DWTS13 Freestyle Retrospective: The Top 10 Worst Freestyles in DWTS History
So every season, as we draw nearer & nearer to the finale, it seems like the question on everyone’s lips is “What are they gonna do for their freestyle?” We debate which pros are the stronger freestyle choreographers, which celebs can handle the lifts, who’s got the most dance skills, who is going to struggle, etc. So Heidi & I decided to tackle the big question: what makes a good DWTS freestyle?
While everyone may argue over what works and what doesn’t, with 12 seasons under our belts, we have enough historical data to see some patterns – and there are definitely some things that all good freestyles seem to have in common, and some things that the bad freestyles have in common. Today we’re starting with the worst – these are examples of what this season’s finalists should likely avoid, and of which they should probably try to do the opposite π
A little insight into how we arrived at this list: I made a list of my own, and then bumped it against a list Heidi made and we looked for similarities. I also asked for suggestions on Twitter, to see if my finger was on the pulse of the more dedicated viewing audience; I polled my co-workers (likely more representative of the average viewer than most of us lurking on the Net ;-)) as well to get their thoughts. Turns out, most of you guys came up with the same examples of good & bad – which is good, since it shows that opinions on freestyles seem to be pretty universal. But without further ado, I give you the top 10 WORST freestyles in DWTS history:
10.) Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas, season 12
Courtney: This was one that a lot of you seemed divided on – some of you loved it, some of you hated it. I ultimately decided to include it in the “worst” list because it seemed to have something in common with a lot of the other freestyles on this list: it wasn’t reflective of the celeb it was meant to showcase. Yes, it was high-energy, it was well-executed (for the most part), and it was entertaining – but what did it really have to do with Chelsea? While she managed to keep up with Mark fairly well and got through the choreography, I never really got the feeling that it was a routine she really felt connected to, or that she even would have picked for herself. It was as if she had given Mark carte blanche with the routine and he chose everything – the music, the costumes, the theme, etc., and Chelsea was just along for the ride. I think choosing an obscure song didn’t help, and the choreo seemed to showcase Mark more than Chelsea – the poor girl just seemed to be trying to keep her head above water. Add to that some bland costumes and a wardrobe malfunction, and you’ve got a freestyle that’s overall just “Meh.” Definitely not 30-worthy, IMO.
Heidi: Well, this one I would have put in “dishonorable mentions” but it’s almost in that pile anyway, at slot #10. π The problem here, like you say, was Chelsea wasn’t connected to it (and similar ideas appear throughout this post). Not only that, but the music didn’t really match the costumes and none of it matched the choreo. It seemed all mixed up to me. It had a latin flavor, yet they were doing a light hip hop type choreo (I don’t really know how else to explain that) and their costumes matched neither. Then – why the lights and the bike?? I feel like I missed something on this one. There was also a section where it seemed like they just went from one cool trick to the next. The best freestyles (including some of Mark’s) had a good bit of actual ballroom dancing thrown in in places. This one is just a bit weird for me.
9.) Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya, season 10
Heidi: PEOPLE, unless your pro is Dmitry – do NOT argue with them about choreography. At all. Geez. That said, this is another freestyle that was good on paper, but in execution just didn’t work for some reason. Clearly it worked in person, since the studio crowd loved it…but the dance didn’t seem to fit either Evan OR Footloose. When Derek did Grease with Brooke, there was a clear, but brief, homage to the movie. The dance went with the song and it worked perfectly for Brooke. When he did a song from Dirty Dancing with Jennifer – again, a subtle, brief homage to the movie and it worked for Jennifer because, of course – she was in the movie. I think by the time they get to the freestyle the pros are just drained and they forget to really tie it altogether – and if you pick an iconic song, you have to really tie it altogether so that the dancing fits the iconic song but also works for your partner. It seems like this dance doesn’t fit either. He didn’t dance it badly by any stretch, but neither did Gilles in their Flashdance freestyle. That doesn’t make it good.
Courtney: I was always a bit puzzled as to why they picked Footloose – did one of them really, really like the movie? Or was it just another easy, dance movie theme to go with? I think that’s the one big difference between a freestyle like Jennifer’s and a freestyle like Evan’s (or Mya’s, or Gilles’, or Stacy’s – see below) – relevance. Dirty Dancing was relevant to Jennifer; but was Footloose really relevant to Evan? I want a freestyle to basically sum up a partnership for me – I want it to feel like both the celeb & the pro connect to both the dance and each other, and for the routine to feel like a nice closure to their season together. For me, going with Footloose as their theme left more questions than answers. Ooh, and can I just say that I think bringing in an outside choreographer is the absolute kiss of death? It doesn’t see to mesh well with the chemistry the couple has forged over the course of the season, and usually leads to coupled being led dangerously out of their comfort zone. And both Evan & Anna seemed uncomfortable with this one – almost pained, at times.
