According to ABC: they have announced 12 celebrities for DWTS All Stars while allowing the fans to choose the 13th celebrity to be on the show.
One thing I noticed is that all three choices are part of the DWTS Live Show in Vegas.
Let’s hear who Pure DWTS readers think will be the final star on Dancing with the Stars Season 15:
My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)
It’s that time again for a new Pure Dancing With The Stars Questionnaire!! Our first edition is about the professional dancers which dance on the show. Looking back at Season 14, answer each question below to the best of your ability or for whatever comes to your mind first in the comments section. We plan to submit this post to ‘the powers that be’ of the show to let them know how you feel. So, make your voice heard, have fun, and let’s get started….
1. At this time, who is your favorite Female professional dancer on Dancing With The Stars? (try to narrow it down to only one, but, you can name a few honorable mentions if you like)
2. At this time, who is your favorite Male professional dancer on Dancing With The Stars? (try to narrow it down to only one, but, you can name a few honorable mentions if you like)
3. If you had to choose between the two top people you mentioned above, who would your favorite dancer be on Dancing With The Stars?
4. Who had the best Pro Dance(s) in Dancing With The Stars Season 14?
5. Which two pros would you like to see dance together in pro numbers for Dancing With The Stars Season 15?
6. From the pros on Dancing With The Stars currently, who needs a break the most?
7. From all the professional dancers who have left and/or who aren’t or haven’t been on the show, who would you like to see return?
Thanks All! You rock the dances too 
and we look forward to your submissions in the comments section. xx
I'm a fashion and music nut....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. Derek Hough (one of my favorite dancers) said at a recent Get Healthy event that ‘dancing’ is an outward expression of what is going on inside you. He says that in some ways, everyone dances and it's so true. To TPTB, how about this song for next season's theme song? Robin G Ft. Wilunleashed - A Good Time (Original) // Download High Quality
In case you missed it, last week I posted all the celebrities that have graced Dancing with the Stars with their presence and asked you – the reader – to choose your favorite star from every season. In that post you were only allowed to choose one celebrity per season.
Earlier this week there was a post asking you to pick six male and six female professional dancers that you would love to see back for Season 15. Since there were a lot of requests for the inclusion of the DWTS Troupe dancers, stick around for Friday to see what I have planned. But back to the celebrities:
I have compiled all the stars that have received the top votes in their respective seasons and put them all into two polls: Men and Women. Now you can pick up to twelve stars (up to six male and six female celebrities) that you would love to see come back for Season 15 of Dancing with the Stars.
Since the past several seasons have been twelve couples, I figured it would be best to see who you would choose for your Six Favorite Male Celebrities and Six Favorite Female Celebrities from across the seasons.
Note: I know it has been said that Mario Lopez is most likely not going to do Season 15 because he is too busy, but since this is just what the fans want… and he has been a popular celebrity, he’s still part of the poll.
Enjoy!
Read more..
My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)
You didn’t think I’d forget about the professional dancers, now did you?
In case you’ve missed it… last week, there was a post with polls asking you – the reader – to choose one star per season that you’d love to see come back for the “All Star” Season of Dancing with the Stars (aka Season 15). There have been a lot of pros that have come and gone throughout the seasons, so now is your chance to pick the twelve pros that you’d love to see come back.
I have included pros that have only been on the show for one season, those that have left the show for greener pastures (Alec Mazo, Edyta Sliwinska and Julianne Hough). So anything goes here.
Why twelve professional dancers? For the past several seasons the show have had either eleven or twelve couples… so I figured this season should include twelve couples as well. I suppose we’ll see.
Enjoy!
Read more..
My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)
So what I’m going to do is start with a series of polls: namely you get to choose who YOU want to see from every season of Dancing with the Stars from Season 1 all the way to Season 14. The polls will be up for a few days… and once the polls are closed I will personally draw up how the top celebrities did in their season in comparison to the averaged data from all the seasons.
