It's been quite a season, hasn't it? Some of the format changes have been good, some I trust were merely experiments. The level of performance has been remarkably high and we've seen some inventive and exciting choreography.
One of the things that has been apparent this season is a shift away from ballroom and toward more freestyle partner dancing. By that I mean that, while in previous seasons we have seen "show dance" choreography, it was typically more faithful to the specific dance style called for. This season, the choreography has involved less-strict interpretations.
Just as an example, last night Shawn danced Argentine Tango and Jive. As I've mentioned before, Argentine Tango is not one of the competitive ballroom dances at all, and this is the first season the show has featured it. Shawn's interpretation contained elements and styling of Paso Doble, which she danced beautifully just a week ago. The main things that distinguished this performance from the Paso were the ganchos (leg hooks) and boleos (leg whips), and the lifts. The character was almost identical, and thus much less "ballroom" than Latin. The Jive in its turn was nearly indistinguishable from Lindy Hop. Shawn's previous Lindy Hop performance was extremely athletic, and this was more "dancey," but it really didn't look like a Jive; the body shape was very low and the choreography very dependent on the partners turning around each other while doing lots of kicks. A "strictly ballroom" Jive would have been much more upright, with much crisper leg action, more side-by-side work and more patterns that use an angular geometry as opposed to the circular flavor.
Chelsie gave Ty pretty basic choreography this week for his Viennese Waltz and Samba. As expected, he performed better in the Viennese Waltz, although there was a moment when he got his feet mixed up. And though Chelsie's loose hairstyle helped disguise his hand position on her back, it is still not great. One of the good things about the Samba was how well he got into the floor: he went down, not up, to create the bounce, and this helped give him strong movement around the floor. His cowboy legs were also better this week, with less pigeon-toe action. Ty's extreme likability would not have brought him this far if he had not genuinely improved, but it's still a shame that we were not watching Kim & Derek this week.
Melissa looked much stronger this week and Tony's choreography on the Quickstep was terrific. The dance had a light, easy quality with no rushing; the movement around the floor was well organized and the styling well balanced. If I had to pick a favorite dance of the night, this would be it. The Cha-Cha I didn't like as well. It was a bit stagey and didn't leave much room for lead and follow. Melissa's footwork and leg actions were very good and I did absolutely love the trick where Tony laid her over his knee and then swept her around to his other side - never saw that one before!
Finally, Gilles - and I think it is clear who the judges favor at this point. The horrible music for his Salsa interfered with my enjoyment, and to my eye his leg action did not look as proficient as usual. What I saw was a deeply bent knee on the first step, rocking back to another bent knee, then popping up to a straight leg on the third step. This is extremely common in beginning Salsa dancers, and you do see it at all levels, but I think it looks a little clunky - and it really can slow a dancer down. If you want to dance Salsa fast, you need to stay more on one level, and there shouldn't be really pronounced leg rise. The Waltz, on the other hand, I have no quarrels with. It was a lovely song, well-performed by the band and singers; Cheryl's choreography was beautiful and evocative, and the dance performance was smooth, sweeping, intimate and yet expansive; my second favorite dance of the night.
And yes, he's still my favorite to win. Yum.
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