Disney night in the ballroom was a stark reminder of why I don’t care for theme nights on “Dancing With The Stars”. I saw a few instances where the theme became the focus over the dance. At the end of the night, this is a dance competition – at least it is meant to be. Sometimes that seems to be forgotten.
While some stars became lost in their themes, others thrived. There were few of those, though. Overall I didn’t find Monday night’s performances all that magical at all.
– I enjoyed the fact that Suzanne and Tony paid tribute to “Lady And The Tramp”. That is my favorite Disney movie. However, I wasn’t as excited about the performance. I thought it was extremely disjointed and didn’t show the personality. That’s something the judges didn’t seem to agree with me on, but the scores were rather fitting.
– For me there were two sides to Robert’s performance. If I didn’t listen to the music and just watched, it was wonderful. Sadly, listening to the music revealed that he was out of step through a majority of the routine. That fact caused him to earn his lowest scores, but I still see him as one of the best dancers in the competition. This week was just off.
– Patti is a wonderful performer. She brings great character and personality to each dance. The dance is always a little iffy, though. Her Waltz was simple and elegant, but it also – to me – lacked a certain finesse that is possessed by the other celebrities. I still give her major credit for what she’s doing.
– I had a love/hate relationship with this performance. On a performance level, I thought Willow did a great job. She’s a strong performer. For me, though, a lot of her performance ability became lost in the theme. That’s not her fault. Mark has great ideas. He’s really creative, but sometimes they overshadow his partner. This was one of those instances in my opinion.
– The further we go into the competition, it becomes evident who is rising to the challenge and who is struggling. I love Chris, but he is one of the ones that are struggling. I know that this week he had an injury; the struggle is more than that, though. I’m not sure I see him improving beyond where he’s at now.
– Every week I share how inspired I am by Noah, and this week was no exception. He pushes himself so hard, despite the limitations he has. I’ll admit that I was a little disappointed by the performance this week for the mere factor that there was so much of Sharna dancing around him. I think she has done a wonderful job choreographing around his abilities, but this dance left him getting a little lost and didn’t show the abilities he does possess.
– I’m admittedly not a huge Riker fan, and the Paso is one of my least favorite dances each season. I’ve got to hand it to him this week, though. Riker and Allison gave a remarkable performance that drew me in despite any preconceived feelings. That’s definite a sign of a good dance!
– I’ve made it no secret that I adore Rumer. She hasn’t give a single performance that disappointed me. This week was no exception. I loved that she chose to be a villain instead of taking on one of the traditional princess roles. It was also great to finally see her get the recognition – and scores – I felt she’s deserved for weeks!
– What I’ve come to expect from Nastia and Derek was exactly what I got to see this week. They were totally in character, absorbed in the dance without letting the theme overshadow them. I think it’d be impossible to watch their dance without smiling.
It wasn’t a surprise to see Suzanne be eliminated Monday night. Last week I did a lot of battling over whether I thought it would be Chris or her leaving this week. I chose Chris because I thought the nostalgia of seeing “Chrissy Snow” might give Suzanne some extra support from fans. I think the right decision was made in the end, and I think that this will lead into Chris making his departure next week.
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