At the end of all the chosen celebrities I will create a mock elimination post and hopefully by then we’ll know who would REALLY be cast and I will do attempt to do the same for the casted celebrities – hopefully – before the show starts in September again.
Excited? Well you better be… soon you’ll have an example in the form of Mario Lopez and later of Mel B since they are the only two that we know of that has been approached for the All-Star season. If they end up being top in the poll of their respective seasons, wonderful! If not, well then those are freebie posts for you 
Ready? GO!
Read more..
My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)
As many of you know, I was in Las Vegas last weekend and had the pleasure of seeing the DWTS live show at the Tropicana – which, of course, I will review for you guys, since certain other individuals *cough*JOHN*cough* haven’t managed to write the 2nd half of their review of the premiere of said show This post could get a bit wordy, as I took quite a few notes (and just have a really good memory, to boot) and I’ll throw in a few other possibly-unrelated-to-DWTS details for context, as well as some general Vegas info, since some of you have asked about my trip - so if you’re only interested in my review of the show, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs. And if you hate spoilers (i.e. you want to be COMPLETELY surprised when you see the show), I’d either just skip this post altogether or just read my overall take at the bottom - because I’m not holding back. You’ve been warned And special thanks go to Heidi, for helpin’ a girl out with some picture merges that were driving me cray-cray 
So why was I in Vegas in the first place, you ask? My best friend Kendra is getting married at the end of July, and she wanted a bachelorette party for the ages – so naturally, we HAD to go Vegas There were 12 of us altogether (11 rowdy bachelorettes and 1 gay bachelor, who I must say put us all to shame with how fabulously he was dressed the entire trip ), and the majority of us stayed at the Flamingo, since we were able to get a great rate on standard rooms – with 4 girls to a room, it was only $82 total for each of us for 3 nights, which is pretty awesome for a well-known hotel on the strip that isn’t a total dive. Overall, I wouldn’t say the Flamingo is a particularly special or ritzy hotel (if that’s what you’re looking for, I’d go with the Bellagio, Palazzo, or Venetian…but be prepared to shell out big $$$), but if you’re on a budget, it’s certainly more than sufficient – the rooms are clean and the decor is kitchy & cute (think 1960′s, Rat Pack, original Ocean’s Eleven – lots of dots, stripes, retro furniture, and of course, pink ). I’m very into the nostalgia of Vegas, so the Flamingo appealed to me in that it was originally built by infamous mobster Bugsy Siegel, and legend has it that the actual motive behind his murder was to change the management of the Flamingo. But anyway – if you’re in Vegas, I definitely recommend trying their Paradise Garden Buffet – it’s pretty affordable, as far as buffets in Vegas go, and is quite good…especially the brunch buffet. Plus the views of their courtyard and flock of live flamingoes are gorgeous Also at the Flamingo? Donny & Marie Osmond’s live show – I didn’t see it (no time, and honestly, not much of a desire), but I did see these in the lobby:
The one on the left is Donny’s costume from his freestyle with Kym in season 9, as well as his MBT (and yes, according to the guest services director that I asked, it is his real MBT – apparently he insisted it be put in the case with his costume); the one on the right is Marie’s dress from her quickstep with Jonathan in season 5 (and one of those freaky dolls she designs – guess they had to put SOMETHING there when they found out that Donny wanted to display his MBT, although I’m not sure why they didn’t display this doll instead). I found Marie’s costume pretty unremarkable up close – for as fabulous as it looked on the show, upon further scrutiny, it’s really just a tan silk gown with some gems glued on; but Donny’s suit is very well-made and clearly took a lot of work. Interesting how different the costumes look on tv vs. in person (more on that later). Read more..
Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donny Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night".
