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Dance of the Day… Let’s compare Helio and Kristi!

Ah, Memories!!! One thing that I’ve noticed while watching older seasons of DWTS, is how much the JUDGES have changed! Or, NOT! They seem like the same people we see now on the judging panel, only….. Not as much! It’s like as the season passed, they’ve all become stronger versions of themselves, so that they can have the spotlight on them…. (Heidi’s Note: I’m still working on the series discussing the Judges and their “growth” or “devolution”, depending on your perspective, and Season 7 will be posted soon. Season 5 and Season 6 were posted during the last hiatus, if you want to catch up.)

We’ve been taking the time, and revisiting our twelve DWTS Champions on their first week of their Seasons. These were our first impressions that we had of them, and we’re comparing them, two at a time. Once we get through all 12 seasons, I’ve got a couple ideas rolling around inside my head. First, we saw Season 1′s Kelly Monaco and Season 2′s Drew Lachey, and you can see that post here. Next, we saw Season 3′s Emmitt Smith and Season 4′s Apolo Anton Ohno, and you can see that post here.

Onward we move and today we get to revisit our first impressions of Season 5′s Helio Castroneves, and Season 6′s Kristy Yamaguchi.

Helio’s professional partner for Season 5 was Julianne Hough, who had also won the previous season with Apolo Anton Ohno. He was the third athlete in a row to win DWTS, following Emmitt and Apolo. He’s the only race car driver that’s competed on DWTS, and had won the Indianapolis 500 twice at the time he competed. Since then, he’s added another Indy 500 win!

Kristy’s professional partner for Season 6 was Mark Ballas. She is an Olympic Gold Medalist in Women’s Figure Skating, and was one of those contestants where I was sure couldn’t be the age she said she was, she had to be younger. Yet, grow up she did, with a wonderful Professional Hockey player-husband, and the sweetest little kids….

HELIO CASTRONEVES AND JULIANNE HOUGH Season 5 Week 1. They danced a foxtrot to the TV Theme to Bewitched. This is the season where Samantha Harris took a few weeks off at the beginning of the season to bring her first daughter into the world, Drew Lachey took over guest host duties during her (way too brief) maternity leave.

KRISTI YAMAGUCHI AND MARK BALLAS Season 6 Week 1. I must apologize, because I’ve been misspelling her name, and I’m too lazy to go back and correct them all… Normally, misspelling names really bothers me. They danced a foxtrot, and the song isn’t in the info… (Heidi’s Note: Michael Buble’s “The More I See You” according to Wiki)

June 21, 2011 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..

Dance of the Day…. Let’s compare Emmitt and Apolo!

So, we’re going to continue comparing our Dancing of the Stars Champions, pitting two of them against the other using the first dance they did. We have 12 seasons, so we have a few more days (at least, haha). So last, we had Season 1 champ Kelly vs Season 2 champ Drew which you can see here. You can continue to vote which dance you prefer, Kelly or Drew.

Today, we will turn our attention to Season 3 Champ Emmitt Smith and Season 4 Champ Apolo Anton Ohno. Upcoming will see Helio vs Kristy, Brooke vs Shawn, Donny vs Nicole, Jennifer vs Hines. And at the end of our Champion Comparisons, I’m thinking of creating one mega post, pitting the 6 winners against each other using their Week 5 dance. Ultimately, only one can be DOD Champion, and we’ll post the final winner’s Freestyle. I could make this series go longer, but I do want to begin to focus on other things to feature in our Dance of the Day, such as favorite rumbas or quickstep or theme dance, randomly chosen, or dances requested in the comments.

It’s Emmitt and Apolo Day!!

SEASON 3: Emmitt Smith is a football player, and Carrie Ann’s original “Twinkle Toes.” His professional partner was Cheryl Burke, in her second season on the show. Season 3 was the first season I saw, and I’ve been hooked on the show since. Emmitt’s win made Cheryl the FIRST Professional dancer on DWTS to have 2 wins, and the first back to back winner.

SEASON 4: Apolo Anton Ohno is a speed skater, and a multiple Olympic gold medal winner. At the time he competed in DWTS, he was also actively training and racing in World Class speed skating, and he had to fit training for DWTS into his already hectic schedule for his speed skating. His professional partner was Julianne Hough in her first season of the show, she was 18 years old, the youngest professional dancer on the show. (She still holds that title, since Chelsie Hightower was 19 yo when she started on the show)

Without further ado, here’s our Champions in their first week

Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke performed a cha cha on Week 1 to “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield.

Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough performed a cha cha on Week 1 to “Let’s Hear It For the Boy” by Deniece Williams

Again, we’ll take a Poll… Which dance did you prefer, Emmitt or Apolo? Tell us why in the comments!

June 18, 2011 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..

Another DWTS Pro Branches Out….Lacey Schwimmer

I really think that if the Producers want to keep the Pros we still have, they need to figure out how to allow them time to grow and to grow, and expand, and to pursue their careers in directions other than simply Dancing With The Stars.

One by one, or more than one by one, we find the Pros branching out, and expanding, and going in more directions.

We know Julianne Hough…. She went into Country Music, released one album, and has another album completely finished, and ready for when she has time to devote to promote it the way it should be. Meanwhile, she had a (minor) part in Burlesque, is the lead Ariel in Footloose, which will be released in October, and is currently working on filming Rock of Ages, where she is playing the lead of Sherrie.

And, we know that Derek Hough also went into music, he and Mark had their band, Ballas Hough Band, which produced an album. Due to circumstances I don’t know and won’t talk about here, things didn’t seem to work out with the band. And, Derek focused on dance and choreography, and has been featured in (and choreographed) more than one music video or dance for TV, recently for his former gf, Cheryl Cole.
And, Derek was absent for Season 12, since he was preparing for, and filming, his feature film. He has the LEAD MALE ROLE of Donny in the Musical/Dance film Cobu 3D.

As I mentioned, Mark Ballas began the band, Ballas Hough Band with Derek, but the way things worked, Mark ended up focusing on his solo music career, and he is serious about it. His album is called HurtLoveBox, and is out NOW.

We have pros, like Tony, who have been in movies (some pretty recently, but i don’t have more information at this time). We have pros such as Maks and Cheryl who have opened studios. And Tony has joined Maks as a partner. We have several pros who have released exercise DVDs. We have professional choreographers who have choreographed Ballroom With A Twist, and SYTYCD, and shows on Vegas, and…. And, we have at least one author in the group!

Lacey Schwimmer is the latest one to add her name into the MUSICIAN bracket, her first single, Love Soundz, will be released on June 21 on iTunes, and was debuted on June 16th on Ryan Seacrests radio show.

While she wasn’t ON the show, he did talk about the conversation he had with her, which led me to make the further realization that Julianne (who happens to be friends with Lacey) will never be back…. Ryan asked his favorite question that he loves to ask those who visit his radio show from DWTS. I think he needs to trust his girlfriend.

The full text, and the audio of Lacey’s song, can be found here.

Here’s some of what she says…

    Lacey says “Singing has been her other musical passion since she was a kid and it’s ‘crazy’ that she is finally getting a chance to do both.”

    Now, more importantly were there any hook ups on “Dancing with The Stars” that Lacey could reveal to us? Lacey confirmed that there were a few secret liaisons that she knew about.

    “It’s hard not to get it on with all that bumpin’ n’ grindin’ 24/7″ Lacey explained, but didn’t say who “Because I don’t want to get in any trouble.”

Click the link above to listen to Lacey’s new song. Personally, I don’t care for it, and I am trying to keep an open mind about it, but I can’t. It feels very processed, and canned…. And, the song itself? My kids range in age from almost 7yo, to 20yo, and I don’t think I want my kids to listen to it. I know my oldest won’t listen to it, since he is into different music, but this is one song i WON’T be guiding my 17yo daughter toward. And as a person, I do like Lacey.

June 17, 2011 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..

Dance of the Day… Let’s compare Kelly and Drew

I’m taking an idea from the comments, and trying to figure this out as I go. I am going to be honest and say that I am deciding how these posts will go, as I make them, and will use ideas and dances you want to see again, when they fit the post.

For now, let’s compare the Champions of each season, using their FIRST dance, and their first impression on the show.

Season 1 Champion is KELLY MONACO, with her professional partner, ALEC MAZO. They danced a Waltz to “I Have Nothing” I Have Nothing - The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) by Whitney Houston.

