Below is some cool rehearsals going on before the show tonight. Be watching this You Tube channel for more. Thanks to DWTSGossip for the heads up. You can also see some interviews, some photos, and other goodies. Keep watching this post as we may add to it as the the day goes on. Here’s to the show tonight.
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
Let’s all cheer for being at the finale of what has been an extremely annoying season of DWTS. Almost enough to make one vow to not watch anymore. And if not for the blogging, I wouldn’t be watching the show any more. But someone has to point out all the BS and I guess that’s our job.
Note that I’m traveling on both Monday and Tuesday so I’m not entirely sure that I will have the time to do a final DBTN that I usually do between Monday night and Tuesday night. Hopefully I will be able to – we’ll see.
Now, on to this past week. What happened? I don’t remember. :::yawn::: The only thing I really remember is the judges acting all shocked when Simone was eliminated. Give me a BREAK! If you were really surprised by Simone being eliminated, you don’t deserve to be a judge on this show that’s been around for 24 seasons now. I can’t believe….refuse to believe…that the judges think they can nitpick someone to death for 9 weeks and that it doesn’t have an impact. They certainly have egos, and believe that they direct the audience – so why would they believe that their constant assault on Simone’s dancing had no direct influence on the voting? The girl is an OLYMPIC gymnast and probably has had the toughest judging and criticism throughout her young life that one can imagine – yet she was brought to tears by these erratic, often mean-spirited, judges. Read more..
I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)
USA Today has written on their odds and strengths for the finals of Dancing With The Stars Season 24. They’ve also written on their best dances. However, their “sparkle winner” of the season is Simone Biles and Sasha Farber.
Sparkle Points
After assessing a season full of absurd outfits and gimmicks, there can only be one overall USA TODAY Sparkle Points winner. Awarded for bright colors, excessive bedazzling, fringe, staples (i.e. blazers or shoes) made unnecessarily gaudy, and tear-away items, Sparkle Points are arguably as valuable as any mirrorball trophy.Appearing on the USA TODAY Sparkle Points podium more often than not, Simone Biles takes the top spot. No stranger to a presentation, Simone’s wardrobe and style encompassed every absurd DWTS stereotype there is: ruffles, warrior-wear, bedazzled bustiers. Simone may have been torn from the top three one week too soon, but no mirror ball out there shines as brightly.
More at USA Today. Let us know if you agree or disagree. I wouldn’t count anyone out, but, my bet is full on for Rashad and Emma for the win.
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
Check out the Chicago Sun Times when you can. They have some photos of the finalists of Dancing With The Stars Season 24 rehearsing for the Finals. They all look amazing.
Also, The Wrap talked with David Ross about his new gig as an ESPN analyst. They also talked on Dancing With The Stars and the finale…
“Every time I step on the dance floor, I feel like I am skydiving and free falling — I feel like I am going to crap my pants every time,” he revealed.
While he’s nervous about this Monday night’s glittering finale, Ross compared the anxiety to a baseball game: “Once the first batter comes out, you are in your comfort zone and forget everything else.”
That laser-sharp focus was one of the keys to the Cubs beating the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series last year. “I don’t think we ever looked up, we stayed in our cocoon of our clubhouse. We never got caught up on the outside world,” the baseball champ said of the team.
As for why sports stars seem to excel so often on “DWTS,” Ross believes it’s because they are “trained to jump into things with both feet.”
“I think athletes are trained to invest all of themselves naturally, you know you have to commit 110 percent. We have to control our work ethic and performance, as that’s all we can control,” he said.
“I did the show to try something new and get out of my box — and show my kids its OK to fail at something.”
Here’s to David and more at The Wrap.
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
At the final already, thank god. 🙂 Should be a redemption dance plus the freestyle followed by the final two dancing on Tuesday. Thanks to George Pennacchio for the dance info…
ETA: Updated with Freestyle dance info below. Musical Performers Include Hailee Steinfeld, OneRepublic and Lady Antebellum. Also, Nicole Scherzinger and Colt Prattes Dance to ‘Do You Love Me?’ From ABC’s Upcoming New Adaptation of the Global Pop-Cultural Phenomenon ‘Dirty Dancing’. Here is more info courtesy of ABC. Note that there won’t be an elimination on Monday night.