8.) Mya & Dmitry Chaplin, season 9
Courtney: This one is a prime example of doing something that’s so well-known that it’s actually cliched and boring. When picking a song and theme for a freestyle, I think it’s important to pick something that’s going to be high-energy, well-known, and relateable – but also fresh & creative. Dmitry got the first part right, but failed miserably on the second part – by time he & Mya got around to doing this freestyle, Hairspray had already been DONE TO DEATH – between the remake of the movie, routines on SYTYCD, and other similar routines on DWTS, it was already a dead horse, and Dmitry was just beating it. It’s always been my biggest issue with Dmitry: he picks songs & themes that are well-known, but he picks them at a time when everyone is already sick of hearing/seeing them. And not only was there nothing truly “fresh” about this freestyle, but it didn’t really showcase Mya, either – the choreography seemed too simple for someone as talented as she, and it wasn’t like she had ever had a profound connection to theme. I always wondered how their freestyle would have turned out if they had gone with Mya’s idea instead – whatever it was. Not sure it would have changed the outcome of season 9, but it may have made Mya a bit more memorable in the long run. Overall, this was another case of picking a theme just because it’s there. FAIL.
Heidi: Remember, they had a pretty fundamental disagreement on what their freestyle should be – and Mya’s idea sounded pretty good. This partnership was flawed from day 1 though. You take a gorgeous, but quiet girl who is the closest to a professional dancer the show has ever had, and pair her with a gorgeous but quiet/boring pro and you have a double dose of quiet and boring. Going with what Courtney said about picking songs/dances well after their shelf life has past, I think Dmitry really suffered from a lack of genuine creativity. He borrowed a lot from SYTYCD as I recall and got dinged more than once from props or rule breaking. I don’t think he adapted quickly enough. Anyway, it was sooo simple and plain – nothing technically challenging or exciting. Why is it that the best dancers often just totally disappoint (Unless paired with a Hough or a Ballas)??
7.) Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke, season 8
Heidi: Well, keeping in mind a rather serious shoulder injury, this wasn’t horrible – it is just that, like several other VERY good dancers throughout the seasons, they got to the freestyle and just…limped across the finish line. It did feature Cheryl a good bit more than it did Gilles. In addition, it was just…boring, sad to say.
Courtney: Another head-scratching theme for me – why pick a movie that quite obviously focuses more on the female and use it for a man’s celeb’s freestyle??? And sorry, but “What a Feeling” is quite possibly the most feminine song you could possibly pick for a freestyle – next to “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, MAYBE.Β But yeah, the choreography ended up being pretty bland, likely due to Gilles injury – and overall, it was just kind of a letdown, given how AMAZING he was all season. Wish I had more to say, but it was just kind of a non-event for me.
6.) Erin Andrews & Maksim Chmerkovskiy, season 10
Courtney: This was another one that a lot of you seemed divided on – for about every 3 people that hated it, there was 1 person that loved it. I actually feel kinda the same way – I thought it was a great idea ON PAPER, but when it came time to executing it…errr. This is another instance where I think venturing out of a couple’s comfort zone in an attempt to be fresh & unique actually backfired a bit – I don’t think either of them was prepared to tackle a completely new style of dancing, and I’m not sure they picked the best choreographer to work with. Choreographically, it seemed rather repetitive (a problem I’ve had with Mandy Moore’s routines in the past), and both Erin & Maks seemed to falter a bit with some of the moves; I also find that they relied far too heavily on both the prop couch & bed – has there been another freestyle that has had so many big props? In the end, I think they were both just too far out of their comfort zone to really pull this one off well – but I loved the song and the concept. Makes me wonder if it would have worked out better for another couple with a bit of contemporary training under their belts…I think Mark, Derek, or Julianne probably could have been more at ease, given their interdisciplinary dance background, and someone with more extensive ballet training like Melissa Rycroft could have picked up the choreo more easily.
Heidi: Well, Mark, Derek and Julianne have shown that they can do contemporary dance nearly as well as ballroom, and after his dance with Allison Holker and seeing him do tap I might be inclined to argue that Derek is equally good at ballroom and other forms of dance. Obviously he has a lot more practice in ballroom, but has a lot of other experience. I don’t think the same can be said for Maks and I think Maks was the true weak point in this dance. Erin might have exceeded him. He was just too far out of his own comfort zone. Much like many contemporary dancers can’t do ballroom (just watch So You Think You Can Dance if you don’t believe me), some ballroom people aren’t good at contemporary, or hip hop for that matter. Combine Mandy Moore (over rated) with Maks, a great ballroom pro but WAY out of his comfort zone in contemporary and you just have a bad idea all the way around. Add in that he’s going up against Evan and Nicole and it’s kinda like he tried too hard to be different. Or he gave up, depending on your POV. And let’s not forget that they didn’t practice enough on the actual bed and Erin almost flew off it.
5.) Stacy Keibler & Tony Dovolani, season 2
Heidi: What da holy hell was that?? Such a beautiful girl, amazing long legs and good movement…yet there was NOTHING to this dance. So simple, so bland, so boring!! It’s almost like she was standing still…and then she blew the lift at the end. Very sad. But then, I find that many of the early season free styles just don’t hold up to the more current ones.
Courtney: I’ll cut this one a TINY bit of slack, since it was still during the “formative” years when the pros were trying to figure out just what a freestyle should look like – but my big problem here is the same problem I had with Chelsea’s freestyle: it featured the pro more than the celeb. Tony stepping out center stage in that leisure suit and striking his best Tony Manero pose? All eyes were on him – Stacy was just the supporting cast. Like Gilles & Cheryl’s Flashdance snafu, we all know Travolta is the real star of Saturday Night Fever – not Karen Lynn Gorney (and yes, I did just have to look that up on Wikipedia). And echoing Heidi’s sentiments – this was just sooooo sloooowwww. No truly impactful “moments”, no high-energy lifts (the one at the end was clunky as hell), and while the choreo was fun, it wasn’t particularly difficult or impressive. Overall, a big letdown from a celeb who was a great dancer on her season – and I think it may have cost her the MBT.
