The Pros and Cons of the DWTS Pros – The Chelsie and Edyta Edition
This is a part of the Pros and Cons of the DWTS pros Series. You can check out all the posts in this series here.
Chelsie Hightower
John: How can someone not like Chelsie? She’s sweet and kind and a fantastic dancer. Yes, I have a thing for blondes, but seriously she’s just a likable person. Plus, it’s been fun to see her grow into a woman. Ok, she might need a couple more years to fully make it there, but she’s certainly grown from the baby faced little girl that first started dancing on Dancing with the Stars to the woman that she is today. I think for myself (and likely many others) Chelsie really took off when she was able to transform Ty Murray into the dancer that he became. I think many other pros would have given up and Ty’s growth would have stagnated. Instead, Chelsie kept on doing her thing and Ty stole the hearts of so many people. It will be interesting to see how she does with Michael Bolton. Having a much older man will be quite a change from what Chelsie’s done in the past. Chelsie also deserves credit for her epic Paso Doble with Derek and Mark Ballas on guitar. Plus, for those of you who don’t follow So You Think You Can Dance like I do, Chelsie and Mark’s performance of Bleeding Love on SYTYCD is a must see Chelsie moment. About 1:37 into that video, Chelsie has one of my favorite dance moments ever when the dancing just takes over the moment. Dances like this make me really want Chelsie to make the final 3 so I could see what type of freestyle she would create.
Marianya: Like Dmitry, Chelsie’s from SYTYCD first… as thus they will always have a piece of my affection. But unlike Dmitry, Chelsie was able to breathe through her dancing and not just ballroom mind you, but everything. She’s able to translate that into DWTS, taking her celebs and teaching them not just how to dance but how to breathe into the dancing. She takes what she has and doesn’t disguise it, she pulls and tugs at it and watches her celebs just grow. Granted had it not been for Ty Murray as her first partner she might not have the praise she has had thus far… but then again look at her pro pieces she lives in the dance and has had amazing connection with not only the Derek/Mark acoustic guitar Paso Doble mentioned by John… but with Damian later on that same season. She might be young and a very girl next door… but she doesn’t go into overtly sexy nor is she modest. To me despite her youth she’s a strong overall package and she’s only beginning to scrape the extents of what she could do… Every season I hope that she would be matched with a celeb that have the potential to make it to the freestyle round if only so the wider America audience could see what us SYTYCD fans have known for a long time.
Heidi: While I really like Chelsie, I don’t think she’s quite the phenom you all make her out to be. 🙂 She’s very, very good though. I would not be at all surprised to see another acoustic dance with Derek and Chelsie, possibly with Mark and Cheryl thrown in this time (like I think it was originally conceived by Derek). Why? Because that dance was a killer, it was nominated for an Emmy (and you know the producers love that) and Derek and Chelsie make a pair that the producers seem to love. Two blonds. Why they seem a tad fixated on that, I don’t know. Chelsie is certainly an able replacement for Julianne – I could hardly distinguish between the two during that pro dance to “Let is Rock” and that’s really saying something. What I really loved about her LAST season was that she didn’t allow herself to be bullied by Jake, yet she didn’t turn bitch on him either. That’s quite a talent. She is also very different from all the other pro females – not overtly sexy, but not quite the tomboy. Her manner with her celebs is fairly even – have we ever seen her pull out the tears? Or is my memory correct and she’s the most laid back of the women??
Courtney: I think your memory is correct, Heidi – Chelsie is just that laid back, and is seemingly unflappable in terms of emotion. I wish I had her sense of calm when dealing with some of my coworkers! We saw it on SYTYCD (and John, I agree about Bleeding Love, but my favorite from her is still her “Beautiful” Mia Michaels routine :-D), and we continue to see it on DWTS. I think that’s what I love most about Chelsie: her personality. She’s comfortable being sexy and womanly, but can still hang with the boys. While I agree she’s been able to pull some stuff out of not only Ty, but Louis & Jake as well (her A. Tango with Louis is still one of my favorite routines), I have often complained that I find her choreography (especially her jives) to be a bit generic from time to time – her jive for Louis felt like a recycled version of her jive for Ty for me, and neither was particularly different step-wise than her jive with Jake. Maybe she just needs a little longer on the show to really grow – who knows. But I know what Heidi’s talking about when she says that Chelsie seamlessly filled the gap left by Julianne – I am constantly wowed by her lifting prowess in the pro dances. She was STUNNING in the “She’s Like the Wind” portion of the Swayze tribute, and her pro dance with Damian this season just blew me away. That little blonde thing gets thrown around like a ragdoll and makes it look graceful!
