DWTS Season 21 Finals: Of course, it's Bindi and Derek!

There's a lot of hooha that goes on in the Finals of Dancing with the Stars. (The two-night DWTS extravaganza, that is!) By now, you know that this is the end. But let's walk back through it a bit, shall we? Leaving out all the frou frou and hoke, there were some incredible moments.

(So, kick back, and let's just have a moment from last week to savor...)

Have I mentioned how much I love this dance? And Jenna? Wow...

OK, moving back to the Finals... Night One (Monday)

Meghan Trainor kicks it off with a big splashy number, choreographed by Mandy Moore (of course).

The first dancers are Carlos and Witney. There is some sloppy editing, where he talks about a dance being "so hard," when he's actually talking about a dance he does later in the Finals. *sigh*

This first foxtrot they do I just hated. Just hated everything about it.

Then, we had Alek and Lindsay doing a rumba.

Compared to the sublime sexiness that we had earlier in the season (with Alek and Emma), this just felt half-baked.

So just when you're thinking that this has got to be the most boring #DWTS Finals ever, this happened.

And after this blistering jive, you're left wondering, Gosh, WHY hasn't Sharna won a Mirror Ball yet? Nick Carter still can't really keep up, but damn is she wonderful to watch!

And then, this.

An incredible quickstep by Bindi and Derek.

Then, we had a truly groundbreaking number. Groundbreaking not only because of this...

Shirtless Val backstage as Meghan Trainor sings about "Boys Like You," but also because Who Is Fancy? (whom I actually don't know who he is) did this...

The line is about blowing you... Ahem... a kiss... (hence the glitter). It actually felt quite shocking to me in the moment. (And wonderful!) (See, boys don't dance with boys on this show... on purpose...) Like I said, it felt wonderful to finally see this. I mean, if Wheel of Fortune can have guys talking about their husbands, I think DWTS needs to broaden its horizons a bit too.

And finally, we are at the most exciting moment all season (usually): the Freestyle round.

My own personal bias/belief about the Freestyle round is that, unless you're Derek Hough or Mark Ballas, if you do a Freestyle with lots of people and lots of stuff going on, and lots of noise, it's gonna fail. Carlos even says that to Witney in the package: "Are you sure having all these people is going to be OK?" Side answer: Nope. No, it's not. (Even though she says, Oh yes, it's fine.)

This was the effort by Carlos and Witney. One can only dream of what Mark Ballas and Carlos' wife, Alexa, could have come up with instead. *sobs*

Also, I really dislike hip hop music. So any dance that relies mostly on hip hop is lost on me. I pretty much hated this one. Ugh.

Well, Lindsay is dancing with a military man, so the obstacle course thing kinda seemed ok, except that it's supposed to be dance, not a workout routine. Yeah, I didn't much like this one as Freestyles go, either.

A successful Freestyle hopefully ties in both a bit of who the person was before #DWTS, and chronicles their journey on the show. As Derek explained in the package, Bindi Irwin is "one of the most authentic people" he's ever met, so doing a Freestyle with a lot of bells and whistles didn't feel right.

Also, what we really know Bindi Irwin for is her father, and her father's death. They danced to a song called "Footprints in the Sand" and unbeknownst to Bindi, Derek added a picture of her dad and her at the very end, which made her, and us, cry.

It was a beautiful, moving dance, chock full of fabulous choreography. Bindi and Derek are truly amazing.

Lastly, we had Nick and Sharna.

Another type of great Freestyle is when the artist shows you not only who he walked in as, but also how far he's come. It was natural, I suppose, to choose "Larger Than Life" as this Backstreet Boy's Finals Freestyle. And boy, was it! WOW. All sorts of troupe members (Val, Jenna, Emma, Keo, a couple others) joined in. The stagecraft was over the top and amazing. Fun stuff.

