DWTS Finalists Talk About Their Upcoming Freestyles, What Do You Think They Should Do?
The three finalists have been revealed! Now it’s time to see what’s up for next week’s final dances for what we can find out from their interviews after the results show last night.
In this ET Online interview, Derek and Shawn don’t reveal much. They are excited and just want to head back to the rehearsal studio and start practicing. Tony and Melissa just want to have fun and continue the same trend they’ve been doing all along and come up with the best freestyle. Kelly and Val are so excited. They encourage their fans to keep voting. They just want to have fun.
For more with Derek and Shawn, be sure to visit Pure Derek Hough!! Here is more with Tony & Melissa and Val & Kelly with On The Red Carpet….
Tony isn’t sure about what they will do for their freestyle yet, but, he guarantees they will work the hardest and it will rock! It will also be different and have tricks that have never been seen on the show before. He wants to bring out the “big guns” for this one. He has 15 routines in his head, but, for now he’s just enjoying the moment that they made it.
Val is nervous, but, excited that he and Kelly made it to the finals. He hasn’t come up with a freestyle yet, but, he will by the morning. He will do his best. Kelly says they will put everything out on the table and go for it. She has never easily given up on things. Val names Kelly’s strong suits by saying she has a presence, a story, and a struggle. She’s had her ups and downs and she’s real. She impresses with her raw emotions and interpretations of it. When Kelly is on the dance floor, she really loves to dance. She gives him a big hug at the end.
So, what would you like to see of their freestyles and what do you think they should do or concentrate on?
I hope Derek and Shawn keep going the theatrical and creative route and throw in everything they can including a few gymnastic moves. I hope Tony won’t throw too many tricks in that we see Melissa too pushed like Apolo was this past week in he and Karina’s first dance. Sometimes “less is more”…know what I mean? I hope Val will concentrate on the strong suits he mentioned on Kelly. I think she is a better “slow” dancer. So, I hope he keeps it slow for their freestyle.
Here’s to next week, Everyone! 😉 xx
Looking forward to shawns and melissas 🙂 hope val can impress and stay away from sex and speedos :-D:-P
I was re-watching the results show last night and had to laugh. When Shawn and Derek are in the skybox with Brooke, Melissa and Tony, they were asked about the freestyle. Shawn brings up putting the balance beam in the freestyle and Derek shakes his head no and covers his “Daddy parts”. Not sure if I like the idea of a production number freestyle, especially with the fact that Thursday is Thanksgiving, so much of that day will be lost. Can they have pros, troupe or, maybe, eliminated stars in the number? I am hoping for their repeat dance they will do the Fusion since Derek wasn’t able to dance it the first time with Shawn. I’m sure he will add some of his own flair to it to make it different. Can’t wait for the finals, but I also look at it with sadness because it might be the last time we see Derek in competition. He is always at his best when challenged; and the fast paced weekly dances really show off his immense talents. It will probably mean, for me, the end to power voting on Mondays. I can’t see anyone inspiring me to do that again – only Derek!
That was pretty funny, Linz. Shawn mentioned the balance beam in an interview weeks ago and he said, “I won’t be able to have children after. Great.” He does seem to have a fear for the equipment, so I don’t think we’ll see it.
I also hope none of the pros, including Derek, are foolish enough to include a lot of other dancers. Seems like that could be a costly mistake to me.
I hope shawn and derek just keep it fun, with just the right amount of tricks. Shes proven they dont need a lot of tricks to do well, on her freestyle with mark and all this season we see that the girl can dance, so i just want to see more of that. I agree that i hope tony doesnt go overboard on the tricks. I hope Tony can come up with something good, but i fear he might not. I think hes just too much of a traditional type of guy to think enough outside of the box to come up with a good freestyle. But he def stepped it up this season, so who knows. As for val and kelly i just hope he doesnt load up the routine with a bunch of spins and that they both keep the majority of their clothes on
I also hope Shawn and Derek do the Tango/Paso Fusion! Love to see him dance this with her or anything like their quickstep!
