The Tango and the Jive

I wasn’t going to post on Dancing with the Stars this week but since Ellen asked, I will. :o)

You know, when I watch the dancing I have no idea if they’re doing the right steps or not. Sometimes I can tell a little because they may have shown the professionals doing it or something but I’m by no means competent to say whether they did what they were supposed to or not. I just know what I like and enjoy.

Having said that, in season one of DWTS, on day one, they announced the rules of dancing. The biggest no-no that I remember is there were to be no lifts done.

They didn’t announce the rules in season two so they let the first few lifts slide, with a warning, and they were never repeated by the warned dancers.

They didn’t announce the rules this year but they’re holding the dancers accountable anyway. Last night started with Emmit Smith. He danced the tango (as did all the men, with the exception of Joey Lawrence, who danced the jive). I thoroughly enjoyed his dance but he did have one move that I wondered if it was a lift (it wasn’t a lift in the tradition of what I would identify as a lift, but then again, what do I know?). He got reamed by the judges for doing a lift, as well as breaking the hold during the dance. He scored a total of 19 (which ended up being the low score of the night).

Next came Monique. In the pre-dance talk, she was saying that her mother was coming in to watch her and she was so excited about that and said she hoped the judges didn’t say mean things about her in front of her mother (she was so cute). She danced the jive (as did all the women, except for Vivica, who danced the tango).

If you haven’t seen it, they have a stage and a dance floor. Some of the dancers have used the stage, and the stairs to get to the stage and/or dance floor, in their routines. Monique started on the stage, her partner was on the dance floor. When the music started, Monique ran full on to the dance floor, taking a flying leap, twisting so her back was to her partner, off the stage. Her partner caught her (and I again wondered if that would be considered a “lift” - it apparently wasn’t) and they went to town. She was great! She got straight 9s but I have to wonder if she would have gotten 10s if she hadn’t performed so early in the evening, but anyway... The MC mentioned that he knew the jump scared her and she laughed saying something like, “yeah, it apparently scared my clothes off too”. Had no idea what she was talking about until this morning when I saw the news. During the dance, the bottom of her costume slipped down and she, it would seem, mooned the audience and then pulled her costume back on. It happened so fast though, I didn’t notice.

Mario and his partner broke more rules again, despite the pre-dance talk that they were going to dance a “safe” tango so’s not to tick off the judges again. They broke their hold and did a lift. Len was the first to give comments and he said he would have given them a 10 but they lost him when they broke the hold. Bruno ranted that Mario made them mark him down - they didn’t want to but they had no choice. Carrie Ann calmly told them that they knew the rules and they needed him to follow them. Carrie Ann and Bruno both said, when giving their scores, “would have been a 10, but instead...8". Len gave them a 6.

You can tell Harry is really improving and given that the tango requires a more serious “character” for dancing, he did well, and scored well.

And, I know I initially said I wanted Jerry to be voted off in week one, I’m now at a point where I would be okay if he won the whole thing. I think I’m falling in love just a little bit. He’s so funny and you can tell that he takes it seriously. His partner said that he wanted to make it to the next round so that he could learn the waltz so that he could waltz with his daughter at her wedding. At the end of the dance when they talked with them, he said he did want to make it to the next round but then America needed to stop voting for him because “everything hurt”. He had a few missteps but overall, did a good job.

I thought Sara Evans did a great jive. They danced to These Boots Are Made For Walking and they both wore cowboy boots and hats. It was her best dance so far (and the judges agreed with me on that).

Vivica did a great tango and scored straight 9s. She got a bit emotional...it was sweet.

Joey did a great jive and Carrie Ann and Bruno liked him but Len thought he did too much acrobatics (he did a handstand). I can’t remember if he did a lift or not but he got the same scores from the judges as Mario did.

So, again, I don’t want any of them to go but I guess one will. My guess would be it could be Willa Ford, simply because she’s scored well with the judges in the past and found herself in the bottom after the public votes and she didn’t score as well with the judges last night. But who knows, it could be any of them.