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PureDWTS Season 30, Semi-Finals – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.

Last week of season 30! This last couple of weeks have gone by fast! Overall, I think this season was fun and had some great dancing. After week 2-3 there really were no terrible dancers. I particularly loved the men. They had no dance experience but committed every week give it their all. They were fun to watch and had great personalities. I was also surprised by Olivia and how well she did with the dancing. I would have loved to see more of Mel C, unfortunately I don’t think she was given a chance to have a breakthrough.

Monday’s elimination went just as I had predicted. Melora did not have a great night (unlike the week before) and the judges did not provide her any cushion with the scores. Both her dances were ok but nothing impressive. That sealed her faith. And as I said, (except for Iman) I thought that the judges would save everyone over Suni (unfortunately). I really enjoyed watching Suni and was glad she made it this far.

So, except for Jimmie, the last 4 finalist are who I’ve expected them to be for the last couple of weeks. How will they rank on Monday? I really can’t decide 100%. At this moment, the only two contestants left that have never been in the bottom are Cody and Iman. Interestingly enough, they are also the two remaining with the lowest cumulative score (and I haven’t done the math but I’m quite sure that must be the case). Although we don’t know to what extent, I tend to believe that their fanbases are more consistent than that of the ladies remaining. Therefore, the final order will likely depend on how the judges decide to separate the couples with the scores and how memorable each couple manages to make their dances (especially the freestyle). Considering this, I will the rank the couples taking into consideration: (1) the chances that the pro will choreograph—and the celebrity will execute—a memorable routine, (2) the possible scoring of the judges, (3) how the voting has sort of gone in the previous weeks.

That being said:

Fourth Place:

Amanda and Allan: Last Monday I though Amanda had a good night but did not stand out when compared to the rest of the dancers. The Tango had something weird. Her face expressions were simply confusing and distracting. At times (specially towards the end) I felt that she was losing the frame. I also felt that the sections of the dance needed to be better connected. The contemporary was emotional and well performed. However, Jojo’s contemporary overshadowed all the others. I have this couple in fourth place because when considering the 3 points I mentioned: I believe the 3 remaining girl pros will choreograph better and more memorable dances. Although the judges might give her great scores (that I assume will be similar to Jojo’s), without a routine that stands out I don’t think she will gather the votes to pass Iman or Cody. Last week she was 4-points ahead of Iman and 8-points ahead of Cody and ended up in the bottom.

Third Place:

Cody and Cheryl: I personally did not think that Cody had a great night and still managed to avoid the bottom 3, again. The salsa was stiff when on hold, his hands on the side by side were weird and when watching I wrote on my notes that it appeared under rehearsed. The AT was good. The problem is that the majority of what he did was stand strong while Cheryl performed some great footwork around him. That being said, he ended at the bottom of the leaderboard but avoided the bottom 3. I always had doubts of who was getting the votes between him and Amanda, I guess we now know. Still, I have them third because I truly believe that Jenna and Daniella will probably be the pros that produce the best and most memorable dances for their celebrities. Jojo will probably end with a higher score than Cody that will help her. As for Iman, I have a feeling that he is probably the higher vote getter (this is just a feeling based on no respectable source or analysis) and will get the votes to pass Cody. However, I must admit that this is the couple I’m most confused about and wouldn’t be surprised to see the voters get them farther.

Finalists:

Iman and Daniella: Again (and I must sound like a broken record) Daniella is doing a perfect job choreographing to Iman’s strengths. Also, I must say that Derek’s tips with the frame really helped him. The Tango was great improved, especially the frame. Was there a lot of content? Nope. But it was great and showed tons of improvement. The jazz, well it was more a freestyle than jazz but again, eye catching, memorable, incredible lifts and Iman performed 100%. Like I said before, I believe Iman is getting tons of votes. I also believe that Daniella will choreograph probably the best (or second best) freestyle of the night. Because it is a freestyle, if Daniella avoids any dance/steps that require detailed ballroom technique, Iman might even get scores as high as the remaining couples. If that happens, I don’t see him getting anything lower than second. I must admit, I even considered putting him first. But usually in the finals the worst dancer remaining doesn’t win (Bobby being the great exception to this norm, obviously). Is Iman capable of doing this? I think he might be: he seems to be getting the votes, he’s getting respectable scores from the judges, is performing much better that Bobby ever did, and has a personality that makes viewers fall in love with him. We’ll see.

Winners:

Jojo and Jenna: So, I settled for going back to my first Power Rankings where I had Jojo first. Monday night was really Jojo’s night. The AT was good and felt very mature. I’ve been wanting them to switch the hold in the middle of a dance, and they finally did it in this dance (at one-point Jojo was doing the female hold). But the contemporary was the dance of the night. Yes, I know she is a trained dancer in that specific style. But however fair/unfair anyone thinks this is, that was a great dance. Cudos to Jenna with the choreography and the use of the stage. And it was that Contemporary that made me go back to put Jojo first. If Jojo and Jenna create a dance that is as visually mesmerizing and memorable as they did last week, I think she might be able to win it all. I’m also assuming she will be at the top of the leaderboard and being the last week maybe her infinite number of followers will rally to vote for her. If by some reason the judges end up scoring all the couples the same, all bets are off.

Thank you all for reading and specially thanks to the mods for allowing us to continue this conversation! It was a pleasure sharing a bit of my thoughts with other fellow fans. See you next season (hopefully there will be one!). Tei. 😊

November 18, 2021 I Written By

PureDWTS Season 30, Week 8 – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.

