DWTS12 – What’s Left to Dance?
Six weeks down, four to go…are you guys as shocked as I am that this season is more than halfway over??? Seems like only yesterday that Mike was pelvic thrusting & Irish jigging his way out the door…;-)
We’ve got 3 weeks of regular competition left, and then the finale week. The next few weeks are going to be crucial in helping to determine who makes it all the way to the finale and who doesn’t – and as we’ve seen, if someone has just one off-week, it can mean curtains for them during a season where there’s so many fan favorites. So what can we expect to see?
Each couple has 4 dances left to learn (a random combo of Latin & ballroom dances), as well as the team cha-cha next week and possibly the Argentine tango (I’ll get to that later). Starting next week, the remaining couples will have to start doing 2 dances per week , which is what usually separates the “men from the boys”, so to speak. Usually it’s one ballrom and one Latin per week, although I’m not sure how that’s going to work out since Ralph & Hines only have one Latin dance left to do. Lord knows this season is just wacky 
Hines & Kym – remaining dances: jive, waltz, tango, foxtrot
A decent “mixed bag” left for Hines – I have a feeling he’ll do well in the slow waltz, foxtrot, and tango (since he seems to do well with slow, romantic dances and fast, aggressive ones), but I could see him struggling a bit with the jive, since he hasn’t really had a “silly” dance yet. Then again, I said the same thing about Warren not doing well with the jive, and his ended up being one of my favorites
Kirstie & Maks – remaining dances: paso doble, jive, Viennese waltz, tango
To quote Evaine earlier, I’m going to go ahead and point out the proverbial “elephant in the room” – I’m not sure how well Kirstie is going to handle the jive, and I have to wonder if they’re saving it for last in order to allow her to build up her stamina. Poor Kirstie still seemed incredibly winded 5 minutes after her samba the other night – I can’t imagine what she’s gonna be like after a jive! Of the remaining dances, I think it could definitely be her Achilles’ heel. She’ll probably have a lot of fun “sexing up” her tango & paso doble, and barring any additional shoe malfunctions, I think she’ll have a decent Viennese waltz, too.
Romeo & Chelsie – remaining dances: jive, samba, Viennese waltz, tango
Romeo has definitely proven that he excels more at the ballroom dances than the Latin ones, so I don’t anticipate him having any issues with the Viennese waltz or tango. He may not be as technically good at the jive, but I think he enjoyed being a bit cheeky in his foxtrot, so he’ll likely inject a lot of character into his jive to make up for any iffy technique. The samba? Oy. I always worry when a couple gets the samba later in the competition rather than earlier – since it’s such a technically hard dance, it could potentially prevent them from making it to the finale, if they’re up against couples with easier dances.
Ralph & Karina – remaining dances: cha-cha, Viennese waltz, tango, quickstep
Of all the remaining contestants, I think Ralph has the best group of dances heading into these last few weeks. He’s gotten 4 of the 5 Latin dances (which he tends to struggle with) out of the way already, and he actually gets a sort of “practice round” with the team cha-cha next week before he does it again on his own. And Ralph is VERY strong in the ballroom dances – after several “off” weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back at the top of the leaderboard with one of the ballroom dances above. As long as he & Karina can avoid any further mishaps, I would say he’s good for at least the semi final, and possibly the final, at this point.
Chelsea & Mark – remaining dances: rumba, paso doble, waltz, tango
Hmmm…Chelsea’s got 2 rather aggressive dances left: paso doble & tango. I’m just not sure how well she’s gonna be able to embody that, since she always seems to be smiling No doubt she’s got the dance skills – let’s just hope Mark can give her some good, non-rule-breaking choreo for the dances she has left, because at this point, I don’t know that the judges are going to be so forgiving of “risk-taking” choreography. One ho-hum score from some disgruntled judges could mean the difference between staying & going.
Kendra & Louis – jive, paso doble, waltz, tango
Hehehe…oh boy. Kendra’s got her work cut out for her Honestly, of the dances she has left – I’m not sure there’s any that she’s really going to do remarkably well at. She’s shown that she’s not exactly adept at (or fond of) the ballroom dances, and she only seems to do halfway well at Latin dances where she can “shake it”. No really good “shake it” dances left – and I could see her trying to bounce around in the jive, but it looking kinda awkward…with her ample bosom doing most of the bouncing instead. Luckily for us, I don’t think she’s going to be able to last through next week, so we likely won’t have to suffer through any of the potential awkwardness of her attempting more than one of these dances.
