Dancing with the Stars Season 29, Week 3 – Who’s Dancing What…and When??
Disney night…another night that is also known as Tyrant (tm Court) Night. Just another cold open starring Tyra because this show is ALL ABOUT HER.
The show will begin with a cold open of host Tyra Banks and celebrities taking the viewing audience into their favorite classic Disney films. Episodes can be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu.
Like everyone in the universe predicted, including Derek who tried to get the reporters to take bets, Carole is dancing to something from Lion King. Really, producers, at this point you’re just pathetic and sad. Derek was also correct when he said, “I feel like it’s all been done.” Yep, few surprises here. “Up” and “Newsies” might both be new. They also have the obligatory new Disney film they need to pimp – Nelly got stuck with that one.
AJ & Cheryl – Quickstep (“Prince Ali” from “Aladdin”)
Kaitlyn & Artem – Foxtrot (“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”)
Monica & Val – Waltz (“Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid”)
Vernon & Peta – Quickstep (“Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast”)
Anne & Keo – Quickstep (“Zero to Hero” from “Hercules”)
Justina & Sasha – Charleston (“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from “Mary Poppins”)
Jeannie & Brandon – Viennese Waltz (“Married Life” from “Up”)
Skai & Alan – Jive (“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”)
Johnny & Britt -Rumba (“Reflection” from “Mulan”)
Jesse & Sharna – Jive (“King of New York” from “Newsies”)
Nelly & Daniella- Foxtrot (“It’s Alright” from “Soul”)
Nev & Jenna – Argentine Tango (“Angelica” from “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”)
Chrishell & Gleb – Waltz (“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from “Cinderella”)
Carole & Pasha – Samba (“Circle of Life” from “The Lion King”)
In the category of “who danced it better”, here are some examples of what’s been already done on this show using many of these same songs.
“A Whole New World” has been danced to a million times, but I couldn’t find Prince Ali.
I almost feel bad for Justina and Sasha. They have to live up to Charlie and Sharna, and this dance is fantastic – broken umbrella and all.
Simone and Sasha dances a lovely contemporary to “How Far I’ll Go”…
I may update with more later…YouTube is taking forever to load and it’s not my connection, soooo….
Blah. More of the same. I just watch the videos of certain performers. I skip over Carol. Tyra as host put the nail in the coffin for me. Remember the days wehn the Dancing With the Stars poster was a picture of dancers? Now it’s just a poster of Tyra with the mirrorball lips. Isn’t this show about the dancers? Smh.
It’s going to be really hard to beat Sadie and Mark’s Viennese Waltz to “Married Life”.
Newsies and Princess and the Frog are the only movies that are new to the Disney night rotation (not counting Soul since no one has actually seen it yet).
I have been wanting a jive to King of New York for forever, but it would be better suited for a Broadway night instead of Disney. Almost there would be a better quickstep I think but I’m sure Alan will create a good jive for Skai. Prince Ali hasn’t been done yet on the show but that’s another one where I would have changed the style for it (it would be a better samba I think than quickstep). I wonder why they don’t seem to be able to get the original styling of Circle of Life for the show, this is the second time it’ll be done as a samba (and there’s no way Carol will do as well as Wanya did with it, this will definitely be the nail in her coffin for the show). I think Sadie and Mark had Up a few years ago for movie night instead of Disney night and did a good job with it so I’m curious to see what Brandon and Jeannie do with it.
Apparently Keo and Anne actually have The Jungle Book and Kaitlyn and Artem have a rumba so whoever writes these press releases needs to check their facts before they publish them (or the social media team needs to coordinate with who writes these, either way they need to fix this problem)
The DWTS Aladdin numbers always make me a bit squeamish due to makeup and hair. When I saw they were doing Aladdin again this season I crossed my fingers and wished out loud, “Please don’t do spraytan brownface, please don’t do spraytan brownface…”
According to Carole’s blog (I forgot which site she writes it for) producers asked the celebs to send in songs before the season started and that’s why she’s gotten nothing but cat-themed ones. It also explains some of the unfitting song + style matches.
I’m so over Disney night. It’s nothing unique and special anymore, and like others I find myself comparing some of the songs to previous dances that were really great. Disney has a wide variety of movies so I don’t know why they recycle the same songs.