What a crazy week! Can the judges be more obvious on their intentions to get rid of the guys? I’m still processing the fact that Jimmie left. He was not my personal favorite, but he definitely embodies what this show is about. I’m willing to bet that, had the judges not despicably underscored him, he would still be in the competition. By no means his cha-cha was an 8. I agree that it wasn’t his best dance. It was also not his worst. Neither was it so bad when compared to all the other contestants that got 9s and 10s. This week we got a glimpse of the voting, and it appears that the votes are quite even among the majority of the contestants (with the exception of Iman, probably). Putting Jimmie so far below everyone else made avoiding the bottom 3 very difficult. In a night where the judges were throwing out that 10 paddle in almost every other dance, their plan with Jimmie was obvious. And it worked. I still believe that, had he survived, he had a real chance to win.

As for Olivia, I have mentioned how surprised I was with how good of a dancer she became. I also think she brought out the best in Val and this season was one of the best for him choreographically. Not Monday though. The AT was far from her best dance and not was impressive or eye catching as her dances the previous weeks. As soon as this dance ended, I wrote on my notes: she will be in the bottom. I have mentioned that no one can afford to have a not-so-good week and unfortunately this was that for Olivia. This week she also mentioned her father and their (good) relationship for the first time. Could this have detracted some voters from voting for her (maybe it brought back the college admission scandal to the surface)? Don’t know. However, I think she left with a great experience and surprised many people with her dancing and journey.

Now more than ever I believe that the remaining couples need to focus on having memorable dances to catch the more votes possible. I will rank the couples depending on how capable I believe they are to create a memorable dance and who the judges seem to always protect with the scores. However, it will all depend on what they do on Monday night.

Amanda and Allan: I thought this jazz was fun and well performed. Neither the best nor worst dance of the night. I saw issues with the lifts. Also, Amanda seems to forget to point her feet which looks weird. I was truly shocked to see the judges giving her a perfect score as I thought this was definitely not perfect. I have moved her to the top because (i) she has never been in the bottom and (ii) the judges seem convinced on saving her no matter what. At this point I think that even if she lands in the bottom 2 the judges will save her. Therefore, I believe she is definitely in the finals.

Iman and Daniella: Iman is the only contestant remaining that has proven to be getting a large number of votes. This is in great part due to Daniella being just the best pro at creating memorable performances. Iman did not have the best cha cha technique nor was there a ton of cha cha content. However, Iman performed the hell out of this number. There was improvement in his lines and posture. He kept himself up with the dance troupe. Really (again) the most memorable dance of the night. I’ve been ranking and mentioning every week the couples considering how memorable they are, and on Monday Derek himself mentioned this about this couple. Because we have seen how this guy is getting the votes, I considered putting him first (even though I know he is probably the worst dancer remaining). However, as we have mentioned, the judges have a lot of power, and I don’t trust that they won’t lowball him.

Cody and Cheryl: This was Cody’s best dance of the season. His posture improved and he managed to tuck that bum for the majority of the dance. By now I think you know this is not my favorite couple, but I have to say that if they keep going this route he can fight for a spot in the finals. Also, he is the only celebrity (other than Iman) who has managed to avoid the bottom two (or three) without the judges overscoring (protecting) him every week. Which might say something about his votes. I thought this was a breakthrough week for Cody and I hope he can keep going in that direction next week. Maybe more “serious” dances favor him.

Jojo and Jenna: Let me just say that Salsas in DWTS are not salsa (have I said this before?). It just really bothers me. Salsa is like jazz, just another chance to do a freestyle. So how good a salsa was this number: I’m not sure. But it was an awesome performance. Jenna is doing a really good job this season. I thought some of the lifts felt a bit out of character with the dance, but they performed them very well.  This week Jojo was near the top of the leaderboard, so we don’t know if she really is getting many votes. And that’s why I have her this low. I’m worried that her faith will depend on who the judges decide to overscore and if they prefer to protect some other girls (Amanda or Melora) over her. I really hope they get to the finals!

Suni and Sasha: This samba was good, but it was another number that was not a 40 for me (like Amanda). Although she did not miss a step, there was no bounce and therefore lacked samba character. Also, I think I saw Suni have some trouble with her turns. However, this was a fun dance and I love to see her enjoying the experience more every week. Considering how the other dancers are doing, I think this couple is one of the less likely to have a super memorable breakthrough dance next Monday and therefore I’m afraid they might be in trouble. Also, if they land in the bottom two I don’t see the judges saving anyone else over Suni (except Iman, but he will probably not be in the bottom). I really hope they prove me wrong.

Melora and Artem: Last week I said that I thought the only reason Melora had not been in the bottom was because the judges are insistent in protecting her with the overscoring. Well, I guess the judge’s power to protect her is nearing the end. She was the higher scorer of the night. Also, I thought this was her best dance. I was very surprised by the strength with which she performed this Paso. Her acting experience is really paying off. IMO this was her first truly memorable dance. The problem? She was still in the bottom three after the highest score and her most memorable performance. Basically, she had the best week she could have asked for but still it was not enough. Because of this, I believe that is very possible she will visit the bottom 2 this week. If that happens it will be up to the judges who they prefer and I still believe they would safe her over Suni, Cody or Iman.

Finally, (sorry for the rant) why in the world was Melora paired with Iman and Amanda with Cody for the dance off? I haven’t added the votes to see who are the seasons top scorers (in total) but Melora must be near the top probably with Amanda. How is it fair that two of the lowest scorers (Cody and Iman) are paired with two of the highest scorers. Even worst, Melora and Iman get a dance on hold which is obviously a huge disadvantage for Iman and Daniella. Wouldn’t it have been fairer to pair Cody with Iman and the ladies against each other? Could they be more obvious with their intentions?

November 11, 2021 I Written By

PureDWTS Season 30, Week 7 – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.

General thoughts about Queen night:

I really believe we haven’t had a season with this level of dancing in a while. At this point there is not a bad dancer left. I was sad to see the Miz go. This elimination makes very clear that everything can change weekly. The Miz was consistently in the middle of the pack and at least one of the couples in the bottom had always had a lower score than him (I believe Grease night was the only night he was at the bottom—with Iman—and both were saved). This was the fist time he was the sole bottom scorer. To be honest, I was surprised he did not get the votes over Cody and maybe Suni, but both of those dancers had “emotional weeks” that might have helped them get some votes. Also, I thought this was not his best night. I was not a fan of his foxtrot. The frame was stiff (Derek explained perfectly) and the choreo felt weird. Maybe the tricks?

