Pure Dancing With The Stars Discussion: When The Music Matches The Style Of Dance
Who needs to relive this number last night with Karina Smirnoff and Jose Manuel Carreño when they danced the Argentine Tango? I thought it was steamy, beautiful, and so passionate! Also, I love it when the music matches the style of dance. I wish the producers of Dancing With The Stars would discontinue theme weeks and go with matching music to the style of dance instead. The whole package is just so much better when everything goes together. Do you agree or disagree?
Special thanks to PureDWTS reader Jimmbboe2 for the video! Let’s get Heidi and Court’s thoughts:
Heidi: Aw, come on…who doesn’t love someone attempting to Tango to Bohemian Rhapsody?? 
Sorry, that’s cray cray. All you have to do is look at the music the pros choose to dance to when they have a choice: Karina last night…Derek and Allison Holker last season…neither “Popular” music, but both dances were great and well received. We figure that the producers are trying to accomplish making the dancing more…current?? But at what cost? The very least they could do is have the pros pick the actual songs for the actual dances from a list of popular music. At least then the tempo would be more correct. And people are watching ballroom dancing on TV in 2012 – shouldn’t that tell you something about the need for pop music?? I dunno. I think they could do a better job at it.
Courtney: I agree, sometimes a song can totally screw a couple, and for what? So they can have some hokey theme, or appeal more to mainstream viewers not familiar with “real ballroom” music? I think Tristan’s been the victim of it 2 seasons in a row now – “Devil Went Down to Georgia” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” were nothing more than an excuse to fit with a theme, which is one of the many reasons why I hate theme weeks. The tempo and phrasing were not at ALL conducive the dances they were meant to coincide with, and the end result was 2 particularly train-wrecky dances. I get that they want to appeal to a broad audience – hence the need for “current” music. But yeah, like Heidi said, at least try to pick current music that’s actually conducive to ballroom dancing. However, on the flip side, I often wonder if the nary impossible music some of the couples are given is an attempt to get the pros to “rise to the occasion” and craft some innovative, unique, Emmy-worthy routine, a la Ricki & Derek’s Psycho tango or Karina & the Situation’s “Boom Boom Pow” foxtrot. I’m all for unique, innovative, & Emmy-worthy, but there’s just one problem: not every pro is capable of spinning a crazy song in that direction, and I’m not sure every “wacky” song they dole out is even capable of being translated into something cool. Sometimes, a song is just bad, and better left off the dance floor
I agree that the pros should be given a list of music and allowed to choose. But, since they are not, the judges need to realize that dancing to this music might not be suitable. It’s Rock week and they are criticizing that a tango was too wild? I watched Season 4 on GSN with Julianne and Apolo doing a Tango to “Jessie’s Girl”. Len said a Tango should be slow. How do you dance slow to “Jessie’s Girl”? By the way, I though it was brilliant!
I have to agree with all of you. The theme weeks are getting a bit ridiculous. Okay, some of them are okay… Latin Week, I can be okay with. At least salsa, samba and Argentine Tango can accommodate that style of music. Personal stories week gets to be a big tear-fest, but it’s not terrible since the celebs/pros get to pick the dance and music to go with it. But Rock Week, 80′s Week, Movie Night, etc. need to be retired, IMO.
I agree with what you all said above about at least using music that has a beat that’s similar to the dance style. I think it gets unfair to the celebs (and pros) when the song is just completely from left field. Instead of making the pro be more creative (which is probably the intention), I think it can sometimes limit them. It sort of puts them in a “box.” “YOU HAVE TO DO A ROCK TANGO.” I’d rather just give them a dance, a song that fits with it and let the pro (and celeb) just dance to it as they see fit. Think of how much more creative the pro could be with choreography when there isn’t a “limit” of a theme!
Anywho, nice post, gals. I love when these discussion topics come up because I always find it interesting to read everyone’s thoughts. Thanks for all you do here. It is much appreciated by the fans.
That song was Tristan song.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/04/10/dancing-with-the-stars-tristan-macmanus-blogs-week-4-tongue-kiss/
“So we went for something iconic and it was “Bohemian Rhapsody.” – he said
I mean Tristan’s choice.
And *that*, ladies, and gentlemen… *That* is why Karina Smirnoff is considered one of the best ever.
I love Tristan but he chose both “Sir Duke” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” for himself.
“Because there’s so many different types of rock — the Doors would have been a totally different type of rock, like a poppy rock. I didn’t want her to get kind of lost in all the heavy rock songs either. So we went for something iconic and it was “Bohemian Rhapsody.” No one had done it before, so that was another thing as well.”
From his EW blog.
You all are just pretty quick to jump on someone who mistakenly makes false claims (“Get a grip,” “Reality check”) so just wanted to correct that.
Rock Week should be abandoned! Classical week, on the other hand has been amazing.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s a double-edged sword. On the down-side, you get train-wrecks like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. And on the upside, you get a 50′s Paso Doble and a Phycho Tango that we’re all still talking about…
I agree with those who say that’s more of a challenge for the pro than the celeb, but I’d hope that helps to keep DWTS fresh for the pros – creating something would be their way to shine (unlike some pros, who apparently think the way to shine is to overdance their partners and/or crawl freakishly around on the dance floor, but that’s another thread)… So, I guess I’m trying to look at the positive here.
