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PureDWTS Court Rants: Why Hayley Didn’t Get A Pro Spot on Season 27

Ok, so when the pro lineup was announced earlier this week on GMA, I saw a lot of folks thrilled for Brandon – and even more that were sad about Hayley not getting promoted to pro. I was honestly kind of shocked that so many people were incredulous about her not getting a pro spot – to me, it was pretty easy to see why…they just ran out of spots.  But in light of me getting some genuinely curious questions from fans who wondered why Hayley was passed over for a pro role, here’s my honest opinion.

But first, let’s get this main point straight: there is not an unlimited number of pro slots.

THERE IS NO MORE ROOM AT THE INN.  I REPEAT – NO. ROOM. AT. THE. INN!

Fall season traditionally has had (13) couples (we won’t talk about the chaos of season 9).  It’s a nice number, and usually fits pretty nicely with the (usual) 10 week schedule.  Since (13) is an odd number, we’re either going to end up with (6) female pros and (7) male ones, or vice versa. Which we get more of is solely dependent upon who gets cast – if they happen to get (7) female celebs to sign on, then it’s your lucky day, boys – one more male pro slot just opened up.  Sorry, ladies – we only need (6) of you this season. Just the way the cookie crumbles, I’m afraid.  Due to the budget and schedule, it’s simply not feasible to “add” another couple, particularly if it’s only so one of the pros can have a shot.  NONE of the pros are that important.

But why couldn’t they have sat one of the other female pros out, so Hayley could get a turn?

Ok, let’s take a look at who we’re working with here: of the 6 female pros this season, 5 are MBT holders.  Right off the bat, I don’t think any MBT-holder is going to get benched in favor of a pro that isn’t battle-tested. One of them is a 2-time MBT winner, and the sole OG pro from the formative years of the show – and Cheryl is still really popular, so as far as I’m concerned, she probably has an open spot waiting for her whenever she wants. Jenna is the current MBT-holder, and just came off a strong season with Adam and an impressive first choreographic outing on SYTYCD – regardless of how you feel about Jenna as a person, the girl’s got choreo chops, and that’s what this show needs right now…so I don’t see the sense in cutting her in favor of Hayley. Lindsay is another choreo heavyweight and a recent MBT winner – plus she seems to get along fantastically with all of her partners, so it’s beneficial to keep her on as well.  Witney’s MBT win wasn’t as recent, but she is a choreographer that has started blossoming these past few seasons…so it makes sense to keep her as well. That leaves us with Emma & Sharna.  Emma’s a fairly recent MBT-winner as well, and is extremely good at turning partners that are not much to sneeze at on paper into competent contestants – plus she’s married to another pro, which TPTB need now that their token married couple has flown the coop. Sharna’s MBT-less, but has more than proven herself as a skilled choreographer – and she’s popular. I’m not sure who we’re supposed to be cutting here…

But it’s not fair that Hayley’s been in the troupe for 7 seasons, and Brandon’s only been in it for 3 seasons and he got a pro spot first!

First, you need to let go of the notion that this show somehow has to be “fair”. It seldom is, particularly to the female pros; and then there’s the small matter of Val basically being handed ringer after ringer, season after season. But I digress. Secondly, you’re comparing apples & oranges – Hayley is a contemporary dancer that only started dancing ballroom within the last 3-4 years; Brandon is a ballroom dancer that is cross-trained in contemporary and other styles, and has been doing it for quite a bit longer than Hayley.  On paper, Brandon is a much safer bet – especially when you look at some of the other contemporary-dancers-who-got-a-crash-course-in-ballroom pros we’ve had: Tyne (who had one short, unmemorable season and we never saw her again) and Allison (great at contemporary, but not-so-great at ballroom/Latin, and was cut after 4 seasons).  Right now, the ballroom dancers cross-trained in other styles have a lot easier row to hoe on DWTS than do the contemporary dancers who have only taken up ballroom in the last few years. Brandon also won the junior pro competition on DWTS back in 2007. And once again, THEY NEEDED MORE MALE PROS THIS SEASON. It’s not as if Hayley would have gotten a spot if Brandon didn’t – she can’t partner a female celeb. Also, tenure in the troupe isn’t everything – we’ve seen enough troupe members do a handful of seasons and then get let go, and Sasha seems to get shuffled back to the troupe every so often as well, despite being promoted to pro awhile back.

