DWTS12 End of Season Award Winners – Which Dance Was the Best?
John: I think I’m with the other 49 people that voted for other on this one. I just have a really hard time choosing a favorite dance. Too hard for me to compare a Cha Cha to a Quickstep to a Waltz to a Rumba. They’re all so different. I just love dance.
Courtney: It’s really interesting to me that what you guys voted as the best dance this season wasn’t one with particularly stunning choreography or flawless execution – granted, Kirstie was great in it, but I think the appeal was more in the entertainment value than anything else. Compared to very technically impressive dances like Derek & Jennifer’s Argentine tango or Kyle & Lacey’s jive, Kirstie’s just sticks out as a fun, carefree, easygoing little ditty – which is totally fine with me 
Kind of a nice change of pace. Obviously it was well-received, since Kirstie & Maks have performed it at least a dozen times both on DWTS and on other shows! Haha. I think Hines’ samba was probably stronger technically, but didn’t have quite as much sass as Kirstie’s cha-cha; I think Ralph’s quickstep & Romeo’s waltz were likely the strongest of the smooth dances, but still can’t trump the memorability of Kirstie’s dance. Chelsea & Mark’s rumba – meh, it was dramatic, but I didn’t see anything that was insanely well-executed, and I think they were overscored; Kendra & Louis’ samba was just pure fun – little to no technique, but a lot of jiggle Onto the other category – again, many of you answered with one name, like “Kendra”, “Chelsea”, or “Hines”, which tells me NOTHING about which dance was best, so your votes get thrown out; looks like Hines & Kym’s Argentine tango (3), Ralph & Karina’s foxtrot (2), Chelsea & Mark’s Viennese waltz (2), Ralph & Karina’s waltz (1), Chelsea & Mark’s slow waltz (1), Kirstie & Maks’ Argentine tango (1), Romeo & Chelsie’s paso doble (1), and Hines & Kym’s paso doble (1). I agree that some of these are good, but compared to other dances, they seemed to get lost in the shuffle a bit. Someone else just voted “MEEEEEE!!!!”, so I’m assuming either Mark or Lacey found their way here and are trying to pad their vote percentages 
; and for whoever voted “there were no really good dances” – I agree with you to some degree. The caliber of dancing this season was just not up to par with what we’ve seen in seasons past. There’s something to be said for having ringers, kids…
Marianya: Can I plead the fifth? I’m afraid I can’t answer this one truthfully. I mean I understand why Kirstie & Maks’ first ChaCha is voted towards the top, but it wasn’t the best dance, it’s definitely one of the more memorable ones. Courtney does a great job explaining it. But the best? I don’t think there really was one, I mean I liked Chelsea & Mark Viennese Waltz to Harry Potter’s Hedwig Theme, but I’m a Harry Potter fan so meh. Yeah… memorable I could choose, but I don’t think there is anything that I could define as “the best”.
Vogue: Kirstie and Mak’s Cha Cha!! I don’t think I’ll ever forget that first night she danced and how she lit us all up. As much as many of us liked her, we weren’t expecting her to come out and dance the way she did. She was light on her feet. She was cheeky, flirtatious, and fun. Maks was clearly having a blast and we saw a change in him right from the get go. We knew we were in for something really special all Season with this dance and they didn’t fail us. It made the perfect statement in more ways than one. I loved almost all of Karina and Ralph’s dances as well. Romeo and Petra grew on me. As much as I could appreciate the creativity in Mark’s choreography, I was equally or more annoyed with his antics and ego.
Heidi: My initial response was “Meh”. Just “meh”. I think this past season overall was not one that had any dancing that made me sit up and go “Wow, that was awesome” – but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it because I did. I enjoyed watching Hines, Kirstie, Ralph, Romeo – even Kendra provided limited entertainment value. And Petra always made me go “Oh, she’s so pretty and nice.” But I don’t think the dancing was up to par of, say, Season 10, where we had Nicole, Evan and Erin – the last two would have won this season handily, absent Nicole. There certainly is something to be said for ringers – better to have 3 like Season 10 than none at all.
I dunno, I guess I’m in the minority here. I appreciated that there were no ringers this season and that all the dancers had their issues and quirks to try and overcome. DWTS is a show I watch to see somewhat famous people who don’t really dance, learn to dance with the help of pros that I love. (What I disliked this season was the behind the scenes manipulations that seemed to go on by TPTB.)
As for Best Dance, I don’t remember if I chose Kirstie and Maks’ Cha-cha or the Chelsea and Mark Hedwig number. If it was the Cha-cha, it was because it was my favorite and it still makes me smile today to see it. And if it was Hedwig, well it was because that was a fabulous piece all around!