John: Thanks for reminding me about the Beautiful routine by Chelsie. It illustrates so well how Chelsie has a way to get into the dance and you can feel the dance and music coming through her. It’s beautiful to watch. I agree that she can be sexy and womanly, but still hang out with the boys. Although, I’ve been trying to forget the segments from SYTYCD that talk about her liking to burp all the time. Some guys like that. I’m just not one of them.
Marianya: It’s not just that Chelsie could be sexy and womanly, and be one of the guys, but she still has that girl next door look… So in reality she one heck of a chameleon. I still remember the finale dance in Season 9 that she did with Louie to Donny Osmond singing Puppy Love and thinking just how adorable those two were. So it’s going to be really interesting to see how she plays up to Michael Bolton. Could she still be sexy and womanly without people going, “but the age difference!” and gakking all over the place.
Edyta Sliwinska
John: I’m still going through a bit of denial when it comes to Edyta. I certainly respect that it’s her life and her choice to continue doing Dancing with the Stars or not, but I’m still in denial that it’s actually what she chose to do. Although, I’m not really blaming her either. I’m mostly angry with the producers for not coughing up enough money so she had no choice but to come back, but I digress. Edyta is just something special. First, she’s gotten arguably the WORST partners on Dancing with the Stars. Sure she’s had some average partners, but she’s also been on a zillion seasons of Dancing with the Stars. You’d just think that one of those times they’d give her a reasonable partner. I guess it’s hard for me to comment too much on her choreography or ability to teach her partners. She’s probably middle of the road on both of these, but it really doesn’t matter to me. Edyta could just slowly walk around the dance floor with her partner and I’d love her just the same. In case you’re missing her too, a Google Images search for Edyta Sliwinska pays a nice homage to her.
Marianya: The mere fact that Edyta was on for ten seasons straight says something about her in regards to the producers. She brings in an audience… most likely of the male persuasion and keeps them fixated on her, even for a moment of their time. She has an amazing body, no doubt and she keeps it in check. She enjoys dancing and loves dancing with her husband… but then, how is it that after ten seasons the closest that she has never won? She went so far as second place in the season that Kristi (arguably the biggest ringer of them all) won, and third place with Joey Lawrence in a season with Emmitt Smith and Mario Lopez? Granted in the first six seasons she place sixth and above… but the last four the luck pool was running a bit thin. It would seem that in seasons that she received a celeb with potential, happens to be in the same season where there are ringers up the wazoo. What a way to kill motivation producers, no wonder she would want to walk away and try something new… hell a lot of people would. But it isn’t just the celebs that she has had, she is featured on a lot of DWTS advertising and pro dances. Anyway, I’m ranting so I’ll stop. She’s an amazing dancer all around and not in any one particular field. She doesn’t fail to disappoint, she pushes her celebs, but doesn’t overly push them either. She does sometimes put on the whole, “I’m a Pro” like others, but it works and it balances out in her sessions I would think. Granted her being good eye candy would help too wouldn’t it? In her one freestyle, it wasn’t bad… but the choreography lacked spark and wow despite it being fun… Nevertheless maybe she needs this season to really take a break to recharge her batteries… and if she comes back the producers better give her the due she deserves and STAT!!!
