Nancy Kerrigan Writes On Dancing With The Stars Week 6
As always Nancy Kerrigan’s blogs are full of fun details for how she got ready for Dancing With The Stars. This past week felt out of her comfort zone. Read on to see why….
All of this made Thursday a little bit more stressful than previous Thursdays. I was a bit on edge and having some trouble with the choreography but by the end of the day on Friday (after I went with my family to Disneyland for my son Brian’s birthday) I felt like I was a lot closer to knowing the group and individual number so went into the weekend feeling much better.
One thing that is adding to the stress is that the choreography on both numbers is a little – or maybe a lot – suggestive. That is not my style and certainly not in keeping with being a mom, so I have been a little self-conscious when trying to perform the numbers. To deal with that I have to look at it as if I am just acting and playing a role, but already one friend of mine wouldn’t let their kids watch the show because it wasn’t “PG,” so I remain a little concerned that even my own kids will wonder what is going on.
That said, I feel like the costumes for this week are a little more conservative than I was expecting, so that put me at ease a bit.
As always, Monday mornings come sooner than I might like and the 8 a.m. call time meant another long day of hair, makeup, rehearsing, dress rehearsal and then the show and the press line. There were a few changes in the numbers as one of our guys got injured and I didn’t have quite enough time to work with the cage I am using, making me not quite as sturdy and safe as I might have liked. So the morning was a bit of a challenge. But by the afternoon, I felt ready…maybe not quite as ready as past weeks, but enough to feel confident.
More at Team USA including some beautiful photos.
That sounds like she might have ballroom next week, going by her costume
I just read this and found the comments about her costume worries and worries about being too suggestive with her kids watching very interesting. Obviously the show didn’t decide to bring these issues up in her package because if they did she’d have probably ended up getting more votes from the conservative leaning demographic. Just goes to show how important the editing is on this show.
I love how real and relatable this former Olympian is! Nancy is beautiful and strong inside and out. But to M8, I also saw in Nancy’s Night Line interview that she has serious injuries, back and left shoulder/arm, even before beginning DWTS but there hasn’t been a word on the show about this either!
@Sophie (#1) I think she meant that the costumes for the paso and team dance (this week=the week that just finished) are more conservative than she thought,which put her a little more at ease.
That sucks she had to make the last min change in boots. The boots in rehearsal pics had a flat heel and the leg part went up past her knee. She ended up wearing higher heels for the show. I noticed she looked uneasy during the opening number too.
I hope she’s winning over the general audience. She’s really impressed me more than I expected. I don’t mind her breakdowns during rehearsal because it’s showing her honest frustrations. She’s not undermining Artem as a teacher or his choreography, she’s just getting frustrated at herself. I’d rather see this type of honest reaction rather than someone with a smile plastered on their face and always “on”.
Nancy K strikes me as one who would never want to reveal former injuries that occurred before coming on the show that might warrant sympathy, either in her packages or by the Host/Co-host. She’s a contender and I feel she prides herself in working hard and earning her rewards. As far as I know, haven’t heard her dwell on her age either. Yes, she is beautiful and strong. And, being a little modest doesn’t surprise me at all. I get the same vibes from Simone who I think is cute and adorable, and seems to be opening up more and feeling the dances. Both Artem & Sasha are doing good by these two ladies.
KreativeKat I completely agree with everything you said!
I’ve noticed in this season that so far nobody is whining or talking about past injuries or getting injured during DWTS. Everyone seems positive and letting their dancing and story play out.
@Ashley, yes, so far no bad injuries (except for Maks) and I hope there aren’t any for the rest of the season. I’m sure there’s some bruises and sore muscles. Actually, the remaining ladies are toned up from their previous careers. Still, ballroom dancing can be hard on the body with 2 dances a week. Next Monday is going to be interesting with “movie theme night.”
My daughter was taking peewee hockey skate classes at the facility outside of Boston where both Nancy and Paul Wiley skated, just after the ’90 Olympics, so I stopped watching my own 4 year old’s lessons in order to watch some of their practices. It was such a testament to Olympic grit – Nancy would circle the rink and try the same jump time after time after time, falling on her rear end over and over and over… until she finally started landing some of them. Her butt must have stayed purple for years, and she just wouldn’t give up. She fell hard, but gracefully! Paul came and shook each little kid’s hand as they ‘graduated’ from their skate class. They were both so classy and gracious.
Interesting that Nancy has some significant injuries before the show started. I would never have guessed! Oh I really hate the machinations of this show. How is it that she hasn’t got one 10 yet? Her dancing is beautiful, and now Len has dropped her to Bonner’s level with an 8 on the Paso. I feel that the bus is coming for her this week. She has no presence to speak of on Twitter, most of those people are Normani crazies and also pissed that Heather’s gone, and they thought Nancy should have went. So I’m saddened by how Nancy has been treated by this show. I don’t think I’ll continue to watch if they continue to make her the bad old lady.
@Casanova I don’t think she’ll go home next week. She scored 3 points higher than Bonner and 5 points higher than Nick, and I think she’s popular enough with the main demographic of the show (the ones who vote on the phone and don’t have much of a social media presence) that the main demographic voters will keep her from losing badly enough in the votes to Bonner and/or Nick that she goes home. I do think agree, though, that if this week’s show is any indication, she’s not going to make the finals come hell or high water. The combination of the unflattering package and the generally not awesome feedback and scores for a dance that I thought was one of the better ones of the night indicates to me that they’re likely looking to get her out before the finals.