4.) Mel B & Maksim Chmerkovskiy, season 5
Courtney: I’m not quite sure what to say about this one – overall, it just felt…random. Thrown together – a little of this, a little of that, and nothing really holding it together cohesively. While I don’t think you necessarily have to have a theme or a story to have a good freestyle, you do need to have and overall feeling of unity & direction to the routine – this felt aimless, and while there were a few good moments (Mel rocked the lifts), there weren’t any good transitions between them and it left me with a little bit of whiplash. Oh, they’re doing a lapdance! Wait, now they’re doing some hip-hop…oh, and now there’s a lift. Hmmm…now they’re doing a cha-cha basic….wait, no, now they’re club dancing. And quite possibly the worst part: it didn’t do justice to Mel’s talent – she had done far more difficult and flashy choreo in her regular dances that season, so this felt like a bit of a letdown. It could have been the song, too – I think the band actually made it feel a lot more low-energy than the original, so it left me a bit bored. The freestyle should be a couple’s magnum opus – save the best for last, go out guns blazing. This felt more like a squirt from a water pistol. π
Heidi: This was just such a let down after watching dances like their Paso. Did they get lost in the need to do lifts and hip hop and it just resulted in a big mish mash?? She was one of the best dancers the show has seen and it felt like her talent was squandered. There was a lot of walking and posing inbetween lap dances and lifts. π I was just extremely disappointed by the time it was over. Why? Well, I’m thinking that if you stray too far from what you became known for during the course of the season, you’re going to disappoint.
3.) Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas, season 11
Heidi: You know, watching it again, I think this one is really a choreographic FAIL of fairly large proportions. Not because it was “bad” – it wasn’t badly choreographed. And it wasn’t danced horribly either. The problem is, Bristol hadn’t seen the movie, hadn’t seen the show and for that reason, really didn’t connect to it to the degree required. I think you need to LOVE the movie or show if you’re going to dance to it – and I don’t think she did. I think *Mark* loved it. I think the best freestyles are done to songs that the star loves as much as the pro does and they connect to it. Of course, that whole thing with the pink sheet in the middle wasn’t fabulous, but I really think that it was just that Bristol wasn’t feeling it at all.
Courtney: Well I agree that it was a choreographic fail, but for me the biggest fail of this one was the fact that Bristol even made it to the finale in the first place. As I’ve said before, I think America *usually* gets it right each season, and sends 3 couples to the finale that are both popular & good dancers – so they are capable of handling something as high-pressure as the freestyle. Bristol was an exception – I don’t think she was a strong enough dancer to cope with a freestyle. So that right there was a big red flag that Mark probably wasn’t going to have the same choreographic versatility with her that he had with Kristi & Shawn.Β So what do you do when you have a mediocre dancer for a partner and you have to choreograph a show-stopping routine? You pick something slow and hope they can handle it and inject some entertainment factor at the same time. Unfortunately, Bristol was neither a stellar dancer nor a fantastic performer – and so she just kind of went through the motions of this one.Β And then there’s the props.Β *sigh* A cage and a really long piece of fabric? Erm.Β But yeah, basically the same thing Heidi said – Bristol never really connected to this one, and consequently it ended up looking rather “Meh”.Β The look on her face said it all for me – it was as if she was saying “Ummm, remind me again why I’m doing this routine?”
2.) John O’Hurley & Charlotte Jorgensen, season 1
Courtney: Ok, I’m sure many of you have long since forgotten about this one, but I feel like it’s worth including because it was the very first freestyle that actually fell rather flat – and may have cost John & Charlotte the MBT. Compared to Kelly Monaco’s freestyle (and most freestyles in subsequent seasons, at that) – this one felt kinda low-energy, and seemed to take FOREVER to really get started. There were a few lifts, but compared to what we’ve seen from couples in the past several seasons, they were pretty kindergarten-y. There was a bit of comedy, but without a lot of energy behind it. Overall, just a non-event for me – and it’s funny, because the judges RAVED about how great it was. Just goes to show that the bar has been raised significantly on freestyles in the past 11 seasons.
Heidi: It took forever to get started and then it never went anywhere. I’m sure in their heads it was cute and funny and “John”, but the actual result was just a non-starter. He went off time a significant number of times for a dance where he wasn’t actually MOVING, it was dull and….well, there was little dancing. That said, the bar was raised when Julianne, Derek and Mark showed up, although Cheryl had started raising it on her own in Season 3 – although, to be honest, I really don’t think “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” holds up much at all.
AND THE ABSOLUTE WORST FREESTYLE IN DWTS HISTORY…
1.) Marie Osmond & Jonathan Roberts, season 5
Heidi: Really, did anyone think we wouldn’t pick this one?? COME ON!! π Do I even need to go into detail with this one?? The dreaded doll dance?? And if the dance wasn’t bad enough, it was her loud mouthed behavior while the judges were talking. Anyway…well, there is nothing good about this. The costume was horrible, the dancing was horrible, freaky and weird. Poor Jonathan.