Heidi: Are you both on crack? 🙂 I love Edyta. I have no gripes with her and I see nothing wrong with her dancing or how she is with the celebs she’s handed. But I think you’re missing a couple key factors. If they were to respond to a request for more money, they’d have to give more money to all the pros – because like it or not she’s not the most popular (not even in the Top 5), she’s just the most reliable. If she were truly popular, they WOULD give her a great partner once in a while so she would stick around. Maybe that’s the problem – she’s always been there for them and she was starting to be taken for granted. Ten seasons in a row? They probably figured they could give her anyone, have the hot chick around for a few weeks and she’d be back for more the next season. I think she’s an amazing dancer with an amazing body – but don’t put her in a group pro dance because she is never in sync with the rest of the group. I can always pick her out because she’s usually a beat behind. I think the most likely explanation is the one that Mark gave – she’s smart enough to know she’s not getting any younger and she wants to expand her horizons and/or have children with Alec. Occam’s Razor.
Courtney: Echoing everyone above’s sentiments, I too love Edyta and will miss her quite a bit. I have to give her props for sticking around for 10 seasons – especially when she was handed some real stinkers as partners for many of those seasons. The few good ones she had (Joey, Cameron, & Jason) she really brought the best out of; I guess I just wish she had managed to make something more out of the less talented ones. I’m one of those that’s of the opinion that a truly great pro can make even a crappy celeb a decent dancer, given enough effort. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t get a bit bored with Edyta’s choreography the past few seasons – then again, with as long as she was on the show, I would think you’d start to run out of truly “fresh” ideas, and the poor girl was likely suffering from a major case of burnout. I’m hoping they at least offer to bring her back for a pro dance or two (doubtful, if the split from the show was as acrimonious as we’re being led to believe), because she & Alec were wonderful to watch together – and Edyta is the only one that seems to come close to Karina in terms of precision & range of motion in her movement. And John – believe you me, whenever I need motivation to go to the gym or to resist eating junk food, I just google Edyta…the woman has the most beautiful body of any of the female pros on the show, current or former. Once things calm down at work, I’m planning on getting a personal trainer, and I plan on printing off one of the pix from Edyta’s Maxim shoot and telling him “This is what I want to look like.” 😉
Marianya: How that woman keeps a body like that is beyond me. Courtney, you’re right that there’s a distinct feel of recycling lately… but she hasn’t had as many “less talented partners” as we all think, I believe she’s had all of three really bad ones, a good number that were middle of the road, and three really strong ones (I’m going to have to recheck my stats at home), so she’s had an even balance I think. I think though it’s kind of unfair that the celebs that she had done really well with were up against bigger ringers on that same season… so who knows what’s really going on?
Round Up
Chelsie Hightower:
John: Please let me see her freestyle!!
Marianya: Amazing budding talent… hope she’s around for a long time.
Heidi: I want another accoustic dance with Derek, please.
Courtney: Looking forward to seeing her continue to grow. More pro dances, pleeeeeze 😀
Edyta Sliwinska:
John: Let me say it three times: Sexy, Sexy, Sexy!!!
Marianya: I agree that she needs a break, but she needed a good partner to keep her motivated! Way to screw with the pros producers!
Heidi: I really like her a lot – but I’m not opening a vein. 🙂
Courtney: Bon voyage, Edyta – it’s been a fun ride and you will be missed. But onto bigger & better things for both of us…I will have a body like yours by this time next year! 😀
We may want to consider having a pic like that of Edyta appear on every post. That’s what I’m talking about!!
LOL to John^^
Wow, great edition once again Guys!!! My thoughts on Chelsie is that she’s just been so-so….nothing to write home about. She’s ok. I can see what you mean about “the girl next door” quality. She has “Star” quality too. I see a lot of potential there. It will be interesting to see how she grows.
As for Edyta, she’s my ultimate favorite female pro (along with Anna). She carries a European elegance to her that all the other dancers lack (with an exception to Anna). It’s a magic and quality much like what the Russian Ice Skaters have. It can’t be explained and nor can it be taught. It’s just something you are born with. I loved her LONG hair too and how it moved with her while she was dancing. Just gorgeous. And she was sweet too….and genuine. A super good person. I’m going to miss her a lot. I hope in some way she returns if not just for the pro dances.
Thanks agian. This is fun!
