Yegor Novikav And Shirley Ballas Discuss Dancing With The Stars Week 7
Yegor Novikav and Shirley Ballas join the Afterbuzz crew to discuss Dancing With The Stars Week 7. I always love to hear Shirley’s take on the show being she’s taught so many of the pro dancers. Note for how much she loves Jacoby and why (which makes me love him even more). Also note everything she says on Derek Hough, teaching him, and how much they have in common when they teach. She also thinks Derek and Kellie should have received three 10’s this past week (I agree!). This is a good one (for what I’ve heard so far. I haven’t listened to it all the way through yet). Let us know what you think…
I absolutely adore Shirley! She gives it to you straight, without crossing the line, but still gives constructive critism. Can anyone say Shirley Ballas as a judge…please?! I love the fact that she knows the pros, understands what goes on behind the scenes and can still speak her mind. The final will have 4 people- she specifically said so- and its refreshing bc so many people would dance around that. Plus, can her accent be any more adorable! I don’t agree with all, but for the most part she is spot on and you have to appreciate her knowledge within the dance world. More please!
I think its also great that she gave some insight into the dynamic of Mark, Val, Derek, etc. Specifically she spoke of a pretty competitive spark between the boys- more so Val and Mark. She gave props to Val and said he prob is one of the best jive’ers in the world. I do agree though- and more so this season, that alot of his dances are very professional almost like the pro circuit. I would like to see him get a little more creative and show a production quality to the dances but still keep the dancing clean and precise- bc please lets remember this is a reality dancing show…it is nice to be entertained! She said his comment about picking on someone their own side was probably sincere since that is kinda who he is. She makes notes about the judging and scoring in which she gave the best answer possible- its politics, there are politics everywhere in the world, that you can’t have the same dancer or two at the top every week because it would be boring…so week to week they tinker here and there to keep things interesting and to keep the message boards buzzing:)
I like how Shirley was basically like, oh no that was VAl totally throwing shade at Mark.
The question I would love to see someone put to Shirley Ballas is What did she think about Melissa winning over Shawn?? Politics, manipulation or manipulation gone wrong, whatever it was I think that result did a lot of damage to this show . I think people watched Shawn blow everyone away and Derek come up with harder stuff week after week and instead someone with weak legs, stumbling, who did the same dance 3 ? times in a row, and not the greatest or most interesting choreo ended up winning. I think a lot of viewers then said, Oh, hell no. This show is a farce.
I love how she gave such props to Sharna. Saying of course they’re all quality movers but there’s quality and then there’s *quality* and said she’d put her up there with Karina.
And I think she can hardly stand the anticipation of the possibility of Karina, Derek, Mark and Val competing against each other in the finals. It seems she thinks extremely highly of the 4 as dancers and choreographers, and their competitive streaks. I am happy about a 4 person final and I too would love to see these 4 pros with their partners in it. Obviously, short of any problems, that’s how it’s shaping up, no surprises. But I honestly don’t have any idea who will win of the 4.
I really enjoyed this episode of afterbuzz, loved hearing Shirley’s input.
Jess, yes, I do agree that Shirley is excited for the possibility of Val, Karina, Mark and Derek all being the final 4…. Not just because of the level of competitiveness between the 4 pros, but…. 3 of the 4 are HER KIDS! She trained Mark, Derek and Karina…..
I’m curious now, and just thinking and typing, but I’m just wondering something…. Louis and the Ballases have both claimed to have trained most of the DWTS pros…. Is that true? Would one have been their formative/competing years, and the other more recent? Obviously, Mark, Derek, Julianne and Karina are easy to place as Ballas trained kids, there’s many photos out there of the 4 of them with Corky and Shirley.
Not sure what I’m asking, or questioning, maybe wondering about the validity of those claims?
I tend to believe them both although as they bring more and more pros from different worlds ie sytycd…maybe that becomes less so true over time. Perhaps CS will have time to comment on this, very interesting.
I appreciate Shirley’s candor. It’s appropriate in this setting, and I particularly liked her comment that Sharna is “quality”.
I never doubted that Val was sincere with his “pick on someone our own size” comment. That is who he is, but that doesn’t change my opinion that the comment was unnecessary and showed a lack of social grace. I feel you can be competitive without being ugly.
Yegor didn’t get to say too much, but I agreed with what he said about Val and Zendaya needing to show more connection between them when they dance rather than directing their performance outward. Yes, Zendaya is a minor and that complicates things, but I think Val is scared to death of being called “inappropriate” and is overcompensating.