Courtney: *shudder* Why oh WHYYYYY did they decide to go with such a bizarre concept for this freestyle? Seriously – I’m at a loss as to why they thought Marie flopping around with glassy eyes was a good display of her talent. I mean, I guess she stayed on time and did the choreo well enough – but it was still a bizarre, misguided mess, that really told us nothing about Marie and what she was capable of. Crazy how different she & her brother’s freestyles ended up being. And I think Jonathan may have shot himself in the foot with this one – he seems to be forever branded “the guy who choreographed that god-awful doll freestyle”…and he never really had another good partner again. Poor Jonathan.
Some (dis)honorable mentions that didn’t make the list…
Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani, season 8 – Like the judges, a lot of you seemed to think it was “too cheerleader-y”. I personally thought it was kinda generic – predictable, generic song choice; generic-looking costumes that seemed like they were ordered out of a dance supply catalog; garden-variety lifts and typical “cheerleader-y” displays of flexibility & gymnastics. They seemed to go more for what everyone kinda predicted they would do, rather than something more unique. –Courtney–
Mario Lopez & Karina Smirnoff, season 3 – More wasted talent. There wasn’t much to it but walking around and posing. Yet the judges raved. Go figure. –Heidi–
Cristian De La Fuente & Cheryl Burke, season 6 – Another injured guy and it showed. Sloppy and tried for too many lifts that they couldn’t really pull off. –Heidi–
Kelly Osbourne & Louis Van Amstel, season 9 – I wouldn’t necessarily say this one was terrible, but it certainly wasn’t fantastic either. The choreography was rather simplistic, and Kelly noticeably stumbled a few times. Great effort and energy from these two, but in the end it seemed rather…bland. –Courtney– WORD. –Heidi–
Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer, season 7 – Geez, enough with the hip hop already. :::sigh::: I think the problem here is that Lance just didn’t have the swagger to pull of a decent hip hop routine….see Kyle, at the other end of the Lacey spectrum. π –Heidi– You know what this reminded me of? When cheerleading squads try to do sections of hip hop in their competition routines.Β They’re smiling all big and enthusiastically doing moves that should look more…street. –Courtney–
So who are YOUR picks for the worst freestyles we’ve ever seen on the show? Stay tuned for the top 10 best freestyles in DWTS history, coming later this week! π
Where’s Laila Ali’s freestyle?
Didn’t make the cut, Carlos. It wasn’t great, but we don’t feel like it was as bad as some of the ones we listed. There were a lot of “meh” freestyles that didn’t make either list – ones that weren’t bad, but weren’t great either. Just ones that were forgettable – this was one of them.
I’d put Stacy’s in 2nd, for the expectation.
Don’t think Bristol sucked that much. We have no expectations, and it was good, after all…
I mainly agree with all the freestyles and how they are ranked but I would argue that I think that the Bristol one should be ranked a little lower on the list purely on the point that most people didn’t really expect anything great from her freestyle whereas Mel B, Mya, Erin, Evan etc. could and should have had freestyles that knocked it out the park. Just my opinion but I wasn’t nearly as disappointed in Bristol and Mark as I was in the others as I feel that Mark was literally trying anything to get Bristol to be able to sell a performance and he probably thought a piece she really had to act a character would help instead of her going in it with no character direction of how to be on stage. I was sad when Mel B’s wasn’t hot and spicy, I was disappointed when Mya had the most cliche dance of all time, and I knew trouble was in the water when I saw Evan’s freestyle so that would be why I would rank them higher on the list of freestyle fails. All this to say great post and I can’t wait to see what y’all think are the ten best freestyles! Just inferring from yalls previous comment I don’t think Save a Horse will be first and for that I say Thank god!
You inferred correctly, Ayana. π
LOL to Marie’s freestyle winning. I’m not surprised. I didn’t like Chelsea’s either last season mainly because of their costumes.
@Carlos & Ayana – While Bristol’s freestyle wasn’t bad FOR BRISTOL, we tried to avoid ranking the routines conditionally – what might have been ok for Bristol could be considered terrible for someone else. We tried to think “On the whole, regardless of who danced it – was this a bad freestyle?” Even the routines that were a big letdown for the celebs that danced with them (but may have been ok for someone else) could still be considered bad freestyles, since the lack of appeal had a lot to do with the lack of performance value we saw from the celebs in them, who seemed to lack a connection to the dance itself.
did i mention i love this article and i was waiting for it since Courtney did the twitter survey … i see my number one is the your number one too π my thoughts:
10 – show-off -showcase the star
9 – downer – listen to the pro
8 – biggest blooper- use your star’s talent+do NOT listen to the pro
7 – disappointment-showcase your amazing,masculine star
6 – different but uncomfortable, yet not bad
5 – fizzle
4 – hodgepodge of everything and … nothing
3 – the best of the worst…
2 – was that their second week dance? no??? felt like it
1 – no need to explain. it is universally accepted π
i can’t wait for the best…well..i know what mine are..but i want to see your POV..
and #Ayana- I donβt think Save a Horse will be first and for that I say Thank god! DITTO!!!
Every time I see that Freestyle from Marie & Jonathan, I get a little angry because we missed out on what would have probably been an amazing freestyle from Derek & Jennie Garth. Can you imagine a Hough vs. Hough freestyle. As a matter of fact Julianne & Helio were the only ones with a good one that season-IMO!!
I honestly don’t know what type of reaction to have for this creation, laugh, shock-that about sums it up. I blame this on the judges-LMAO
You all do such an “AMAZING” job here at Puredwts, thank you. We really appreciate it.