John, I think you hit the reason why Edyta has been on every season. Her body is almost always the one used for DWTS graphics. Her and Alec are beautiful.
The problem with Edyta however is the Eastern Block mentality. Do a move 3 times instead of one to fill in the spaces. They just don’t have the choreography creativity that is craved by North American audiences. Edyta stretched and danced her way around her partners but rarely has engaged them
as partners.
Where there’s that odd disconnect between Edyta and her partners, Chelsie seems to bring them into her world. I first spotted Chels on So you think you can dance and I knew she would be perfect for dwts.
What I love about her is she takes her dancing very seriously, but she doesn’t take herself seriously.
Some of my favorite dances of Chelsie on SYTYCD involved Mark Kanemura, who was a quirky guy, but her strength made him believable in Ballroom. She made Ballroom on that show accessible, so it would be a no-brainer for this show. She is studied in other styles, including contemporary so yes, she can float in the air effortlessly because of her other training that compliments ballroom so well.
And she’s got great precision legs for dance.
The other thing that I love about Chelsie is she’s a ten dancer, and you can witness her strength in Ballroom equally as with Latin. Ty Murray got a great teacher, and he did well in the Ballroom section because she had the base knowledge to make it happen. Some of the other pros would not have got him that far. He got there on the strength of his standard dances.
The show needs more like Chelsie…well rounded and well versed in dance styles that make sense for the show.
I love Chelsie and am glad to read the positive things written about her here. She’s got a sweet personality, and she can dance! I do wish they’d give her better partners because I want to see her get into the finals.
In regards to Edyta, I have mixed feelings. I liked her the season she danced with Jason Taylor and think they should have won, but other than that, I’ve found her work just meh. She’s not the best choreographer, and when you see her next to the other pros, she does fall short. She dances like a dream with Alec though.
I’ve heard there was more to her leaving than her wanting to have a baby and go to school. Those stories don’t put her in a good light, but I don’t know if they are true. I hope everything’s right with her and that she’s healthy in whatever she decides to do next.
WOW! I loved this.
Andie,
So, you’re telling me that Edyta was choreographing? Interesting. I never seemed to notice what she was doing. I guess I didn’t care;-)
< / sarcasm>
Great post!
I like Cheslie and she is sure becoming a favorite pro on DWTS. I agree she is like the girl next door. She sure has fit into the role that Julianne left vacant. I have to say I would love for her to have a partner that she can get to the finals with and see what she can come up with. She is talented and well grounded.
In regards to Edyta, she is not my favorite pro, but I have high regards for her for sticking it out for 10 seasons. I have to agree that I think it was time for her to have a break. It is a shame that after 10 seasons she never won a season but looking back I was always bored with her choreography.
Great post again to all! Chelsie is my favorite female pro. I just love that little girl! IMO, she’s stunningly beautiful and has legs like no others! I normally don’t tend to find blondes as attractive as brunettes but she’s the exception. As gorgeous as she is, her personality far outshines her physical perfection. She’s a lovely girl, who NEVER takes herself too seriously and I was more than proud of her when she stood her ground with that cad Jake! How DARE he question her decisions and tell her what “they” will and will not do in their routines. She’s the boss and she told him so in a very respectful but firm way and I was really impressed that she had the fortitude to not back down and react like a 20 year old in that moment, she rose to the occasion and made all of her fans proud! I think the combination of she and Ty really worked like no other two have since. He was so understatedly funny and since she’s such a tom-boy their personalities just melded so well but when the time came for them to turn it on, they did so in such a charming way! I loved them together. She is a lovely replacement for Julianne, I think the show did great casting her when they did, otherwise I’m sure we’d all be missing Julianne so much more!
As for Edyta; I equate Edyta with Tony, good people, good dancers but just kind of ho-hum. However, this past season I really started to take a shine to her sweet, warm personality and I honestly am bummed she’s not going to be on the show this time around (I’m still holding onto hope that she’ll come back some day). Getting to see more of her personality made me like her and connect to her so much more. I will definitely miss her! And I know many men out there will miss her “creative costuming” a whole lot this time around!