Ahhhh, yes – the cha-cha. The only first week dance that has remained the same in all 14 seasons of the show - they’ve often vacillated between the waltz, foxtrot, and Viennese waltz as the first week ballroom dance from season to season, but they’ve always had the cha-cha as a week 1 Latin dance. That’s 75 regular week 1 cha-cha’s (I’m not counting the cha-cha relay from season 9 - the scoring is too funky) for me to run the stats on, to give us an idea of what we might expect in the coming week :-) So before I run down the list of the biggest “Oh god, that was baaaaaad!” week 1 cha-cha moments, here are a few interesting cha-cha stats:
*The lowest cha-cha score in DWTS history is 12 – and it’s a 3-way tie between Master P & Ashly, Tucker & Elena, and Jeff & Edyta. Two of the couples were eliminated the first week of their respective seasons – and all 3 female pros are no longer on the show (ok, that last one was probably not a direct cause of a bad cha-cha, but just an interesting coincidence )
*Five former DWTS champions did cha-cha as their week 1 dance (Drew, Emmitt, Apolo, Brooke, & Hines).
*The pro who’s done the most week 1 cha-cha’s is Cheryl – she’s started 9 of her 12 seasons on the show with a cha-cha.
*A female celeb didn’t dance the cha-cha as a week 1 dance until season 5 – up until that point, the ladies had always done a ballroom dance the first week, and the men had always done cha-cha.
Now…without further ado…I give you the worst week 1 cha-cha’s in DWTS history Season 14 celebs, pay attention! This is for your own good…do not try to emulate these routines!
10.) Clyde & Elena, season 4
I never got the feeling that Clyde was actually making a genuine effort during his season, really. I think his handlers probably signed him up for the show just to get him some exposure, and it was never something Clyde really wanted to do – he just seemed to do the bare minimum each week and probably hoped to get voted off quickly. His whole “outrage” over Len pointing out that some couples weren’t practicing enough just really made me think that Clyde the Glide doth protest too much – he wasn’t putting in the hours and he knew it. On top of the apathy, there was a huge height difference between he & Elena, and at 6’7″, he was generally just kinda ungainly…add that altogether and you’ve got a cha-cha that’s just kind of an awkward non-event.
9.) Billy Ray & Karina, season 4
I’m not sure who I feel worse for here – Billy Ray or Karina. Billy Ray really was kind of ”a left-footed hillbilly from Kentucky” (his own words), and this cha-cha was a pretty hot mess. I like to call this “drunk uncle at a wedding” dancing - some random grooving & flailing & forgotten footwork from Billy Ray while Karina did some cha-cha around him. But I will say this – unlike Clyde, who had probably phoned it in before the season even started, I do think Billy Ray was giving it his all the entire season. This poor guy REALLY wanted to do well for Karina, and he did put in the effort – but some people are just not natural dancers, and Billy Ray is unfortunately in that camp. Read more..
Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donny Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night".
I thought this was cute, so I decided to share. If you want to say HI to Ricki, her facebook page is The Ricki Lake Show.
I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)
I confess: no one specifically asked this question, but some of you may have noticed that tend to get bit irritated whenever a female celeb or pro on the show opts to forgo the traditional heels in favor of boots, sneakers, or going barefoot. I thought I’d explain just why I get my knickers in such a twist over it
There are two primary reasons why heels are worn in both the Latin & ballroom dances: the first is aesthetic, and the other is technical. Aesthetically, the shoes are worn to give the the women’s legs a long, lean appearance – the neutral flesh tone of the fabric blends nicely with the skin, giving a nice, long, unbroken line; the heels themselves of course make the women look taller, which in turn enhances the illusion of long legs. You may have noticed that the women on the show don’t often wear colored dance shoes – that’s because a color that contrasts with the skin tends to “chop off” those nice long lines, and make the women’s legs look shorter. Why is it so important to have long legs? Because the longer your legs are, the nicer your lines are going to look, and the better technique you’re going to show – and the happier the judges are. :-)
From a technical aspect, the shoes actually help to ensure that the ladies are using the proper technique in their dances. Remember my post about heel & toe leads? Well the shoes that the ladies wear for Latin are specially balanced so that the ladies’ body weight is shifted over her toes – and remember, all the Latin dances move forward (and backward) with a toe lead. The ballroom shoes tend to keep the ladies’ body weight balanced evenly on her heels & toes, much like normal shoes, as all the steps in the ballroom dances move forward on the heel and backward on the toe – just like normal walking. The shoes alone can’t guarantee that a dancer will always have the right technique – but they certainly do help!