ETA2: Running-order updated per George P. Can’t remember if the pattern still holds or not, but I don’t think the person dancing 1st on the first night of finale week has a very good chance of winning – sorry, David fans. Pleasantly surprised to see Rashad going last again, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything – but in light of rumors circulating that Shad might be doing the tour, I have to wonder if we may see the tides turning in his favor tonight. -Court-
There will not be an elimination at the end of the night, and the three remaining couples will go on to vie for the coveted Mirrorball.
In the 2-1/2 hour season finale on TUESDAY, MAY 23 (8:30-11:00 p.m. EDT), the three finalists advance to the final stage of the competition. The night kicks off with a rousing opening number, featuring a reunion of all 12 of this season’s couples, along with judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Julianne Hough, and hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews. Exciting season finale performances include Academy® Award-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld performing her latest single, “Most Girls,” OneRepublic performing their latest hit, “No Vacancy,” alongside a dance by Sharna Burgess and Gleb Savchenko, and Lady Antebellum performing their hit song, “You Look Good,” alongside a dance with Witney Carson, Hayley Erbert, Artem Chigvintsev and Gleb Savchenko. Also, from ABC’s upcoming new adaptation of the global pop-cultural phenomenon “Dirty Dancing,” celebrating the 30th anniversary year of the iconic film, rising star Colt Prattes, who portrays Johnny, and season 10 “Dancing with the Stars” champion Nicole Scherzinger, who plays ‘Penny,” will dance to the hit song from the movie, “Do You Love Me?” The TV musical movie event airs Wednesday, May 24 (8:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. Additionally, fans will get a sneak peek at the sensational “Dancing with the Stars: Live! – Hot Summer Nights” tour that will be traveling across America over this summer.
There will also be separate girls and guys’ numbers. The girls’ number features Heather Morris and female Pros and Troupe dancing to “River” by Bishop Briggs, and the guys’ number incorporates the male Pros and Troupe dancing to “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars.
In the last element of competition, the three couples will perform a new routine as part of a 24-Hour Fusion Challenge. The couples will fuse two contrasting dance styles that they’ve performed this season, and they’ll have less than 24 hours to prepare that dance for judges’ points.
David and Lindsay – Viennese Waltz to “Let’s Hurt Tonight” by One Republic
Freestyle – “It Takes Two”/”Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (Medley) by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock/Ronnie Neuman
Phone 1-800-868-3404
Normani and Val – Quickstep to “Check It Out” by Oh the Larceny
Freestyle – “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Andra Day
Phone 1-800-868-3410
Rashad and Emma – Viennese Waltz to “Dark Times” by The Weekend feat. Ed Sheeran
Freestyle – “Let’s Go”/”Uptown Funk” (Medley) from Drumline/Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
Phone 1-800-868-3411
I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)
Tony Dovolani was a guest on Access Hollywood to break down the Dancing With The Stars finalists…
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
In season 12, it was Ralph. In season 18, it was Charlie. In season 20, it was Nastia. In season 22, it was Wanya…and in season 24, it was Simone. Following the precedent they set back in 2011, the show has managed to screw a worthy contestant out of a spot in the spring finale for four consecutive seasons now – and more often than not, it seems to happen in order to lend a hand to one of the Chmerkovskiy brothers. It’s getting BEYOND predictable, to the point of the spring season almost following a template: let things happen organically for the first few weeks, then determine who needs to make the finale (must take mandatory Chmerkovskiy quota into account) and be sure to start neutralizing any threats (read: other good dancers that might prevent a Chmerkovskiy from making it into the finale) by having the judges underscore, nitpick, and generally demean said threats until the generally gullible cross-section of the voting audience (the “sheeple”) actually start to believe that contestant really isn’t any good after all and ceases voting for them. And because of this template, I have ZERO sympathy for the judges – practice your shocked faces all you want, but what happened last night was a direct result of all the meddling you’ve done. The blood is on your hands, and I better not hear implications of “The audience has to vote! You guys sent Simone home!” next week – you don’t get to pull the puppet strings all season long and manipulate the viewers, and then blame Simone’s elim on them.