Cidra, I know I’m perhaps in the minority here, but I didn’t really mind that comment from him. Sure, he could have more social grace, I like the way you articulate/specify that. But I think he’s still so close to his competition days, perhaps still strongly feels that competition with Mark…and he was in the moment, adrenaline and all after a dance… that was the only dance off that I enjoyed and I loved that edge, there was definitely some testosterone flowing with both Val and Jacoby (for those people, DL, who don’t think dancing is masculine, hello!)…To me, it was in the moment and honest. He says things that offend me often enough, like a tweet this morning, but for some reason that just didn’t.
@jess- the problem is the comment was kind of BS because most of the pros have gone on record saying that they determined before they stepped on stage who was dancing against whom and what they were dancing. A more interesting challenge could have been Z against Ingo or Andy who would have forced Z & Val to dance the rumba. I think Val was probably more concerned about avoiding the rumba then facing off against “someone his own size”
Gosh, I love Shirley and I think she would be an awesome judge because she has such insight for the technical parts of dance as well as knowing when it’s for entertainment but I do think shes right when she says it might be a conflict of interest because of Derek and Mark (and even Karina) because they’re her kids!
needless to say, I love her opinion and I agree with everything she said about each contestant and as well as in regards to the Val comment.
BUT it’s interesting because she sort of indirectly said the “politics” of the show and how some couples probably get better or worse scores than they deserve to keep it interesting (probably Andy with that 5 from Carrie-Ann) which is something we all knew anyways but her actually saying it and being truthful how the show is ran is interesting.
AND I think the finale would be AWESOME with 4 couples because honestly.. I can’t decide which couple I would want to see go home during the semi-finals because they all have their strengths and weaknesses and for the ability to see 4 couples do the freestyle and see what the pros come up with will be interesting.
I see where you’re coming from Jess, but Tumbles has a valid point. We’ve heard from a number of the dancers that they were all back stage wheelin’ and dealin’ on who did what with whom. So the “in the heat of the competitive moment” doesn’t hold a lot of water.
As for Val being more concerned about avoiding the rumba, well, for me that’s a much more legitimate reason for their dance-off pick. It should always be the pros first priority to do what’s in the best interest of their celeb. They should do everything possible to show their celeb off in the best possible way (and in my opinion — to try to do that without throwing any of the other celebs or pros under the bus). For me, Val got the first part right but not the second. That said, nobody’s perfect, and I’m not going to think he’s the devil incarnate because of this one comment.
I really enjoy this every week. Thank you Vogue for posting. Watching this is giving me some new insights on all the pros and the reasons behind some of the weird ideas TPTB come up with. How can you not like Shirley Ballas. I think she would make a good judge, too , but agree that even though we could cheerfully brain them with a club on occasion, CAI, Len, and Bruno are a big part of the show. No matter who the judges are, we aren’t going to like it when they give unfavorable scores to our favorites.
I think all the pros on the show get along with each other as well as competitive individuals can. And competitive is the operative word. They are all fierce competitors. Like Shirley said there’s been a rivalry between Mark, Derek, and Val for a long time. And Karina. It should make for a very exciting finale, if everyone’s predictions are right, and they are the final 4 left standing.
Wow, Shirley B. is FANTASTIC. I really enjoyed hearing her perspective on each couple and the show as a whole. She’s blunt, she’s honest and she’s the best. Who better to have on Afterbuzz giving their take on the show than her! I wish Carrie A. could have heard her “expert” critique of Kellie’s performance. She explained the dance, the mood, in detail. Bravo~
Really loved what she said about Derek’s teaching technique and how it mirrors hers-She always talks about his attention to detail with his partners and the way he choreographs. No wonder he’s at the top his game on DWTS. Sounds like he was an incredible student. Now he’s an amazing teacher. Wow, I hope he continues to teach outside of the show. A lot of upcoming dancers would really appreciate and benefit from an innovative, positive teacher and choreographer like him.
She’s also very proud of Val too. She gave him an incredible compliment about his Jive abilities. It’s definitely his best dance-IMO. I did, however, LOL when she said his comments re the challenge were for real. Hearing a little about the history between he, Derek & Mark kind of explains his super competitive nature. I didn’t realize he was trained to this extent by Shirley Ballas-good to know.
Thanks for sharing this with all of us.. Great post.
I think Tumbles has a very good point. Val really was more concerned about getting the rumba, and Sean and Ingo both would have picked it I’m sure! Shirley would be a good judge based on all her experience and knowledge, but how could she not be biased?
