Owing to the rare presence of an out-of-town friend, I have not even watched the DWTS results show yet; got my news from Television Without Pity. (Frankly, the results shows are best watched from the DVR anyway.) And well, I was off by one; instead of Mark Dacascos, we have Joanna Krupa. Not to be a hater, but the quality of her movement is not that good. She is awfully pretty, though, and seems like a cool chick, and I did love that "futuristic" paso doble, so we'll gloss over it.
Though I think this semifinal is an open race, on the basis of actual dancing I would be astonished to see Kelly in the final. Cute as she is, she has been less consistent than any of the others left at this stage - but she clearly has a ton o' voters behind her.
Dmitry and Mya finally got some love from Len this week, and I had to laugh at the way their rehearsal footage zeroed in on them discussing going for the "wow factor," before turning out two textbook, strictly-ballroom performances. Not that there wasn't some "wow," especially in the samba. (Is it wrong that I kind of loved the mustache and sideburns?) The quickstep was certainly the best we've seen this season. For all Len's yapping about technique, Mya's top line, posture, and position in hold have always been good. Her footwork has sometimes been a little sketchy in the ballroom dances. But I'd have to look pretty closely, I think, to come up with legitimate technique quibbles about the latin dances she's done - and on repeat viewing, the lambada may have been my favorite dance of hers so far. There was real rapport between the partners that week, which has been the question mark in other routines of theirs.
Donny & Kym were a sure thing for me, based on the overall quality of his dancing and his ginormous fan base. His posture *is* getting better, but I would have liked to see his head further back in that Viennese waltz; when the head comes forward over the chest, it really collapses the top line, no matter how well poised the shoulders and arms are. (To see what I mean, flip between Mya's quickstep and Donny's waltz, and look at how Dmitry carries his head.) And the Adam Ant paso was ... so wrong. That costume did nothing for Donny. Stretch velvet pants next time, buddy; shiny satin does Nobody any favors. The fan/smoke machine cracked me up, though.
I rarely have strong opinions about who "should" win; it's one of those things, I don't vote so I have no right to gripe. Based on dance quality, I'd choose Mya; but no matter what happens, this week's performances were solidly entertaining and I am confident we will see more of that standard next week.
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