But I’m guessing that’s inevitably going to be part of the narrative next week, as they seem to be gunning for a 3rd MBT for Prince Joffrey Val – the “we’ve sent two of the best dancers home – don’t let it happen again!” strategy seems to imply that viewers should vote for the best dancer left, which if you believe the judges’ scores and critiques, is Normani (I don’t agree). If the audience is more woke than I give them credit for, it may more broadly imply “vote for one of the good dancers”, which would mean Normani & Rashad, and imply that voters should not be voting for David. I’ve gotten several questions about how things are going to shake out next week, and I’m not 100% sure (like just about everything else this season), but I feel fairly confident in stating that they will likely lowball the sh*t out of David – as Heidi has stated multiple times before, the judges like to be RIGHT, and a season of gushing about pro dancer Normani only to have halfway-decent dancer David take the MBT makes them look…dumb. I think David is going to get the Noah/Alek treatment relative to the other two – scores several points lower on his two night 1 dances, to the point where votes won’t be enough to bridge the gap between him and Rashad/Normani. As for the other two – who knows. The fact that they seemed a bit more lukewarm on Normani last night makes me think they’ve already accomplished what they really wanted – ensure Val makes the finale, to continue the narrative of Val being the “star of the show” and hopefully gain some younger viewers from Normani’s fanbase – and they won’t care quite so much about what happens from here on out. The other part of me thinks they’re saying “Go big or go home!!!” and will continue the OTT gushing in an attempt to secure MBT #3 for Val. There’s just so much funny business going on that I just cannot state with certainty what exactly TPTB are trying to accomplish. However, if you’re trying to be strategic with your vote (and some of you have expressed a desire to do just that), I would recommend tossing them to Rashad – and I’m not just saying that as a Shad fan 🙂 As I mentioned above, I think they’re going to score David such that it’s going to be a huge uphill battle to catch up to Shad & Normani, and I think there’s at least a decent chance that Normani is going to continue to get pimped right up until the MBT is handed out – so if you’re looking to really stick it to TPTB, I think Shad’s your best bet.
As for poor Simone – I think the thing that made me the saddest about the whole thing is that she almost seemed relieved to be heading home. That speaks volumes – the fact that she had a meltdown in practice about doing the best she can and it not being good enough for the judges tells me that this show had long since stopped being fun for her. This show BROKE her, to the point where not continuing seemed like a better bet than continuing on in the competition. So I guess if that’s what she really wanted at the end of the day – I’m happy for her, and glad she could go out on a high note. Other random thoughts? SO. MUCH. FILLER. LAST. NIGHT. If we cut out the two guest performances and cut back on mic time for random people (i.e. Normani’s grandma), I’m willing to bet we could have shaved a half hour or more off the running time. And I feel like every pro, current or former, that isn’t tied up with the DWTS tour is now trying to pull a Derek & Julianne and start their own tour…and each kinda feels like a less fully-realized version of MOVE. Yeah, it was kinda cool seeing Cheryl doing something really different for her – but it felt more like contemporary by numbers, than a truly creative, connected performance. Read more..
Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.
This show really needs to find a different way to do eliminations. It just seems so unfair how they eliminate a couple from last week’s scores and voting and don’t count this week’s votes and scores as well. Yes, I’m still sad Simone and Sasha aren’t in the finals. It just doesn’t seem right and it’s happening way too often. But, wowww to all the dances last night. They were all so good… and Simone and Sasha went out on a high mark and will be remembered forever more.
Let’s review the scores:
Simone & Sasha (Carrie Ann Inaba) 40 (10, 10, 10, 10) 40 (10, 10, 10, 10) Eliminated
Normani & Val (Len Goodman) 36 (9, 9, 9, 9) 40 (10, 10, 10, 10)
Rashad & Emma (Bruno Tonioli) 38 (9, 9, 10, 10) 39 (10, 9, 10, 10)
David & Lindsay (Julianne Hough) 34 (9, 8, 9, 8) 36 (9, 9, 9, 9)
To relive all the dances again, see Idolxfactor (these videos work Internationally) and the official You Tube site.
For media, interviews, and recaps, first see People and Entertainment Tonight. Val and Normani tease on next week’s Freestyle here.
Glamour has their backstage interviews posted. I’m loving these two takes. Be sure to read more at the link.
Simone and Sasha will be back in the ballroom next week for the finale, and as tradition has it, will fly with the other three finalists for the after-party on Good Morning America the next morning. In the meantime, they are “100%” throwing their support behind Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater (naturally, given that Sasha and Emma are engaged).