When Brooke and Derek did their Grease inspired freestyle, it was an homage and put their spin on it. That is why it worked. It seems easy enough and other pros after that freestyle tried to do the same. See Mya, Gilles, Evan, and Bristol. It is not that easy to do. Even Mark who did a fun one with Shawn. bristol’s freestyle was bad choreography wise too. Not just in execution. What Derek pulled off with Jennifer and Brooke is not as easy it apears. I heard Gilles chose the song. Why he went with Flashdance, no idea. Mark is better off sticking with the tricks which he did with Chelsea but it was too much and worse, not about her. It was like tricks for the sake of tricks. Nothing new choreography wise either.
I have to say the Melissa deserves to be in the top 10. I cringed at that one. The style did not fit her at all.
I had high hopes for Lance and Lacey. While her ballroom still makes me cringe, Lacey can dance contemporary and hip hop well. But wow, that was bad hip hop. It was just flat. No energy,
I was happy that Erin went for contemporary but neither can execute it. The ones who can pull it off best on the show are probably Derek and Lacey. I think that is where the younger pros have an advantage. They are more cross trained. That is why Chelsea’s freestyle disappointed me more. She had the ability. But that freestyle was a bit generic and seemed even dated.
Random but given Mya’s tap background and Derek’s tapping skills, if they were partnered, what a fun first it could have been! A tap routine for the finals!
Agree Marie’s is the worst but I kinda find it oddly entertaining, I find Mel’s worse because of the expectations and what she is capable of doing. Instead, it was so disjointed and lacking oomph.
I loved this article, Courtney and Heidi. Thanks! I certainly agree with #1 on your list, but I so wish it could be different. I so love Jonathan and THIS is what he’s remembered for! lol How he put up with Marie all those weeks, I’ll never know. Very professional IMHO. π
Can’t wait to see the best 10!
I agree w all of them except for 3 freestyles: Lance and Lacey’s fresstlye (I loved that one), Erin and Maks (idk y but i really liked thta one), and Evan and Anna’s (I liked it a lot and it showed his fun side and he was really good in it so I saw noth wrong wit h it but I know a lot of people who would place that in the #1 spot). I think that Mellissa and Tony’s was just odd. Let’s face it, the man cannot chroerogrpah a good freestlye……in his respective seasons when he made it to the finals he has created okay fresstyles that were predictable. As for Maks, I liked his frestyle w Kirstie and theo ne with Erin but the rest were just eh.
@Melissa: I agree w you. Marie’s freestlye was probably the first freestyle on the show that made everyone think this is what happens when the star gets way too much say in what the freestyle is. She could have gotten second if she did a normal non Doll freestyle (I refer to it as the Marie Osmond-Chuckie-meets-Pinnochio-dance).
Melissa, I’m hoping that Derek will incorporate some tap with Ricki in their freestyle routine. They both love Broadway so maybe they will do a Broadway number. I know I’d love it.
Thanks so much for putting this together–I came late to the show and so missed most of these.
Gawd, that Marie Osmond is so bad it’s wierdly good–Bruno was spot on, it defied crticism.
Re Mark’s freestyle with Bristol, I thought it was so strange that he chose such a raunchy number for her, almost like a kind of revenge on her and a chance to do whatever he wanted.
Are you going to post the 10 best freestyles?
I’m still too chicken to watch Marie’s doll dance – I can’t watch epic bombs, even if I don’t like the person.
It’s sad that most freestyles are failures. Why can’t the pros follow these guidelines? It seems so plain here but…maybe not enough time to nail it down?
I’m assuming that Marie Osmond’s creeeeepy doll dance is going to get the #1 slot (if it was in the finals, I can’t remember). That number was so divorced from reality in terms of how it would go down with the audience. It seemed as though Marie insisted on it to promoter her dolls. Dis-turb-ing.
I love Mark Ballas’s work, but I must agree with you that the freestyle he choreographed for Chelsea did them no favors. Your comments were rights on. The costumes did suck.
I can’t wait for the ten best freestyles!!!
Man that creepy doll dance will give you NIGHTMARES. Sheesh.
I agree for the most part about all of these. I disagree with a couple, but you’re entitled to your own opinion. One freestyle that I absolutely hated but a lot of people seemed to love was Drew Lachey’s cowboy freestyle. I thought it was bland, but we all have different tastes.
The Mark/Chelsea freestyle made me think of Tron, which was a Disney film being released about the same time – I wonder if there was some ‘influence’ on costuming from there.
And poor Stacy Keibler, who will console her over her freestyle being voted one of the ten worst — oh, just George Clooney. Wonder if she’ll come to the finals, she and Elizabetta could chat….
Can’t wait for the top 10 list – and to see how many of them were done by the pairs that didn’t win the MBT.
Heidi , Voguerista and Courtney –
Which freestyle has dissapointed YOU the most
Id go with Mya’s freestyle. I personally think she was better than Nicole
While it was a great freestyle, Nicole’s was disappointing, only because it would be impossible for Derek to follow himself – 50’s Paso, that gorgeous foxtrot, pretty Woman tango, quickstep, the second rumba, the final jive…Derek choreographed some seriously amazing dances that season. By the time they got to the freestyle,he had no way to top himself. He has that problem a good bit though. Pulls out an amazing dance so when he choreographs FOR his partner it gets labeled as boring, but when done by anyone else it would be good.
