GMA And Louis Van Amstel Review Dancing With The Stars Season 16 Semi-Finals (Recap, More Interviews)
So, dance pro Louis Van Amstel has weighed in on last night’s dances on Dancing With The Stars at ABC. While reviewing the couples, he gives them some advice too.
Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough’s Argentine Tango. Without a doubt Kellie has the best legs of any celeb that has ever been on “DWTS,” even Nicole Scherzinger. It was a very classical, less is more Argentine tango with great lifts, especially the last two. I’d love to see more inner fire next week. Great scores!
Ingo Rademacher and Kym Johnson’s Samba. I must say Ingo looks the most comfortable in this dance. He looks masculine and he is very aware of his body. I’d like to see more samba bounce and less walking around. Wow, I agree with Bruno and I agree with Carrie Ann about being the underdog. And I agree with Lennie. That’s a first!
Aly Raisman and Mark Ballas’ Rumba. It’s very clever on Mark’s part to make this more of a contemporary rumba. It was beautifully executed. It was sincere and not overdone trying to be too sexy as a young lady. Aly wore a very flattering dress. Again, I agree with the judges. Bruno was a little too kind. In the final, like Kellie, I’d like to see more inner depth. I like that Mark cleaned up – very handsome. Great scores!
Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff’s Argentine Tango. I loved their song. Karina and I used that when we competed together. The set was absolutely amazing and Jacoby totally impressed me with the combination of content, masculinity, calmness and he is so great at partnering Karina. [Their dance was] best of the night so far. I agree with judges. If the others got 10s, they should get 11s.
Zendaya and Valentin Chmerkovskiy’s Quickstep. OK, here we go. The intro was too long. They didn’t stay in close hold all the time, and there was a lift BUT BUT BUT, Zendaya has the energy both Kellie and Aly were lacking in comparison. The dance was awesomely executed. I disagree with Carrie Ann completely. For breaking the rules they should get deducted, but for entertainment value it should definitely have been three 9s. It’s always a risk to break rules.
And below Louis gives his final take and predictions which I agree with. What do you think?
Like I said many weeks ago, Kellie and Zendaya are for sure in the final, while Jacoby and Aly fight for third. There’s a fourth couple final, so, in my opinion, the only way Ingo can make the final is by his fan base.
After tonight, it’s no longer clearly between Kellie and Zendaya in my book. Jacoby and Aly have made their mark and could actually win as well if they go all out next week.
I can’t wait to see all the freestyles. Sometimes I wish there was a cumulative score so that when a couple does fabulously all season and then loses the freestyle, they wouldn’t necessarily lose the entire season.
For more on the second set of dances (which is a good read as well. Though not sure I agree with what he said on Derek and Kellie’s flamenco. I think it was perfect), see ABC.
Also, be sure to visit this link at GMA. They have a fun recap and some interviews after the show.
Stay tuned. Miss Heidi’s new Number’s predictions post is coming up next. 😉 xx
There are times that Louis is ridiculous, and this is one of them. He complained that Kellie’s flamenco was too much paso and not enough flamenco. What??!! He just seems really down on Kellie, and high praise for everyone else (except Ingo).
@ButterlyWhirl, earlier in the season, Louis seemed to be kissing the part of Derek that Len said Bruno talked out of last week….. I’d thought that he was trying to butter up Derek for a part in his TV show…. And this week it hit me that he was told no, no such luck, so he could go back to treating Derek in his blog how he’d always treated Derek in his blogs….. Unfortunately, it also means being hyper critical of Derek’s partners.
really Louis? Jacoby better than Kelli? best of the night? that is such a ridiculous statement that anything he said after that had 0 credibility
I agree with Louis’s remarks regarding Kellie/Derek’s Flamenco. I was waiting to see Kellie do similar footwork, but never saw it. As for their Argentine Tango, it was very beautiful. Aly/Mark’s rumba left me cold and I did not agree with the scoring. The AfroJazz was ok not good even. I thought all of the tribal gear was unnecessary; a bit distracting really. Not a fan of Ingo’s dancing, so I won’t even comment on his performances. I enjoy Jacoby’s routines and yes, he is the best entertainer of this season. With Val/Zendaya’s Quickstep, I think Val should have concentrated more on performing a traditional routine versus coming up with a cool concept. Had it gone well, him and Zendaya could have had a perfect 60. I absolutely loved their hip-hop routine! It was lyrical and definitely the right choice to make considering they had to appeal to all of the judges; especially Len. A hard-hitting, fast paced routine would not have been the best route to choose. Now, I wonder what Val/Z will do for their freestyle. I really hope they will do a rumba.