Speaking of, Rashad was positively beaming backstage. The plan is for his dad (who is a double amputee) to fly out for the finale. Emma had no idea that was in the works, and was beyond thrilled to hear that Mr. Jennings might be in the audience come Monday night.
“The reason I want this so much is not just for myself,” Rashad told me afterwards. “I’m not a self-made man. It’s the love from family, from friends, [and those] who have made so many sacrifices for me. When it caps that story of community, of family, of hope, of dreams come true, and also my partner, [Emma] deserves the ball more than anybody. She’s amazing, she’s a workaholic. She takes her time, she teaches, and I honestly don’t want to let her down either. There’s plenty that I’m out here dancing for.”
David Ross: What?! How? I don’t even see me winning this thing!
Glamour: There’s two reasons: 1) You’re one of the nicest, most charismatic people, and that comes through each week. 2) You are what this show is about; taking someone without any dance experience and turning them into a dancer. So what would winning Dancing with the Stars mean to you?
David: Can I give you a dead honest answer? I don’t know if I would feel really great about it because of all the hard work, or guilty that I know I’m not the best dancer. You know what I mean? When I started out on this, if I got to week three, I was going to be happy personally. But as it’s gone on, I’ve really wanted to get a Mirrorball trophy for [Lindsay] as much as for me. Cause of this relationship—she’s amazing. To show the world that she can show me how to dance and get that many votes and to win it would mean everything to me because she’s amazing. She deserves it more than I do.”
Below are some interviews with FOX. Note the small hint at the end on Emma and Rashad’s freestyle for next week. As always, David is so humble… Read more..
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
Well, I’m almost afraid to watch…and honestly, I’d rather be in bed. Coughing. Damnit.
First prediction of the night….they put Rashad and Simone in jeopardy after calling David safe.
Can Val do the 12 bars in hold? I think he better. Gee, Val, she would be better in hold if you would have been choreographing ballroom this whole time.
Typical Chmerkovskiy – takes forever to get started. The music is bad and it’s resulting in a very staccato V. Waltz – looked more like a tango starting out. I do love the camera effect though. Because because it’s the judges dance they will all kiss ass – until they get to Simone anyway. I didn’t actually see the stumble the judges saw, but I AM sick. 🙁
9’s – seems about right. And once again, Val, STFU!!! It’s no wonder I have no clue about Normani, dude is a microphone hog.
Oh boy, Simone’s edit. Not sure what that means. Read more..
I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)
David Ross is never going to forget the the great memories and moments he’s had on Dancing With The Stars and he’ll never take them for granted. What a Guy! Here is more from the Chicago Sun Times.
“Baseball came naturally to me. It’s something I’ve been doing all my life,” the 40-year-old says. “This is so far outside my comfort zone. When you’re a professional athlete you pick up things pretty quick. But these [dance] steps are pretty frustrating all throughout the week. And you keep doing stuff over and over again and repeating those steps hoping you’ll get better. It’s extremely difficult and frustrating. … We’re learning two dances [a foxtrot to Michael Buble’s ‘You Make Me Feel So Young’ and a tango to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Castle on the Hill’], so it’s been six-and-a-half or seven-hour days, and it starts as soon as you’re done on Monday night; you’re right back [rehearsing] on Tuesday morning. And it’s all new choreography. It’s a lot of work physically, but you also learn a lot about yourself mentally.”
It’s that mental frustration that’s unlike anything he’s encountered in baseball, Ross admits.
“In baseball, you make an error, or you strike out, or you’re having a bad game, and it’s short. I messed up here, I let a ball get by there or I called the wrong pitch, and it’s short, it’s over. This [dancing] is extremely frustrating because it’s failure over and over and over again. [Laughing] Judging from the back of my baseball card I’ve had a lot of failure in my day. … But mentally it beats you down some days, and some weeks are tougher than others. I also think the song choice has a lot to do with it. If you enjoy the song or there’s meaning behind it, it’s easier to work through it. There’s only been one or two weeks where I haven’t really loved the song or felt a connection to the dance. [He says his recent paso doble was the most difficult.] … The payoff is on Mondays when you’ve nailed the dance. It’s memories I’ll never forget, just great moments I’ll never take for granted.”
Lots more at the Chicago Sun Times.
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