So what’s going on with the team cha-cha? It’s next week, and it looks like the teams are Hines, Kirstie, & Kendra vs. Romeo, Chelsea, & Ralph. I would say that youth & higher cha-cha scores tips the scales in favor of the Romeo-Chelsea-Ralph team, but I think the Hines-Kirstie-Kendra team has probably got the better choreographers. Could be a pretty even match-up…but we’ll save further discussion for Heidi’s “Who’s Dancing What?” post on Sunday :-) Maks tweeted something ambiguous last night about “In Your Arms”, which has got some people wondering if his team got Kylie Minogue’s “In Your Arms” as their song. I would say that everyone is also going to do one unlearned ballroom dance next week, but apparently Chelsea & Mark have already said they’re doing the paso doble and Romeo & Chelsie said they’ve got the samba, so who knows. And the wackiness of season 12 continues. *sigh*
What about the marathon dance? Sorry to disappoint, kids, but my spidey sense is telling me there probably isn’t going to be one this season. The marathon dance is usually done when 7 couples remain, which would have been this week, but it looks like the “Broadway” (WTF?) marathon that was planned at the beginning of the season was scrapped without explanation by TPTB. Why? Evaine & I theorize (and mind you, this is complete speculation on our parts, so take it with a grain of salt) that maybe they were waiting to see if Kirstie’s endurance increased during the season to see if she could handle a marathan dance. Judging from her breathlessness post-samba this week – I’d say she probably couldn’t. So the marathon dance was scrapped, and Hanson was mysteriously added to the roster of musical guests at the last minute to fill up the time that would have been allotted for the marathon dance. For those of you still holding out hope for one – there really isn’t much point in doing one with 5 people or less, so you might want to just save your enthusiasm for next season 
When are they gonna do the Argentine tango??? I haven’t heard anything official saying whether or not they’re going to do it this season, and if so, when they’re going to do it – but I think it would be a very dumb move of them to scrap one of the most popular dances with viewers. Looking at the dances that are left and the time left to do them in, it looks like they are still one dance short, if they’re going to have the couples doing 2 dances per week. Since no one has done the Argentine tango yet, it would make sense to me that they’d probably have everyone do it the same week – maybe in a relay or “smackdown” fashion, as they’ve done in seasons past, with everyone doing a short routine, one at a time, back-to-back, to the same song. Not exactly the intimate feel I like my Argentine tangos to have, but if it’s the only way I can take it, cool. Keep in mind this is completely just Courtney speculating – this is not the official “word” on the fate of the A. tango. So just in case they do ix-nay it…I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Are they going to do the “Instant Dance” again? They said “yes”, at the beginning of the season, but then again, they also said “yes” about the marathon dance coming back…so once again, I’m not sure. It wouldn’t surprise me if they made one of the couples’ remaining dances an “instant” dance – most likely one of their remaining Latin dances – and if we’re basing it on historical data, it would probably be during week 8, as that is when it happened during season 11. That’s the best info I can give you…I’m sure we’ll hear more within the next week or so.
Alright, so there’s your overview of what you can expect (or not expect) during weeks 7-9. Who do you guys think has the edge heading into the last 3 weeks of the season? Who do you think could be in trouble? DISCUSS And be sure to stay tuned later today for the usual post-elimination media featuring Chris & Cheryl (gotta give Vogue some time to compile ), and further info on what dances we’re going to see next week in Heidi’s weekly “Who’s Dancing What?” post on Sunday! 
Great post, Courtney! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I really hope we get to see the A. Tango, thats my favorite dance!!
AT also requires lifts. The fat actress can’t be lifted, so cancel that. The fat actress can’t possibly learn and remember insta-dance, so cancel that too. Everything possible to give her the trophy. BLAH!
Great post, Courtney!
Like you, I really hope they do some Argentine Tango, it’s always one of my favorites and the fact that none of them have done it yet makes me think that if they are going to do it, it’s going to be a head-to-head type thing, with all the couples performing it the same night.
At this point, I definitely want two things. For Kendra to be gone this week and for Kirstie to make it to the finals. I would also like for Chelsea to make it to the finals, but if I only get two wishes, then I’m going with my first two.
I think it’s going to be a very interesting next 3 weeks. Oh, and gleaned from one of the paparazzi videos from last night and the celebs heading to practice – Kendra already has her excuse ready. She says she’s sore and Louis says that she’s buggered up her back. I’m really hoping that Hines and Kirstie’s charm and connection with the crowd will carry their team through the cha-cha, ’cause God knows, I don’t have much faith in Kendra.
Nice post! I was disappointed to see Chris go home with Kendra still around. I agree, with the dances she has left, relying on shaking her assets isn’t going to get her through.