As I said last week, I don’t think anyone can afford to have an okay dance at this stage or they might get into trouble. Other couples that have avoided being in the bottom after being saved by the judges have come back with strong performances (example: Olivia’s Paso). At this point its on the pros to create impactful dances because clearly, almost everyone is in danger. I do think they should have gotten at least one of Cody’s points in the relay.

Jimmie and Emma: Great dance again. It had this effortless feeling to it. Sometimes the shoulders came up which affected the frame. But in general, great performance. Jimmie is the most consistent of the guys left and he is really becoming a dancer. I was a bit confused by the end, was there a lift? Did the judges mention it? Not sure. The relay was also great. I believe this was the most even relay so I would have given each at least one point. But I don’t think Jimmie needed it. I will keep him at the top since he has everything to take him to the finals: personality, commitment, the hard work is coming through and we see improvement. With the Miz gone, now he is fully owning the title of best male non-dancer contestant.

Iman and Daniella: Love this guy’s commitment! Love the knee pads in the rehearsal package. He really is enjoying this competition and working his butt off. The posture was not great, but he did not miss a step. Needed a bit more upper body shaping for the Paso Doble. However, Iman keeps proving that he is killing it with the votes. He was saved over Jojo who had the second highest score of the night (after the judges made Olivia the top scorer). I’m really bad with math but this must be a ton of votes. I believe this is due to a mix between his personality and Daniella creating performances that stick out among the rest. Not surprised to see the judges so divided in the scores. He is not technically perfect, but he is really performing full out, enjoying it and getting better. The result is always a great performance that stands out. Viewers love this. Same with the relay dance, I would definitely agree with Derek and Carrie Ann. Did he have the best technique? Nope. Was he the most entertaining? By far.

Amanda and Alan: Don’t know what the judges were looking at. For me this jive was fast, fun and they managed to stay in sync. The kicks could have been a bit sharper, but it was definitely not terrible. Around the middle I thought she was losing energy but then she picked up the energy right back up. I though she was a tad underscored when compared to the scores given to Suni, Cody or even Melora. However, she managed to be saved after being quite low in the overall score. The truth is that we don’t know if this means she is getting the votes or if Jojo was simply not getting any votes. I tend to think she is very aligned with the show’s demographics and is probably getting a decent number of votes.

Cody and Cheryl: This dance was an improvement from previous weeks. His bum is still sticking out. Cheryl needs to focus more on that. For me this couple is not very interesting, and I don’t get exited to see them each week. The best way I can describe it is that I don’t see any depth into Cody’s dancing. Is just steps performed fairly okey. I believe their emotional story this week might have resonated with many viewers. Unfortunately, addiction is a disease that affects too many people and families. I moved them up this high because they have avoided the bottom two even after being near the bottom of the leaderboard almost every week and without ever having a very impressive dance. Of the contestants who have never been in the bottom two, this is the only one that has consistently been a lower scorer and has survived on votes.

Jojo and Jenna: I guess that regardless how much this show tries, they keep failing to bring a younger audience. Even when the celebrity has millions of followers in social media. Honestly was shocked to see this couple in the bottom two. I think this dance was brilliant, the choreography by Jenna was incredible. Even the hairography worked. They had great body contact, great footwork and frame. I guess the only problem with Jojo is the age range of her followers. Her visit to the bottom two will probably fire up her followers to help her next week but, can she win without the regular viewers of the show? Not sure. The relay was very good, and I would have given them at least one point. They had the second highest score of the night which means they must not be getting almost any votes. That’s why I put them so low. I really do hope Jojo manages to get some of her million followers to vote since they are one of the most interesting couples to watch each week and I would hate to see them go.

Olivia and Val: She has now managed to be two weeks out of the bottom two. Last week I understood. This week I believe the over-scoring really helped her. Her quickstep was good. Was it better than her Paso last week? I don’t think so. I had a feeling the judges wanted to protect her (a tad obvious in the relay?). She is becoming a beautiful dancer, but this dance was not so much better than Amanda or Melora. There were times were the frame and body contact were impressive. But this was not their best dance. In the relay she really maintained a great frame. However, so did Jojo and Jimmie. I don’t understand why the points weren’t better distributed. I am worried that if the judges do not give her a huge lead with the scores, she might be in trouble next week.

Melora and Artem: Nothing bad with this dance. I agree with the judges though, it was not a 10. I’m not sure if there is much more we can get from this couple. They have never been close to the bottom of the leaderboard; therefore, (unlike Iman and maybe Cody) their vote-getting ability has never been tested. If they end up close to the bottom of the leaderboard next week, I would worry.

Suni and Sasha: How she got through that performance can only be attributed to the athlete in her. Without knowing she was sick, I thought she performed it very well. This week I thought she committed to the performance a bit more than previous weeks. Maybe using the skirt helped her? Avoiding the bottom two after finishing in the bottom is another indicator of how the votes are shifting every week (last week she had higher scores than the Miz but finished in the bottom 2). The health struggles this week could have helped her in the voting department as well. However, unless she has a big breakthrough performance, I don’t think she will be able to avoid a bottom 3 finish next week (with the double elimination).

Would love to hear what you guys think.

November 5, 2021 I Written By

PureDWTS Season 30, Week 6 – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.  Sorry this was a little later than usual, but it’s a nice preview of the next episode.

Hi all, and thanks for reading and commenting. Also thanks to the mods for having me back!