I think some of these rankings need to be flipped upside down.
It’s easy to pick on the weaker dancers who made the finals like Marie and Bristol. But not much was expected to begin with.
But based on their skill level and potential, Mya, Gilles, Evan, Mel B’s freestyles were even worse. They were just awful underwhelming numbers for such wonderful dancers.
Mya’s especially was so lame that I think Dmitry should have been kicked off the show for good for choreographing it.
For me, that “Doll Dance” is just sad. Given what she’s said about what she was going through at the time, I think that whole dance was a manifestation of complete emotional, psychological and physical exhaustion. She was so absolutely a mess, she appeared manic when she wasn’t dancing.
The judges were saying she shouldn’t be there, Maks was attacking her, Mario even attacked her on the Larry King special, and she had all the personal stuff. It just now looks desperately sad.
All I can say for Jonathan is he must have been dealing with a lot of it, too and just lost himself.
Just when I had forgotten how horrid Chelsea’s lifts were… π
I have to agree with all of these.
I think Marie’s concept had potential…except the “doll” never came to life. Gilles’ and Mel B’s are probably the most disappointing.
Can’t wait to see who made your best list!
I doubt Chelsea’s freestyle had to do with Tron. More likely Mark took the idea from Step Up, the dance films.
I forgot how bad some of these were. Oh boy, Mark and Chelsea I hated the music. Mya and Dimitry…zzzzzz. And Gilles, I don’t care how bad that was, I *loved* him. There was something so sexy about him… Melissa, by the time that she was doing DWTS, I thought there was Melissa over-kill, so I was glad she was taken down a notch with this freestyle, Maks is just an *okay* freestyle chreorographer so this didn’t surprise me, and I hate ALL the hip-hop routines … And Marie, hold on I am still gagging… wait my coffee is coming up…. LOL
Rick, thanks for asking. Remembering my reactions, I think I would go with Mark and Chelsea’s freestyle last season!
http://www.wetpaint.com/dancing-with-the-stars/articles/dwts-pro-mark-ballas-will-judge-2012-miss-america-pageant
Figured you guys would be interested in this article. Idk why he is going to be a judge for Miss America Pagent (but than again they always get weird judges who shouldn’t be there lol).
Sandy, EVERYTHING, is sexy about Gilles. π
Well, Adam, if this was the Top 10 Most Disappointing Freestyles in DWTS History, I might be inclined to agree with you – but as I said before, we didn’t want to rank these routines conditionally. We didn’t think “Oh, this was a bad routine FROM MYA” or “This routine wasn’t too bad FOR BRISTOL” – conditional scoring like that is exactly what the judges do, and it drives me nuts. It just increases the subjectivity. Just because Bristol did better than her usual did not make her 8 & 9-worthy, or make her routine intrinsically “good”. This list is the result of Heidi & I looking at each routine as a whole and trying to determine how “bad” it was, regardless of who was dancing it. Yes, Mya’s freestyle was disappointing, coming from her; but I firmly believe it was also just a bad freestyle in general – boring & unimpressive. However, when it comes down to it, I would rather watch Mya’s boring freestyle than subject myself to the horrors of Marie’s bizarre one – so I strongly disagree that Mya’s was worse than Marie’s, and I have a feeling, based on the comments I’m seeing here, that a lot of folks probably feel the same way. It just doesn’t get much worse than Marie π
And rick, that’s a good question – I would say Mya’s was really disappointing, given how great of a dancer I knew she really was; I would say the same thing about Mel B’s too, as I think they’re pretty close runners-up to Nicole for the title of best dancer ever to do DWTS. Both of them had their talent squandered by boring, misguided freestyles. I honestly think it could have cost Mel the MBT, because I actually thought she was a better dancer (and was more well-known) than Helio – but Helio actually had a decent freestyle, in a season where the other 2 finalists bombed theirs. I don’t really think a better freestyle could have won Mya the MBT, because Donny was such a voting juggernaut at that point…but it could have at least left a better taste in viewers’ mouths about her.
It’s odd that Evan’s is one of the top 10 worst because it was a homage to a movie, but that Brooke and Jennifer are getting so much praise for doing the exact same thing. I found both Brooke and Jennifer’s so…….expected. I wish Derek would have thought out of the box for both of them. If either are in the top 10 I’ll be surprised. That’d be worse the the judges’ lopsided scoring!!!
I think we explained it pretty well, Teresa – RELEVANCE. Dirty Dancing was extrememly relevant to Jennifer – she starred in the movie; and Brooke said she loved the movie Grease. Both showed a certain connection to the theme. Evan didn’t star in Footloose, nor did ever even say he really liked the movie – it was as if they just picked it because they could. Ditto for Mya’s Hairspray routine & Bristol’s Chicago routine – hell, Bristol even admitted she had never seen the movie. Without any sort of personal investment in the routine, the end result was a freestyle that none of those 3 even looked like they gave a shit about – they were just going through the motions. It’d be like Rob going and doing a freestyle to Blues Brothers – just because he can. Or JR doing a Lion King freestyle – why does it matter to him? The more relevant the freestyle is to a certain celeb, the better they’re going to connect to it, and the better the performance is likely going to be.
Well, also, Evan was too wild and floppy in that freestyle. Very gangly. And the dancing didn’t really relate to the song – not any more than Evan did.