Congrats to Mark for his Emmy nomination that includes the slow waltz, the jive, and the Harry Potter themed Viennese waltz…all danced with Chelsea.
Mark got nominated for an Emmy…. YAY!
For me it came down to Kirstie and Maks Cha Cha and Hines’ Samba but I did decide to choose Hines just because it had everything! Clean foot work, he brought the party it was great! But it’s so close. Evaine, I agree with you on ringers i did enjoy seeing all the celebs on the same level, Like this was the first season that when they announced the cast i didnt say about anybody ( Wow, they have no chance ) and in some seasons i could even say ( ok they will be in the finals, that other couple wont make it to the fourth week, and that OTHER couple will win ) and usally be right! This season that didnt happen, i had no idea because they were truely all on the same level…however I did miss those ( WOW ) dances, i mean we had some fantastic dancing this season and it was a nice change from the many past seasons with ringers but i do kind of hope that next season there will be a ringer or two just because only ringers can produce the out of this world phenomal dances like say Nicole and Derek’s A Tango, ANY od Kristi and Marks dances, Melissa and Tony’s Samba, etc. I kinda hope DWTS will go like one season with a ringer one w/o or something like that. I can hope
Dancing With The Stars • Routines: Jive “I
Write Sins Not Tragedies” / Viennese Waltz
“Hedwigs Theme (Theme from Harry
Potter)” / Slow Waltz “My Love” • ABC •
BBC Worldwide Productions
Mark Ballas, Choreographer
Mark got an Emmy nod!!!!
I’ve never seen someone live off so much crap long past its expiration date as Kirstie has with that cha cha.
I agree Heidi, this season really had me missing Season 10. I also realized I’m even more okay with “ringers” than I thought…
I think Kirstie & Maks’ Cha Cha was a favorite mostly because of how fun it looked. The choreography was kind of simple, but I think it’s the performance itself that people enjoy.
Haters are always going to hate, but I don’t think Kirstie has lived of “so much crap long past its expiration date.” It’s just how she is, it’s her personality.
If anything, I think this was one of the best career moves she’s made. For one, it showed people that she can work hard and doesn’t give up. And second, it helped re-start her career.
I say, MORE POWER TO YOU, Kirstie!!!
The best dance for season 12, hmmm… Imo don’t have one, but did enjoy the dances from Hines and Kym, Ralph and Karina, Chelsea and Mark and Romeo and Chelsie.
I have watched technical dances and not so tech ones. I have never been emotional watching a dance UNTIL I cried out of pride watching Kirstie & Mak’s free style.
Being memorable is way more difficult than technical, and way more precious.
Dance well or not, no one will forget Kirstie & Maks in this DWTS season. I’d rather be memorable
Hmm, so many actually like ringers! I’m amazed. They take the motivation out of the competition in my opinion. Why do they come on the show? They already know how to dance, and well. . . makes the show’s theme of a supposed “contest” ludicrous. I find it insulting actually. I agree that this season’s lack of a true ringer was a total pleasure . . . made for good entertainment instead of raw nerves over the phony pretense of it all. If you’re a tech ballroom fan, go to PBS we’re told.
You make the assumption, Jo, that the people labeled “ringers” are true ringers in that they all know ball room which is just a fallacy. A myth thought up by sore losers.
Echoing Heidi’s sentiments, the term ringer in the context of DWTS does not at all equate to having a working knowledge of ballroom dancing – they may have some dance knowledge, yes, but that doesn’t mean that learning ballroom is effortless for them. Many of them come in with ballet & jazz backgrounds (i.e. Erin Andrews), which may help a bit, but the vocabulary for ballroom is quite different. Not exactly a cinch to learn…so claiming that the theme of the show is “ludicrous” if you have ringers is a bit…well, ludicrous.
And I have never claimed to want real, technical ballroom from DWTS, because DWTS will NEVER be a real ballroom competition. What I want is more competitive field of contestants, and by throwing in a ringer or 2 each season, I think we get just that – if anything, I think they actually motivate other less experienced dancers to try that much harder. If someone is gonna throw in the towel just because there’s a better dancer in the compeition…maybe I don’t really wanna see them dance, anyway.
And Jo, I’d gladly go watch some “tech” ballroom on PBS…if America’s Ballroom Challenge hadn’t been defunct since 2008, due to lack of funding. So unless you can think of some grand scheme whereby we can scrape together the money for it – I’m gonna continue to watch DWTS, and I’m gonna continue to hope for a ringer or two each season to up the level of competition.