Maddy, The Argentine Tango does not require lifts, it just allows them. Consider Gilles and Cheryl’s A. Tango in season 8, they didnt have one lift ” until she like laid over his knee at the end and kirstie could do that lol ” and got perfect tens and well deserved too, also Courtney cleary never said they were canceling the insta-dance. Please dont blame on Kirstie what is not her fault.
1.Kym Johnson had blogged earlier that she really wanted to do the Argentine Tango with Hines as that would be a great dance for him, very masculine with lifts. I think it’s on somewhere. Has to be. If Donny Osmond can ATango, Kirstie Alley must.
2. If these are the teams then YEAH!! I’m Team HineKym so very happy with that. Kirstie has the best technique on that dance, Hines is close to her and Kendra is there to redeem her first dance with new found “confidence”, hopefully in the footwork instead of the bootie. I think the other team will struggle a bit, Romeo’s hips aren’t always going the way he wants them, Chelsea’s hips are kinda stiff and well we know about Ralph.
3. I thought it was VERY telling last night from the judges that Romeo and Chelsea’s best dances weren’t the ones Carrie Ann gave a 10 to. They were far from a 10, but had to dig into the vault a bit for their better dances- Romeo’s Foxtrot and Chelsea’s Cha Cha….hmmm This Hines fan was very happy that Len was so enthusiastic about Hines’ VWaltz…I think Len knows on playback it was much better, (and not flatfooted) than what he gave him credit for
I heard that Kirstie has Jive & Kendra has Tango.
Maks made a comment awhile back that Kirstie picks up choreography quickly so I’m sure she’d be just fne in the instant dance especially given what she has already dealt with on the ballroom floor. In fact, I think her poise & performance might give her advantage over some others so bring on the instant dance! ; )
Glad you all are enjoying it
I really kind of enjoyed writing it – a lot can be said about the dances that are left.
I agree Peach – Kendra & Louis may be patting themselves on the back for making it through yet again, but there are no other weak dancers left now and she’s got nothing but tough dances ahead of her. Boohoo on her sore back – everyone is sore. Mark danced on a rolled ankle. I’m done with her excuses.
@Maddy – Well I don’t think you can really rule AT out because of Kirstie not being able to be lifted – both Mark & Derek have managed to choreograph AT’s with zero or minimal lifting. Go rewatch Derek & Jennifer and Mark & Bristol’s AT’s from last season – it’s indeed possible to choreograph a good routine without a bunch of crazy lifts. Lifts are OPTIONAL in AT – not required.
@Evaine – I’m thinking that the team cha-chas are probably going to come out pretty even – and even if there’s a bit of a points spread between them, since there’s more points being given out overall, it’s not going to make as big of an impact. I’m putting my faith in the voters next week – I think justice will prevail
I get chills even just thinking about Gilles’ AT. My all time favorite dance, probably. But yeah, lifts are definitely not required – although I have to admit I had that same thought about Kirstie as well (however maybe they are saving it for a big dance-off, as suggested). I certainly hope so!
Kirstie is definitely going to need stamina for the jive. But I am sure Maks will choreograph it in such a way that will use her strengths. That is one difficult dance. I loved Dereks jives with Nicole and Jennifer. He is the master of the jive (just watch his jive with Julianne), awesome!
It was great last night on the results show, seeing all the past winners, Jennifer, Donny and Drew. I hope they all show up on the finale, at least in the audience. By the way in interviews, Jennifer mentioned how much she misses dancing and Derek Hough. I really hope she does something with her dance ability again, whether it be a movie or series! she was great!
Maks was more than thrilled about having Cha Cha as the Team Dance, since it’s the one Kirstie doesn’t even need to think about. If she’s got Jive, stamina will be the issue, but Kirstie’s footwork will be strong on this one, she’s a gal who is better on the latin than the ballroom IMO, the opposite of Ralph. As long as she keeps her shoes on she’s a hero.
Awesome post Courtney. I am loving this!!!! I hope they do the Argentine tango as well at some point. It’s always my favorite dance!!!
Gawd, posts like this get me so pumped. How am I going to wait until next week? It’s going to seem like forever! *CRIES*
The A tango is my favorite also…loved Gilles, Evan’s and Joanna with Maks… hope the producers leave it in. I think Kirstie will do well…
@maddy; I am tired of people calling her “That Fat Actress”
I give her mountains of credit for going out there and doing what she does; I know I couldn’t. Maks lifted her in a previous routine and did not seem to bother him.
Also, don’t forget the Cheesecake Awards….