But why do the men seem to get promoted from troupe more often than the women?

I’m not sure this is really true, as the last few promotions from the troupe (prior to Brandon) that we’ve seen are Alan, Jenna, Lindsay (although she was a pro to begin with, went to the troupe, then went back to pro) and Witney – statistically, you’re more likely to get promoted to pro if you’re a female in the troupe than a male, as the female pro lineup seems to vary quite a bit more these days due to marriages/pregnancies.  But as a side note, I’ll say this: the current female pros, on the whole, are FAR more skilled as teachers and choreographers than the male pros.  Every single female pro in the lineup this season is both a stellar choreographer and a stellar teacher – I can’t say the same for the men.  I honestly feel like the male pros as a whole need all the help they can get – with the departure of Mark & Derek, there is little hope in terms of strong male choreographers.  Sasha & Artem seem to really try, and seem to do pretty well about 60% of the time; I think Alan is still pretty green and trying to figure out his choreographic identity; Gleb & Keo, bless them, are not great choreographers. You know how I feel about Val’s choreography – it’d be pretty good, if he would just stop with all the props/time-wasting/troupe-overutilization.  We need a dynamite male choreographer – and I think it could be Brandon. I heard tremendous praise for his choreography skills during Juniors, and since he’s coming from the same school/era that gave us Lindsay, Witney, & Jenna, I think he’s got some serious chops. I tend to think of it more as a compliment to the women that they seem to be keeping the ladies the same while shaking up the male pro lineup more and more these days – the women are killing it, so why mess with something that works? The men need work – so they keep tweaking the lineup.

But…but…will Hayley ever got a shot at being a pro???

I’m sure she’ll get her shot, probably within the next year or so.  I think it helped that Sharna sat out Juniors, as that created a mentor vacancy for Hayley to fill and somewhat prove herself.  I think Peta’s out for the foreseeable future (if not permanently), as she’s expressed a desire for more kids; additionally, Sasha & Emma have said they want to start trying for kids next year, so depending on their success in that arena (hehe), we could see a female pro slot opening up in the spring (if there’s a spring season) or fall (more likely). There’s also the fact that both Lindsay & Witney have been married a few years now – what’s to say they might not start thinking about kids soon? Or even Jenna? And then there’s Sharna, who seems to be blossoming professionally – she may find herself occupied with other gigs before long, and might decide that she’s outgrown DWTS. There’s not a single pro that has been on every single season of DWTS – the pro lineup isn’t static, and if you’re patient, long-running troupe members do eventually get promoted. Relax – I’m sure Hayley will get her moment, when a slot opens up.

Just start praying for a DWTS baby boom, I guess 😉

August 30, 2018 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.

Pure Dancing With The Stars: “A Tribute To The Troupe”

Lois has written us another fabulous blog for us and this time, she tributes the Dancing With The Stars Troupe and how much it’s evolved. WELL DONE LOIS! Thanks so much. Read on, Everyone…

I became inspired to write this essay one night as I was watching DANCING WITH THE STARS. I usually watch some dances as a way to unwind from my day. I was thinking what a commanding presence The Troupe has become on the show. I decided to give them their due.

A TRIBUTE TO A TROUPE

A definition of a Dancing Troupe is simply a group of dancers dancing together. However, A TRIBUTE TO A TROUPE encompasses a far-reaching definition. The Troupe has evolved over the seasons into an integral, important, incredible group!

The Troupe first appeared in Season 12. They played a more back-up role in their first seasons. But, Read more..

December 14, 2014 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

PureDWTS Season 18 Food For Thought & Poll: Possible New Pro…?

So my friend Amanda over at PureSYTYCD shot me a tweet this afternoon – she gets to go to the SYTYCD live show tonight in Atlanta, and she happened to run into some of the cast at the mall earlier today.  She apparently got to talk to Du-Shaunt “Fik-Shun” Stegall (co-winner of the most recent season of SYTYCD), and according to him, someone from his season “will be on DWTS next season”.  He didn’t specify who, and he didn’t specify whether they’d be a pro or in the troupe – but there were 4 ballroom dancers on SYTYCD this season, so I figure he must be referring to one of them (although stranger things have happened…look at Tyne).