Teresa, prepare to be surprised. Maks thought out of the box for Erin, and was saw how that turned out.
Not only floppy in freestyle, floppy all season. His limbs were flying everywhere. I could barely watch him. So his lack of technique in his freestyle was no surprise.
Disagree, but I know I’d be beating a dead horse since it’s Derek. They’ll be in the top 10. Freestyles should knock your socks off and both of those dances were so expected, so cliche, and run of the mill. I mean, choreographing a dance to Grease or Dirty Dancing….how original!! Connection isn’t everything. Not saying Footloose or Hairspray were great, but if you’re saying Evan didn’t connect because he didn’t “say” he loved that movie, then that’s bogus. He was having a great time out there!!
And I know I’m beating a dead horse too, because it’s Derek – I’m beginning to wonder if that’s why you’re so upset. I never said Grease or Dirty Dancing was original – I said they were RELEVANT. And if you’re going to complain about them being unoriginal, you may as well lump Footloose and Hairspray into that category, too. I think you’d be surprised, Teresa – when I requested input on Twitter for these top 10’s, Evan’s name came up quite a bit – on the worst list. A lot of the complaints were the same: he & Anna didn’t look comfortable, the choreography was messy, it seemed chaotic, etc. It’s not just Heidi or I saying it, as hard as that is to believe.
Sorry, Teresa – don’t agree. The freestyles from Derek, Mark and Julianne (and Cheryl) are the best this show has seen. If you don’t agree, fine – but that’s all it is, disagreement. You can write your own blog if it upsets you that much.
Of course, you could just be smarting from us saying that Evan’s was in the Top 10 Worst. π
Heh – Court, quit being so logical. π “Original” – what is it with some of our commentors today and the words “original” or “out of the box”?? Derek is the single most original choreographer on the show – it’s almost not even up for debate at this point, after the last couple seasons. But what Derek ALSO does (as do Cheryl, Karina) is choreograph to the strengths of his PARTNER. You know…the stars of the show?? The biggest mistake Mark made last season was believing he had to have ground breaking choreography every single time – and the show isn’t about HIM or his choreography. Maks made the same mistake with his freestyle with Erin. Derek knows this, as do most of the women. Derek’s job (and the job of the rest of them) is to teach their partners to dance well enough that they continue on through the show. Period. The actual goal is not Emmy nominations, that’s just a fortunate side benefit from time to time.
Of course, if one of the pros choreographed some wild, crazy original moves and their partner fell flat on their ass, you wouldn’t criticize that, would you? Nah. π
Derek deserves a lot of credit for all his talent, but you have to admit, a lot of times the reason you give his dances credit is because his name is attached to it. I LOVE Grease and Dirty Dancing, but just because somebody said they love a movie during a rehearsal, does that make it an outstanding freestyle, even if the technique was good? NO! Mya danced great to Hairspray, but it wasn’t top-10 worthy because it’s been overdone and unoriginal (and that’s my favorite movie!) I’m certainly not upset, in fact I think it’s hilarious the way this blog fawns all over Derek. I’m saying that you’re contradicting yourself if you put Jennifer and Brooke’s dances in the top 10 because those two songs are just as much overdone as Hairspray and Footloose. I’m also not saying Evan doesn’t belong in the worst 10, but your reasons don’t add up. He was having a great time dancing and one of your main reasons is you’re saying that he didn’t “connect” the same way Brooke did to Grease. Originality is HUGE in freestyle and I just don’t see how you’re going to justify those two dances as top 10 worthy–that’s my point.
Your opinion, again, Teresa. You’re free to go somewhere else and start your own blog if you don’t agree with ours. We have justified it over and over again – we can’t make you GET it. If you don’t want to, you won’t. And yes, you are upset otherwise you wouldn’t keep going on and on about it and then pulling out the old “you fawn over Derek” chestnut when in reality – Courtney isn’t a Derek fan. I am, but when people get mad at us they tar us all with the same “derek lovers” brush – as if that’s a crime. LOL. Deal with it.
Mya?? I believe we ALSO said that there was no DANCING in that dance. But again, you see what you want. Guess what, you’re contradicting yourself more than we are. At least we explained OTHER reasons for our bests and worsts – you just say that Evan and Mya were great and not over done, but Derek’s were overdone and cliched – that sounds like the exact same thing you accuse us of, just in reverse.
Now, if you can’t continue this conversation without veering into rule breaking territory by talking about me and Courtney instead of about the show, I’ll start deleting you. I considered deleting this one.
Thanks, Heidi. I challenge anyone who thinks that I “fawn” over Derek to find a passage of text where I do just that – I think you’ll find that I’m pretty “take it or leave it” with the guy, and I’m not afraid to point out things I don’t particularly care for with his choreography…I just mentioned the other day that I don’t like his sambas. But I’m also not afraid to point out things I like – and I do think he’s pretty damn good at choreographing freestyles. I’ll readily admit I think Ricki has an edge in the finale because of Derek – and I’m even rooting for JR!
And for those who follow me on Twitter – I think you can attest to the fact that the only male dancer I fawn over (in explicit detail, I might add) is my own boyfriend. π
Direct quote FROM ME about Mya’s dance: “it wasnβt top-10 worthy because itβs been overdone and unoriginal.” Neither Evan nor Mya deserve top 10. Neither do Jennifer or Brooke. ALL unoriginal.