General thoughts on horror night: I have to start by saying that I am not a fan of the big theme nights. I’m especially not a fan of the over-the-top makeup and costumes that make the celebrities unrecognizable. I believe this takes away from their ability to connect with viewers through the dance. It makes us forget that we are watching a person work very hard to learn a new skill and focuses the attention only on the performance aspect of the show. As we all know, the dance is not everything in DWTS. That being said, I was glad that the crazy costumes/makeup were limited to a small number of dances.

Since the show changed to the one night format, the new format for voting really changes everything. Although we are ranking based on last week’s performances, whatever they do on Monday night is going to change this significantly. Especially this season, where we have so many good dancers that are basically even on ability, who manages to stay out of the bottom two is going to depend more and more on who manages to create the more memorable dance on Monday (and how their personalities come through). Therefore, after the first 3-4 on this list, I believe the rest are all somewhat in danger and depend mostly on what they manage to do on Monday.

Jimmie and Emma: In a night where costumes and makeup where exaggerated, this couple stood out in part because their dance was the opposite. The simplicity made them memorable among the big costumes. Also, Jimmie performed this contemporary excellently and the story was clear as water. I don’t think you need to have seen the film to get a good idea of what it is about just from this dance. Emma definitely did a good job with the choreography. Jimmie did great and, as always, gave 100% to the performance. Love his commitment. This week I believe they took the top spot since they had a great score and definitely a memorable performance.

Jojo and Jenna: I still believe this couple can take it all the way. However, I believe this was not their most effective performance. I partially blame the huge makeup production. I believe one of Jojo’s greatest attributes in this competition is us getting to know her (without the over the top craziness that is her influencer persona). I believe the more we get of the stripped down Jojo personality is better. At this point we can count on her dancing being great and this jazz was not the exception (she is highly trained in this style). The dance itself was performed very good. Maybe some sync issues, nothing huge. But DWTS is not all about the dance. Personality and each celebrity’s journey matters as much (if not more). This dance was a 10 in how it was performed. However, I missed seeing Jojo being herself and the growth we have seen every week. This is not her fault whatsoever, the theme of the night lend itself to the big costumes. Maybe I would have switched the characters and have Jenna play It in order for us to see Jojo during the performance. I really hope we are done with this big costumes theme nights and we can continue to see this girl evolving in the competition.

Iman and Daniella: Without doubt the dance of the night! I will take a moment to praise Daniella as a pro! She is doing everything to highlight Iman’s strengths and create memorable dances. Why did this show took so long to make this girl a pro? Ok now, Iman. Again, doing everything Daniella is asking of him with commitment and full-out. Even the acting was right on point. This couple are the most consistently memorable. Iman actually did good with the contemporary not shying away of a big arm reach or very low squats. The synchronization at the begging of the dance right on point. The lifts were impeccable and perfectly matched the theme and music. As I mentioned in the beginning, I believe this season the rankings are going to depend greatly in who makes an impact each Monday night. There is too much talent and that does not guarantee anyone a safe spot. This week I think Iman definitely earned to be this high on the list. I’m hoping they can keep this up but, the ballroom and latin dances left for him to perform might be tougher for him to master (although I’ve learned not to underestimate Daniella as a teacher/choreographer). Regardless, this couple is definitely safe for now.

The Miz and Witney: The Miz did a great job with this Paso. During most of the dance his frame and posture were there. They took advantage of the characters to make the Paso work. Even if it was a bit staccato at times, it matched the whole theme. Again, the Miz number one compliment is the commitment he puts into each and every dance and his personality. I personally don’t think this was their most memorable dance. It was also not their worst or the worst of the night. Still, I believe they are definitely getting the votes and as long as they manage continue highlighting the Miz’s personality and hard work in the performances, they should be safe for at least a couple of weeks.

Amanda and Alan: Just as with Jojo, this dance was a victim of the over the top makeup/costumes. Don’t get me wrong, the makeup department are incredible. However, I believe that when you loose the personal connection with the celebrity to the costuming, it does not benefit them. In this show the audience needs to relate with the celebrity and its harder to do that when you can’t recognize the celebrity. I thought this case was worse than Jojo’s because jazz is a dance you can fit to any theme. Argentine tango has its own flavor and I thought the Billy makeup distracted more than it helped. This is unfortunate because when not distracted by the makeup , the dance was terrific. There were tons of AT content and Amanda did not miss a beat. Her legs were moving fast but controlled. At times her shoulders seemed “weird” but again, I don’t know if it had to do with the makeup. I believe that if this dance was performed any other night, with a more “normal” costume, and we could see the facial expressions, it could have been a much more effective performance.

Cody and Cheryl: I have to be honest, I was surprised not to see Cody in the bottom two. I have definitely underestimated the amount of votes he is getting. This dance was good and probably his best dance. You could see the hard work he put in to get the technique right. I still see something weird with is posture. However, this week I noticed it much less than the previous weeks. The thing with Cody is that at the end of the night I have nothing great nor terrible to say about him. Because of that, although he has not been in the bottom two, I can’t move him much higher in the rankings.

Olivia and Val: again, I only have this couple this low since we have seen they might not be getting tons of votes. However, with the last 4 couples I believe everything is going to depend on how memorable their performance is on Monday. I believe Olivia is one that has a higher probability (and has been the most consistent to) perform memorable routines. Are we sure this girl does not have dance training?  She just keeps improving every week. This dance was strong and fast. It could have easily turned into Val throwing her around the ballroom. However, Olivia maintained the control and strength all through the routine and prevented that to happen. I also noticed all the effort put into the posture. The posture of the Paso can be very though for women. For me (I’m 5’2’’) one of the more surprisingly tough things about Paso is to portray the strength that the posture and style requires while keeping the movements in control. Olivia is quite a small lady and I’m sure that was a challenge. She did great with that. After Jojo, I believe Olivia is doing the best job of the ladies remaining. I was glad to see her leave the bottom two. Hopefully after the scare, more people are voting for her. She represents much of what this show is about, seeing someone work hand to learn a new skill.