I do think Justina and Sasha are going to kill that dance. I’m glad Nelly is getting a ballroom dance, as I’m curious to see how well he does. Carole is going to tank that samba. They must really want her gone this week. I wish Chrishell was getting something more fast paced-she has a tango, rumba, and now a waltz. I think Jesse might struggle with the jive, but it’ll probably be a fun routine.
Thinking of all the ways Tyrant will make the show about her this week and the drawn out awkward interviews with the cast that will cut into the judges time and have the show run short at the end. She did at least admit she knows she made mistakes week 2 and her hosting needs work, but I doubt that’ll change anything.
Cari, when I was taking info from the press release, I thought Anne’s looked wrong. I meant to check it against twitter and never did. Ah well.
Well, if that’s true Julia, then they’re sort of going back to the way it used to be done but that does NOT explain the song/dance style mismatches. The pros could easily fix that, if allowed. What they used to do was have the pros select a variety of favorite songs for various styles. There’s old video of Cheryl listening to a song and nixing it, so that the producer had to find something else. I think her first choice didn’t clear. Then in more recent years, when it became much more important to try to appeal to a demographic, the producers started selecting all the songs, all the props, etc. I think the pros even had help with Choreo, although Court might remember better than I do. That’s when the mismatches got really, really bad.
@Nukegrrrl: Well, they didn’t seem to do that with Hannah and Alan in their Aladdin routine. It just looked like a standard spray-tan that would be used in any dance. AJ & Cheryl are already naturally tan since he’s part Latino and she’s half Filipino, so they probably won’t go overboard with tanning.
Even though Aladdin’s been overdone, at least Prince Ali is a new song for DWTS. (It had been done on Strictly with Dr. Ranj and Janette though). It’ll probably be the faster 1992 original rendition of the song rather than the slower Live-Action rendition. I’m sure it will be fun.
@Nukegrrrl – I can’t recall a time when they even attempted brownface, let alone for Aladdin routines. Shawn & Mark didn’t even do Aladdin-themed costuming for “Friend Like Me”, and when Drew & Cheryl did the same song, Drew was just in a white suit with gold embroidery and Cheryl was in the blue Jasmine outfit. When Antonio & Sharna did it, there was no need for obvious reasons; I don’t recall Noah & Sharna being excessively tan for “A Whole New World”, nor Hannah & Alan. And when Myles and Rylee did “One Jump Ahead” on Juniors, again, there was no need. The only instance I can recall of someone having a suspiciously dark tan was Janel’s trio dance in season 19 – although I remember her looking excessively shiny, too, so it’s possible the makeup department just got a little enthusiastic with the bronzer.
@PH – I recall there was a big shift once 2018 hit and the spring season got truncated – most of the original crew was let go, a bunch of stuff got outsourced, and I think that’s when they started telling the pros “You’re doing this dance to this song, you’re going to have this set and these costumes – now choreograph it.” I remember Sharna in particular feeling really frustrated by the lack of creative input. But yeah, back in the good ol’ days, both the pros and the celebs were able to submit wishlists of music prior to the beginning to the season, and the music department would do their best to clear it. And pros did have the power to nix a song they didn’t like – I remember there was actually a rehearsal package where they showed Lacey chucking an Eagles CD across the room and asking for a different song. Might have been during Kyle’s season. And as recently as Ryker’s season, Allison vetoed a Missy Elliot song because she thought the lyrics were inappropriate.
AJ & Cheryl – Quickstep (“Prince Ali” from “Aladdin”): this will be a lot of fun I think since (and maybe just me?) that Cheryl is the best female pro in terms of quickstep.
Kaitlyn & Artem – Foxtrot (“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”): disclaimer this song is addicting and I love that they have it.
Monica & Val – Waltz (“Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid”): idk if this was Val dying to dress up as prince Eric or if it’s indeed her fav but this sounds like a good one too.
Vernon & Peta – Quickstep (“Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast”): a bit disappointed he doesn’t have a Latin dance but quickstep should be good for him.
Anne & Keo – Quickstep (“Zero to Hero” from “Hercules”): they are the surprise of the season and I hope they do better than chris and Whitney did when they had it.
Justina & Sasha – Charleston (“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from “Mary Poppins”): the ghost of Charlie and sharna will loom large but I think they can handle this one well.
