Carrie Ann vs. Dorothy Hammill (as good as the pro comments)

[wooh]

So this week on SWC, Dorothy Hammill made a "you look as good as some pros I know" comment to one of the celebrities. And I couldn't bring myself to find it as offensive as when Carrie Ann told Stacy Keibler basically the same thing. I think it's because Dorothy Hammill is a pro (or at least was), so she knows what she's talking about. But then again, she didn't do pairs, and Carrie Ann hasn't done partnership dancing but has done dancing before. So why do I find Carrie Ann so offensive and not Dorothy Hammill? (Other than the fact that it seems Dorothy Hammill knows what she's talking about and Carrie Ann doesn't know the difference between samba to disco music and disco to disco music.)

[Porfirio Landeros]

Haahaa, I saw that, too, but one key difference is Carrie-Ann said 'the pro's on the show,' whereas Ms. Hammill was referring to some pro's in general (as part of the whole industry).

We all could accept that Stacy is doing better than some pro's in the ballroom world, but is she better than any of the pro's on the show? You could argue in some aspects possibly yes, but nothing technically related to ballroom dancing.

She's got a million dollar smile and appears to make a good emotional connection with Toni while she's dancing (many pro's can look more like divas rather than part of a team), but she's NOT out-dancing any of the pro's on that show.

[Bradamant]

Funny, I saw Skating too and also pondered the similarity/differences in the comments.

I agree with Porfirio: Carrie Ann said "getting better than some of our professional dancers" and made a gesture with her hand to the green room where the other pros were hanging out.

Dorothy Hamil's seemed like a very generalized comment.

[alemana]

is the Skating show shown live as well?

[saludas]

All this brouha about Stacey simply points out the fact that Tony is an excellent coach and certainly knows how to make a proam student look good.

[SDsalsaguy]

is the Skating show shown live as well?
No, it is not.

[alemana]

ah, interesting. that sheds some important contextual light on that remark.

[Larinda McRaven]

Saludas, I agree.

[gusmahler]

It probably doesn't seem as offensive to you for several reasons:

1) you're not a skater, you're a dancer. So you don't care as much.

2) Hammill is a former pro, so her comments have more immediate "respect". Carrie Ann isn't even a ballroom dancer, so her comments lead one to believe, "she doesn't know what she's talking about."

3) You can be pretty sure that, because she was a pro, Hammill didn't actually mean it. Because Carrie Ann isn't a ballroom dancer, she may actually mean it.

Hypothetical. Instead of ballroom dancing, they were judging football wide receivers. If Carrie Ann said, "you're catching the ball better than some NFL pros," you may think she means it and might get upset (if you cared about football). If Jerry Rice said the same thing, you'd know he's just flattering the celebrity, because no NFL receiver would ever say that.

[wyllo]

I'm going to have to go with Porfirio on this -- Carrie Ann's statement seemed to be aimed at a particular person, which made it less of a compliment to Stacy and more of a comment on someone else's dancing. The skating judge was refering to a hypothetical "pro" so it comes across as a nice thing to say about the skater's abilities.

[SDsalsaguy]

I'm going to have to go with Porfirio on this -- Carrie Ann's statement seemed to be aimed at a particular person, which made it less of a compliment to Stacy and more of a comment on someone else's dancing. The skating judge was refering to a hypothetical "pro" so it comes across as a nice thing to say about the skater's abilities. I'm in this camp too... Carrie Ann's comments seemed to be directly targetting pros on the show while Dorothy's comments were about "some" pros. If Carrie Ann's comment had been that Stacey is getting better than some pros, I'd actually have to agree, even if I think Carrie Ann is still fairly clueless about ballroom. Conversely, if Dorothy's comment had been that the skating was better than some of the pros *on the show* that would have been far more insulting, both overall and especially to those particular pros.

[Larinda McRaven]

which pro do you think she was aiming her comment towards?

[SDsalsaguy]

which pro do you think she was aiming her comment towards? For my part I don't know that I agree with this, but I still see myself as being in the same general camp as Porfirio and wyllo because, to my mind, the real difference was that the DWTS comment seemed directed at pros on the show vs. the SWC comment wich seemed not to be directed at those on the show.

[Purr]

I think Larinda was asking which specific pro on Dancing With The Stars Carrie Ann's comment was directed towards. There's only 5 female pro's: Edyta, Ashley, Anna, Cheryl and Andrea.

[wyllo]

I can't imagine who Carrie Ann could be talking about -- I'm in awe of all the pros on DWTS!

[SDsalsaguy]

I think Larinda was asking which specific pro on Dancing With The Stars Carrie Ann's comment was directed towards. There's only 5 female pro's: Edyta, Ashley, Anna, Cheryl and Andrea.
Agreed Purr, I was just specifying that I din't share the belief that the comment was targetting a specific pro, and as suggested in the quote I had used from wyllo.

[moother]

The problem with the skating show is the same with the dancing show. They both have sentimental favorites that receive votes way higher than they earn, but as for Dorothy I forgave her the comment you mentioned but I get sick of her telling them all how WONDERFUL they are even when they skate off the ice!ARRGH