I think the three repeated routines are going to be the following:
1)Kelly and Val: their paso
2)Shawn and Derek: Mambo
3)Melissa and Tony: Viennese Waltz
As for the freestyles, I hope that Tony does something really exciting. I kinda hope that he uses Dance With Me Tonight by Olly Murs since he could continue his reinvigorated creativity in abig way since there are a lot of moments wher he can do really cool tricks and combine the with lindy hop, which I think is Melissa’s best dance ever
I feel like the Val we saw in this video needs to be seen a lot a lot more. I felt like he was a little bit more humble and grounded.
As for the favorite dances, here’s what I would like to see:
Shawn & Derek: Tango/Paso Fusion or their Mambo.
Melissa & Tony: Quickstep (but probably not since it’s so short) or maybe Jitterbug. I liked her V.W., but not enough to see again.
Kelly & Val: Probably Paso. Aside from her Rumba, I thought it was her best dance of the season.
Thanks for posting, Vogue!
I would love to see Shawn & Derek do their Tango/Paso fusion just because we didn’t get to see her perform it with Derek because of his injury. If not, their Mambo was pretty fantastic. I loved their Quickstep, but I don’t think that they will do it because they would be docked points again for breaking hold.
You know, I was thinking of their freestyles, and thinking that Derek should do the complete opposite of what everyone is expecting…… Tony and Val are probably going for flashy sets with lots of props, lighting, tricks and lifts galore, probably “big music” because that’s usually what people want. I would love instead, for a more “simple” freestyle…. Quieter music, softer lighting and costumes, and the focus being put on how much performance and emotion Shawn’s learned this season, and her dancing.
I know the best freestyle usually (not always), and people focus on lifts and tricks for the freestyle…. That’s not what I want to see…. I want DANCING.
This new kind of freestyle is actually a kind of a trap, IMO. For the reasons Lori mentions. The temptation will be to go huge, use other dancers – a whole lot of non-dancing stuff. But the risk there is drawing too much attention away from your partner and on to all the other stuff. The challenge will be to create something exciting that focuses everything on your partner.
Derek’s contemporary dance last night for example – there were a few props, but they were *background* effects. The dance appeared VERY stripped down just watching it. I think that Shawn and Melissa can do good to great freestyles with out falling into the trap. And Derek, at least, can incorporate a lot of stuff in such a way that it’s still about Shawn. Not so sure that Val will be able to resist the urge to use his entourage.
I will fly to California and smack Derek if he gets too carried away. I’m pretty sure my air fare money is safe. 🙂
I have no doubts that Melissa freestyle will be heavy on tricks and lifts, every time that Tony is allowed to do lifts he goes overboard, just look at their jitterbug and AT, very little dancing, the jitterbug had 8 lifts and the AT had 10. And of course Shawn does 3 lifts or tricks and her dance is call floor routine by people, funny isn’t.
If tony is smart he would go for some 60’s 50’s inspire dance, very jitterbug,jive, lind, quickstep or some Ballet/waltz like he used to do with Julianne. Other than this two I don’t see him doing anything really great, just take the caveman hustle for exemple, that was a mess, the choreo was all over the place, and they had probably the easiest theme and dance all off everybody.
I bet Val is going for a contemporary/rumba type of dance, something to explore the chemistry and give team vally another kiss.
I have no idea what Derek will do, I just hope is something different, I find hard to believe that he doesn;t seen to know what they are doing yet, like picking the music yesterday but I’m sure it will be something amazing. I almost wish he had saved some of those quickstep moves and ideas for the freestyle (especially the end).
I dunno, Laila – it sounds to me this morning that Shawn and Derek have a plan. Shawn said it in one interview and she just mentioned something again on twitter.
I’m over worrying about Derek. Every single time I worry about something, he blows my mind.
I actually would love to see Kelly/Val repeat their Contemporary routine because I really believe that if they get in-sync this time, they’ll earn the perfect 30. But if they repeat a different dance, I think a contemporary-type of freestyle will work with these two.
I just re-watched Melissa’s freestyle from her first season. It was ok. I’m hoping this time around it’ll be different, crazy & exciting so she can bring it home. I kind of wish they never used “Call Me Maybe” earlier in the season. It would’ve been a perfect song for her.
I think Shawn/Derek can do whatever and they’ll still earn a perfect 30. So I’m not really expecting anything short of amazing.