Melora and Artem: Calling this couple safe last seemed like a warning to the fans. This is the toughest couple for me to write about. Melora performs everything very good. However, it usually ends up not being super memorable at the end of the night when compared to the other numbers. This jive was extremely safe for Melora. I believe she has proven to be a much more capable dancer than what Artem choreographed for her. The result: it was forgettable. Especially after Jimmie and Olivia and followed by Iman. Very limited in kicks and flicks and just too slow. With so many contestants that are clearly working very hard to do challenging performances, playing it safe wont work. Specially with such a talented celebrity.

Suni and Sasha: I love Suni and she is dancing beautifully. Why are many people not surprised to see her in the bottom? Her personality is not coming through and time is running out for her to have a breakthrough. The thing is that I believe she has a great personality, it just doesn’t come through. (It is common for the young gymnasts on the show to be very shy). This tango was very good. I actually though it was one of her best dances (once it got started). Her frame was very good. Unfortunately if she is in the bottom two again, I don’t see the judges saving her over any other celebrity remaining (maybe Iman, but I highly doubt he will be in the bottom two). Because of that they need a breakthrough performance on Monday to avoid having to face the judges save. Hopefully they manage to do it.

What do you all think?

 

October 31, 2021 I Written By

PureDWTS Season 30, Week 5 – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.  Let us know what you think of Tei’s Power Rankings and if we should have her continue doing them.  Plus, we know you’ll share where you agree and disagree in the comments.  Welcome Tei!

My name is Tei and I have been a fan of DWTS since late on season 2. I have watched every season since. Sometime around all those years I found Pure (thanks to a series called who wore it better? that I loved) and have been a reader (all the way from Puerto Rico) since. Growing up I was trained in jazz and hip hop and danced professionally until my mid 20s when I decided to quit and go to college. As a result of being a fan of DWTS a couple of years ago I started taking latin and ballroom classes, but just for fun. By no means am I a pro, but I am familiar with the dance styles.

I love to have a space where I can share my passion for dance and this show specially since the content is always full of insight, actual dance knowledge and passion. Since Court is taking a more than deserved break, I suggested the mods that some of the readers do a substitute post. Although I don’t claim to have all of Court’s knowledge as to how all the aspects of the show (dance, scores, votes, dance order, popularity, publicity, demographics, etc) work to possibly “predict” how the couples are doing, after many years I think I feel comfortable giving it a try. Also, I think it would be fun reading how other people see the rankings and compare the different ways that the show/couples impact each viewer. So here I leave you with my try:

General thoughts on Grease night. Well, I though this could go terrible and must admit that most of the numbers were better than I expected. I thought the night went very well. I was not surprised to see Mel C go. Last week I though she was “forgettable” and that is very bad in DWTS. Is it her fault? Not really, she is a great performer and really was doing great with the dances. But at the end of the night, I had to go back and search what dance she did because it was not memorable. I thought maybe the Spice Girls fan would keep her in a while longer, but not surprised to see her in the bottom two either. I was much more surprised to see Olivia there, but more on that later. In the end, I agree with the choice of keeping Olivia over Mel C.

Jojo and Jenna: Definitely Jenna was a great choice to be the pro of the first same sex couple since her choreo and creativity are one of the best of the current pros. I really did not know what to expect and the result has been that I keep getting surprised each week. This Foxtrot was the best dance of the night and the season so far. Granted, Jojo is a trained dancer and the song and style lent itself for a more interpretative dance that is right up her wheelhouse (Contemporary). But I don’t mind this “ringer” status when we get dances like this one. Midway though the dance I wrote on my notes “definitely a 10”. Jojo obviously has great dancing, but this is the first time when I saw 100% the character of the dance, the control, and the passion. I love to see her tone down her personality for these dances. In a weird way the striping down of her “over the top” persona has allowed the viewers to relate and appreciate what she is doing more each week. I believe she must be connecting with the audience. We are seeing a personal transformation on her, and audiences love that. Also, she has probably the biggest fan base of the celebrities. At this point, regardless of what dances they do, I think they are definitely on their way to the finals.

The Miz and Whitney: As we all know, DWTS is not primarily a dance competition and personality matters just as much (if not more) than the actual dance. And that is why The Miz is this high in my rankings. I believe he is the perfect mix of personality and dance ability. Also, the fact that the judges have stated lowballing him (together with some of the other male celebrities) tells me that he might be killing it in the votes department. Regardless of what Cheryl believes to be the most popular song in Grease, I would argue that Grease Lightning takes that title. And that was great for the Miz since this dance was destined to be remembered (good or bad). Thankfully, this jive was more good than bad. It was fun, and I liked that there was almost no crap at the beginning and went straight to the dance. As always, the technique can be improved (feet need work) but he was on time and did not miss a beat. Even more important IMO is his compromise to the performance. There is something impressive about seeing male celebrities go all out with the performance and enjoy the experience. The audience loves that. If they manage to keep doing memorable performances, I see this couple getting far.

Jimmie and Emma: I have Jimmy this high in the rankings for similar reasons to The Miz. They have a perfect mixture of dance ability with personality. In Jimmy’s case (opposite to the Miz) I think that the dance ability helps him more than the personality. Also, Emma has proven herself as a coach that creates great partnerships and when she has a celebrity with good personality or talent (or both), she gets them far. Unfortunately, this was not Jimmie’s best dance. I believe the slippery floor might have something to do with it. It started beautifully but once they got on hold his shoulders were up and I felt the dance was “choppy” (that’s the word I have in my notes) specially by the end. He did perform all though the dance, regardless of the floor issues and finished that performance giving it 100%. You can see he is working hard and taking this seriously. Also, the Country music fans usually are a huge group, so I believe he is safe.