Direct quote FROM ME about Evan: “Iβm also not saying Evan doesnβt belong in the worst 10.” Becuase of technique–I agree with you there. Connection should not be a reason. Never said he was great, just that he had a great time dancing to it.
I’m not contradicting what I’m saying….I’m saying you can’t praise Jennifer and Brooke’s as original if you’re diss Evan and Mya’s dances as UNoriginal because they’re based on movies. And originality is KEY in freestyle. That’s all.
Heh. A lot of Derek fans don’t like his sambas. A bunch of us don’t drink kool aide either. π
Samba – I think because it’s so difficult to teach to a beginner that he ends up dumbing it down too much. Or his partner is really hot (Nicole, Brooke) and he goes too raunchy – which is actually okay with me. π
No, actually, Teresa, that’s not all. We had many more reasons for both our bests and our worsts – you just don’t agree with them. Too bad. You can over simplify all you want, won’t change a thing. Our reasons are ours – you don’t like them, tough shit. And yes, I did delete your other comment – you can’t take disagreement from me, you best not post here. I disagree with a hell of a lot more than comments about Derek – over simplification is the sign of a losing argument. And certainly don’t try to whine to my friends and expect sympathy.
Originality in a freestyle is about so many things – NOT just the song.
Yes, Grease and Dirty Dancing weren’t original, but DD was relevant for Jennifer. I’m not so sure about Grease being that relevant to Brooke – but her and Derek’s freestyle is still one of my favorites.
Derek’s originality is in his choreo. The way he mixes the different dance styles together without it looking like “here’s a few bars of jive – pause – a few bars quickstep – pause ect.” The transitions are amazing.
And he also has original moves like the lift-into a roll in Brooke’s freestyle.
Many people are going to yell at me, but I saw Drew’s Freestyle mentioned somewhere above. And I think I might be the only person that thinks this when I say: I actually didn’t think it was all that great.
I don’t know if this has been asked, but could you do a Top 10 Best Freestyles list? That’d be really neat to see.
You’re not alone, Tony.
It’s in the works, Tony. That’s the funny thing – Teresa is complaining about something she hasn’t even read yet. That’s why it’s so hard to take her seriously. She doesn’t even know what we’re going to say yet!!
The best list is on its way, Tony – just a matter of Heidi & I tearing ourselves away from our desks at our regular 9-5 jobs to do it π I’d look for it sometime tomorrow.
And without going into too much detail (I’ll save it for the best post) – let’s just say that “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” may have been a showstopper AT THE TIME, but I don’t think it holds up to freestyles we’ve seen in the past few seasons.
Awesome. =) Thank you guys so much for taking the time to do this.
Teresa, I do not think Grease was expected at all for Brooke. That came as a surprise. Keep in mind after her freestyle, other pros tried doing that type of freestyle. Unfortunately, did not pull it off successfully because you need to add your own touch. As for Jennifer, they went Dirty dancing but not what people expected. It was brilliant to do the watermelon scene and the one song that Baby did not dance in the film. The lyrics fit Jennifer’s journey too.
I agree with your worst freestyle choices, with the exceptions of those that I haven’t and will not see (Marie, John)- I can’t judge those. I have a hard time watching something everyone tells me sucks really hard in advance.
As far as movie tribute freestyles go, I didn’t enjoy neither Evan’s, Brooke’s or Jennifer’s. I guess I don’t like tribute freestyles.
A thought occurred to me while reading the comments. I get why the judges must judge relative to the celebrity in question and not based on comparison thru-out the season. But why in freestyle? Everything goes, so why not make a clean slate just for that dance? I don’t think you have to be very technically proficient to dance a good freestyle. You have to have fun and be relatable. So anyone can do it.
If a freestyle sucks, no matter how good the dancer is, give them a 6. If a freestyle is engaging no matter how bad the dancer was in Jive and Samba, give them a 10.
I still can’t believe no one did a rock inspired number.
Well, worst is kinda….relative. You know, sasa? Only a few are truly horrible – most fall into the forgettable or simple category. Boring.
@PH
Yeah, agree. And I want less boring. The last freestyle I enjoyed was I think Kyle’s.
The threat of really scores for dances that are not entertaining would perhaps make them go with crazier, flashier routines. Do silly stuff- dress like Kiss or go crazy doing Irish dances or incorporate some talking in the dance or… anything really.
*(and for the biggest and rudest OT you’ve ever seen, check out the great article Daily Mail wrote about vacationing in Croatia, I’m so proud)
As far as good freestyle choreographers go, I’d put my 2 cents in for Kym. Each of her freestyles has been different and each one seemed to reflect the celeb it was choreographed for. Hoping to see her on the “best” list somewhere. π
*really low scores
Sorry.
mmc: I really liked her freestyles with Donny and Warren and I hope at least one of them will be on the “best of… list”
I think the one with Joey were okay, but I didn’t like the one she did with Hines last season. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t get that one. It was the best of the freestyles last season, but that doesn’t say much.
For me the best freestyles have been choreographed by Derek(all three), Cheryl(Drew and Emmitt), Mark(Shawn and Kristi), Julianne(Apolo), Kym (Donny and Warren)
So I’m not sure if it’s been said already, but I think that Chelsea and Mark’s freestyle had a similar song and lifts as that of a dance by Mark, Julianne and Derek when they were younger.