Jeannie & Brandon – Viennese Waltz (“Married Life” from “Up”): I hate the movie except for the dog. But this could be good.
Skai & Alan – Jive (“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”): this is a redemption song and dance on paper that should be a crowd pleaser.
Johnny & Britt -Rumba (“Reflection” from “Mulan”): well….I don’t know if this will end well
But it sounds good.
Jesse & Sharna – Jive (“King of New York” from “Newsies”): I LOVE Newsies. This excites me the most.
Nelly & Daniella- Foxtrot (“It’s Alright” from “Soul”): ah the new movie with Tina fey and Jamie foxx has a song. Good to know.
Nev & Jenna – Argentine Tango (“Angelica” from “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”): this sounds like a blast.
Chrishell & Gleb – Waltz (“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from “Cinderella”): this is another one that should be good.
Carole & Pasha – Samba (“Circle of Life” from “The Lion King”): for a samba they got the most iconic song out of all of them because it’s cat related. Predictable. Saying that is it really a samba song? Was “everybody wants to be a cat” from the aristocrats not available?
Hey Court fun fact since we’re on the topic of pros having much less control over the previous years. Sharna just posted in her best friends IG list this week about this again. Cheryl talked about it last season as well. Sharna said that they basically have no control anymore they just choreograph what they are given to work with. She said they don’t create their costumes anymore it’s just given to them, the music is given to them and the style of dance as well. That is definitely why the songs aren’t matching the style dances lately because the pros know better. She said their jive to the newsies this week is more jazz, which she asked for, but they want them to do jive so it’s out of her hands. Also the creativity side has been stripped more from them especially this season. She explained how in Jesses foxtrot she had them change the first 30 seconds of the song and they cleared it. About 3 days before the show they told her never mind we don’t want you doing this anymore so she last minute had to rechoreograph the dance and teach Jesse after they had rehearsed for days with the other music arrangement. I found this all so interesting!
It’s not painted on thick like Justin Trudeau’s infamous Aladdin costume and makeup. But I feel like when white dancers do Aladdin on DWTS they sometimes wear more spray tan than they need to. More spray tan than they wore the week before or after. More spray tan than if they’d been assigned a role like Cinderella or Pirates. More spray tan than all their fellow contestants are wearing that week, combined. Like Sharna and Noah’s Aladdin dance – when Noah comes off the flying carpet his face is so darkly tanned and almost kind of red looking, his glowing white teeth pop out of it, and Sharna’s shoulders and torso are very dark brown. Like someone dusted her with Hershey’s cocoa powder. That’s what gives me the cringes a little.
But that was also five years ago and the Aladdin dances since then have been more culturally modern, like you guys mention. I rewatched a few – Sharna looks quite a bit better in the Aladdin dance she did one year later with Antonio, and he obviously didn’t need any makeup help there lol. And I should always trust Cheryl to never do anything that would look the slightest bit awful. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be a buzzkill during these trying times and I will enjoy the heck out of watching Disney week with y’all!
Wow, I didn’t realize the pros had no say in their dances anymore. No wonder the quality has been lacking, and the song choices have been more odd than normal.
Almost There is too slow for a jive. Alan has his work cut out with this.
Since I am sick of Disney week, Tyrant, and now learning that the Pros have no creative control anymore, I am signing out for the season. Not worth 2 hours of my time. Lack of creative input by the Pros is just laughable and probably dictated by some budget slashing idiot with a business degree and no knowledge whatever about good music and dancing. So sad. Thanks, Mods, for all you do, but even seeing Derek again isn’t enough to override Tyrant and make me tune in.
So, granted, I am thrilled that someone as groundbreaking as Tiana will be danced by a black woman…
But song choices so far….
Skai gets Nicki and Neyo…
Nelly gets himself, EW&F and the movie Soul….
Charles got 50 and Luther…
Vernon got Rihanna and John Legend…
Feels a little funky to me.
