Dancing with the Stars 2009 Top 3
ABC and Dancing with the Stars made a great decision to keep the Dancing with the Stars 2009 top 3 final performances to only an hour. It was a great hour of entertainment. Any longer and they’d have been stretching for content. Here’s my review of the top 3 from tonight’s show.
Shawn Johnson – Anyone that watches Shawn has to just love her little girl innocence and her cute personality. Her detractors use that against her, but that’s a big plus for me. Sure, she doesn’t have that adult woman’s nuance in her dancing, but she’s so precise in her movements.
Shawn’s freestyle was far and away the best of the night. I was really disappointed that she didn’t pull at least a few tasteful gymnastics tricks, but it was still entertaining.
Gilles Marini – Gilles’ paso doble was Gilles being Gilles. It was well done. He deserved good scores. I don’t think it was a 30 performance, but it was great. Gilles has been solid all around and Paso works really well for him.
Gilles freestyle was my least favorite of the night. The freestyle highlighted Cheryl instead of Gilles. If I was evaluating Cheryl, then I’d have given it a 10. Cheryl really danced it with some amazing personality. Plus, I think that Gilles should have stuck with the sensual stuff he started with. When he went to playful, he just didn’t pull it off very well. The effort was there, but it just felt awkward. I should also mention that I think it’s a joke that Len would mark down Melissa for her “choice of style” but would still give a 10 to Gilles who had much less dancing (see Carrie Anna and Bruno’s comments).
Melissa Rycroft – I still wonder if it was a strategy for Melissa to wear 2 bikinis for her routine or if it was just coincidence. She did look pretty stunning. She did look a little awkward at a couple times in her Paso Doble. So, I think the scoring was accurate for her Paso.
I really enjoyed Melissa’s freestyle. It was occasionally disjointed, but unlike Len I really loved that she incorporated her cheerleading moves into the dance. It shows her versatility which is what I think freestyle should be all about. It’s just shameful that Len would mark down her score just because he didn’t like that style of dancing. Lesson for all those doing a freestyle in the future: add in at least some ballroom or get marked down by Len.
Watch tomorrow for me to post my final Dancing with the Stars power rankings.