Of all the theme weeks, Rock Week is the worst that they’ve brought back. But the worst ever was the USA theme. Yankee Doodle Dandy and Sweet Home Alabama? Goodness gracious, no thanks. I do personally enjoy the movie/tv theme weeks because some of them work really well (although usually one or two couples gets screwed, which sucks) but my favorite has been classical week.
But yeah, some of my all time favorite dances have come from theme weeks (Psycho tango, futuristic Paso, 50′s Paso, Boom Boom Pow Foxtrot, Romeo and Juliet Waltz) to name just a few.
Well, say what you like Sarah, but it’s not an all or nothing proposition. MOST pros have commented frequently over the last couple seasons that they rarely if EVER get to choose the song. Derek has said on multiple occasional that he didn’t pick the song. So, I don’t know if Tristan is getting special treatment or if he’s taking responsibility for something that isn’t his fault. Derek straight up said that he didn’t pick Pretty Woman or Psycho and several others.
Many pros are on record saying they didn’t pick the song. It used to be that they submitted a list before the season started of what songs they wanted and they would get them if the song cleared. In recent seasons that hasn’t been the case. Maybe they’ve gone back to getting lists, but I doubt very much that he’s getting what he wants every week. Maybe he’s gotten lucky.
By the way, watch yourself with the “false claims” business – that’s an accusation that doesn’t stand up in this case and was nearly snotty enough for me to delete you altogether.
I, too, agree that theme week is not very successful for the most part. There are, of course, exceptions that have already been mentioned. I really loved Classical Week, Future week and 50′s. But not all the dances in those particular weeks were great if I remember right. Loved Anna & Evan’s take on Wall-E. We have been pretty lucky to see some pretty amazing dances over the years…and some real stinkers.
I would really like to see a Standard Week…where traditional ballroom or latin music is chosen for the dances.
But all in all, I just love watching them all dance!
I’ll vote for the Standard Week, and some traditional ballroom music. What a novel idea. Ballroom dances to ballroom music.
Classical Week and Standard Week sound great to me! I liked Movie Week last time too!
I loved Classical Week as well – it was my all time fav week!!!
I think a ‘Ballroom Standard’ Week would be well received … i.e. songs currently used in Ballroom competitions.
Also, I enjoy 50′s and Movie week … some great choreography came out of those shows.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t miss Rock Week if it were discontinued. All those beautiful ballroom steps trying to ‘fit’ with screeching guitars. Not my favorite, and I admit to turning the volume way down Monday night! For me, the harsh music takes away from the beauty of it all.
I agree with Deirdre … I just really love the dancing!!!
It was indeed an amazing Argentine Tango! Totally agree with Steve’s comment(#5)
I loved this dance, so beautiful, and the music was just mesmerizing. Perfect music for that dance. I totally agree with you Vogue, it’s so much more enjoyable when the music matches the style of dance. If the music is too fast or too slow for a particular dance, it just looks so strange. It actually makes me nervous (weird, I know). Hard to explain! I’d be quite happy if they ditched all theme nights.
Oh, I have to say…I think that dance of Jonathan & Anna’s last week was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!
Sherry, I meant to mention Jonathan and Anna’s dance too. I agree…one of the best ever!
Love all of your thoughts on this. Thanks all!!
Heidi, and I agree. Sarah’s last comment was kind of snotty.
The only theme weeks i like are classical week and (im probably the only one) tv theme song week.
or tv week (i honestly just remeber it becuase it had tv theme songs lol)
Worst theme is America week. Awful! Rock week is bad too. I do not mind movie or tv theme because there are so many songs that could work.
For really bad songs that Derek got to work is his paso with Jennie to Moulon Rouge soundtrack, that sng had no beat really. Think Karina and Derek are the best at making bad songs work.
I liked classical week and acoustic week and broadway week and 80′s week and story week(personal or non) Ditch the rest of the theme weeks. There are so many theme weeks with songs and dances that don’t match (Ralph and Karina dancing samba to Sweet Home Alabama or Paso Doble to Everybody Dance Now WTF?) they might as well have “Matching Song and Dance Week”. Week 1 seems to unofficiallly be “New pop hits week”. My mom thought Karina and Jose’s dance was boring which has me floored. I thought it was amazing.
Yes, I forgot all about Acoustic Week. That, too, was fabulous. Thanks for reminding me. I’m off to Youtube to see if there are any videos from that show!
Emmy for Karina re that tango?
@jay. It was a stunning performance wasn’t it!
I’m not a big fan of theme weeks more often then not the music does not match the style of dance….yes it can be choreographed to try, and some choreograph better than others, generally something is lacking, as seen in rock week last week.
The music is like the heartbeat of the dance, the connection, the reason (if you will). When the music is bad, off, the dance as a whole often makes no sense, leaves little impact IMO
Yes, we’ve seen a few amazing dances in theme weeks, but overall, yeah, not so much.
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