Season 2 Champion is DREW LACHEY, with his professional partner, CHERYL BURKE. They danced a Cha-Cha, and I don’t have the song, so if you can place it, PLEASE tell us in the comments to the song “She Bangs” She Bangs (English Version) - Sound Loaded by Ricky Martin.

Let’s take a POLL! Which dance do you prefer, and why? Answer in the comments.

June 16, 2011 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..

DWTS Dance of the Day- A Preview

Heidi’s Note: Everyone welcome Lori!!

If you are anything like me, you go into withdrawl once we have to wait for MONTHS! for it to come back!!!

Thank GOODNESS for videos, because they provide a way to let us see those dances that we want to see again… And again, and again, and again!!  And, thanks to Princess Heidi for posting Derek Dancing videos over on her other site, for inspiring the Dance of the Day HERE!

So, with the Season over, I will try to post DWTS Performance videos a few times a week.   They may be randomly chosen, or they may be something I want to see again.  And I will take suggestions, and IF I can find it, I may put it on the list to post.  We’ll get to see again the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly… So we will be seeing Marie’s Infamous Doll Dance… Maybe.

I have been trying to figure out how this will work, I am open to some ideas. Right now, since we have had 12 seasons, and there are A LOT! of past performances, I think we’ll try to have theme weeks. If there’s any videos you’d love to see again, please let me know in the comments.

ANY SEASON! And please, PERFORMANCE SHOWS only, even though I LOVE watching the wonderful Pro dances we’ve seen over the years… And to make things easier for me, please be as specific as possible to make it easier for me to find the dance.  :)

Our first videos….. SEASON 4 Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough’s SAMBA

SEASON 3 Monique Coleman and Louis Van Amstel’s JIVE

SEASON 3 Willa Ford and Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s FOXTROT

SEASON 5 Jennie Garth and Derek Hough’s CHA CHA

So… Any thoughts? Improvements? Ideas you’d like to see? Comments?

June 13, 2011 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..

DWTS Alumni…. Where Are They Now? Our Past Pros

Hello everyone, I’m Lori, and I’ve been a fan of DWTS since season 3, and lately, I’ve been thinking of the people that everyone came to know and love – or hate – that have been on the show since way back in the Summer of 2005.

I want to thank Heidi and John, who took my suggestion and set it in my lap… :-) In this series, I’ll ATTEMPT to find out what all of the DWTS Alumni have been up to, since being on the show. To make things easier we’ll start with Past Professional Dancers and, eventually, work toward the celebrities. Since there are quite a few of both this can be ongoing for a while.

With the help of some friends, I’ve compiled a list of ALL of the Pros that have been on the show since the beginning. The numbers in parentheses are the season numbers that they appeared.

Louis VanAmstel (1,2,3,6,9,10,11)
*Edyta Sliwinska (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
*Jonathan Roberts (1,2,4,5,6,8,9)
*Ashly DelGrosso Costa (1,2,3,10)
*Charlotte Jorgensen (1)
*Alec Mazo (1,4,5,7,9)
*Andrea Hale (2)
*Nick Kosovich (2,3)
Maksim Chmerkovskiy (2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11)
Tony Dovolani (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11)
Anna Trebunskaya (2,5,6,9,10,11)
Cheryl Burke (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11)
*Elena Grinenko (3,4)
*Jesse DeSoto (3)
Kym Johnson (3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11)
Karina Smirnoff (3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11)
*Brian Fortuna (4)
*Julianne Hough (4,5,6,7,8)
Mark Ballas (5,6,7,8,9,10,11)
Derek Hough (5,6,7,8,9,10,11)
*Fabian Sanchez (6)
*Inna Brayer (7)
Corky Ballas (7,11)
Lacey Schwimmer (7,8,9,11)
*Dmitry Chaplin (8,9)
Chelsie Hightower (8,9,10,11)
*Anna Demidova (9)
*Damian Whitewood (10)

THAT is the complete list of Professional Dancers for Dancing With The Stars, but we’re just going to be talking about the ones with the star by their names.

Next, we will find out where Charlotte Jorgensen and Andrea Hale are now, and what they’ve been up to since they left DWTS! AND! I need your help… I have decided that this can be a group effort for researching…. If you know of any websites that can help, or videos or photos that we can add, please let me know in the comments.

September 30, 2010 I Written By

Just a typical, ordinary DWTS fan..