PureDWTS15 The “All-Star Forefathers”, “The Ballroom Shuffle”, Dance Fusion POLL (VOTE)
Some things remind us of why we are all here and the political ads on Dancing With The Stars this past week, the pic above titled as the “All-Star Forefathers” by Dancing With The Stars Official Facebook, and the poem below by PureDWTS reader Lois were several of them.
THE BALLROOM SHUFFLE
The ballroom was shuffled, the deck was stacked
The dances were crazy mixed up, were attacked
The theme was fusion, a blending of two dances
Throwing cards in the air, taking many chances
Dance steps had to intertwine, into the other flow
We marveled as all the dancers aced them just so
Kelly and Val mixed Fox Trot, Cha-Cha with ease
Melissa and Tony mixed Tango, Cha-Cha to please
Emmitt and Cheryl gave the Rumba, Samba a whirl
Gilles, Peta gave Argentine Tango, Samba a twirl
Karina and Apolo’s Cha-Cha, Paso Doble excited
Max, Kirstie’s Quickstep, Samba surely delighted
A mixed up trio arrived to the Ballroom Shuffle dance
Two fellows dressed alike, only one will get the chance
Mark, chosen to dance Paso Doble, Tango with Shawn
All Derek could do was sit in the audience looking on
The Ballroom Shuffle experiment dazzled and amazed
The dancing cards shuffled, new dancing trails blazed
A swing dance marathon was danced to Do Your Thing
Who would be crowned Swing Dance Queen and King
The couples were tagged, they had to leave the floor
First to go were Kirstie and Max, were shown the door
Second to go, Gilles and Peta ended their swing dance
Apolo and Karina were tagged third, lost their chance
Fourth to be tagged, Emmitt, Cheryl’s time was done
Number Five, Shawn and Mark, had to leave the fun
It was down to two couples, who would get the score
Kelly and Val’s valiant try, number six, could go no more
Tony and Melissa’s endurance made them last to go
Winning the crown of the ballroom Swing Dance Show
Next week trios will dance together, not two but three
Kirstie and Max chose Tristan, what dance will we see
Kelly and Val chose Louis, three glide across the floor
Emmitt and Cheryl chose Kym, could not ask for more
Apolo and Karina chose Sasha from the dancing troupe
Melissa and Tony chose Henry, oh wow, what a group
Gilles and Peta chose Chelsie to help their dancing cause
Shawn and Derek chose Mark, to the ballroom’s applause
The deck was stacked, Ballroom Shuffle blazed the trail
Next Monday night the All-Stars will return without fail!
Written by Lois A. Troutman, November 6, 2012
THE BALLROOM SHUFFLE PROVED A ROUSING SUCCESS!
NEXT WEEK THREE WILL DANCE, WE EXPECT NOTHING LESS!
Too fun, Lois! THANKS so much!!! And now between you, comments in other posts, and a tweet from reader Jimmboe Tuesday night has us wondering what your overall thoughts were on the “Dance Fusion”? Would you all like to see the Dance Fusion make a reappearance in the future on Dancing With The Stars? Lets get some numbers. Take our new Poll below and let us know what you think in comments too if interested….
I’m voting “No”. The Dance Fusion was ok for something different, but, I really like just watching the couples just dancing to one style of dance. I wouldn’t want to see the Dance Fusion become a seasonal thing.
Not really, apart from Shawn and Mark, everybody else was boring and bad.
I didn’t think everyone else was boring and bad, but I do think it’s beyond what you can expect from a non dancer to pull off, with very few exceptions. I’d rather see, especially in a regular season, them have a better chance to do well with each individual dance.
I voted yes. I think if it’s done right (ie Shawn & Derek/Mark), I think it can look great. It provides a challenge for the pros as well as the celebrities. I do think it should be done later in the season than earlier.
PS – Great poem, Lois! 🙂
I don’t think everyone else but Shawn and Mark was boring. There were some good dances and not so good dances, just like there always is…but I voted maybe because I think some of the dancers were confused about the fusion. ( Heyyyy, that sounds like a song title. 🙂 Some blended the dances throughout the routine…some danced one dance entirely the first half , then switched to the other dance for the last half. I have to admit, I was confused about how the judges wanted it, too. I preferred the blended dances. Probably more difficult, but looks better.
I actually love all the neat twists that TPTB have conjured up.. Team, marathon, decade, instant, trio, and now fusion. To me, fusion was a chance for the couples to think strategically: will they go from one to another throughout or will they just end one dance in the middle and transition into the next?
And I actually enjoy the live pickings on the results show. It’s something exciting (besides all the filler) and shows couples’ strategies (are they playing nice or ruthless?) I think the only twist I wasn’t a fan about was the “any style” week.
I didn’t like because of the choreo, had nothing to do with the celebs. I actually liked Apolo dancing, but the choreo was little all over the place for me.
IMO Shawn and Mark/Derek were the only one that got it right.
We had 7 very capable pros, and since the only one that got it right is leaving the show next season, I would rather no see the fusion again. I do think Chelsie would have been great on this or even Lacey. The younger pros tend to be more creative.
I said mabye. It would depend on what styles were being fused. some of them like the rumba/samba seemed off(just those two styles together), and the paso/tango is to similar to tell a difference for someone like me. However if they had the right cast, and the right mix then sure lets do it again.