Joan,
Luckily I think we have Audrina Patridge this season to help ease the pain of Edyta’s missing costumes.
LOL at the creative costuming. I don’t know if this is just wishful gossip by some guys or a smidgen of truth, but I heard a few seasons back that Edyta is a nudist, and finds clothes very uncomfortable.
Some of the other pros jokingly call her Nudeyta, so hey her contribution to the show will be a loss! And I agree, she does have a very sweet personality.
I like them both for different reasons. I think Chelsie is a great teacher, compared to other pros close to her age. She seems to push them but also try not to lose the fun aspect of it. (minus Jake, but I heard he was a diva backstage) She definitely brings out something in all her partners that I didn’t think was there. She also doesn’t get the best pick in partners, but she does the best with what she has and we see a different side to all her celebs (minus Jake) Honestly, I thought Ty and Louie would be very early casualties, but she made them both really likable.
Edyta is extremely patient and overall a very nice lady. I actually think she’s one of the much shyer pro dancers but that quality just makes her more lovable since she turns on this sexual energy but can still be somewhat classy (costume choices have been iffy in the past). I will say the only thing that irritates me is something quite small. Anytime she does standard and has a celebrity that is capable of dancing well, she has them do this hold their arm in hold position when doing pivots, and it looks so taught and robotic. I don’t know if anyone understands, but it happened with Joey, Cameron, and Jason. I wish she would change it or something to make their arm look more natural going into pivots and stuff.
Edyta knows standard but isn’t a specialist in standard so the arms especially give the latin specialists away. They never seem to be as fluid, it the one thing that is distracting about Latin specialists. The holds do tend to be stiff because the spanish lines are angular, not lyrical.
this is a really fun series. glad you guys are doing it. here are some thoughts:
chelsie — i think she was given more of a ‘tomboy’ role on sytycd and isn’t given the same edit on dwts, i guess so she can be julianne 2, which she is good at. thanks for reminding me of her routine with damien. i thought it was great. reminded me of how good he is more than her, but i do tend to look at the men more… 😉 i think she’s done surprisingly good things with average partners. her samba with ty was really cute, and almost everything with louie was great (except the 2 step).
edyta — she’s pretty and seems really nice, but i find her a little boring. i like the legwarmers though.
tony — i’m not sure why people say he is moody. he seems sweet most of the time, except that he disagrees with carrie ann at times. he does seem to do a more standard, ordinary choreography. it doesn’t work as well for the show, but i like it and wish people were more open to something slightly less flashy. he tends to be very friendly and talkative with the media. i see him as a nice family guy, who likes to show off his body and ballroom outfits.
dmitry — i think he’s a little boring and doesn’t always make good choices. i think he was a better fit on sytycd and hasn’t fully transitioned yet, even though he’s had time. he and mya were equally pretty and dull, but he seems nice i guess.
I’m probably going to go against what everyone else feels about Chelsie, and say that I think she is about at the same level teaching as everyone else on the show. I DON’T THINK it was Chelsie’s TEACHING that got her and Ty into the semi-finals, but Ty’s PERSONALITY that everyone grabbed hold of and fell in love with on week 1. I thought he plateaued a few weeks before they were eliminated, he’d reached the point where he just wasn’t going to learn anything more. And Louis, it was the same thing….His personality, combined with the “Cute Couple of the Season” had them in a bit longer, and not how much she was able to teach him. Now, with Jake, I DO think she was coming into her own, and showing that she really can teach, because I don’t think it was Jake’s personality that was keeping them in this time. Still, she’s not my favorite pro, and she’s not a replacement, like some people have mentioned, she’s CHELSIE, and needs to fill HER spot, not someone else’s.
And Edyta…. I do think she needed a break, and I didn’t really care much for her choreography and teaching for the last few seasons, it just felt tired, and it felt like she was given a spot BECAUSE she was the only pro in every season, but there was other pros that DID and SHOULD have had a spot, over Edyta. I’d like to see Inna come back, I don’t think she was given a fair shot.
