Diva Dishes on DWTS: 12

Ok, let me start by saying, when watching DWTS I’m torn.  The teacher in me notices the true emotions and fears a student faces when having to perform in front of people for the first time (let alone, millions of people). As well as wanting to celebrate all of the little victories that happen during the performance: a smile, pointing your toes during a developé or hitting the ending pose with out blood being shed.  Yes, us teachers see the growth, as a dancer and mostly as a person during the journey of learning to dance.  We are your biggest cheerleaders, supporters and even shoulders to cry on. BUT, this is DWTS people!  So the professional judge in me has to come out, and trust me, she has tons to say.

 

Who did great and who bomb? Read on and see what our Diva consultant has to say.

Chelsea Kane & Mark: FOXTROT score 21

Typical cute Disney kid. She has a willingness to learn and will do well, as long as Mark stops bouncing around like Tigger during the whole routine.  Hated the routine and all the side by side work.  I’m all about bringing a modern feel to any dance,  but it was just too much. Regardless of that, she danced what she was given well, just like a true Disney Princess.

Wendy Williams & Tony: CHA CHA score 14

OK, I’m going to use my favorite saying, “Hot Freakin’ Mess”!!! She danced like she was in a body cast. Do her knees even bend?  She needs to let loose, shake what she’s got, even a little hair-ography would of helped.  The song that was used could not have been more perfect for her, knowing her background and what a sassy thang she is, but ended up being a waste.  Let’s just say her performance made me cry (not the feel good Ashton Kutcher movie kind either).

Hines Ward & Kym: CHA CHA score 21

This Cowboys fan will never be a Steelers fan, but for sure a Hines Ward fan.  He definitely keeps the tradition of the past NFL dancers on the show; great presence and showmanship on the floor.  I agree with Glen, “I couldn’t stop looking at your bum!”  I can’t wait to see more of him week to week as he battles his biggest opponent: POSTURE.

Petra Nemcova & Dmitry: FOXTROT score 18

Loved her hair, make up and dress….oh wait, I’m having a “Paula Abdul moment” a la American Idol.  By far the best of any model that has been on the show, but that’s not saying much if you’ve followed them from the beginning.  She will pretty much stay in the middle of the pack, unless she works on her transitions from movement to movement and foot work.  She dances way too much on her toes.

Romeo & Chelsie: CHA CHA score 19

Young and talented, complete opposite of his dad Master P.  Just needs to get over his attitude that he can still be young, cool and hip by moving his hips.  Trust me, ask any guy student when that light bulb went off in their head, “Oh, girls dig a guy who can dance and move their body?!” DUH!!! It will change your life for the better, trust me, I see it happen all the time.  Romeo can go really far as long as he listens to Chelsie and all the feedback from the judges.  Must work on straightening his legs and building stronger ankles along with posture.  Overall, I liked it.  Good looking couple on the floor.

Sugar Ray Leonard & Anna: FOXTROT score 17

Can’t help but to love him.  So smooth and committed to the routine.  His biggest challenge? Posture in any dance hold.  Even though this is common among new dancers, because of his boxing, he has to totally reprogram his mind and body to a whole new stance in his new ring called the dance floor.  All his side-by-side work was amazing and made me smile.

Kendra Wilkinson & Louis: CHA CHA score 18

Go Kendra!  Go Kendra!  I’m a little bias because I love this girl.  She doesn’t pretend to be someone else and let’s it all out.  She has a good, fun attitude going into this, making it her own while still being challenged.  She started out strong but began to flatten out towards the end of the routine, which was tough choreography!  Needed to straighten her legs big time to show off her hip motion as well as control her arms.  They wiggled so much that it became distracting.  But she is well on her way of transforming to “classy hot”.

Ralph Macchio & Karina: FOXTROT score 24

What a way to start off his first performance on DWTS!  Completely surprised by him.  I mean, come on…he will always be Daniel-san in my eyes, but over the next weeks, I know that will change.  Overall, very smooth and made me giggle that he did so well (even doing a telemark).  The two spots in the routine where he was shaky and lost balance, were recovered well.  And claiming his “49 year old” body was going to be a problem? More like 29 year old body that will only get better with all the training from Karina, who wants that mirror ball trophy bad!

