DWTS Week 8: Gut-wreching shocker elimination and Maks mouths off

Dance of the Night: Amy Purdy and Derek Hough do an Argentine tango

This Week 8 of Dancing With the Stars had the best-ever opening number (Mark Ballas performing a song he’d written) and the worst-ever guest judge. I had heard the moans and groans when this particular guest judge was announced, but wasn’t sure why. No, I am not on the edge of my seat every week watching Dance Moms—in fact, I had not heard of either the judge or the show until they were talking about “next week’s guest judge.”

I realized in the aftermath of this week’s show how crucial it is (if they are going to be retiring Len and bringing in someone new) that the cast RESPECT that person’s dance acumen. After all, they are the best of the best here onstage. They are pushing dance boundaries. They deserve someone better than someone on a reality show with no dance (respected) background herself.

All of the cast members pretty much took what the guest judge said, but Maks, when asked, said that he doesn’t respect “anything the woman said.” And I respect Maks’ dance judgment a lot. He seemed to say outright what all the other cast members were only thinking.

So all that tension was interesting.

Then there was this. Bruno said in his vote on this dance that he would be “devastated” if these were the two people voted off. And they were. And I shared that sentiment. I cannot believe it. But we are in the realm of all of the remaining dancers are amazing, so it really does shock each time someone wonderful goes home. Danica and Val were the first of that for me this season.

The other thing that’s happening is that those on the bottom whom you’d think would be going home are fighting hard for their survival. Candace Cameron-Bure (whom I would’ve thought would be gone by now) is turning in amazing dances suddenly. She and Mark Ballas were as surprised as anyone to hear that it wasn’t her this week.

Candace Cameron-Bure and Mark Ballas are elated to not be going home.

Candace Cameron-Bure and Mark Ballas do a foxtrot.

And, then, they do an amazing foxtrot, which is witty and frothy and fun to watch. Mark Ballas’ choreography (as usual) is stellar, and even I find myself voting for them. The one annoying aspect of CCB (her rampant prudishness) seems to have been downplayed the last few weeks and not been an issue. So what they are doing is just lovely.

Also, Peta and James. Bottom of the leader board. Peta was in tears, when they were deciding between the two couples in jeopardy. I seriously thought she was going to have a breakdown if it was them. And then, it wasn’t.

Peta Murgatroyd and James Maslow do a Viennese waltz. Courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor.

They, too, are doing stunning dancing. I enjoy watching them every week. It just gets so hard in these final weeks when everyone is so good.

We also had a poignant, story- and content-filled rumba from Maks and Meryl, which I loved.

Maks and Meryl do a rumba.

Charlie and Sharna, constantly fighting to receive a 10 from Len, after weeks of doing really challenging, amazing dances FINALLY get perfect scores across the board for this wonderful quickstep.

Sharna Burgess and Charlie White do a beautiful quickstep. Courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor.

As if the competition of their individual dances weren’t enough, this week, they also threw in side-by-sides. But in seasons past what we had was a couple dancing side by side with two pros (so they could see how it’s really supposed to be done). This time, we had competitors dancing with each other.

Amy and Derek danced a jive with James and Peta. Meryl and Maks did a samba with Danica and Val. But (for me) the breathtaking one of these dances was this amazing heartfelt passion play, done contemporary, where Sharna and Charlie and Candace and Mark played couples. And in the midst of their dance, infidelity reared its head, so you saw this poetry of Charlie and Candace dancing together poetically, while the two other couples were fighting (through dance). Amazing work. Stunning choreography. And Candace and Charlie took my breath away.

Charlie White and Candace Cameron-Bure do contemporary.

All of these dancers deserve to be here. All of the ones left are capable of fantastic performances. I’m still rooting for Maks and Meryl to win, but it is truly anyone’s game.

Mark Ballas debuting his new single, with help from Derek Hough and Cheryl Burke.

What we learned from this night is that Mark Ballas is a formidable performer, singer, dancer, whatever he chooses to do. And that Abby Lee Miller need never grace the stages of Dancing with the Stars again. Because honestly and truly, she is beneath the talent before her, and doesn’t deserve to judge them.

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DWTS Week 5: Every Week Is Disney Week at ABC... Oh, Wait...

Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Danica McKellar. Courtesy of ABC.

Normally, product placement in a show bugs the crap out of me. Devoting a whole episode to variations of things done by your corporate parent could get real tedious, real fast. However, with Dancing with the Stars on ABC, we are talking about corporate parent Disney, which, like it or not has some great iconic images under their domain. And the opposite side of blatant product placement is that they can do things (because they own all the characters) that no one else can. And so we have: Disney Week.

Like Val and Danica, above, being our guests with a lovely waltz. Val and Danica, btw, were my favorite couple from this week. Just wonderful to watch them dance. So perfect. Val looked so elegant in that suit. I realized later that he was going for the genie look (with his goatee and pulling his hair up straight in the middle). So sue me, I don’t have kids. Many of these movies were lost on me.

But I really enjoyed their dance, and Val’s choreography.