Suni & Sasha: This week we saw a new Suni. And I love it. She is coming out of the shell and that is great for the competition. She can obviously dance and when the performance matches that, I believe she will continue to move up the leaderboard. Charleston is one of those dances that in DWTS is almost a freestyle but she did great with it. I was worried that they made her Cha Cha since that character has tons of personality in the film. But I really think being Cha Cha brought the best out of Suni. I did not have her this high at the beginning of the competition, but they are definitely moving in the right direction. Also, her sweet and honest personality, her coming right of the Olympics with a gold medal and the fact that the judges seem to be desperately trying to help the ladies with the score department makes me think she is safe for now.

Iman & Daniella: Us fans know that some seasons have a celebrity that does not dance all that well but manages to get into the top 5 or even the finale thanks to their personality and great job of their pro choreographing to their strengths (Nellie, David Ross, Bill, to name a few). Well, if Daniella keeps doing what she is doing with Iman, this is that couple for this season. There is something mesmerizing when you see this huge dude dance as big and committed as he does. The VW was a though dance for them. Regardless of the technique (which was not very good) just the height difference was going to make this dance a huge challenge. (the Quickstep might be a similar challenge for them). However, Daniella did a great job dealing with that situation. But regardless of how technically well (or bad) the dances are, this guy must be killing in votes. Monday night my husband (who tries to find every excuse not to watch DWTS with me) watched and Iman was one of only two dances where he was vocally surprised and said something to the effect of “wow that guy looks great doing that dance” (the other was The Miz). And for most of the audience that knows nothing of ballroom, that is their impression. And that is why they were save after being the lowest scoring couple (for a significant amount). He is clearly getting the votes. I hope the judges stop lowballing the males (specially Iman) with the scores and just appreciate his effort and the fact that they are doing memorable performances. I don’t expect 10s, but he—with absolutely no dance training—is not that behind some of the others.

Melora & Artem: This dance was performed great, and I thought it was one of Artem’s better choreography. Unlike last week, I don’t think she was over scored. She really shines in the ballroom. I really can’t find anything specific to critique other than she is not one of the most memorable in the competition. Since there are still many couples, I think her fans can still carry her. However, when more couples leave, I believe the competition is going to depend on each performance and (similar to Amanda) Melora while great, has to start doing more memorable dances.

Amanda & Alan: Amanda is a great dancer. And these slow dances really suit her. I wonder, did that beginning count to their time? Not a fan of live singers since I think it’s an unfair advantage. That being said, this dance was beautiful. There was nothing wrong with this dance to point out. Also, there was nothing that made it stick out or memorable. There are too many good/ok dancers this season. The pros have to start choreographing more memorable dances to stand out (take a page out of Derek’s book) because anyone can go home any week. I keep putting Amanda quite low in the rankings because I have doubts as to her fan base (specially when apparently the guys are stealing so many votes). But I hope we get a couple of more dances from her.

Olivia & Val: Disclaimer: The last 3 couples were tough to rank since I believe the votes can go in any direction and will depend a lot on what they do next Monday. I was/am one of those who was not happy with the announcement of Olivia as a celebrity and feel that she was rewarded for her privilege. However, I have tried to see her objectively when in DWTS. That being said, she is the biggest surprise of this season IMO. I personally have this belief that young, Caucasian women who have no performance background usually don’t do that well with the dances, especially Latin. Well Olivia definitely shatters that theory. She has done great dances (I was specially surprised by her Samba which is one of the toughest latin dances). This Foxtrot was very very good. I especially liked the end when she did the section with the other girls. It was obvious they have been working in technique, and she was committed to the performance. Her frame and arms during turns sometimes look a bit robotic. But in general, great performance. I only have Olivia this low because of her visit to the bottom two. Last week I would have put much higher up. But apparently, she is not getting the votes. Why? Could the college admission scandal be hurting her still? Possibly. Probably the visit to the bottom two will help her a little next week. But how much longer than that is a bid question mark.

Kenya & Brandon: So, hello Kenya! That performance was impressive (apparently impressive enough to keep her out of the bottom 2). I really though she embodied Rizzo to perfection. She even included little details in the steps that just reminded you of Rizzo. Really impressed. Her performance was so captivating that I never looked at Brandon through the whole dance (had to rewatch to actually watch him). Also, great choreo from Brandon. As I said with Melora and Amanda, the pros need to start choreographing memorable dances if they want to stay in this competition. This is an example of that. I still have her this low because we know that her vote getting ability is not consistent. However, if they manage to do a performance like this again, I would not be surprised to see her stay another week in the competition.

Cody & Cheryl: I am very conflicted as to where to put this couple since they haven’t been in the bottom two. However, I have tons of doubts as to their vote-getting ability. Cody is supposed to be a ringer with dance training, but I don’t think this has come through in the dances. I guess that since he is a ringer I expect more and are harder on him than the others. But I thought this quickstep was lacking in technique. His frame was inconsistent and at times I felt we was even scrunched froward. Footwork was not very good and the fact that Cheryl was not wearing a skirt highlighted this. I guess that his alleged “ringer” status has hurt him more than it has helped since the expectations were so high. Also, I have my doubts as to his fan base. Now that they are though with Covid (which might have gotten them some pity votes) I am unsure as to their ability to get votes. Finally, Cody can be the most affected by the overscoring of the females (if that continues) as I believe the remaining male celebrities have the fan bases to carry them through.

So, what do you think? Would love to see if you think I’m crazy or agree with my rankings.

 

October 21, 2021 I Written By

PureDWTS Season 30: Court is Taking a “Hopefully Temporary” Break

Hey all 🙂 By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen that I didn’t do power rankings for week 2.  Part of that was due to me currently being in the busiest, most chaotic portion of my professional life thus far; part of that was because I simply could not motivate myself to write them last week.  Every time I had a spare moment and set out to write them, I either felt like I had nothing to say, or found myself coming across unnecessarily cranky and not particularly insightful. I think it was around 2018 (when the show started transitioning to a fall-only format) that Heidi, Vogue, and I came to the realization that quality should really be taking precedence over quantity when it came to posting at Pure; wherein the early days, we got by mainly on volume (posting literally any tidbit of news about DWTS, no matter how trivial or out-of-left-field), by the time 2018 rolled around, there were oodles of other sites and social media accounts that had sprung up that were also dealing in the sheer volume of DWTS news that had the time and resources to do it that we, as part-timers with 9-5 jobs, simply could not keep up with. We were okay with that; I think by that point, we were burnt out on the mad dash to post spoilers, analyze cryptic tweets, and scrutinize arm birthmarks in Instagram posts; we wanted to post insightful content that our loyal readers would enjoy.