Miche FAVORITE FREESTYLES
1. Bindi and Derek
2. Nick and Sharna
3. Alek and Lindsay
4. Carlos and Witney

Carlos and Witney ended up being eliminated on this night.

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Night Two of the #DWTS Finals extravaganza started like this, as one does around Christmastime in LA (although actually it aired around Thanksgiving), at the Grove. It was going to be hard to top the opening of this season, when damn near everyone in LA came out to dance on Hollywood Boulevard with the DWTS cast. So this craziness was a stage at the Grove, and a stage at their regular studio, and in some cases shuttling cast members back and forth between stages during the live show. But it was wonderful.

Erin Andrews, thank you for being on DWTS. You brighten up every show.

They also brought back, as DWTS does, cast members from the whole season.

God bless the producers who decided NOT to have Chakka Khan dance, but only what she does best: sing, as her partner Keo danced with the lovely troupe members.

In fact, previous finales were tedious affairs, where all twenty contestants were trotted out to do a dance. Thank God, this was not that. (Although they do make a marginal effort to remind you of the season that was with all the dances.)

Instead, some brilliant producer decided to do this instead.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! Thank you, DWTS.

Then, Sharna and Nick recreated their #DowntonAbbey dance. Karina and the jockey dude danced to La Bamba again. Then, back to the Grove for #AndyGrammar, who mostly just sang, while the luscious male dancers danced behind him.

OMG, the Outtakes. LOL I had completely forgotten this exchange between Paula Deen and formerly-lived-in-England Mark Ballas.

DEEN: "We shag in Savannah. Have you ever shagged?"
BALLAS: "I have shagged, but it means a completely different thing."

LOL I'm thinking she means pecans or something. I know what he means... Ahem. :-X

Next, they trot out Gary Busey again (God help us), and all I can think is, MAN! I hope they paid Anna Trebunskaya a LOT to put up with this Busey debacle. A LOT, America, A LOT. *shakes head*

Then, Elle King sang her wonderful hit, Exes and Ohs.

Jenna Johnson dancing. Elle King is behind her. Great number. (Tom Bergeron loves it, too!)

Emma danced with her "Internet-sensation" (that's how they introduced him) Hayes. Can't find any pics of it. It was short. They danced to his friend's song, Stitches. I hope his friend remembers this for a long time.

Then, there's a tedious bit with Santa and Erin Andrews, where the mic isn't working. Ugh.

THEN! Mark and Alexa recreate their amazing Breaking Bad routine (also incredibly hard to find pics of this). Really amazing.

Then a tedious thing that Tom Bergeron called "my favorite thing in a finale ever." Best to not talk about it. Gary Busey, Twas the Night Before the Finale... is all I'm gonna say. *shakes head*

Bindi and Derek recreated their incredible song, "Roses and Violets," danced to a stirring Mark Ballas' composition (as part of Alexander Jean). But this time, both Mark Ballas and BC Jean (his fiancee) were there to perform it. That was pretty awesome.

Season 20 winner, Valentin Chmerkovskiy danced wonderfully with Emma Slater at the Grove again. Chaka Khan and Andy Grammer sang, thankfully didn't dance to Baby, It's Cold Outside, salvaged only by the fact that Anna, Karina, Tony and Sasha were dancing.

Finally! Back to something that matters! The fusion dances of the three finalists. I love this whole segment usually. Part of the excitement (for me, as an audience member) is that they go back to the studio in which they expended so much blood, sweat and tears over the season, and the production staff has hung photos of them from the season. You will note that Mr. Backstreet Boy (who's probably darn sick of photos of himself) is the only one who didn't comment on the photos at all.

Their tango-salsa fusion ended like that. Sharna's choreography, as always, stunning.

Alek and Lindsay did a rumba-tango fusion.

Derek and Bindi did a cha cha-Argentine Tango fusion.

As always, Derek's choreography is stunning. He and Bindi make a great team, and it is sad to think that this is their final dance on DWTS.