Hey. Anyone hear Cheryl and AJ’s podcast? AJ was commenting on the dances and scores of other contestants and complaining how some with bad frame got higher scores than he did. Commented that he didn’t know how Jesse, for example, got higher scores. Tacky. Perhaps AJ should just focus on improving his dancing. AJ should be significantly better than Jesse (Jesse has no dance experience), and that’s not the case right now. And they were talking about folks throwing in moves that are not part of the assigned style. Pot calling the kettle black…
Karen: Yes I listened and was quite surprised he called out Jesse. Sometimes someone who comes on the show with as much experience as AJ did can get a little too competitive, especially since his scores haven’t resulted in what I assume he thought they would right out of the gate. My advise would be stay in your own lane. You can only control what you can control and that is you and your partner. You can’t control the judges scores, you can’t control if the judges like another couple more and you probably shouldn’t be worried about any other couples but yourself. Although AJ is clearly a better dancer than Jesse, I can tell you Jesse’s foxtrot IMO was much more graceful and flowy. He must have rewatched Jesse’s dance and critiqued it on what he did wrong and why his was better. It’s not a good look. Just go out there and have fun there’s really no need for all this. I hated it when Bones did it his season and I’m not a fan of AJ doing it this season.
AJ is not at all like what I expected. Nick came in all chill and happy and just nice. AJ is coming in hotly competative and a bit of a complainer. Not a good look
The question you have to ask yourself, Lex and everyone, is WHY they feel the need to do these things?? I suspect it’s another form of manipulation or handicapping certain contestants. It’s just BS and aggravating as hell.
While some pros can take severe restrictions and make memorable dances out of them, those folks are few and far between. Their names are Derek and Mark. 🙂
Heh….Cheryl has NO room to talk. That sounds like a lot of jealousy talking from a pro who should know better – you do the best you can for your celebrity and sometimes you take risks to get votes that might get frowned on by Len…but Len ain’t there, it’s Derek and Derek always took risks. Which is why he won 6 times.
Well, I got news for AJ….he’s not the dancer I remember from week to week and he’s not someone I would vote for. Nev will get my votes if I ever decide to vote. Him, Justina, Kaitlyn and a couple others. But not AJ. Not Jesse either, for that matter.
I thought with AJ that maybe the judges are a little more critical because he came in as an expected front runner (and I still consider him one just based on fanbase). So, like with Johnny, they don’t want to make it obvious right out of the gate. Or maybe they really just expect more of AJ. That said, didn’t he mess up with his foxtrot this week? I’ll have to go back and watch, though I thought he had a small slip up. I will say that I didn’t think Jesse’s foxtrot was the good, but his scores were appropriate. He needs work but I see where he can end up surprising us with his improvement. At least Jesse seems to be enjoying himself.
And @Lex, I forgot about Bones and his whining during his season-talk about someone who had zero room to talk about anyone else’s dances (except maybe Grocery Store Joe, the only other person who was worse than Bobby).
Regarding AJ. AJ had a busted knee years ago , and required a big surgery! Why first night he fell from a jump. Hope he didn’t hurt that knee again. He hasn’t been dancing much since that surgery. It’s hard for AJ to move one of his leg as agile and lighter as possible now. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, he is quite a challenge for his partner now because also his mental issue from substance abuse , affected his ability to focus now. All those relapses from substance abuse is a tough situation for him mentally to deal with . He hasn’t been dancing much since the surgery, and I can see why the nerves get to him.Very obvious how He lacks the same confidence he’s had many years ago as a performer! Cheryl is gonna have her work cut out for him, because I think his movements on one of his knee has some limitations now and I guess difficulty might be a bit challenging for him. And also the stress of the rehearsals , and I can see why Cheryl being very careful with him and not her usual strict coach she’s been to many of her partners with potential . Cheryl has said on their podcast, that AJ is really having a tough time learning fast , especially the technique! Mentally and physically, he is not the same bsb boy dancer He once was. And I don’t think judges are aware of those issues of his, and everybody expecting so much from him. ✌????
I have always loved Simone and Sasha’s Moanna routine!! Excited to see how Kaitlyn and Artem perform it. I wonder what style? I cant imagine its Foxtrot again.
Looks like Kaitlyn & Artem are dancing a rumba!
LOL- Nelly’s had another pair of custom Jordan’s styled into ballroom shoes. Wow. I actually like this pair. Since Derek is the inspiration behind these shoes being made, maybe he will have a pair made for him before the season is over-lol. Yes!!! Hope he has a great dance tonight. I really think he is enjoying himself.
Is this the first Disney Night that will have an elimination?
Simple question, Annie – if AJ’s knee is so bad, why did he do a jump like that?