Yes, it’s probably a bit early for anyone to know for sure whether they’ll be on the show next season, but it did get me thinking: maybe TPTB are already scouting out new talent for next season, and they want to go fishing in the SYTYCD pool once more…so it might be possible that they’ve at least been “in talks” with some of the ballroom dancers from season 10 of SYTYCD about coming over to DWTS.  If so…who could it be?

The four possible choices are Brittany Cherry, Jenna Johnson, Alan Bersten, and Paul Karmiryan.  Both Brittany & Jenna are part of the VIBE family that gave us Lindsay & Witney, so I’m guessing that by extension, they’ve also worked with Mark on more than one occasion.  Both ladies have also appeared in guest dance numbers on DWTS before (see below – Brittany’s the brunette on the left, Jenna’s the one on the right).  I don’t know quite as much about the guys – I know Paul actually won the Armenian version of SYTYCD a few years back and lives in California, and Alan comes from a dance family (his older brother also auditioned for SYTYCD, but the judges chose Alan) and lives in Minnesota.

If this little nugget of info is true, who do you guys think will be joining us on DWTS next season?

I’m personally leaning towards Jenna – she’s the VIBE connection, she went pretty far on SYTYCD, and she seems to have the same “big” personality on the floor that we see from Witney.  Definite troupe material, IMO.  Not sure I’d want any of these 4 to proceed straight to pro, but I think any of them would make a decent addition to the troupe.  What do you guys think? Do you think we’ll be seeing any of these dancers gracing the DWTS floor next year?

brittanyjennagroup

October 25, 2013 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.

DWTS15 Troupe Update: Dancing In India and Australia, Black Tie Affairs, And More

So, it’s official. Dancing pros Henry Byalikov, Sasha Farber, Sharna Burgess and Emma Slater will all be returning for the new All Star Season of Dancing With The Stars according to their twitter and Facebook accounts. Oksana Dmytrenko hasn’t confirmed, but, I think she’s returning as well being nothing has been said otherwise (let us know if you know more?). Sadly, Kiki Nyemchek will not be returning. It’s going to be interesting to see who fills his spot. Any ideas or wishes? I’d like to suggest Jonathan Platero! More on that in a sec.

In other updates on the Troupe currently. Henry just got back from Australia. He helped with the new season of “Dance Academy ABC” due to air in the middle of 2013. Things are really starting to happen for this fan loving Troupe member. It’s going to be a big year for him. Don’t forget how he helped and is starring in one of the most anticipated movies of 2012 to be released soon “The Great Gatsby”.

Oksana has had a busy summer doing several black tie events. Below she danced a rumba with “So You Think You Can Dance” pro Jonathan Platero to Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams at a recent event. Incredible. Can you see why I think he might be a good replacement for Kiki?

You can also watch Oksana dance at a recent showing with Derek Hough at Pure Derek Hough. They are way steamy and so powerful.

And then there is Sasha Farber and girlfriend, Emma Slater. These past weeks, the two have been lighting up India in their version of Dancing With The Stars. According to Sasha, the episode with them airs this weekend. Check out this cool coverage of them. It’s fun to see Dancing With The Stars catching on in so many countries and how it’s different for the way they compete too.

And, last but, not least, we can’t forget about Sharna Burgess. You can see all of our recent updates with her here. She recaps her summer with us at this link. What a star as recently she also helped kids on skid row have a fun day and get them ready to go back to school. Stay tuned! According to twitter, Sharna will be filming her first commercial. I’ll be curious to see what this is all about.

September 8, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

DWTS Henry Byalikov Explains Role In The Great Gatsby, Working On New Musical Lead, & More

As you might have read in a previous posting, Dancing With The Stars troupe member, Henry Byalikov has a dancing role in one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2012, “The Great Gatsby“. Henry also taught the leads Leonardo Di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, and Carey Mulligan how to dance for the movie. Below is a new interview he did for it on The Morning Show. They also go through his whole career so far full of major accomplishments. Check out how he’s been working on the new lead for “Strictly Ballroom: The Musical” as well. FASCINATING! A MUST SEE! And let’s hope he gets the new lead!! He’d be perfect!!