Then, they trucked everyone over to the Grove again, and basically had the three finalists stand around, while Nick Carter sang his new song. Album on sale now. Yawn.

Ok, they did flash back to segments of the three over the season, to show their dances together. But still.

This was dumb.

So then, everyone rushes back to their studios (not far away) to crown this Season's champions.

I must say this. Sharna has been so close so many times. I would so love to see her win a Mirror Ball soon. But that was not to be. Instead:

Of course it was Bindi. Always Bindi. Congrats to Bindi and Derek. Thanks for such a great season.

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DWTS Season 21 Week 9: Showstopper Week Show's Stopped

Normally, Dancing with the Stars starts with a splashy wonderful opening number. This one did not. This one started with each dance team coming out (note: Val and Tamar had been last all season, this had been the same lineup all season long). You will note that there is just Val there, at the end, shuffling uncomfortably.

That's because this episode could be subtitled: Tamar's Hospital Drama. At the beginning of the show, she wasn't there because she was actually at the hospital, having fallen ill. Her doctors warn her that she should just stay there, but since she would automatically lose/be eliminated if she misses both dances, she rallies back to get there for the last one (against her doctor's orders).

Some would call that Showbiz! But I think it was just willful and stupid. Oh, but we'll get back to all that. Let's start instead with the competitors who actually, you know, competed.

We had this from Alek and Lindsay, which was notable mostly for this:

Not just that the troupe women danced with them, but that they also waxed his chest for this number.

Carlos and Witney did an Argentine tango, that I quite liked, but the judges didn't so much. I think both Lindsay (Lindsay even moreso) and Witney this season suffer from making themselves look good, and their partner, not so much (Lindsay all season, Witney more at the end of the season).

But nonetheless, I liked this dance.

Sharna, on the other hand, does well by her partner, pushing him to new boundaries, and making both herself and him look great.

Great dance. I mean, it's the 9th week, most people are going to look pretty good by this point.

I should add that Val and Tamar had what would have been a stunning number to Wicked Game. The judges had to judge the dress rehearsal footage, so I will post no picture of it.

But let's talk about the top two individual dances of Week 9.

My second favorite was danced to music created by "Alexander Jean," which is Mark Alexander Ballas and his girlfriend, BC Jean. It's just a stunningly beautiful song, and Derek and Bindi danced an amazing Viennese waltz to it.

The costuming, as all throughout the season, was stunningly beautiful. On camera, it looked like this classic dusty rose gown, just gorgeous.

I swoon when I even think of them performing that song, it was so beautiful.

But still, my favorite individual dance from this evening was the contemporary from Alexa and Mark. Mostly because it was so brave to perform. She talked in the package about her struggle with bulemia, and this dance was essentially Mark playing bulemia and chasing her.

Don't know if you caught the vomiting parts in there, but they are in there.

Mark Ballas' artistry and stunning choreography are, to me, one of the main reasons I regularly tune in to this show. This bulemia dance was no exception. Solid 10s from all the judges. So well-deserved.

MICHE'S FAVORITES OF WEEK 9
1. Mark and Alexa (contemporary)
2. Derek and Bindi (Viennese waltz)
3. Sharna and Nick (quickstep)
4. Witney and Carlos (Argentine tango)

Now, what should've happened at this point in the competition, is that Tamar stays in the hospital, and thus gets eliminated. Instead, she races back, against her doctors' orders, and decides to dance anyway.

This is where the Showstopper Week comes in. All of the remaining six couples are whisked off to see actual live shows (great idea, btw!). They will then incorporate the dance moves into their dances (three sets of two couples each).

They have the first two teams perform first, since Tamar is rushing from the hospital to make it for her (now last) set.

I was just talking with someone over Thanksgiving about how DWTS is odd, in that it never has males dancing with males or females dancing with females (other than in trios, or in a troupe thing). This, I suppose, is the closest we'll get.

And it was alright, but no great shakes.