I hope I don’t offend anyone by what I am going to say. I was not able to watch the show until this morning from by DVR and I know nothing about flamenco and certainly could not say that there was more Paso, or say anything from a constructive nature, but just as a viewer who watched I had the impression that Derek was doing most of the dancing in parts. Saying that may mean nothing because that may be what flamenco is all about.
I have to add Kellie and Jacoby have been my favorites since the beginning and still are and I absolutely loved Kellie’s AT. So, this is coming from someone who is entirely a fan of her and Derek. I may be odd man out because I am a Jacoby fan as well and I loved his AT as well. It was different than Kellie and Derek’s, but enjoyed both a lot. For me I thought Kellie and Jacoby were both the best of the night.
I know nothing about afro jazz so could not say if Aly and Mark’s was good or bad. Aly’s Rumba was good, but thinking back to both Kellie and Jacoby I thought their Rumba’s were much better.
I have seen hip hop on SYTYCD and I always think of Twitch and Comfort so to say that Zandaya’s hip hop was anything like what Twitch and Comfort did I would have to say no. I thought Zandaya’s Quick Step was definitely her worst dance. I didn’t like the choreography or the way it was executed.
My point is I wish they would stick to regular ballroom dances because unless you are a person who knows all these different dances how would the average person know what to expect? I am no expert on ballroom either, but since watching DWTS since the first season I am at least slightly familiar with those dances.
Gail, they run the risk adding new dances, because it definitely puts the pros at a disadvantage. Teaching untrained dancers an entirely new dance, and to try to get them good enough at it that they look as close to professional in possible, and in only 4 days, is a monumental feat. Add on top of it dances that the pros don’t know, so not only do THEY have to learn the dance, but have to learn how to teach it too, and in only 4 days, not too many can master that.
Yes, I definitely think they need to stick to ballroom/latin! It was created as a ballroom dance show, they don’t need to become another SYTYCD.
As for Louis? I don’t really bother too much with what he says…. Is he a great choreographer? Yes. Has he created some memorable dances? Yes. Is he a great teacher on the show? Sometimes. I LOVED!! him in season 3, but after that, he’s gone way down on my scale of favorite dancers….. He definitely shows bias.
I always value what Louis has to say since he knows about ballroom dancing. I especially reserve any comments on technique until I hear what the professionals have to say. I just go with what looks good on the eye to me.
And to my eye I saw a lot of over scoring last night.
Some people thing Zendaya was underscored for quickstep. I don’t think she was. I thought her score was fair (especially since she they had a lift, and fell out of sync). But when you put it in context of the night overall and 10s that were flying all over, it was underscored. I mean really… is Ingo ever anyway near Zendaya’s level. lol.
I am a geologist….but I STILL have biases, even in geology. Louis is no more credible than Len, IMO. He has his ups and downs…sometimes he’s right and sometimes he’s wrong.
Also in context, toonmili – Zendaya’s hip hop was OVER scored. She’s been doing it since she’s 8 whereas everyone else never had their dances before. Mark and Derek never even danced their styles before. Not THAT is some context. 😀
Thanks Lori and I so agree with you. I hope I didn’t come across saying that what these pros have to do with these new dances pushed on them is anything less than a monumental feat. If I did it was not my intent. I think that is part of what went wrong with the show for me personally. IMO it’s too much pressure to put on these pros. To have to do research to learn how to do the dance yourself as a pro and then like you said have their celeb learn it and look good in four days was wrong. I liked the original concept of this show.
Louis is talking out of his *** as he so often does. There are 3 styles of flamenco and it looked like Derek went mostly with Nuevo. The male dancer does a lot of movement around and toward the woman(like enticement) while she stands in one place and does a lot of staccato tapping (in the stationary position like Kellie was in). An the costuming, Derek went more with a gaucho look (often done in Nuevo)and her dress looked like one in a photo of a well-known flamenco dancer including the color. Compared to many other dances on the show it deserved a 30. Jacobys 30 had bad footwork, Alys no hip action/emotion. Kellys flamenco had all the elements and she performed them
Poor Louis. I feel bad for him because I suspect he knows he will never, ever, ever, be in the same league as Derek, and he just can’t stand it. To me, Louis is a “Mr. Snarky” with his comments. I don’t always agree with his assessments.
I thought Louis was very complimentary of Kellie for their AT – said she had the best legs of anyone, ever on the show – even Nicole S. I think she did lose steam in the dance and wouldn’t have given it a perfect score, and from her opinion of how it went she agrees that it wasn’t her best.
Errr, I thought she lost steam in the flamenco, not the AT, is what I meant to say.
Did anyone find it amusing that the last thing Louis wrote was “sometimes I wish there was a cumulative score so that when a couple does fabulously all season and then loses the freestyle, they wouldn’t necessarily lose the entire season” ? He is clearly writing about his season with Kelly Osborne when she flubbed her freestyle! Louis, it is time to move on and get over it!