I love the Argentine Tango and I can’t believe I didn’t realize that they hadn’t done it yet until I read this post! If they don’t do it or the instant dance, would that mean the couples would do a redemption dance in the semi-finals like they used to? I don’t know what that would leave for the finale though, except for the freestyle.
What about the Mambo? We usually see it on the show.
Hines should do very well with the Waltz and Foxtrot. Choreography will be critical for the jive. Hines can do it but he needs the focus to be on his personality. Tango goes against his strength, his personality, but he has a good connection with Kym. Question is can he smolder?
Kirstie should be fine with the Viennese Waltz. If the poster above is right and she does the Jive this Monday, it’ll get a landmine out of the way. Paso and Tango should be ok since she seems to be able to get the character of the dances.
Romeo should do well with the Viennese Waltz. He has shown a great ability to connect with Chelsie in the ballroom dances. Jive and Samba are real question marks. Romeo seems very serious all the time. So can he be playful, shameless and have fun? Tango will be an interesting stretch for him but I think he can do it.
Ralph does well with ballroom, so the Viennese Waltz & Quickstep should be good dances for him as long as they give them reasonable music. I thought he had trouble conveying sensuality in the Rumba, so the Tango may be tough. I think Karina can choreograph the cha-cha well — if they give her reasonable music to work with.
Chelsea is a question mark across the board. Mark has put the attention on himself in all the dances so far, so it’s tough to say. I’m not sure Chelsea will be comfortable with the sexuality of the rumba and tango. She seems much too sweet to do well in the Paso but I think Mark can choreograph that one to cover it up. Mark doesn’t seem to be able to convey romance, so I’m not sure how the waltz will go.
I don’t see anything that I expect Kendra to do well. Her best will probably be the Paso since she can march around looking angry.
Kendra’s the only one left who isn’t a real contender for the final. Of course, last season should not be forgotten… I think Hines has the fanbase and the dances to be in the final three. I want Kirstie and either Ralph or Romeo to join Hines in the final three. But if Mark would tone down his ego and showcase his partner, Chelsea could easily make it to the final three.
I’ll predict Hines as one of the finalists but Kirstie, Romeo, Ralph and Chelsea need their pros to bring great choreography so the contestants can shine in their performances. I think an off night could bounce any of them out of the competition.
I was getting nervous about no Argentine Tango, but I mean I guess I would rather have it later than earlier in the competition because then there’s more interesting choreography and less bad dancers besmirching my favorite dance
haha but hopefully if they do the back to back thing like you said, Court, they keep it traditional and don’t do anything like *shiver* “Jai-Ho”
I think Hines can smolder
We saw intensity on imo the underscored Paso Doble, and Kym wants to do Argentine Tango with him which makes me think she’ll pull out something as good as what she did with Donny. Donny did very few well placed lifts, Hines can do more dramatic ones due to his strength but the connection is key. He’s going to need bring that macho personality out which isn’t natural for him, but as long as he makes it about her it seems to work. My favorite thing about Hines in watching him dance is his partnering skill, it’s effortless, there is no telegraphing of a trick. I think that’s where Kym feels she’s dancing with a pro, it’s not the footwork or the dance ability necessarily, it’s the ability to just be so secure in partnering. I can’t wait to see a Freestyle and I really hope he’s there. As for the Jive, again I looked at her blog and she said quite early on this is something he likes to dance so it’s going to be the smiling buddha on that one.
@Katy – The cheesecake is coming; it’s just probably going to be late again this week, since Heidi is out-of-town. Stay tuned
@Kelsey – The redemption dance is usually done on the first night of finale week, along with the freestyle. I’m guessing this is kinda how the schedule is going to go:
Week 7 (this week): 1 unlearned dance & team cha-cha
Week 8: 1 unlearned ballroom dance & instant choreography Latin dance
Week 9: Final unlearned dance & Argentine tango smackdown
Week 10: night 1 – redemption dance & freestyle; night 2 – favorite dance & one additional dance (?)
Just me guessing, but it would fit the remaining dances well.
@Amanda – The mambo/salsa has not been seen since season 9 – we have no idea why. My only guess is that they had “too many dances” and decided the mambo wasn’t popular enough. It sucks
However, I have noticed the pros have snuck a little bit of mambo into their other dances this season – Cheryl & Chris did a little bit of it in their cha-cha, and I caught Maks & Kirstie doing a few mambo steps in their samba this past week, which is kinda cool.
@Mandy – Yeah, if they’re doing it relay/smackdown style, they’re only gonna use one song, which reduces the possibility that they get a really sucktastic A. tango like “Jai Ho” or “Somebody to Love”.
