studio) is going to be hosting this Thursday’s lesson and performance. According to the schedule the dance is Swing. Go here for the full schedule.

Also, in preparation for spending the rest of the summer revising my novel yet again (hopefully for the last time) and working on some other smaller things, I’ve been going to readings, many of them outdoors. Here are a few:

A discussion by debut novelists (from left to right) Charles Bock (whose book, Beautiful Children, I’m reading now), Stefan Merrill Block (whose book I want to read next), Sophie Gee, and Ceridwen Dovey moderated by biggie Random House editor (and novelist) David Ebershoff, in the Bryant Park reading room.

Gee had an interesting idea: she’s an English professor at Princeton and teaches 18th Century lit, which most of her students, she said with humorously self-deprecating woe, take only to meet their period requirement. Tired of getting dead stares and snickers when she exclaims how fascinating is some of the literature, like Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock, she decided to rewrite the story, for contemporary audiences. Definitely want to check it out.

Jonathan Miles reading from his debut novel Dear American Airlines at The Half King in Chelsea. He is surprisingly soft-spoken and with the acoustics in the pub it was very difficult to hear him. I used to love going to readings there but they’ve got to either turn down or off the pub music while the reading’s going on or get better padding for the door separating the bar from the restaurant reading area (and then prevent people from constantly leaving and entering). I personally think they should just open everything up, turn off the music and put the reader’s mike on all speakers; let the damn boozers listen to a 30-minute reading for cry-eye!

Junot Diaz (Pulitzer prize winner for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”) and Aleksandar Hemon read together at Central Park’s Summer Stage, and the place was very happily packed. This area’s normally used for bands, so very exciting for a couple of writers to fill it up. That was an excellent reading and discussion (albeit, at a little over two hours in length, a bit short). I think all writers going on book tour should take reading lessons from Diaz; he’s by far the liveliest I’ve ever heard. In response to an audience question about why some authors get so much public attention and seem unfairly more popular than others, he said you can’t worry about how the work is going to be received by the public as you’re writing it; you don’t write for the present, you write for the future.