PH, stop worrying. I think Derek just has too many options available with Shawn. He has an arsenal to use. She is flexible, has great dance skills, and she is fearless. He’s probably trying to weed through everything. Plus, I think he is one of the few that really gets that less is more. Everyone was worried about the lack of props for the bhangra and they just blew the house down. He probably had a hard time choosing a song because he can do soo much with her. I think it is going to be mind blowing. We just have to vote and vote hard.
I would like to see them do the tango/pasa. It was very well done with Mark, but I think we all would be blown away if they did it together. Just my thought.
I am guessing for repeats…
Shawn & Derek: Mambo or Tango/Paso fusion. They probably don’t want to go with one of the routines they broke the rules, because they can get docked again
Kelly & Val: Paso definitely, Val loves the Paso and it was I think one of their highest scores
Melissa & Tony….not sure actually
I know Tony is dying to redeem himself after the really bland freestyle they put on in season 8. Hopefully they will have a balance of tricks and dancing though.
I will say if Shawn & Derek do the Tango/Paso fusion, they need to work on the feel and expression of it a bit. Being with Derek should help. I do think Shawn has improved so much in her performance since season 8. But the aggressive dances are still the only ones she doesn’t seem to change her expression as much throughout. Carrie Ann really harped on them this week, so they will either have to work on it or they will not risk being criticized for that and go for the fun and playful repeat routine instead.
If they are doing the repeat dance on monday, I would say Mambo for sure, because not only they would get 30 but is also a crowd pleasers, with big impact (it is actually their most watched dance on youtube), the quickstep or the rumba would be too risky because of the judges scores and the paso/tango even if it was awesome, doesn’t get the crowd going like some of their other dances. And the mambo got a 29.5 (from the three judges), that dance deserve a perfect score.
Melissa doesn’t have much to choose IMO, their best dances were the v.waltz, good but not amazing or exciting. the quickstep, overscored and short with some issues. Paso, trio, so no way. They could do the AT again, but I think it would be lame, so I think they will go for the v.waltz for sure.
I agree that Kelly is doing paso again, if she get that dance clean she can get her first 30.
So, for the instant dance, none of the stars have done an instant dance before. Val has never been around long enough to do an instant dance. Has Tony done an instant dance? Is Derek the only one who has done the instant dances before?
I also think Shawn and Derek will dance the Paso/Tango fusion. It would be a smart move because many people wanted to see her and Derek dance the fusion in the first place. Also, they could prove that they can pull of the chemistry for a Paso/Tango. I think they won’t dance the Mambo because of the lift in the beginning and the splits, considering her knee and Derek’s neck. The Rumba was amazing but I feel like it was a one time epic thing.
For their freestyle I also want to see something totally unexpected! Everyone expects a fun, energetic freestyle with a lot of tricks and stuff. It would be amazing if they could shock the audience by doing something completely different. I would love to see a creative, artistic piece with extraordinary choreography. It doesn’t have to be a slow, sensual dance… it can still be fierce and strong but with emphasis on creating lines and shapes, and lifts that complete the dance.
I would go rather minimalistic and simple on the costumes – nothing too fancy or flashy that distracts from the dancing. Same goes for props.
But saying that, I think it’s likely that they will show a fun, energetic freestyle and I’m sure that I’m going to love it! It would just be cool to get surprised.
I also wanted Shawn and Derek to do the fusion but now I think I would love to see them do over the Rumba but this time make it totally about Shawn. Let her get more hip movement going on that the judges seem to want and make it slow, sexy, seductive and really let her emotions surface. Show everyone exactly how far Shawn has come in letting down her guard. This time though with no lifts (or catches) just slow Rumba.
I want a freestyle were shawn can show personality and skills.
From Val I’d like to see a fun latin dance pout-pourri without stripping and lot of spins. Just good dance and chemestry without appeal.
For Melissa, I mean, from Tony it’s gonna be a surprise. A bland disco and an unconfortable hip hop… melissa is good on latin, ballroom an ballet. she’s nice and can handle a character… If I was him, I’d pick a song that he could dance slow but also go crazy back and forth. I’m not going with the 50’s I’ve seen too much lindy hop from them… and I agree less is more. one or two good lifts are enough.
Laila, whoa on the lift count for Melissa. Almost matches her leg kick counts. The thing is their lifts also look labored. The Argentine tango did but the viewers seemed to like it.
