PureDWTS Season 30, Semi-Finals – Power Rankings

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest author for the Pure Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings.  As Court shared, she’s taking a “hopefully temporary” break from the power rankings and reader Tei offered to step in while she’s enjoying a well deserved break.

Last week of season 30! This last couple of weeks have gone by fast! Overall, I think this season was fun and had some great dancing. After week 2-3 there really were no terrible dancers. I particularly loved the men. They had no dance experience but committed every week give it their all. They were fun to watch and had great personalities. I was also surprised by Olivia and how well she did with the dancing. I would have loved to see more of Mel C, unfortunately I don’t think she was given a chance to have a breakthrough.

Monday’s elimination went just as I had predicted. Melora did not have a great night (unlike the week before) and the judges did not provide her any cushion with the scores. Both her dances were ok but nothing impressive. That sealed her faith. And as I said, (except for Iman) I thought that the judges would save everyone over Suni (unfortunately). I really enjoyed watching Suni and was glad she made it this far.

So, except for Jimmie, the last 4 finalist are who I’ve expected them to be for the last couple of weeks. How will they rank on Monday? I really can’t decide 100%. At this moment, the only two contestants left that have never been in the bottom are Cody and Iman. Interestingly enough, they are also the two remaining with the lowest cumulative score (and I haven’t done the math but I’m quite sure that must be the case). Although we don’t know to what extent, I tend to believe that their fanbases are more consistent than that of the ladies remaining. Therefore, the final order will likely depend on how the judges decide to separate the couples with the scores and how memorable each couple manages to make their dances (especially the freestyle). Considering this, I will the rank the couples taking into consideration: (1) the chances that the pro will choreograph—and the celebrity will execute—a memorable routine, (2) the possible scoring of the judges, (3) how the voting has sort of gone in the previous weeks.

That being said:

Fourth Place:

Amanda and Allan: Last Monday I though Amanda had a good night but did not stand out when compared to the rest of the dancers. The Tango had something weird. Her face expressions were simply confusing and distracting. At times (specially towards the end) I felt that she was losing the frame. I also felt that the sections of the dance needed to be better connected. The contemporary was emotional and well performed. However, Jojo’s contemporary overshadowed all the others. I have this couple in fourth place because when considering the 3 points I mentioned: I believe the 3 remaining girl pros will choreograph better and more memorable dances. Although the judges might give her great scores (that I assume will be similar to Jojo’s), without a routine that stands out I don’t think she will gather the votes to pass Iman or Cody. Last week she was 4-points ahead of Iman and 8-points ahead of Cody and ended up in the bottom.

Third Place:

Cody and Cheryl: I personally did not think that Cody had a great night and still managed to avoid the bottom 3, again. The salsa was stiff when on hold, his hands on the side by side were weird and when watching I wrote on my notes that it appeared under rehearsed. The AT was good. The problem is that the majority of what he did was stand strong while Cheryl performed some great footwork around him. That being said, he ended at the bottom of the leaderboard but avoided the bottom 3. I always had doubts of who was getting the votes between him and Amanda, I guess we now know. Still, I have them third because I truly believe that Jenna and Daniella will probably be the pros that produce the best and most memorable dances for their celebrities. Jojo will probably end with a higher score than Cody that will help her. As for Iman, I have a feeling that he is probably the higher vote getter (this is just a feeling based on no respectable source or analysis) and will get the votes to pass Cody. However, I must admit that this is the couple I’m most confused about and wouldn’t be surprised to see the voters get them farther.

Finalists:

Iman and Daniella: Again (and I must sound like a broken record) Daniella is doing a perfect job choreographing to Iman’s strengths. Also, I must say that Derek’s tips with the frame really helped him. The Tango was great improved, especially the frame. Was there a lot of content? Nope. But it was great and showed tons of improvement. The jazz, well it was more a freestyle than jazz but again, eye catching, memorable, incredible lifts and Iman performed 100%. Like I said before, I believe Iman is getting tons of votes. I also believe that Daniella will choreograph probably the best (or second best) freestyle of the night. Because it is a freestyle, if Daniella avoids any dance/steps that require detailed ballroom technique, Iman might even get scores as high as the remaining couples. If that happens, I don’t see him getting anything lower than second. I must admit, I even considered putting him first. But usually in the finals the worst dancer remaining doesn’t win (Bobby being the great exception to this norm, obviously). Is Iman capable of doing this? I think he might be: he seems to be getting the votes, he’s getting respectable scores from the judges, is performing much better that Bobby ever did, and has a personality that makes viewers fall in love with him. We’ll see.

Winners:

Jojo and Jenna: So, I settled for going back to my first Power Rankings where I had Jojo first. Monday night was really Jojo’s night. The AT was good and felt very mature. I’ve been wanting them to switch the hold in the middle of a dance, and they finally did it in this dance (at one-point Jojo was doing the female hold). But the contemporary was the dance of the night. Yes, I know she is a trained dancer in that specific style. But however fair/unfair anyone thinks this is, that was a great dance. Cudos to Jenna with the choreography and the use of the stage. And it was that Contemporary that made me go back to put Jojo first. If Jojo and Jenna create a dance that is as visually mesmerizing and memorable as they did last week, I think she might be able to win it all. I’m also assuming she will be at the top of the leaderboard and being the last week maybe her infinite number of followers will rally to vote for her. If by some reason the judges end up scoring all the couples the same, all bets are off.

Thank you all for reading and specially thanks to the mods for allowing us to continue this conversation! It was a pleasure sharing a bit of my thoughts with other fellow fans. See you next season (hopefully there will be one!). Tei. 😊