Chris Jericho & Cheryl: CHA CHA score 19

Wild in a bad way.  Not his fault, poor song choice that completely changes style and tempo.  It’s hard enough to learn one dance, let alone, changing in the middle of the routine to a salsa to fit the musciality.  Too many dips and poses, needed more cha cha to show off his talent.  But he had great presence on the floor.

Mike Catherwood & Lacey: FOXTROT score 13

Latino!!! Well, ok only half.  But this Irish-Mexican is very open about his lack of dance skill being embrassing.  But he tried and discovered it’s more about the journey and less about the dancing, so give him a chance.  This is where the teacher in me comes out!  I do have to say he was beyond stiff and ackward, which is the first stage of learning anything new (i.e. language, how to cook, golfing). I’m hoping the Jive next week will show his latin side and win him some votes.  Plus, he’s kind of cute!

Kristie Alley & Maksim: CHA CHA score 23

“size 0 and age 22” vs. 60 years old?  Three words, YOU…GO…GIRL!!!  By far, the best all around.  She’s the Kelly Osbourne of this season and we will see many a transformations, on many levels, through out the weeks to come.  Seemed very grounded in foot work and good leg action with swivels and latin crosses.

There you have it!  My thoughts on the dancing.  Until next week!

Diva Christina

Dancing With The Stars Season 12- Ladies Night

Alright!  You got the scoop on how the men will do.  Here’s the scoop on the ladies.  By now you’ve probably already seen everyone dance.  I created this before watching them so we’ll see what happens tonight on the results show.  Here we go!

Can Kirstie be able to "Cheers" her way to the final?

Kirstie Alley is up first for the actress category.  She’s done great just staying in the media with her many wight loss plans.  I’m excited for her because according to my sources, they’ve approached her for every show and she finally agreed.  Even more so she’ll finally find a weight loss program that will work for good in Dancing.  I’m sure, much like Marie Osmond, she’ll start to lose the pounds and people will give her the “hey you’re doing a good job finding your figure again” sympathy vote.  I’m sure that will add to pro dancer Maxim Chmerkovsky’s “I like to take my shirt off” votes from the 13-16  year old girls that run the voting.  Going to restaurants wearing clothes like the rest of the world must have be hard.

Disney has a fine list of dancers. Does she have what it takes?

Disney girl Chelsea Kane seems to fit the “Hey let’s get someone young to get the young vote” card.  Disney viewers will be watching to show their support.  Chelsea better known for her work on Disney channel’s Bratz: The Movie, should be able to pull off the dance moves since Disney usually gets the talented all around singer/actor/dancer kids (just see Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears before she went Brtney Spears on everyone).  I would imagine that she would get a great vote not just from her fan base, but from Mark Ballas’ fan base as well.  He’s the young guy who’s the hot ticket on the show.

She can talk the talk, but can she Dance the Dance?

Talk show host Wendy Williams will be great for the show.  She’s done her fair share of talking trash about everyone else that it’s her turn to get trashed on.  I’m most excited about how she’ll react to the judges as she could bring some much needed banter to keep the contreversy of the show going.  I’m sure she’ll bring some dancing skills to bad boy pro partner Tony Dovolani.  He’ll show her off quite well.  We should also see some good behind the scenes “Fighting” that are always good for ratings.  Look for her to not go far, but be entertaining.

Models have a great walk, but do they have a great Dance?

In the Model category we have Petra Nemcova.  She’s done some work in Sports Illustrated as a Swimsuit model.   I never heard of such a thing.  I guess I’ve been spending too much attention to my wife.  Points for me!  Not a lot on this end about her, just the fact that she will probably have ot stick with moves that show off her assets and not her dancing skills.  I haven’t seen her dance, but it’s a hunch of mine that modeling and coordination don’t go hand in hand.  Ouch!  I know.  But she should provide the pretty flavor ABC is looking for and get some votes from that.

This Playboy bunny looks to heat up the competition.