Carlos Witney Lindsay Alek and black lights

Witney and Carlos and Alek and Lindsay choose to go on a cruise to watch "We Will Rock You," the Queen saga. Fun fact: Bruno used to work with Freddie Mercury.

Mark and Bindi and Alexa do Fosse

Bindi and Derek and Mark and Alexa go to NYC to see a version of "Chicago," to recreate some Fosse steps.

Bruno's comments on the Fosse recreation: "The Maestro himself and the divine Ann (Reinking, of course) would be pleased at this." (High praise.) They all received perfect scores. They had received perfect scores for their individual dances, so they all walked away with 60 for the night.

Now, let's recap. Here we have someone (Alexa), who shows up, who works hard, tries hard, and on this night, got perfect scores for both of her (amazing) dances. I cannot begin to even explain how angry I am about the outcome of this evening... but let's proceed.

Nick and Sharna and Val and Tamar went to Las Vegas to see the Beatles Love extravaganza.

Tamar, amazingly, is here, is performing this dance. (She goes, right from this dance back to the hospital, btw.)

Here's Tom, explaining that since she made it through that final dance (and what about the first one, which she missed?), she is still in the competition. Oh, and guess what? Though she's sick and reeling, and really should be in a hospital, SHE and VAL are safe.

Instead, we have this.

This should NOT have happened this way. Alexa goes home. Tamar is safe, but then, I'll clue you, at the beginning of next week's episode, we learn that she's too sick to compete anymore and has to quit the competition ANYWAY. Meanwhile, Alexa is robbed of her chance in the finals.

And that was just wrong, all wrong.

Here's hoping that next season the casting directors have the foresight to cast a person without ten million commitments, so Val can actually do what he does best and create great dances with someone who can actually show up. This Tamar situation this season was a travesty and they should be ashamed of themselves for letting her do this.

Meanwhile, we sadly (seriously, I was crying at the end of this) say Goodbye to a competitor who left too soon. I love everything you did this season, Alexa.

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DWTS Season 21 Week 6: Famous Dances Week a Misstep

Dancing with the Stars has certain things you look forward to every season (if you've been watching for awhile), like the Trio Dances, or the Group dances, or the My Favorite Year segments. Then sometimes, they create new things, to see how they fly. One they did this season, the Hometowns featuring the Pros (not just the Stars) was a choice of brilliance.

This thing this week, really, not so much.

Tom Bergeron, guest host Leah Remini and Karina Smirnoff, who recreated the Flashdance opening number.

See, the premise of this show (really far afield from it now) is that the "stars" have never really danced before, and somehow, stumbling and struggling, these pros would make them DANCERS by the end of the season! Well, in truth, many of the stars have had at least some form of dance training, since they are, pretty much from Week 1 now, expected to perform at a top level. So, we audience, who are kind of in on the joke now, put up with that.

But this choice this week? Ugh. They are all asked to recreate "a classic famous dance." I really hated this idea. I'm sure it's great for the dancers, who get all jazzed by this idea. But the stars? Oh my.

Let's start with the first one, shall we? And let's also mention that guest judging this week is Miss Olivia Newton-John herself (who looks like she's had more than a little work done). But no matter. She's wonderful.

First couple to dance is 15-year-old Hayes. In their package, Emma is enthusiastically telling him that the dance they are tasked with (right in front of Olivia Newton-John herself) is from Grease. To which 15-year-old Hayes says, "What?" (As in, he's never heard of this Grease thing. "Danny who?") Oh my, it's going to be a long, long night.

Another bizarre sexual thing was the choice of "The One That I Want" (for Emma and Hayes). Sure, I know that eventually all things lump into the non-sexual mainstream void, even if they started out sexual... and you can't really be SEXUAL with a 15-year-old partner, but come on...