I can see them going for ballet too. Or more Broadway style,
It says something that I can barely remember Kelly or Melissa’s dances while Shawn has so many to choose from. The quickstep had great elements. Wonder what Shawn and Derek will do to top it? Sure they will do something great.
I wanna see Derek do a backflip! I LOVED the one he did with Nicole Scherzinger in season 10 during their jive in the Finals! I hope they repeat their Mambo! It was one of their top 3 dances this season in my opinion and it didn’t break the ‘rules’ per se, unlike their quickstep. I think he might bring Mark into the dance. But I don’t see him going overboard..I see Val doing exactly that. I see Tony incorporating a LOT of lifts and tricks. Sigh…I want Shawn and Derek to win this thing SO BAD! OFF to create more email accts!
Who does everyone think the dancers are that will be included in the freestyles?!
I think for Val and Kelly : Maks Peta and maybe Henry
I think for Shawn and Derek : Mark and Chelsie maybe
And melissa I have no clue!
Thoughts??! I think this will be a great finals!
I think using other pros is a mistake. I hope Derek doesn’t go down that road. They can use other “people” too – that might be okay, briefly. But having other dancers is a huge mistake and I think they’ll get called on not showcasing their partners if they’re not careful.
I think using other pros is wrong…it’s lie a second trio dance or another group freestyle. I didn’t like this season because of all the non-sensical fluff they added. I did think that picking dances for each other was cool, but not the second time around. i would have loved to see Apolo do an Argentine Tango instead of a jazz number, for example.
I prefer authentic music for the dances as opposed to all the top40 they’ve been using.
I agree with you PH! I also hope Derek isn’t using other pros in their freestyle dance.
They don’t need them! They are both strong enough to show us a great dance!
Go team Shawnough! They have my votes again! 🙂
If Derek brings in other pros, I hope it’s Anna and Mark (a blonde Chelsie would distract from Shawn; and Mark ’cause he’s her old pro and his “bro”). They could do something like this season’s pro number with the ballet dancers: each couple doing their own thing, yet with all dancers flawlessly intertwined, in a routine made to showcase how far Shawn has come (technically and emotionally) since her first season. Just a thought…
My concern about the “super-sized freestyle” is that it isn’t well defined, and thus there could be unstated expectations – kind of like the fusion dances. Will couples get docked if they don’t use extra people/dancers? Will they be told their freestyle wasn’t super-sized enough? One way to use extra people or dancers and still keep the focus on the celeb would be to do something along the lines of the old MGM musicals vs a trio. Basically, have backup dancers/extras that provide a backdrop instead of really interacting much with the celeb and their partner.
I hope that Melissa and Tony do a Broadway-style freestyle, similar to Brooke and Derek’s freestyle from their season. Something cheesy and corny — not young and hip. Five or six lifts is plenty! No need to put so many lifts in that you mess up on one.
I kind of hope that Kelly and Val do a contemporary freestyle, just because I don’t think it will go over well with the DWTS audience, and would probably guarantee them third place. Sorry to be mean. I don’t want the guy who had a temper tantrum over low scores, and whined about the ‘unfair’ treatment of the C brothers, to win the trophy.
And therein lies the biggest risk of a freestyle, woodrose – can Tony resist the temptation to make it all about lifts?? I doubt it. And that could be their downfall. Regardless of what naysayers always say, Derek’s very best freestyles had about 3 or 4 lifts and tricks and all the rest was DANCING. You don’t need to have a lift every 10 seconds if your partner can dance – and clearly, Melissa can dance.
PH, you make an excellent point as usual. I think with Derek he incorporates the lifts where they fit into his choreo, not fit the choreo to the lifts. I went back and looked at Melissa’s AT which was good but they could have done less lifts and more tango steps. On slow motion, some of those lifts were shakey. If Tony does put the choreo around all kinds of lifts, it could be a diaster. With Melissa’s longer legs, alot of their lifts are not smooth looking.
Too bad you can’ just forward #11 to Derek..PH. Said everything I’ve een thinking since I heard about a twist on freestyle. And like #10 Lori, the freestyles are usually my least fav dancs of the season most times There are more about tricks so often an get hectic.
Hope you don’t have to fly to CA,too…well, unless you want to, of course !!