I will keep voting for her no matter what. Her dancing has impressed me and her journey has been a joy to watch. I hope she keeps improving and at least makes it difficult for them to justify low scores. Still holding out hope she can somehow get past Bachelor Nation and Bonner. That may be as much as we can reasonably hope for.
You Nancy worrywarts are making me almost as crazy as the Harmonizers. Lord have mercy.
I’m not worried about her at all in the next few weeks. I agree with you guys’ power rankings that the people in immediate trouble are Bonner and Nick. I only mean that I don’t think she (or David, for that matter) really have a good shot at the finals. TPTB have shown that they will do what they need to in order to get Val to the finals, so I figure the odds that he and Normani don’t get there are low. I feel like Rashad and Simone probably have the other two spots. I guess we’ll just see what happens. I would love to be wrong (about the Val pimping, not Simone and Rashad), but I’m feeling another season 22 coming.
Princess Heidi, I emotionally invested in Ralph Macchio during his season. I’m still not over it. Also on my lists of dwts ‘wrongs’ from which I have not yet recovered – the fact that we never got to see Derek and Nastia’s freestyle. It would have been an actual work of art. I didn’t need her to win, I just wanted to see that damned dance.
I also rooted for Apolo Ohno to make the finals during All-star season. As you can see, I have issues 🙁
I agree with Nancy that the costumes are to0 skimpy and sexy. I have watched dwts since its beginning, and every year, it is more of a skin show. I miss the ballroom dancing during the first years of the show. I am done with dwts,
@PH what am I missing? All this hype for others is rendering Nancy invisible. You would think if she had the support the show would exploit it more than they have by now. And yet the propping of who they want in the finals is their modus operandi. maybe they are playing the Donald Driver or Shawn Johnson season 8 game of dancing under the radar but the only other middle aged lady not to be eliminated mid season was Jen Grey and she had Derek
Nancy is only invisible to her paranoid fans. I feel like I have a pretty good read on this show most of the time and I’m not worried about her yet. I could certainly be wrong, but she has not been manipulated in a more negative way than anyone else who isn’t named Normani, as far as I can see.
She may or may not make the finale, but the hand wringing is out of control. She’s five points ahead of Nick and a few above Bonner…or is that vice versa? I haven’t looked at the numbers yet.
@PH I guess I just really would like to see someone of her maturity compete against all comers and I think she’s held up really well. Her scoring has been very conservative this season, by comparison to other top competitors and that’s frustrating since I think she deserved at least one 10 this deep into the competition. Her competitors have all got those scores. So she sits 4th or 5th each week, and I think it’s disheartening for her as a competitor and for her fans. If David or Bonner is only 3 or 4 points behind who knows with their fan bases, we’ve seen this movie before and it’s David (insert Marie Osmond insert Bristol Palin,) who gets into top 3.
The comments here in support of Nancy are so lovely and I hope it does reflect the sentiment of the main voting demographic. I made the mistake the other day of reading a Daily Mail article based on her Nightline interview and the comments were absolutely vile. Granted, the average DM reader probably isn’t DWTS watcher, but the comments were so horrible and cruel (typical DM I suppose). I think the negative edits she has been getting in her packages unfortunately and unfairly support some previously held perceptions about her. It really annoys me how they did this last package – if it was the Thursday that she and Artem had that talk (he said she’d only learnt the dance for 2 days) and that was all that was shown, it seems to me they dealt with it and then had a productive week…reminds me of what happened to Nastia, and she also had to deal with negative ‘ice queen’ preconceptions. I just hope her beautiful dancing and her warm, honest and engaging moments with Erin aren’t totally brought undone by it.
Anyway, based on what she says about feeling uncomfortable about what her kids watch, I’m glad with the romance theme, they didn’t give her a rumba. I love Artem’s gorgeous Strictly rumbas, but if Nancy is feeling uncomfortable and self-conscious, I think it would really show.
Not expecting her to make the finals now, so just going to enjoy her remaining dances. I saw a tweet from George P that Artem has told her to enjoy the experience while it lasts, so I guess he understands they won’t bump off the other CBro and their days are numbered.
Oh and she mentioned her fairly serious neck/spine issues in one of the post show interviews – completely played it down even when she showed one of her arms being atrophied. If they decide to mention it in her package, no doubt they will make it sound like she is whining and complaining…
She is competing, Casanova. And, unfortunately, her dance this past week didn’t actually deserve a 10 – she obviously had trouble in the middle of the dance, although she pulled it back together spectacularly at the end. The problem isn’t that she isn’t getting 10’s, it’s that Normani IS getting 10s for not actually doing much of the assigned style. That said, I’ve really not seen evidence that the producers are out to get her. Not yet, anyway. One package showing her vulnerability doesn’t quite make the cut. And they put her in jeopardy, so if she has a fanbase consider them rallied. You wanna talk about someone who IS getting hosed regularly – well, it’s any celeb that’s male, really. And Simone.
The ONLY thing you can do is vote your ass off.
@PH thank you for your perspective. I agree I don’t think a 10 for the Paso would be correct, but one 10 here and there (Samba, Jazz)would have for me been more reflective of the judges’comments about her dancing. I hope people are voting but its getting depressing to watch. She was robbed of her gold medal when judging counted, so it just feels a bit like a beat down to keep her in the middle of the pack.
The last line of your comment connected a few dots for me, Casanova: Many of us watched Nancy get robbed of her rightful glory at the Olympics, so maybe that’s why we are all so personally invested in her winning this Mirrorball (and America’s hearts!) It’s more than just a trophy.
This whole Nancy comments thread is very sweet and warms my cockles <3