Shirley would make a wonderful judge.She is a beautiful and fantastic dance commentator. She had nothing but high praise for Val. She also seems to both understand and respect the politics of a show like this which is why she explained that sometimes the judges don’t give the scores that are deserved. For example she thought that Kellie and Zendya both deserved to get all 10’s this week but didn’t. Very interesting.
Lori – as I understand it most of the top coaches are also adjudicators so if you want to get ahead, you try to go to all of them at some point. I think Shirley said 90% of the dwts pros would have gone through her books ‘”at some point.” I saw some photos last year of Shirley coaching Val and his then-partner Dasha shortly before his retirement so he would probably have been the last DWTS pro to have been coached by her?
I was interested to hear her say that Karina had also lived with them.
Nope Lindsay was also trained by Shirley as well!
Shirley is a charming little minx isn’t she?
She’s an intelligent, sexy, energetic 52 year old hot mama. The reason I love listening to her talk about dance is the tremendous love and enthusiasm she has for her craft.
She really is a sort of International Latin Fairy Godmother, since so many dancers pass under her wand.
Found it interesting when she was talking about Bristol on the All-Stars season. How she flat out told Mark that she didn’t want to do this or wasn’t going to do that.
No wonder Mark looked so unhappy and fed up.
I do wish someone had asked Shirley if Mark came out of the womb wearing spats!
Love all the “wish someone had asked Shirley” questions. We need an hour-long Q&A with her to get the inside scoop on all this stuff 😛
Hmmm…I’m wondering if the bf can pull some strings so we can get that interview with Shirley…
Oh Court, go for it. That would be so cool!
Wow, Court. That would be beyond amazing!
I am not the one to think the judges should be replaced but if it ever came to that- I think Shirley would make an awesome judge even with her potential biases. She just gets what the show is all about- entertainment, fun and staying positive.
Clearly she had plenty of opportunity to become cynical and loose her zeal (to name a few potential reasons: she knows about “politicking”, she saw Bristol’s All Stars attitude with Mark, she gets the judges are “characters” first and foremost, she certainly has more backstage info than all of us combined…) yet she remains enthusiastic and she embraces how the show is trying to freshen up every once in a while.
She certainly is a name in the business but more than that, she is a true fan of the show who doesn’t let petty things like conspiracies, politics and agendas ruin her view of the big picture.
I’d love to see that interview too!
Also, I loved what you had to say sasa #24.
I like Shirley a lot – but think about it from the average fan’s perspective. The people who think Derek is favored NOW would be out of their minds over this and it would spill on to Mark. And not likely the rest of the pros regardless of their training with Shirley. She IS Mark’s mom and a second mother to Derek – if you thought the bullshit over Derek getting the partners he gets is bad, this would likely top that by a mile.
Without saying too much, let’s just say that Shirley is a fan of good-looking younger men…and might be persuaded to do something if it was my boo doing the asking. 😉 I’ll see what I can do…
Hmmmm
Ah well, Shirley wouldn’t be the first or the last of either gender to suffer from that “weakness”. She did strike me as a “man’s woman”. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with that as long as it doesn’t color all her behavior…(and I think I’ll stop here).
Yep, she sure does like yummy younger men. Riccardo Cocchi anyone?
Although they’re not dating anymore.
As much as I love Shirley, I definitely agree with the reasons stated that she’d probably be biased as a judge. And I’m pretty sure the Afterbuzz hosts misinterpreted her comment, because at 21:08, she specifically says “I’d be the worst for my own kids,” as in, she’d be tougher on her students.
Also agree that Mark and Derek would probably end up getting the most flack publicly, since, obviously Mark’s her son, and Derek’s the only other pro that seems to have that close of a personal association. There is a distinct difference between just being a teacher to a student and actually housing and raising that student for 10 years. Does Julianne even refer to Shirley as a second mom? I mean, she was only there for five years, and usually I just hear her say, “my former coach.”
Shirley’s been a teacher to most of the pros on the show, but Mark and Derek, I think, are the only ones that have a familial association. I think when those two leave the show, yeah sure, why not? Bring Shirley on as a judge!
Out of all the dancers whose parents were into dancing. Mark’s is the only one you hear a lot about. Makes me wonder how close to Royalty they are in the profession. For her to bring up politic’s. The way she did. It’s strange how most of us have voiced our feelings about the judges. And TPTB. I watched the video on YouTube. I’m definitely leaning more towards the shows problems not being the pros, or the judges. A show like DWTS you want to keep viewers watching. Not lose them. IMO it’s looking more like TPTB needs a shake up.