Then 2020 rolled around, and with all-around pandemic fatigue came a slew of changes to the show that left it…less enjoyable to watch. And then add another year of pandemic fatigue, a slew of changes in my personal and professional life, and I am simply tapped out right now. My therapist likes to pose the question “Do you think you have the bandwidth for this?” or “Is the bandwidth you are sacrificing for this worth it?” whenever I complain about being stressed; and when I ask myself those questions about blogging the show…the answer right now is unfortunately “no”. And when previous passions start to feel like a chore, I am self aware enough to know that it’s time to take a step back. So for now, I think I’m just going to stick to live tweeting the show – you can play along with me @SeeCourtTweets on Twitter – because it’s a lot easier for me to plunk out quick thoughts these days than write analytical, well-though-out paragraphs about each couples.  Perhaps when work calms down, and there aren’t 5 bajillion couples to write about, I’ll resume the power rankings; until then, thank you to all my faithful readers over the years, and I hope to be back to you soon 🙂

Love,

Court

October 4, 2021 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

PureDWTS Season 30, Week 1 – Power Rankings

Yes, these are a bit late – and a bit different, because with my interest in the show becoming more and more casual, I’m having to find ways to keep fresh my desire to write.  And with fifteen couples to write about, let’s just say the power rankings can be a bit daunting, until we drop down to a more reasonable 12ish couples. Seriously, DWTS: fifteen couples is about 3 too many.  I am older now, and my brain not quite as sharp to remember all of them at the end of the night 😉

So in watching the premiere, it became evident about midway through that we may have a repeat of season 24 on our hands: a season where nearly all of the women have more technical skill, but the men are far more entertaining to watch. That season proved that you can be the ringiest ringer in all the land (hello, Heather Morris), but if your male pro doesn’t know how to showcase your talent, and you aren’t having fun…a dude (or more than one dude) with zero formal dance experience is going to last longer in this competition than you are. Will be interesting to see if the male pros pick up on it this time around – it’s been 4.5 years since that season, and some of them have done some growing up; others…not so much.

So this time around, rather than going in circles with myself to rank the couples (when there are 15, and some are clustered together with equal levels of skill, making it hard to really rank them until we see more dances and voting results), I decided to group them by what expectations I had of them headed into the show, and how they met them: did I have high, low, or no expectations of them? And did they do better, worse, or about as well as I expected? I also picked my bottom 2/headed home picks at the bottom.  Might stick with this format for a few weeks while we whittle down to a more manageable number of couples, might do a traditional ranking next week.  Who knows…the world is my oyster. 🙂 Read more..

September 22, 2021 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

PureDWTS Season 29, Week 10 – Power Rankings

I apologize for the atrocious lateness of these rankings – while I’ve been working remote at my 9-5 since mid-March, I actually had to go into my office this week for what’s called an “action workout”; for those not familiar with lean production practices, it’s basically utilizing employees as a sort of think tank to solve in-house problems. The problem being addressed: how we’re going to free up 25K sq feet of space for a new production line in our roughly 75K sq foot building. The upside? I am now going to be working remote permanently, owing to the fact that they need to annex quite a bit of office space on site 😉 The downside? A week’s worth of long, contentious discussions, me pretending to know how to work in CAD, countless Powerpoint presentations, and one very sh*tty cardboard and styrofoam 3D model 😛 But it was totally worth it for the knowledge that I won’t have a morning commute, I won’t have to get all dressed up every morning, I will have a lot more flexibility in my schedule, and when I scream into the void in frustration, nobody will complain (except maybe the dog and the cat) 🙂 Has anyone else’s employer had a peculiar change of heart about remote work since the pandemic hit? A colleague asked my boss back in January (before anyone was really taking COVID seriously) if she could work a few days per week from home, and he said (with a straight face) “No, we need you here, it’s impossible for your job to be done remotely!!!” Fast forward to March 16, when we all got pulled into a conference room and were told that any of us that had the means to do so should start working from home immediately due to COVID, but we should be cleared to return to the office by June; June comes and goes, and in July we’re told that we won’t be coming back to the office before October (at the earliest).  Then 2 weeks ago, suddenly the discussion turned to “So, how would you feel about working from home permanently? You’re cool with it? AWESOME! When can you come clean out your desk??? The subcontractors will be here Monday to start planning out the remodel!” Amazing how it took a pandemic to make my very old-fashioned employer see that working remote can be beneficial to both employer and employee. Read more..

November 21, 2020 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

PureDWTS Season 29, Week 9 – Power Rankings

Soooo…I can’t be the only one who went “Whoomp…there it is!” when they heard about Gleb’s divorce over the weekend 😛 It would not shock me to see Chrishell & Gleb getting papped together at some point in the near future, and I’m wondering if that’s part of the reason the show kept them around so long this season – perhaps the fleeting hope that they might get the chance to go public with a showmance? Who knows. Gleb’s divorce clearly wasn’t the biggest news this weekend, but I got a chuckle nonetheless 😉

So the face-offs went about like they have every other season: each face-off seemed to have one couple that went for technique while the other went for performance. And like most other seasons, the judges seemed to reward their points to the couple that needed them more (with the exception of whichever couple they were trying to oust – in this case, Nelly & Daniella). Also found it interesting that they seemed to make the celeb’s face-off costumes to match their first dances – not sure if this was done as a cost-saving measure or a time-saving one (or both), but I don’t know that we’ve seen anything like that before. Just curious.