Next up is Kendra Wilkinson, not known for her acting skills, but better known for her work in Playboy as a Playmate (not that I’ve seen her work or anything either).  She brings the “hot chick on the show” quality of reality T.V.  I’m not sure if she will do much just like Petra, but look for her to get somewhat better on a week to week basis.  Her votes will come from a small reality fan base as well as the “husband vote” from husband Hank Baskett who’s being bounced around in the NFL.  If there was such a category on this show, I predict that she would get the Most Improved Dancer award at the end of this season.  More so because Louis Van Amstel will have to do the brunt of the work (and he knows how to make a star look good right out of the gate).  I just hope he doesn’t go too “I’m a dancing genius” on her and create a routine far beyond her ability.  What am I talking about?  He’s Louis Van Amstel!  You can’t turn off Genius like that with a flip of any switch.

SPOILER ALERT!!

The first to go for the women will be Wendy Williams.  As exciting as her personality is, I’m not sure if she’ll have the dancing to back it up.  However she’ll get the votes from her fan base as well as Tony’s, people won’t respond to the quick quips she has about dance.  Comedians haven’t done well historically in this contest.  The WINNER…Kirsty Alley.  Kirstie gets the same voting like Marie.  Although she doesn’t have the fan base, she’s going to surprise a bunch of people and win them over with her moves and changing physique.  Plus she’s got Maks who’s overdue for a win as one of the favorite Pro dancers on the show.  They’ll win America over with her personality and his non compliance to the “No Shirt, No Shoes” policy.

As for me, I’ll watch from the sidelines checking out the action and do my coaching from my couch.  If you’re asking whether or not I would better, the answer is YES I WOULD!  The only difference would be that I would actually teach someone something and my routines would be more on the basic side because I would go more for the benefit of the student actually gaining some knowledge from their experience like knowing how to dance at the next function they go to.  I probably wouldn’t be the fan favorite as a result, but my case for a good instructor would be made.  And if ABC wants to try a rebel teacher who will forego looks for substance then give me a call.  You can reach me at sjarthurmurray@yahoo.com.

JG

March Coach of the Month

After a day like showcase, you would expect to relax and take a day off.  Not San Jose.  Not our students and staff.  We live in Silicon Valley and with a tough city we have tough people.  Tough people that like to get their hands dirty with the techniques and philosophies of the sport known as ballroom dancing.  A day off is for the procrastinator of dreams and our dreams came true knowing that we had superhero like coaches coming in on Monday and Tuesday.  Superhumans like Ron Christy and Snow.

If you’ve ever had a coaching lesson, then you know what it’s like.  For those that don’t, let me give you an idea.  It’s like Luke Skywalker meeting Yoda.  he got all the training from Obi Wan, but when he needed something more he was introduced to Yoda.  Luke thought he knew what it took to be a Jedi, but Yoda’s training opened his eyes to more than the average Jedi can see.  He made him train harder and gave him things that other Jedi’s could not.  A master coach is the “Yoda” that gives you material and techniques that only a Jedi Master Coach can.  And just when you think you can’t do more, they push you a little further to become the Jedi they know you can be.  A coach gets you to do things in a shorter period of time than it would normally take.  That’s the Magic of a Jedi Coach.

The first Jedi Coach we had after showcase was Ron Christy.  What can we say.  He’s a man made of almost steel with an almost steel head and can almost see through anything.  He can however see what we need to work on.  Students had a blast working with him one on one and in his workshop.  Have you ever witnessed a miracle in your life?  That’s what takes place during a lesson with a coach like Ron.  He not only astonished and amazed our students, but our staff as well.  We had a field day trying to understand the man known as Ron Christy.

The next day, a Snow storm came to town.  Jedi Coach Snow had her first day here in the San Jose studio and it was much anticipated.  Each lesson went by faster and faster.  Time flies when you’re in a blizzard of excitement of dance.  She worked with students of all levels and the feedback was incredible.  We even had a student ask “When are you coming back”, within the first five minutes of the lesson.  We constantly talk about how much you learn and improve when you have a coaching lesson.  Snow was the example.  Students walked away in amazement of how advanced techniques were simplified and applied during the lesson.

Arthur Murray San Jose has Jedi Coaches coming in once sometimes twice per month.  Check the calendar and see when the next coach is coming by and schedule fast because Jedi Masters are high in demand.  Don’t be left out of the opportunity a coach can bring to your dancing life.