Lori, with all due respect, Ty was better in the standard section than the Latin section, and Chelsie was able to be a BETTER partner than most Latin specialists are when it comes to standard dances.
When the pro looks better, the celebrity will follow. He’s been so beat up in the body that he had absolutely no hip action, so he couldn’t do Latin…but his standard section was good. In fact, watch back the Team Tango. Ty was the only one who didn’t screw it up, and having a Ten Dancer help him through it is why.
You won’t get any argument from me, Lori. 🙂 I do agree that Chelsie and Ty (and Louie) lasted longer than they should have for reasons other than dancing – but, that’s part of the show. 🙂
Chelsie’s not really my cup of tea, (I’m not really into cute and bubbly, and I wasn’t crazy about Julianne for the same reason) and I’m in agreement with those who have said that Louis’ and Ty’s personality had more to do with how long they stayed on the show than how great she was as a teacher. BUT I loved her for the way she handled Jake, and it defintely made me more open to watching her in the future. I think she hit just the right note with him. She wasn’t going to let him push her around, but she still kept things polite and professional. Then later, when she was given a chance to get back at him a little (when she was asked about his break-up with Vienna) she took the high road again. To me, this shows she’s a smart woman with a good head on her shoulders, and she has qualities that will help her to be successful in whatever she decides to do in life.
As for Edyta, I just love her. I know her choreography wasn’t always the most dazzling, but I think she had a sweet, calm presence on the show. The fact that she was on the show for ten seasons and you almost never see anyone that just hates her is pretty amazing. I really wish her the best in whatever she decides to do with herself.
Chelsie’s ability is getting short changed here.
Season 8 with Ty Murray, he had the lowest latin score after week 1, but improved 10 fold when he came out and executed a decent Quickstep. It was actually pretty astonishing. That was far more than personality, there were proper dance steps, proper runs and good dance postion happening. Unless he pulled out a decent standard dance week two he was definitely going to be on the chopping block. It wasn’t until after that strong showing that you got the fans really pulling for him because of his great improvement. A celebrity just doesn’t do that without a lot of help.
I don’t think Edyta, in her wildest dreams could turn around Aiden Turner, who for all intents and purposes was about as talented as Ty in dancing. In fact she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t turn that embarrasment of a Cha Cha around and bring a decent Foxtrot into the mix. And why? because even though she has a knowledge of standard, she doesn’t bring an expertise that can instantly spot the problems and can correct them. The brass was bitterly disappointed in Edyta, because Aiden needed the promotion. He was not being picked up by All My Children and needed to stay on camera for other show considerations.
It’s like when Julianne and Helio danced. When they Tango’d she completely missed that HE missed the heel leads all the way through the piece. And why? because she didn’t look for it.
I love Chelsie, she is an amazing person who is still trying to find out who she is and that is okay because she is young. I like being able to see her journey. She has already grown so much since we first saw her on SYTYCD. She partners so well, first with Mark and then her celeb partners Ty and Louie. It was unfortunate that Jake wanted to go the diva route, she could have taken him farther had he of gotten rid of the “it is all about me” attitude.
I likely wouldn’t have voted so much for Ty had they of not had such an enjoyable relationship. Sure, he was no dancer but my side would hurt so much from laughing during their rehearsal footage. Louie tried so hard but stumbled around a little too much. It was also very unfortunate that they got the Country-two-step which would probably be better suited for a female celebrity since that dance is all about showing off your woman lol.
From what I can tell, Michael and Chelsie already have a fantastic partnership already. They’ve been traveling a lot and doing their rehearsals whenever they can, Michael seems commited but still having fun with it.
I love Chelsie, I think she’s the most adorable one, she’s an amazing dancer and a great teacher, she was able to turn Ty Murray in a dancer, I couldn’t believe it. I liked Julianne, but I think I like Chelsie even more in the bubbly girl next door spot.
As for Edyta, Ok she has a great body and seems a very sweet girl, but I never enjoyed any of her choreographies. She’s a very good dancer, and at each results show I hoped to see her dancing with Alec, because they are so beautiful together but with her partners, all I could see was her, dancing around them without implicating them in the dance.