Danica and Val just look so “Disney,” don’t they?

We seem to be going in reverse order this week, with the couples I loved the most first.

Charlie White seems to have found his (and our) happy place, staying on the side of happy in his dances. And you can’t go wrong with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Poppins. Charlie and his pro partner Sharna recreated “Supercalifragilisticexpealidocioius” with a wonderful dance sequence. (It appears now that the DWTS “jazz” category essentially means: “whatever we feel like dancing which doesn’t fit in any of the other categories.” So, too, was this “jazz” dance.) Ah well, it was tons of fun.

Charlie White as Dick Van Dyke and Sharna Burgess as Julie Andrews. Courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor.

And it’s so good to see (most of) these couples back together again. There was a fire in their dancing this week.

Meryl and Maks, for example, did a wonderful Jungle Book samba, complete with samba rolls! Not sure what was up with the pants Maks was wearing, but certainly a half-naked Maks elicits a huge “Yes!” from this peanut gallery.

Meryl and Maks do a samba. Courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor.

Have I mentioned how glad I am that Maks is back? Hm... yes...

Then we had a very emotional moment or two with Amy Purdy, who realized, in trying to do a waltz this week, the limitations of her lack of legs. But Derek Hough, brilliant choreographer that he is, came up with a way around the limitations, and for my eyes, it looked to all the world like a beautiful, dreamlike Disney waltz of Cinderella and her prince. Bravo to Derek for that. And to Amy for persevering through what appeared to be a really tough week.

It is very interesting to me, I suppose, like most things worth having in life, how people come onto Dancing with the Stars thinking it’s going to be one thing, and it ends up being something so completely different. More of a spiritual and psychological challenge and growth period.

Derek and Amy in waltz hold. Note foot placement.

This is a bit (from what I understand) of what the traditional waltz entails. But one of Amy’s issues with dancing is wanting/needing to feel like she’s not falling, certainly moreso than people who have the use of their legs for balance.

So what seemed to have been done (for this dance, at least) was a bit of improvisation. Her feet (as you can see above) are almost nearly covered through the whole dance, whereas in other dances this season, you could see them. Also, rather than doing the whole waltz in traditional hold, Derek devised more of this:

Amy Purdy and Derek Hough were magical.

Sort of a backwards hold, which had the effect of her appearing strong, and him appearing very much in love with her. It was truly magical and awe-inspiring.

Of the other dancers, James and Peta were in another world with their contemporary dance to the Oscar®-nominated song from Frozen.

James and Peta do contemporary to the song from Frozen.

Drew and Cheryl? Eh. NeNe and Tony? God help us. (I feel sorry for Tony, but I’m pretty done with NeNe.) Thankfully, the kids (Witney & Cody) were voted out this week.

And then, there’s Candace and Mark Ballas. I really love Mark Ballas, and would love for him to win (and every season I do start out saying this), but WOW! I really can’t stand Candace. This week, in our I Don’t Care I’m on a Dance Show that Shows a lot of Skin, I’m Doing It MY Way Follies...Candace decides to show some skin. (Mark, however, is buttoned up from top to bottom, even having flippers instead of hands.)

The upside? I absolutely loved 100% every single thing Mark did (even his costume!). He was (as usual) a blast to watch. So much energy! So many great steps. So much fun.

Candace? UGH. Let me just show you. Here’s her idea of “showing a little skin.”

Mark Ballas, in his element. And Candace.

This picture really says it all. Here’s Mark, the maestro that he is, loving it, thriving, dancing his ass off. And Candace, who looks like a tired mom who just needs to go home already. So sad. UGH.

I do really want to take a moment to commend the costumers, who have to contend with people like Candace, but also for this season giving us lots of fun textures and sparkles to look at, as well as really recreating versions of every single one of these beloved Disney movies. I love the fact that more and more of these dancers are being allowed to dance in flatter shoes (men, too, seem to be more comfortable with their shoes), and we seem to be getting FAR fewer (as in we haven’t heard of any yet this season) dance injuries. Women also aren’t tripping over long ballgowns. I, for one, am grateful about all of the above.

I’m also so very grateful that the very beautiful Erin Andrews was dragged out of her black/white sackcloth and put into a gorgeous Boston Strong blue ballgown. Very nice. Also rocked the amazing updo. Kudos to her hair people. (LOVE HER. Have I mentioned that? She’s such a great addition to the show.)

Also am grateful for those, notably Peta and Maks and Val this season, who will bare skin if it’s warranted in the dance (from the characters and the scenarios). I’m sure Mark Ballas would too, if he weren’t locked down by his prudish dance partner. UGH.

Let’s end this review with a little JOY, shall we? A little happy? A little up? (Oh, and thank you, too, to whomever finally got their act together on the webpage and started posting photos again. You will notice Week 4 is completely missing still. *sigh*)

But here’s to joy and beauty and love and romance. Cause really, isn’t that what Disney is all about?

The magical Amy Purdy as Cinderella and Derek Hough as her Prince. Courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor and Disney.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happiness looks like. Charlie White.

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