“The Great Gatsby” has a December 25th release date. I plan to see this, do you? I was a big fan of the first movie with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Below you can view the trailer. Thanks to @Elara38 for the help with this post!!

August 10, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

Amazing Photos Of Dancing With The Stars Pros At Green Bay, Wisconsin Charity Show

Aren’t these some fantastic shots of Peta Murgatroyd, Derek Hough, Chelsie Hightower, Tristan MacManus, Sasha Farber, Corky Ballas, Oksana Dmytrenko, and yes, one lucky fan? On June 3rd, as reported to you earlier with photos and video coverage, the dancing pros of Dancing With The Stars did a show in Green Bay, Wisconsin to help benefit Donald Driver’s charities. Photographer D.King of dkingofimagez.com raved about how blessed he was to shoot the event. You can see more photos and read his take on the night at his facebook page. If you need this photographer to shoot any of your events and to see more samplings of his work, be sure to visit dkingofimagez.com as he does some amazing work as you can see.

Also, thanks to Tristan MacManus Fans Facebook for the heads up on these photos and D.King. To see them in a bigger size, click the photos.

June 16, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

Dancing With The Stars Lights Up Green Bay, Wisconsin For Donald Driver Softball Charity And Dancing Event

This past weekend Peta Murgatroyd, Derek Hough, Tristan MacManus, Chelsie Hightower, Sasha Farber, and Oksana Dmytrenko flew to Green Bay, Wisconsin to partake in Donald Driver’s 5th Annual Charity Softball Game festivities one of which included a show Sunday night. Sasha tweeted the pictures above. Also, thanks to Sasha Farber’s You Tube, you can see he and Oksana in dress rehearsals for the show below. You can see Chelsie and some of the other dancers from Dancing With The Stars in the background. What a fun dance…

Also, the Sheboygan Press has a slew of pictures of Dancing With The Stars Season 14 Champs, Donald and Peta, answering questions for the press and Peta throws the first pitch in the softball game. Below are just a couple of them. You can see many more in a fun gallery at the link.

Donald and Peta thanked their fans for voting for them. Peta also admitted that she’s been swept up in the “green and gold spirit”. Here is more in a take from the WAOW ABC Channel 9. Note how Donald’s team won the game.

“They had everything to do with it and I couldn’t have done it without them. I tip my hat off to the fans. Me and Peta did our part. At the end of the day, it was up to the fans to win it all,” Driver said.

His dancing partner Peta Murgatroyd says she can’t help but get swept up in the green and gold spirit.

“It’s out of this world. I haven’t seen anything like this before. It’s crazy. It feels so good to have the support of Packer Nation and Wisconsin,” Murgatroyd said.

“I knew Packer Nation would come through,” Bartz said.

Some fans say they’ve never watched Dancing with the Stars before. But because of Driver, they not only tuned in, but voted.

“When a hometown favorite wins it and brings it home, that’s huge,” Josh Marnocha from Seymour said.

Peta even threw out the first pitch, right down the middle. And as for the game? Driver can add a softball title to his trophy case. The offense took down the defense 22-10.

And below is a Fox 11 news TV report….

Driver hosts charity softball game: fox11online.com

If any of you were at these events and have a story to share, more pictures, or video coverage, be sure to let us know in the comments section. What a great weekend for them all!!

June 4, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

Henry Byalikov: From Burn The Floor, King Kong, The Great Gatsby, To Dancing With The Stars

What a budding dancing career this cool talent has and if judging fans reaction is any indication for how he helped Derek Hough and Maria Menounos in their Bollywood Trio dance, I’m going to be surprised if troupe member Henry Byalikov isn’t a teaching Pro on Dancing With The Stars very soon and a popular and much loved one at that! Would you agree?

Also, and if you haven’t heard, Henry has a dancing role in one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2012, “The Great Gatsby“. Henry also was rehearsal partner to Carey Mulligan. Below is more from Henry’s Official site for how this role came to be….