I think the big problem with fusion week was that the description of “fusion” itself was vague – they didn’t really give the pros a whole lot of direction on what exactly it was that they were looking for. As a result, I think some of the fusions came out kinda wishy-washy, and not as impactful as they could have been. If they wanted the dances to be truly intermixed, that should have been specified up front – but instead, they left it kinda open-ended, and I think some couples were scored lower for less “intermixing”, even though it wasn’t specifically stated in the criterion that that was what they were looking for. The couples were just doing what they thought was wanted.
Apparently Karina was pretty upset with the producers because of that vagueness – she felt as though she & Apolo were docked points for doing one dance and then another, instead of mixing them up a bit more. Apparently she was told “do whatever you like – half-and-half, total mix, whatever! It’s all good!”, so she thought doing half-and-half was completely acceptable and wouldn’t be considered somehow inferior to more of a complete fusion. I do feel for her a bit in that respect, because I was having qualms about the judges pulling something like that on the spot – claiming that there wasn’t enough “fusion” when they never really explained “fusion” to begin with. I hate ambiguity. And I felt as though some couples (Gilles & Peta) had a disproportionate amount of one dance and barely any of the other, which is not a “fusion” to me – it was more like a tall glass of Argentine tango with a splash of samba on top. I think they should really hammer out the details of the fusion if they do it again – specify that the fusions must be at least x% of each dance, they must switch back & forth between the styles x number of times, etc.
I voted NO! I don’t like all these twists and turns of this season. And I my vote would also be NO to the Marathon dance. To me, they are too messy. I am like Vogue, Just stick to one dance style please.
NO!!! Pros and celebs were stressed out, worked really hard, and the result: mediocre dances, none worthy of a rewatch, imho. Fusion night was a total bust.
Shawn’s dance worked out because both paso and tango have the same angry, aggressive tone and mood.
The rest were just ridiculous. Cha-cha and paso? Angry aggression interspersed with fun lighthearted party moves? Who ever thought that would be a good idea?
The only twist worth doing would be for the pros and celebs to pick their own music each week, FOR REAL. None of this assigning Copacabana to be Emmitt’s ‘favorite’ song.
Hi Courtney, thank you for posting about Karina, I actually feel that after Derek she pulled of the best fusion – her Cha-Cha was not a ususal Cha-Cha – it was styled differently to fit with the Paso and I loved the dance, even though I went into the evening already being disappointed in Karina’s 1/2+1/2 choice. And the switch – was great and the costume change was minimal and actually fit with the dance, as I said, I loved it.
I would like to see more fusion dances – but I do feel that the dances were not chosen well. Paso/Tango was the best fusion choice of the evening, luckily it was also given to Derek, so he made a showcase out of it. In the future I think producers have to pick dances that makes sense to fuse – like AT/Rumba, at least the mood of the dance is similar, but Rumba/Samba, that is just ridiculous.
I think fusion dancing has potential, but I agree that there needs to be more clarity in what they are looking for from the choreography – plus as much as I think Shawn’s was awesome, it was definitely the easiest to blend the two together and I imagine that it’d be more difficult with some of the other songs that were assigned.
I voted no and I agree Vogue with you completely. I enjoyed Apollo and Karina’s dance and of course Shawn/Derek/Mark, but felt that Karina had a right to be mad. I don’t thing it was fair to be vague and do believe they were docked points for not doing it the way that the judges decided was the correct way. I like Karina and she works very hard at choreography. If she had been told what they truly wanted I believe she and Apollo would have delivered. I miss seeing the dances the way they normally did them and wish they would forget some of these things they are coming up with. I don’t understand what is going on with the judges and Apollo. He is such a great dancer and proves he can do the hard stuff and except for that one week I feel they low score him. They had no criticism of him and then gave him all 9’s. JMO, but feel that his dance was better than Emmitt who went next and yet received higher scores. Again, JMO, but feel dancing wise Apollo and Shawn are the best. I know everyone has different opinions in what they feel is the most important. Some like the entertainment more, but for me dance always comes first. I don’t care for the marathon either because I can’t really see what each set of dancers are doing. Just depends on what camera angle we get. I barely saw some of the couples.
@Woodrose I agree that certain dances like what Shawn had chosen for her was easier to fuse and some didn’t go together at all.
Yeah, I don’t think everyone else was boring and bad either. I actually quite enjoyed the show. Gilles still makes me want to vomit, but even that is getting a bit comical at this point.
I was actually kinda bummed that Derek got something as easy as Tango/Paso – that wasn’t even a challenge for him. When he gets really freaked out, we get a 50’s Paso or a Psycho Tango. 🙂
I haven’t had too much of a problem with their twists this season BECAUSE they picked a lot of the stuff on camera, thereby reducing the manipulation potential. The only thing I would dump would be that “any dance style” night. Throw in the twists….but stick to ballroom for god’s sake.
Surprisingly, I liked the dances but I still voted no. Fusion is difficult enough for the pros and all stars. I think in a regular season with newbies, it would be too difficult and just a mess.
I really enjoyed the fusions, because it was something new and different. I loved Shawn/Mark-Derek’s the best, with Apolo/Karina’s second. But I think the fusion idea only could work on an all-star season where the majority of the celebrities already have a more than passing acquaintance with the different dances. If the fusions were to be performed in a regular season, they probably should occur later in the season once the celebrities have already danced the different dances. Otherwise, it might end up being a bit of a hot mess, imo. In other words, I guess I agree with Natalie.
I voted maybe for the same reasons that have already been stated. The ground rules and expectations need to be more clearly defined and you’d want to do it late in the season, maybe in the semi-finals in a season where you have a crop of better-than-average celebs.