So let’s say a woman *cough*Lacey*cough* decides to forgo wearing the proper shoes while dancing, and instead wears something more flat-footed, like boots. In the Latin dances, it’s probably going to result in her legs looking very short & stubby, and her lines not as impressive. Case in point: Lance & Lacey’s cha-cha in season 7:
Or, in Hope’s case this past season, those boots just gave her a complete lack of hip action, and resulted in a very flat, boring rumba:
The effect is a bit less noticeable in the ballroom dances, since they move so similarly to natural walking movement, and I can’t really think of a time on the show that someone has danced a ballroom dance barefoot. However, I do remember Twitch & Kherington’s Viennese waltz routine from season 4 of SYTYCD, and I remember not being wild about them doing it barefoot, as it just looked somewhat “unfinished” and more like contemporary than real ballroom:
So there you have it – you be the judge. I personally think that all ballroom & Latin dances should be done in the proper footwear, and it’s only (semi)acceptable to go barefoot if you’re a pro doing a contemporary-ish pro dance. But what do you guys think?
Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donny Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night".
Soooooo many write-in responses for this one…and the results were quite interesting
Other responses:
No more theme nights – 10
No Maks/Maks taking a break/Maks sitting out a season/get rid of Maks - 9
New judges – 7 (I think this could fit under “better judging”, as it’s implied that “better judging” could be new judges altogether…)
More Tristan – 4
Better quality of dances/ringers/celebs with better dancing capabilities – 4
No troupe/troupe actually dancing in sync – 3
All of the above – 3
More Derek – 3
Replace Brooke with Carson/Carson added in any format – 2
Get rid of Brooke/new co-host – 2
Bring Chelsie back – 2
Bigger cast/more celebs – 2
I love the show the way it is/If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – 2
Better band – 1
Start sooner – 1
TIE: Better judging & better music – 1
Less talking in between dances – 1
More traditional music (no Katy Perry/Gaga/Beyonce/etc.) – 1
Less Derek – 1
No more Carrie Ann – 1
NO MORE NANCY – 1 (Ummm yeah, pretty sure you don’t have to worry about that, ya asshat.)
Total season’s votes included in calculation of winners – 1
Better intro packages before the dances – 1 (HA! Keep dreaming…)
Courtney: Thank goodness this is the last award, because you guys (as much as I love you all) are killing me with all of these write-in responses. Anywho…I agree that improving the judging could definitely help take some of the edge off of watching the show. Looking back at a lot of my power rankings from the past few seasons, I see that I most often got upset when the judges were way off in their scoring…either for better or worse. Now I don’t think getting rid of the judges we have and starting anew is the solution – and it seems like a lot of you agreed in our poll about the judges last season – new judges altogether could be even worse, especially if those judges haven’t judged on a dance show before. However, I’m not sure how to really force Len, Carrie Ann, and Bruno to judge more fairly – it’s such a subjective thing. As for “better celebs” – I guess I should have been more specific about that one, as “better” can mean different things to different people – better could mean “more famous”, or better could mean “more skilled dancers”. And speaking of which – there is something to be said for having ringers, kids. The past 2 seasons, we haven’t really had a skill ringer – and I notice that a lot of you have complained that the dancing has not been as good as it has in previous seasons. Ringers can ensure that we get to see dynamite dances each week, and tend to raise the level of competition during the seasons in which they compete. More pro dances are always welcome for me – just as long as they’re not troupe dances Better music? Yeah, it would be nice if they didn’t ditto quite so many songs; but to whoever wants “more traditional” music, be advised that this could severely limit the music that can be used on the show, and can run the risk of alienating more casual viewers – contemporary music can make the dances more relatable. I don’t think we need more dance styles OR more couples – whenever someone starts clamoring for that, I start to worry that we might have another season 9 on our hands, aka the “Kitchen Sink” season, where there were