Tag: rumba

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Acoustic Week on Dancing With the Stars

Hmm, so this week everyone is dancing on a smaller, circular floor raised several inches off the ground in order to accommodate the acoustic musicians. They’re also giving separate scores for technique and performance. Dances are Argentine tango and rumba.

First up are Kurt and Anna. It’s Kurt’s anniversary. Sweet 🙂 Of course, OF COURSE, they have to make a big deal out of how he’s married and doing a rumba with someone else. It’s like they expect that the show’s audience have never heard of acting, of you know, movies and plays and theater. Is it because so many people watch reality tv these days that they’ve forgotten about drama as an art form. I mean, is that what the show’s producers are assuming? I really don’t get it.

Anyway, I thought Kurt did pretty well with this. His hip action was nowhere near perfect – it wasn’t grounded enough and hence had that kind of superficial, swaying look. But he tried really hard and the fact that he did something with his hips makes him better than most first-timers. And his arms weren’t moving completely properly – not originating from the shoulder but more from the elbow. But performance-wise, I thought he was great. Very romantic! Very leading man-like! I would love to dance a rumba with him.

Brandy and Maks, rumba: They have to have a “romantic dinner” in order for her to get into the mood. She makes fun of him for the unromantic way he presents her with flowers. Gosh, I thought she danced this beautifully. Wow. This was by far her best dance yet. Near perfect rumba. She had the turn-out, her arms were gorgeous. Hip action-wise she could have settled into the hip of her standing leg a little more (as Len said) but really, it was almost perfect. Both performance-wise and technically.

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CAN WE ALL JUST IMAGINE BEING SLAVES?: DWTS'S SAMBA AND RUMBA NIGHT

I don’t have much time to write about this week’s Dancing With the Stars, but quickly, I was pretty disappointed overall, as I guess I usually am with the Samba and Rumba. They seem often to put the two on the same night for some reason. I think Latin is generally harder than Standard and I think these are the two hardest Latin dances, so it’s no wonder they don’t come out so well.

But, honestly — it’s partly because I think the dancers aren’t really teaching the celebrities how to ground their hip movement properly, so that it comes from the movement in the shoulders and lats (back muscles). One of my co-students once told me, when I was first learning Rumba, that the dance originated with the slaves. Rumba walks — the basis of the dance, and the basis of all Latin ballroom dances really — are supposed to stem from the way that slave women would carry heavy loads atop their shoulders. As the woman took a step, the weight coming from her shoulder would push down on that lat muscle, which would eventually bear down on the hip, causing it to settle into the hip socket. When the weight fully settled, she’d start the next step with the other foot, shifting her weight. Those changes in weight are what account for that now sexy-looking shifting of the hips.

But if you’re not taught how to shift the weight properly, how to make it originate from the shoulders — and I think it helps to be given the above visual — then you end up trying to produce that hip shifting only using the hips. And then you get that un-grounded, feathery, hip swaying look which doesn’t look right at all — it looks like the person is just shaking his or her butt. It looks goofy.

I thought basically everyone, with the exception of Mya, had that problem last night. I thought somehow some looked a bit better than others — Natalie, Melissa, and Joanna all somehow managed to look cute even if too light and airy (even for samba, though there’s a bounce, it’s still weighted — it’s not supposed to look like you’re dancing on your toes, like ballet), and Louie looked okay as well (though that might have been because he was partnering Chelsie so well — being such a sturdy support for her and making her look good). And I hate to say it, but Tom was pretty decent too. He has a sense of rhythm I didn’t expect him to have. Even that body roll — I would never in a bizillion years have thought that guy could do a full-body spiraling samba shake like that! But, still, no one but Mya had any semblance of proper grounding, and with the others, it just wasn’t there at all.

Still, everyone tried hard and everyone had the proper character of the dance; everyone had fun. It just shows you how blasted hard Latin actually is.

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BLACKPOOL DISPATCH #1: Congress Lectures Day 1

Eleanor writes:

“Just a little something about today for you. Best lectures [see post below for definition] were given by Max [Kozhevnikov] and Beata, and Sergey and Melia. Max spoke about how he gets his ideas for showdances and they performed their Charlie Chaplin number.

Sergey and Melia spoke about Rumba and did some gorgeous demos to different pieces of music showing the different interpretations. Then there was the Chrisanne one, which I featured in … am just thankful that 99.9% of the dance world don’t know who I am because I have a feeling the DVD is going to be embarrassing.

Also the World Exhibition champions, Greg and Natalie, gave a fab final lecture.

Just waiting for the team match to start now, Germany instead of Japan. US will win by miles in my opinion!

Eleanor x”

Thanks Eleanor!

So, I haven’t seen Max Kozhevnikov and Beata’s Charlie Chaplin dance, but looked it up on YouTube here. Look at that fancy footwork for Max! I seriously love Max in this! I didn’t know they were dancing together (and I think it’s only for showdances not for competition) but I like them together!

So sorry I missed Sergey and Melia’s lecture. I love Rumba, and I love theirs and would have savored seeing their different interpretations. I think I will try to buy the DVD this year if it’s not too expensive — also to see the Chrisanne show (which I’m sure won’t be embarrassing to anyone 🙂 )!

And so tonight is the team comp (see prior post for more info on that too). I guess the four teams are the UK, the US, Germany and Italy. The way the team match works is that each country’s two best couples in each dance style – -Standard and Latin (so four couples total) take turns dancing two rounds of each individual dance (Rumba, Cha Cha, etc., and same for Standard). The scores are then added together and the country with the highest scores win that dance. Then, the scores for all nine dances are added together and the country with the highest score overall wins. I agree that the US will probably win, since we have two of the top couples in the world in each dance style — Riccardo & Yulia in Latin and Katusha & Arunas in Standard, whereas none of the other countries have top dancers in both (just one or the other). Last year was the first year the US ever won, by the way. We’ll see.