Henry was hand-picked by Australia’s leading contemporary ballet choreographer Mr Graeme Murphy to perform as a principal dancer in his brand new Contemporary ballet company ‘Graeme Murphy’s Suite Synergy 2011. Henry’s impact in the production was immediately well received with such reviewer statements exclaiming me as a “Fiery Flamenco Star”, and distinguishing him from the rest owing to Henry’s extraordinary ability, “Henry’s Byalikov, whose powerful intensity of focus and dramatic use of footwork, upper torso and arms unfortunately showed up the inadequacies of the accompanying quartet of dancers in this style”.

After performing to thousands he then helped the choreographer, as a dancer, to create a routine for the lead roles in the workshop for the brand new musical King Kong. He was then engaged as an ensemble member in the musical workshop.

Following the success he had in the musical Workshop, the choreographer Mr John O’Connell chose Henry to feature in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’. Henry was also a rehearsal partner to Carey Mulligan.

You can read more about Henry’s career here. Currently, “The Great Gatsby” has a December 25th release date. Below you can view the stunning trailer which features some of the cast dancing in several shots.

I’ll definitely be hitting the theatre to see this, will you? And wouldn’t it be cool if the producers of Dancing With The Stars featured Henry and the ballroom dancing in this movie on one of the results show to help promote it? A Dancing With The Stars fan can dream right? 🙂

Picture above courtesy of Henry’s Facebook page.

June 3, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

Cheryl Burke, Giles Marini, And More Dancing With The Stars Alumni Attend Simon G’s Jewelry Summer Soiree

Pictured above is Cheryl Burke and Giles Marini! Both were seen working the Red Carpet last night at Simon G’s Jewelry Summer Soiree and the kickoff of Carnevale Nights at The Palazzo Casino in Las Vegas. Whoa, this reunion had it’s way of waking me up this morning. 😯 Other amumni of Dancing With The Stars also attended this event such as Lisa Rinna, Audrina Partridge, Pamela Anderson, and Stacy Kiebler. You can see more pics of them all at the Daily Mail and Zimbio Pictures.

ADDING: And thanks to @DwtsGossip for pointing us to this tweet this morning;

I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XI – Season 12 Thus Far Edition

With a mere 4 weeks of competition complete, we’ve already seen a slew of costume dittos from the pros and also the troupe this season.  Let’s have a look, shall we? It’ll give Heidi & I some time to come up with this week’s cheesecake…and I’m sure it will be a doozy, after suffering through “American Night”-mare. 🙂

Battle of the lime green, jeweled & feathered Latin costume: Peta in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season vs. Kym’s pro dance with Tony to Santana in season 11

Courtney: Hmmm.  Tough one for me.  I like Petra’s hair better, but I think the color looks better with Kym’s skin.  Although I’m not wild about that thing they’ve got going across the midriff on Kym…glad they omitted it for Peta.

Heidi: Peta is certainly beautiful, and looks good in the dress, but I don’t think the Awesome Boobage of Kym can’t be beaten – by anyone. 🙂 Add in that her darker tan compliments the dress and there you go. I do see something resembling a crotch doilie though and it’s giving me flashbacks. 🙂

Courtney: I was thinking more “feather loincloth”, but crotch doily works too 🙂

The winner: The Awesome Boobage prevails once more 😀

Battle of the beaded black mesh Latin dress with plunging neckline, redux: Karina’s pro dance with Louis to Jennifer Hudson this season vs. Anna’s pre-season photo shoot with Sugar Ray this season vs. Kym’s cha-cha with the Hoff in season 11

Heidi: Again, I have to go with Kym for reasons previously stated. 🙂 Plus, I think Anna is too pale in her photo and with the red hair it just washes her out. Karina looks amazing, but I would go with Kym.

Courtney: The problem with this dress is that it’s not a typical “Anna” dress – she seems to tend more towards the conservative, less va-va-va-voom Latin costumes these days, so she’s out.  I loved the way the dress looked on Karina while she was moving – quite quickly, I might add, which is why it was hard for Heidi to get a clear screen cap – but alas, Kym reigns supreme once more with her sex kitten hair, smoky eye makeup, and perpetual Awesome Boobage 🙂

The winner: You don’t mess with the Awesome Boobage.

