PureDWTS DWTS Juniors, Season 1 – Week 3 Live(ish) Blog!!!

It’s night 1 of the “two night Disney event” on Juniors & regular DWTS 😛 I’m expecting there to be some fairly heavy-handed marketing ploys on both shows, but at the very least, on Juniors the kids’ excitement about dancing to Disney songs is a bit more sincere and fun to see. Also crossing fingers that our technical difficulties here at Pure last week are behind us, as it didn’t seem like I got much conversation on the live blog thread last Sunday. Womp womp womp. Song and dance list here, spoiler post here. If you want a recap/rundown of last week’s episode, week 2 live blog here and week 2 postmortem here.

Things to keep in mind headed into tonight’s show: this episode was taped on August 3rd, which was the first week where the kids had to learn (2) dances in basically three days (basic schedule this season was rehearse M-Tu-W, camera block Thur, tape Fri/Sat, mandatory law-required day off on Sun); we might start to see the signs of fatigue a bit more tonight. In light of last week’s semi-shocking elim, keep in mind that it may not necessarily be the lowest-scoring couple headed home…it may be more likely to be a decent scoring couple that maybe just didn’t “pop” so much. Oh, also – Kim Kardashian is apparently on tonight’s episode, to *snicker* give Sophia & Jake tips on their performance.  Oh, that’s rich…coming from the woman who went home in week 3 of her season (after a very underwhelming performance) and was also once kicked offstage at a Prince concert for not dancing. Can’t wait to see what kind of wisdom she has to impart on the kids 😛

Kids look so darn cute in their costumes 🙂 Alana looks very pretty and mature in her Belle costume.

Jake picks up Sophia during intros and she just looks bewildered.  Poor kid.

Sophia: “It’s going to be hard to be a villain because I’m so shy.” *cue villain music as Kim K. walks down the hallway*

Kim talks about Sophia having confidence.

Once again, Sophia gets the more technical aspects right, but it’s pretty poker face-y throughout.  At the very least, she’s a villain this week, so it could be argued that she’s mean mugging.  Cool underwater effect, too.

Mandy is back in the center judge’s seat and says it was an improvement.  Adam agrees. Val actually gives a specific critique and urges her to finish her hand moves. She gets 7, 6, 6.

Sorry, I just find Pocahontas cringe-y.  Wayyyyy too much appropriation.

Kenzie & Sage doing contemporary – which is one of the styles she’s trained in extensively. She’s handling it well – LIKE THE CONTEMPORARY DANCER SHE IS. Will anyone mention this?

Adam “has chills”. Val thinks it’s “extraordinary” but acknowledges that he’s “no contemporary expert”. Mandy gushes, and tells Gleb “amazing”.  *eye roll*

Three 9’s, and not a peep about Kenzie’s dance training. I see you, producers.

Ariana & Artyon coming after the break…

Sharna cheering in the audience!

Brandon clearly has his hands full with these two 😛

That was so stinking cute 😛 Ariana has some nice hip action, but I think Artyon’s lack of ballroom training showed. Clever choreo with the limbo bar.

Val commends their samba bounce. Mandy praises Brandon specifically for the choreo. Adam praises their consistency.

9, 8, 8 – seems a tad low, given how glowing the judges’ critique was.

Ariana & Artyon challenge Jordan to a limbo contest…which he handles with ease. 🙂

Mandla & Brightyn doing a flamenco-esque jazz from Coco up next…

Lots of paso/flamenco-inspired stuff. I actually really enjoyed it – they sold it really well.

Mandy praises Mandla being “in the pocket” and using his legs.  Adam says it was “good” and he’s a “big fan”; but Val was “underwhelmed” and “thinks Mandla can do better”.  They get 7, 7, 7 – and that seems a tad low, too.  Gotta shield Kenzie…?

Miles & Rylee up next.  Wish they’d stop calling Alana “Honey Boo Boo”.

Lindsay knows Charleston.  This is gonna be good.

They rocked it.  Both of them nailed the Charleston technique, and sold the routine incredibly well.

Adam says Miles “looked the competition in the eye and said ‘don’t forget about me!'” Val praises the production.  Mandy complements them for not getting “swallowed up in the routine”.  It gets 9, 9, 9 – I probably would have thrown in a 10.

Alana & Tristan up next. Cue Artem trying to teach Alana how to be graceful.

It’s pleasant to watch.  Alana actually extends nicely and does some nice turns.  It’s not perfect, but it’s charming!

Val praises how Alana “dances from the heart”.  Mandy says she “calmed down her nerves”.  Adam says he’s “moved and impressed”.  Scores after the break, and then we move onto Sky & JT.

*insert commercial for Mickey’s 90th Spectacular*

Alana gets 7, 7, 7.  Prolly about right, but it means Sophia was underscored.

Sky says “Moana lives on an island and has a big heart.  Kind of like me.” Awwwwww.

Sky looks so pretty in her Moana costume. And she’s handling this contemporary routine really well – she’s flipping and extending and turning with JT with such ease.

Mandy praises it, but tells Sky to work on her “floppy biscuit feet”. Adam says he loves biscuits 😛 But he also praises the emotion and how mature it was. Val praised the pacing and said it was incredible. It gets 8, 8, 8 – I probably would have thrown in at least one 9.  Sky has a message for all the girls out there: “Be brave, you can do anything you want, don’t let anybody stop you!”  Aaaaaand I’m crying.

The world needs more Sky Brown’s. 🙂

Promo for Disney night on DWTS tomorrow night…

Jason & Elliana up next. Jason is geeking out and says it’s “a dream” and proceeds to slap himself. 😛

Jason really loves Woody and the fact that he’s a cowboy and likes to have fun.  He also thinks Woody gets stressed easily. 😛

It’s an adorable foxtrot.  I think he did better than Alana did with hers, just by virtue of doing more.  Apparently Elliana is “scared of toys”.  Ummm…ok.

Adam says he’s “so proud of Jason”. Mandy praised the “quick, quick, slow” movements in frame.  It gets 8, 7, 7 – can’t believe I’m saying this, but Val’s scores tonight are making far more sense than Mandy or Adam’s.

Last up is Akash, and he’s his usual precocious self. He’s having trouble having the “strong arms” Witney wants him to have.  Cue “Rocky”-esque montage.

It’s really adorable and clever, and Akash is improving.  It’s still rough around the edges, but he’s growing. I can see how he’s so popular with viewers 🙂 Adam says he “wears his heart on his sleeve” and “brings so much joy to the audience.”  Scores coming after the break, as well as the elimination.

Akash & Kamri get 7, 7, 7 – scoring is kind of all over the place tonight, so I don’t even know what to think.

Audience voting, kids shouting out their numbers…

…and it’s Sophia & Jake leaving us. Sophia crying.  🙁 Jake being really supportive and carrying her down to the floor and hugging her as they get hoisted.

See you tomorrow night for Heidi’s live blog for the adult version of Disney night! 😎