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DWTS: MIXED DANCES, GROUP DANCES, AND CONTESTANT-DESIGNED COSTUMES MEAN THE WOMEN ARE ACTUALLY CLOTHED FOR A CHANGE

So the contestants have designed the costumes this time. For the most part, they look better. I really like Julianne’s snazzy red fringe — her boyfriend dresses her well 🙂 And I love Edyta’s floor-length robe, although I’m sure it’s going to come off at some point…

Tony and Melissa’s Argentine Tango: That was really quite nice. There was a lot of basic dancing with a lot of intricate footwork, and a few flashy lifts thrown in here and there, but it wasn’t about the lifts. And she had excellent leg lines on those lifts. And I like how Tony varied those lines — the first had a clean split, the second both legs in attitude. Very good choreography and very good dancing.

Lawrence and Edyta’s Waltz: Aw, I love Journey’s Open Arms!

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DANCING WITH THE STARS, WEEK WHATEVER: JIVE AND RUMBA — Update With Marcelo Photos

Sorry, I think I’m a little off on the weeks! Probably because of the double elimination week.

I’m late with my post tonight because I went to an event at Barnes & Noble. Francis Patrelle is a SWEETHEART! I can’t wait to see his company later this week now; such an endearing personality. Seriously, one of the most personable choreographers I’ve heard speak!

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(I wasn’t able to take any pictures because my camera battery went dead, but Scott Schlexer, Marcelo’s representative, who was also there, kindly sent me some of his!)

Marcelo was there, Maria Riccetto, Cynthia Gregory — looking very regal! — I love how she holds herself — and several Dances Patrelle dancers and people involved in the upcoming production at Danny Kaye Playhouse. Writers of books dances are based on, composers, and even the songwriter of the Judy Garland song that Come Rain / Come Shine is danced to. He even played piano and sang, and he was very good!

 

 

Marcelo didn’t talk much, but when he did I could hardly focus on what he was saying because … who told me he had no accent! Haha, he TOTALLY has an accent! And his voice is a bit higher-pitched than I expected. He actually kind of sounds like Pasha, except with a Latin, not Russian accent. Not an American accent! Anyway, I remember him saying he liked dancing with Maria — that she’s very light. Oh gawd, Francis Patrelle introduced Marcelo by saying he dances with all these huge ABT women! At first I thought he meant in stature, and then he made it clear he meant in size! I was dying, though no one else seemed to be. Patrelle is a total joker anyway — he says he loves to joke around in rehearsal, and it’s clear. So, he said, Marcelo’s used to dancing with all these large women, so I gave him tiny Maria, and he really throws her around that stage with ease — something to that effect. So then Marcelo nicely said something about how wonderful Maria was to dance with. Aw.

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(from right to left: Marcelo, Maria, Cynthia, and Francis Patrelle)

Marcelo also said his favorite ballet is Giselle. I know he really meant to say Romeo and Juliet though, and Swan Lake. Not Giselle! No, again Patrelle set him up for it by introducing him as just having guest danced in St. Petersburg with the Kirov, dancing Giselle with Diana Vishneva 🙂

Maria seemed rather soft-spoken. But very sweet. And definitely tinier than Veronika Part and Stella Abrera and Michele Wiles and most of the other larger-than-life ABT ballerinas. Funny she doesn’t look that tiny onstage though.

And Cynthia Gregory (retired ABT prima ballerina, who staged the piece Marcelo and Maria are performing with DP this weekend), sat in the middle of the group, exhibiting excellent ballerina posture and stately demeanor 🙂 I want to be Cynthia Gregory.

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(Marcelo saying something very important 🙂 )

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(Marcelo and Maria “waiting in the wings” while children dance and others have the stage. Thanks again to Scott for the photos!)

Okay, on to Dancing With the Stars. Anyway, this will be a bit out of order because I started watching during Derek and Lil Kim’s Jive. So:

Derek and Lil Kim Jive: Hmm. That song: Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock; when I first heard it, I thought, that’s the hardest song to Jive to — it’s way the hell fast for an amateur; is he nuts? But now I see why it worked: Len’s right — they didn’t dance a lot of Jive! A lot of posing and posturing, a lot of too grounded step kicks with no proper snap and jump — they hardly came off the floor! But that opening set of pivot spins was gorgeous. Those are hard and she deserves major kudos for doing those perfectly!

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TWO DANCING WITH STARS CELEBS PULL OUT WEEKEND BEFORE SHOW

Katrina alerted me to this. Apparently, two Dancing With the Stars celebrity contestants have had to pull out of the show due to injury, and just the weekend before season eight is to premiere. It was first rumored that singer Jewel had to pull out due to tendinitis, but now, according to ABC’s press release, her injuries are much worse: fractured tibia in both legs. I know from covering the Sean Bell trial that fractured tibia are extremely serious. Two men who were in Sean Bell’s car during the shooting sustained fractured tibia from bullets and a doctor testified it would have been impossible for the one to walk or run on the injured leg and that he would be (and he most definitely was, judging by video footage) in howling pain. Both underwent surgery to have permanent metal rods implanted to hold the bones together. I guess the seriousness of a fractured tibia can vary — I mean obviously, but good lord, you’d think to sustain a fracture in each leg, she would have had to have fallen from an overhead lift or something. Anyway, no wonder she’s pulling out.

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