Battle of the hot pink fringed Latin dress, redux: Chelsea’s pre-season photo shoot with Mark this season vs. Lacey’s Team Kristi cha-cha with Kyle in season 11 vs. Anna in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season

Courtney: Poor Anna always seems to get stuck with the 3 & 4-peat costumes 😛 God love her…she’s cute, but I’m not wild about the hot pink paired with her red hair.  Sticking with cute-as-a-button Chelsea on this one… 

Heidi: Ummm….not Lacey? 🙂 I think I lean toward Chelsea, as I think her hair style compliments the “cute” of the dress.

The winner: Chelsea’s still pretty in pink.

Battle of the red & gold paso doble dress: Karina’s paso doble with Mario in season 6 vs. Oksana’s paso doble demo with Kiki this season

Heidi: I’m going to go with Karina based on skin tone and, even though it’s not a fair comparison since we’re looking at stills, the movement she achieved with this dress. Although that could also be due to what appears to be a different cut to the bottom portion – did they remove a slit and the gold trim for Oksana?

Courtney: Oksana keeps reminding us of how she’s a “powerhouse in a small package”, so I’m guessing they probably had to hem this dress for her – hence, the disappearance of the gold trim at the bottom of the dress.  Looks like they also omitted the gold belt (likely to make her torso appear longer) and may have sewn up a few of the slits & jeweled the bodice to balance the look.  A good example of how some minor tweaking can really change the look of a costume 🙂 But I agree – I like the look better on Karina.  Just works better with her skin tone and her build.

The winner: Oksana the powerhouse-in-a-small-package is no match for powerhouse-in-any-package Karina!

Battle of the pink & red ruffled Latin dress: Oksana in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season vs. Cheryl’s samba with Gilles in season 8

Courtney: I feel like a lot of Cheryl’s costumes in season 8 were similar to this – ruffly, midriff-y, and brightly-colored.  I guess she was maybe celebrating her weight loss (and departure from the frumpy costumes she wore in season 7 to cover up her weight gain) with all of these loud dresses…but it just doesn’t feel like something that really fits her personality well.  For that reason, I’m gonna go with Oksana…seems like something she’d actually pick out for herself.

Heidi: Hmmmm….I think I have to go with Oksana and I’m not really sure why I like it better on her. Overall, I don’t much care for the dress at all, but Oksana wears it well.

The winner: Everyone’s favorite pint-sized mail-order bride – Oksana 🙂

Battle of the red & orange fringed Latin dress: Melissa’s would-be jive with Tony in season 8 vs. Lacey in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season

Heidi: Again, a dress that I don’t care for much – but believe it or not I’m going to go with Lacey. Again, not a fair comparison because Lacey is benefiting from movement whereas Melissa is stationary. That said, Lacey’s hair is gawdawful.  But then, Melissa looks like a school marm posing as a hot Latin momma and failing miserably. 🙂  So, it’s really a double fail, but less on Lacey. This time. 🙂

Courtney: Poor Melissa – she didn’t even have a chance to show us this dress in motion (this was the week that she injured herself and was unable to do her jive, so they showed us the footage of the camera blocking instead).  She just wore it on the results show for the sake of consistency.  Not that I’m too disappointed – this dress reminds me of a Muppet.  Or rather, the leftover trimmings of a Muppet on the cutting room floor of Jim Henson studios 🙂 But weird & Muppet-y fits right in Lacey’s wheelhouse, so I’m gonna go with her as well.

The winner: Lacey rocks the “leftover Muppet” look well.

Battle of the pink ruffled mesh rumba dress & the jeweled & ruffled black mesh samba dress: Lacey’s rumba & samba with Kyle in season 11 vs. 2 wardrobe assistants futzing around backstage this season 🙂

Courtney: Two of Lacey’s weirder costumes from last season, fo sho…but these boys are fearlessly rocking them.  The Asian guy dominates in this one – he’s even got the artsy Latin hand gesture down cold! Other guy gets points for trying, but the socks, dude? As for Lacey…she never stood a chance against either of these fashion plates 🙂

Heidi: The Asian guy, definitely. The other guy would be doing well if not for the white ankle socks. 😉

The winner: Lacey never stood a chance against the fabulosity of these two 🙂

April 20, 2011 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.