In a move I don’t think most of us saw coming quite this soon, we lost AJ and Cheryl – a couple that many of us had predicted would win this season in our preseason poll. I think they were unfortunately just a sacrificial lamb – Nelly seemed to be the intended target for elimination this week, but when it became clear that he wasn’t going anywhere (and dancers that belong in the finale were falling into the bottom 2), the judges had to pivot; AJ just happened to have a bad day at the office when his Viennese waltz went off the rails, so I think he was the only logical choice. I’ll admit that I found myself a skosh disappointed with AJ this season – maybe my expectations were too high, maybe he just didn’t get the right choreo, maybe he got screwed with song and dance assignments, who knows. But I guess I just thought he would be someone who easily bested Nick Carter’s often-erratic performances, and instead I think he ended up only slightly better than Nick when you netted out all of his dances. Read more..

November 11, 2020 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

PureDWTS Season 29, Week 8 – Power Rankings

Generally, it was a pretty “meh” week. I don’t feel like anyone had any huge breakthroughs or astounding performances, and everyone was more or less in a holding pattern from the previous week. Or all the days are running together due to the pandemic, and the sense of impending doom I’m getting from the election is just dulling my senses. Both are equally plausible at this point.

As it usually happens at least once per season, Carrie Ann appointed herself the “critical” judge this week, and seemed to nitpick just about everyone, and Kaitlyn doubly. I feel like she pulls this shit right after she gets called out for giving generally dumb or just unhelpful feedback – in this case, it was her “I wasn’t feeling it” comment in response to Kaitlyn’s paso doble last week, which prompted both Artem and Val to speak up in the media about her lack of helpful feedback. It’s like she gets defensive to the point of having to prove that she’s a serious, tough dance judge with credentials, and ends up just looking petty because of the way she just reeeeeaches for stuff to pick at. It’s a not a good look, but it’s not like we haven’t know for YEARS that Carrie Ann was the least legitimate of the judges. And it did seem like Derek was trying to soften the blow after Carrie Ann went on her rampages – more often than not, he gave reassuring compliments, and was scoring a point or two higher than both Bruno & Carrie Ann. Caught a weird moment immediately after the bottom 2 were called – Derek and Bruno seemed to be gesturing towards one another as if to say “Well what do you think?” before glancing over at Carrie Ann, who seemed engrossed in a bunch of papers she was writing on and ignored them completely. WTF was she doing, filing a tax return??? The scores had long since been logged, not sure what was so important that she felt she needed to write it down before the elim…

Now with Chrishell gone, I don’t think there’s any truly crummy dancers left – which leaves us in an interesting position. One could probably argue that Nelly’s the weakest, but he’s still improving and he also appears to be quite popular, as he has yet to fall into the bottom two despite some harsh scores. On the flip side, both Johnny and Skai have been trending upward with scores in recent weeks, but both have been in the bottom 2 at least once. Then you’ve got Kaitlyn and AJ, who are good but seem to vacillate in a bit in terms of quality; and there’s Justina & Nev, who are consistent but not always super memorable to watch. Add to the mix the fact that we still don’t know how many couples are headed to the finale (I think five is a good number, as it’s the top 1/3 of contestants this season, but who knows), and I can’t really state with confidence who will be there and who won’t. I’d say this made me excited, but anymore, I’m struggling to feel passionate about this show – I’m afraid a lot of the magic died for me with Tom’s departure. Add Tyrant trying to fake cry about Jeannie for attention and I’m damn near changing the channel…ugh.

So we obviously bid farewell to Jeannie – which sucks, because she really was one of the most fun contestants to watch this season, and I loved how she vibed with Brandon.  But I’ve come to learn that one’s health is nothing to trifle with, so I’m glad she caught her ailment at such a crucial point and will likely make a full recovery. If I’m being honest, I had already predicted her as one half of the double elim in last week’s rankings, so I can’t say I’m terribly surprised…although the cause of her elimination is something I definitely wouldn’t have predicted. At the very least, Brandon made it further this season than he ever has before. Then we (finally) shook the dead weight of Chrishell & Gleb loose, which I felt was long overdue. The fact that Gleb had the audacity to pull out the damn bed as a prop FOR A VIENNESE WALTZ had my blood boiling, as did the fact that he once again managed to include the minimum possible number of steps needed to be considered a Viennese waltz and somehow got he and his partner another tongue bath for it. Then there was the suspicious convenience of Carrie Ann NOT calling them out for a lift (after specifically nitpicking Kaitlyn for something similar earlier in the night), and I was downright incredulous by the end of their critique and scoring. Seriously, I wanted to smack all three judges (Derek included) for their gushing.  Why did Chrishell get diplomatic immunity for most of the season??? That’s the real question.  And I think I finally figured out what it was about Chrishell that grated on my nerves: she’s a perpetual victim. I think the only week she didn’t play that card was 80s week, when her package dealt with her being an NKOTB fan. The rest of the time it was “I grew up poor!”, “I got divorced!”, “I had to freeze my eggs!”, “I’m sooooo busy as a real estate agent!” I think of all the other contestants this season, and while everyone had a week or two that was sad, for the most part, their packages all netted out to be generally pretty upbeat and positive. Chrishell’s seemed to be a laundry list of trauma and ways in which her life is hard. I don’t claim to know exactly how her divorce went down, or whose fault it was (as a kid of divorce, I’ve found its usually both spouses’ fault, to some degree), but after seeing her on this season of DWTS, I do think she’s a bit of a bullshit artist and is likely fibbing a bit when she gives the “I was completely blindsided!” line with regards to her divorce. And Gleb…well, y’all know how I feel about him. Let’s just say I wasn’t exactly broken up about it when the judges opted to save Skai & Alan over Chrishell & Gleb 😉 Read more..

November 4, 2020 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.