I am thinking the Argentine Tango is going to be a dance that will be the week 9 dance that can make or break the finalists who are on the bubble. So for example I am thinking that after this week:
Hines might get Foxtrot and Jive, week 8 and then week 9: Waltz and the Argentine Tango.
I think Argentine Tango is going to be the token either Latin or Standard dance, depending on what the contestants have left. Since Argentine Tango is technically neither Latin or Standard it can be all the purpose filler. Also it’s the dance everyone wants to see. I don’t see this type of dance being the insta-dance, you need imo, something like a Mambo/Salsa which would be great or Jive, Rumba, or Cha Cha…something with repetitive movement, not something heavily choreographed.
I hope you are right about Kendra. She’s has got to go. I am suprised she is still there.
As for everyone else, I’ll be happy to see any of them in the finale.
Thanks for this Courtney. I love your break-down of the dances week to week in the comments also.
Maddy, did you have a bad day at the office or are you always this mean??? First of all, your reason for there being no Marathon Dance is pure speculation, as are your other comments. Second of all, you are bordering on being a bully with your choice of wording.
Thanks for the post, Heidi.
I miss salsa/mambo so badly… (as brazilian I’d love to see lambada again – btw derek’s was awaaaaaaaaaay better an more like the way we (used to) dance lambada here)
As a point, we can see that we have 6 dances left (not counting with favourite, redemption and freestyle) and just one latin dance to Hines and Daniel-san, which I think is gonna be used on instant dance… so, it’s 5 dances for them – 3 ballroom.
I’m guessing – as you – one is going to be a. tango. the other can be a “samba smackdown” or something like this… Am I counting right?
Did I say heidi? sorry… courtney, courtney! =p
@Carlos – Yes, there are a total of 6 potential dances left for each of the couples – I say potential since obviously not all the couples that are left are going to do all 6 of the remaining dances. They each have 4 regular dances (I think one of their unlearned Latin ones will probably end up being their “instant dance”), and 2 special dances – the team cha-cha, and what I’m guessing is some sort of relay or smackdown dance, which may or may not be Argentine tango. Not sure how you’re getting a total of 5 dances left for Ralph & Hines.
I was not counting with next week dances…
I favor the older team of Team Hines, Kirstie and Kendra. Kirstie was great on her cha-cha (best foot placement of the night) per Bruno. Hines is clean and crisp, and of course dont forget sparkly, and can move those hips. Kendra also had good footwork. So Im pulling for this team, I think they can pull it off. As much as I love Ralph, Im not sure he has the moves for the Cha-cha. Chelsea could be good, not sure about Romeo, but then again he has surprised the last couple weeks so he may bring it.
I hope they do the Argentine Tango. Kym did amazing on the dance with Donny Osmond! It’s one of my favorite dances choreographed by her and the Paso Doble.
I was really surprised that Chris was eliminated because I thought the WWE fanbase was big and Cheryl is a pretty popular pro.
I think Hines will do well in the Jive. The techniques may be difficult but his personality will shine. I know he’s scared of the Salsa but I know Kym and Donny got first place in the Salsa relay so I think Kym can choreograph something so Hines can shine and not be so scared lol.
@Leigh “Romeo seems very serious all the time.”
REALLY???? Lately, I think he has been hitting his stride with being funny/cheeky on and off the dance floor. He and Chelsie are quite funny together but not at the level of Maks/Kirstie yet.
Will it help Romeo to have the Samba and Cha-Cha in the same week? He has already done the Cha-Cha but just didn’t let loose and shake those hips.
Er, I saw Derek easily lift a woman who easily weighed the same as him the other day, and he also picked up a woman who was a good bit larger than he is – and Derek is more slender than Maks is. These guys are VERY strong. But besides that, Courtney is right – Derek did minimal lifts with Jennifer and still came up with a brilliant AT – probably the best of last season, easily. The question is – will Maks rise to the challenge of not being able to rely on lifts. I think he can, if he puts his mind to it.
Figamentation, you’re definitively my twin sister somehow.
)
Their AT was my favorite dance ever too, I need a fire extinguisher each time I watch it, the next time being in one minute from now I think
Oh and of course lifts are not required, I’d even say that to my opinion there are a waste of time, the more lifts you do the less (gorgeous) steps you make
Great post, Courtney! Thanks for the info. I really hope you are right about Ralph having a good chance at making the finals or semi-finals. I just love him, and would be thrilled to see him and Karina in the finals. I also hope you are right that Kendra will probably go next week.