It's season 18 of a much reduced Dancing with the Stars. Will the changes work? I still don't like the scoring system (it's now the judges scores and viewers votes for the same week are added together and the lowest couple is released the week after) but we'll see how the rest goes!
Here are the judges scores:
NeNe Leakes and Tony Dovolani - Cha Cha Cha - 7/7/7=21
James Maslow and Peta Murgatroyd - Foxtrot - 7/7/7=21
Danica McKellar and Valentin Chmerkovskiy - Foxtrot - 8/8/8=24
Sean Avery and Karina Smirnoff - Contemporary - 7/6/7=20
Billy Dee Williams and Emma Slater - Cha Cha Cha - 5/5/5=15
Meryl Davis and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Cha Cha Cha - 8/8/8=24
Candace Cameron Bure and Mark Ballas - Contemporary - 9/8/8=25
Cody Simpson and Witney Carson - Cha Cha Cha - 7/7/8=22
Drew Carey and Cheryl Burke - Foxtrot - 7/7/7=21
Amy Purdy and Derek Hough - Cha Cha Cha - 8/8/8=24
Diana Nyad and Henry Byalikov - Foxtrot - 6/6/6=18
Charlie White and Sharna Burgess - Contemporary - 9/9/9=27
The first couple to leave will be announced next Monday.
Candace Cameron should have been the leader. She had the best feeling for movement and her lifts were awesome. Beautifully arched back, pointed toes--great overall alignment. I love the play with tension throughout the dance.
ReplyDeleteI actually think Meryl and Maks were overscored. It was all very fast and exciting but it completely lacked the Cuban movement that a Cha Cha must embody.
Here is the video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXXZjoo1goo&feature=youtu.be
Meryl and Maks do a crossover break at 0:49. Notice the positioning of Meryl's chest and arms--same plane when the chest should be curving forward and the arms behind her each time she comes forward. Also, it lacks the Cuban motion because she just moves the legs back and forth without engaging the hips. They have to work in a coordinated manner. The hips have to rotate forward and backward and be taken side to side.
At 0:30 she does the batucadas but they look awkward again because of the lack of weight transfer. She tries to do everything by moving the feet and legs without transferring the weight properly. You are supposed to take a small step back, then quickly transfer the weight to your front foot and back to the back foot. Then you take the opposite foot of the first one you used in the previous back step (if you did the previous step with the right foot stepping back, you begin this next part with your left foot stepping back. Again, left foot back with the weight there, then transfer the weight to the right foot (forward foot) and then back to the left foot (back foot).
At 1:06 she attempts a Cuban break and the weight transfer is better here but the tension is wrong.
The grapevines starting at 1:10 lack the proper rhythm.
And the lock steps weren't bad (back lock steps at 0:32 and forward at 0:34) but the tension is not right in the back leg. It has to absorb the weight transfer and maintain a certain tension, more than the other foot and leg.