just so damn many dances, couples, and nuances that it was hard to keep up. Now to the 2 write-ins I found most interesting: “total season’s votes included in calculation of winners” and “better intro packages before the dances”. Sorry, but I find both of these to be pretty implausible. What would including the total season’s votes in the calculation of the winner accomplish? Do you really think it would change the outcome of a season? It’s possible – but it could have unintended consequences. I think it would tend to help bad dancers who stuck around far too long (think Bristol, Marie, Hope, Kendra, etc.) and could hurt really good dancers that maybe had smaller fanbases (Mya, Chelsea, Brandy, etc.) The bottom line: as much as the whole “50 % scores, 50% votes” scheme may piss off fans who don’t get their desired outcome, it’s probably the fairest system they can use on this show – it’s equal parts popularity contest and dance contest. And as for the “better intro packages before the dances” - I have to wonder if this was written by a Maks fan, as they seemed to be the ones most concerned about the intro packages this past season. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – the producers are going to cut together the footage that will generate the most “buzz”…and if that means using the footage of a couple fighting or crying or storming out of the studio, so be it. The solution? Don’t give them anything negative to work with. If you’re seeing a couple fight in their intro packages week after week, it’s because they’re probably actually fighting week after week and that’s all the editors have to work with – not because the producers are conspiring to ruin them. Asking them to make a warring couple look like they’ve got rainbows shooting out of their ass is futile if all they have footage of is a couple screaming at each other. It’s a tv show, people – they’re gonna go for ratings.
Heidi: Correct – and any pro who’s been on the show for more than a season KNOWS this and SHOULD react accordingly. Just sayin’. :-) As for the total season votes? I don’t think that will work like you would want it to work. Increasing the number of votes would likely just make the winner more of a solid winner – it’s a percentage of the whole, not a count. If they don’t have a high enough percentage at the end of the season, adding in their votes through out the season won’t likely change anything, except make the individual votes count less. Particularly if the judging portion remains the same. You wanna make it votes only, like American Idol?? Well, how often does the best singer win that show?? Like, less than half the time? And who’s to say an individual is “best” – it’s subjective. The judges may suck from time to time (particularly when they are for YOUR couple), but I actually trust them to balance out the wacko fans in the audience who will vote for Kate Gosselin just for giggles. Was Donny Osmond the best dancer? No, but if it were up to the audience alone, Mya probably wouldn’t have made it to the final two. This is an extreme case of “be careful what you wish for.” I have a feeling that some haven’t considered the potential ramifications. As for me…I don’t remember what I voted for. I may not have voted because I pretty much like the show the way it is, better the “devil you know” and all that. I would normally say “more pro (non-troupe) dances” but I was pretty happy with that this past season as well, simply because I got a lot of Derek. For a change. I do think they could use more all pro dances similar to those in seasons 5 and 6 – no musical act, just great dancing.
Vogue: I was at a loss on this polling. It seems during the last several seasons I complain the most about the judging. I really think the judges go too far sometimes when they get too “personal” instead of just judging a dance. For instance, dissing about a person’s weight or things a celebrity can’t help is just low. At the same time, I really don’t want any judging changes as all three of them add excitement and diversity to the show. In the end, I voted for “better music”. There is so many times I wish they’d stick to traditional music that fits the dancing styles instead of what they use for theme weeks that don’t match the style of dance.
*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor
Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donny Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night".
Everyone from the show always said how much fun he was and how much they liked him. I...