Anyone will remember (and trust me, Hayes, EVERYONE around the world knows Grease) and will remember that in the story, Olivia Newton-John's character is beautiful and shy and normal (wearing prim dresses) until one day, she decides she really has to have John Travolta's character, and thus busts out the super tight vinyl one-piece. That clings to her every sexy curve. And they are recreating the dance. To fine effect. They just leave out that pesky sexuality piece. Ugh.

Dancers, of course, are going to hold these iconic dances dear. The stars, mostly, couldn't care about them. And the degree of difficulty to really pulling them off, even for the Pros, was pushing it.

Like this...

Derek, the maestro, the Emmy winner, said he has never done a lift like this one (from Dirty Dancing, of course). He mentions that in rehearsal, they only complete the lift "50% of the time," although they do it successfully on show night. (Of course.)

And for practice, they had Derek and Bindi cavorting around in smelly swamps to practice. Please, producers, a dance studio is JUST FINE. Enough with the craziness.

(They also had Jennifer Grey in there for a hot minute for really no reason.)

Another problem for some of the dancers is that the iconic dance in question was danced ALONE, and they then had to incorporate not only a partner, but the steps/moves from whatever dance they were dancing. (Remember that? People actually DANCE a particular dance each week? Yeah. That often gets lost in the shuffle, especially this season.)

Like this dance.

Which brings us back to some sexuality craziness. This "dance" wasn't really notable for a dance (in the same way some of these others--like the Singing in the Rain dance, which was iconic AS A DANCE). It was iconic because Britney Spears was young and hot and dancing with a snake. I mean, it was a dance on an awards show, for heaven's sake. What's next? The Madonna kiss thing?

So, for me, as much as I love Alexa and Mark and want them to win.. I think this was my least favorite of all her dances. She just seemed lost. Although she did handle the snake well.

Her husband, OTOH, who last week danced a very solumn and prayerful number to "Amazing Grace," this week was...

Um, doing this... to great effect, I might add. It was a great dance. But again, is there a woman in this iconic dance? No.

Well, now there is.

Alek and Lindsay did this.

*sigh*

Well, at least Alek knew who Elvis Presley was.

Just a bad concept (this Week), badly executed (in some cases).

OTOH, when it succeeded, it was pretty stunning. You know Derek and Bindi's Dirty Dancing recreation was pretty wonderful. Andy and Allison's "Good Morning" routine (which, in the original, had THREE people in it; although I'd like to think the spirit of Gene Kelly was dancing it with them) was pretty amazing and spot on. It's one of my all-time favorite dances, and they did it justice.

But it just seemed like they were screaming, HEY! Give us more Emmys! For our sets and our costumes... and makeup...

Well, any dance which has costumes like this AND Anna and Karina, you know I'm all in. Sadlly, Paula Deen (thankfully, finally kicked off on this episode) is no Madonna.

Nick and Sharna showed off a pretty good Saturday Night Fever homage. And Sharna's additional choreography made this samba really work.

But really, the showstopper, and I bow again to Valentin's amazing choreography skills (whether or not he had help with this) was the final dance.

Yeah, you might recognize it. Val gave a shout out to the original choreographer, Anthony Thomas, for changing dance for decades.

This dance was a dance that had to be perfect, and it was. And it received a perfect score to show for it.

It's interesting to me that they used to make a big deal about introducing the troupe, and other than Tom's introductions of them after some numbers, they go nameless this season. I must commend the troupe for the Busby Berkeley dance in between numbers. This effect with the overhead cameras they are using was pretty stunning.

I REALLY love whoever came up with the leaderboard showing in the middle (or so) of the show. That feels like an organic move that is really welcome, cause it's easy to lose track of.

Miche's Favorite Dances of Week 6

1. Valentin and Tamar ("Rhythm Nation")

2. Allison and Andy ("Good Morning," from Singing in the Rain)

3. Sharna and Nick (Saturday Night Fever samba)

4. Derek and Bindi (Dirty Dancing)

5. Carlos and Witney (Magic Mike)

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