DWTS Season 9 Week 9: Semi-Finals

[TinyDancer109]

Last night:

Donny & Kim:
- Tango
- Samba
- Dance off: Jitterbug

Joanna & Derek:
- V. Waltz
- Cha Cha
- Dance off: Salsa

Kelly & Louie:
- Rumba
- Quickstep
-Dance Off: Cha Cha

Mya & Dimitry
- Waltz
- Salsa
- Dance off: Cha Cha

 

[TinyDancer109]

Ok, so here are my thoughts:

What do the judges see in Joanna's dancing??????
Her cha cha was a lot of posing, and kinda of slow for my taste. Her salsa was stiff and she was thrown around yet again...

Len said that her position in VW was as good as some professionals.... ?!?! She was so back-weighted that I was concerned that if Derek moved his right hand, she would fall over.

Quite frankly, I thought Mya's position was 1000x better than Joanna's. I have never been a big fan of Mya's but I think she really stepped up this week. I really liked her waltz. It is obvious she work hard, and i'll give her credit for that. She is the front-runner dance-wise/technically in my opinion. Although I have to say I was not as crazy about her cha cha as the judges... something was off about her hips... i think they were too flow-y and not snappy enough for the cha cha? idk

It's too bad Donny messed up his tango last night.. I was really rooting for him.

Side comments/questions:
1- Is anybody else kinda confused by the fact that DWTS tried to give EVERY contestant a sob story childhood last night??
2- Is anyone else annoyed that Mya and Joanna are not wear higher heels??? It's really distracting for me in the latin dances...

 

[salsera_alemana]

What do the judges see in Joanna's dancing??????
Her cha cha was a lot of posing, and kinda of slow for my taste. Her salsa was stiff and she was thrown around yet again...

Len said that her position in VW was as good as some professionals.... ?!?! She was so back-weighted that I was concerned that if Derek moved his right hand, she would fall over.

Quite frankly, I thought Mya's position was 1000x better than Joanna's. I have never been a big fan of Mya's but I think she really stepped up this week. I really liked her waltz. It is obvious she work hard, and i'll give her credit for that. She is the front-runner dance-wise/technically in my opinion.

TinyDancer, I agree with you. As I said before, I am not a ballroom dancer and cannot judge their technique but I can see that - even in the VW - Joanna's legs looked awkward (when one was able to see her legs). Other than that her VW looked OK to me.

However, I do not like her Latin dances. In between she wiggles and shimmies but apart from that she is stiff! And her Latin dances always look choppy in the sense that she poses - waits for the next pose/turn and then poses again - waits - shimmies - waits etc. There is no flow throughout those dances for me. And she overuses the Yulia fringe pants for my taste...

I like Mya's dancing. It always flows and she can move her body and is elegant. She did very well with the music she was given for her salsa. Neither the music nor the dance was salsa, I thought the music was ballroom samba music (correct me if I am wrong) and she danced mostly samba to it (also here: correct me if I am wrong, to me her moves looked more like samba). She adapted her dance to the music and overall I was impressed how great she moved. Was it salsa? No, I did not recognize it as salsa. I looked at it again later muting the music, and no, again I could not recognize it as salsa. But, regarding all of Joanna's 9's I thought she deserved the 10's in comparison.

And Carry Ann gets on my nerves, she is always picking on Mya but praising Joanna and Kelly although Mya is the much better dancer.

Yes, too bad that Donny messed up.

For me, Mya is the only one worthy to be in the finals. Anybody else's dancing just leaves me cold this season. Past seasons were so much more exciting with Gilles, Helio, Brooke, Mel or Mario Lopez!

Ooohooh, wasn't it great to see Gilles in the rehearsal, he is soooo hot!!!

 

[wooh]

Poor me! I had a tough childhood! *I* should win DWTS!
Joanna wears the fringe too much, but that's Derek's fault. He's trying to make it look like there's more movement, when in reality, the fringe is making it more obvious she's posing. Don't wear fringe if it's going to just hang more than anything else!

 

[danceronice]

I would be a raging hypocrite if I criticized Derek for putting Joanna in fringe. (In any case I prefer it for Latin on people 1000 times better than her...at the very least latin dresses should move, not cling.)

But yeah, I wanted to throw a brick at Len--can we have Anna D.'s big sister come and show him what a PROFESSIONAL Standard dancer looks like?

I gave Donny as many votes as I could, but his lines were pretty clogged. I hope he and Kelly make it through and Joanna goes home--they're much more gracious and are obviously enjoying themselves. Donny I think not only had an issue with the wardrobe malfunction but with them giving him a song that wasn't tango by any stretch of the imagination. And I *loved* Louis basically calling Derek on his "I have a great freestyle!" thing. I think it must be Derek's fans voting to keep him on.

Anyone else wonder if Tom Bergeron finally said he couldn't keep complimenting the band with a straight face so they punted the job to Len?

 

[TinyDancer109]

And she overuses the Yulia fringe pants for my taste...

Joanna wears the fringe too much, but that's Derek's fault. He's trying to make it look like there's more movement, when in reality, the fringe is making it more obvious she's posing. Don't wear fringe if it's going to just hang more than anything else!

I agree with you both... additionally, I think Derek is very aware that Joanna NEVER straightens her legs when she is supposed to...

Problem: Joanna doesn't straighten her legs in the Cha Cha
Solution: Yulia fringe pants to hide them
....
Problem: Joanna doesn't straighten her legs in the Rumba
Solution: Long skirt to hide them

Neither the music nor the dance was salsa, I thought the music was ballroom samba music (correct me if I am wrong) and she danced mostly samba to it (also here: correct me if I am wrong, to me her moves looked more like samba). She adapted her dance to the music and overall I was impressed how great she moved. Was it salsa? No, I did not recognize it as salsa. I looked at it again later muting the music, and no, again I could not recognize it as salsa.

You noticed that too??? yes, i was thinking the same thing last night!

 

[TinyDancer109]

But yeah, I wanted to throw a brick at Len

:uplaugh: hahahahaha

I gave Donny as many votes as I could, but his lines were pretty clogged. I hope he and Kelly make it through and Joanna goes home--they're much more gracious and are obviously enjoying themselves.

Agreed.. i hate the "sexy" faces mya and joanna do during judging feedback just to get bruno riled up... i don't like joanna's dancing, and mya seems superficial when she speaks. i threw all my votes to Donny and Kelly for the same reasons as you.

And I *loved* Louis basically calling Derek on his "I have a great freestyle!" thing. I think it must be Derek's fans voting to keep him on.

OMG ME TOO HAHAHA

 

[DancinDrea19]

i agree with everything that has been said and i still can't stand how stiff joanna is when she dances, plus IMO her legs look so awkward 90% of the time!

 

[RickRS]

For all(?) the coaching from Gilles Marini, Donny still couldn't project any sensual heat in the tango. However, I so wished he had not kicked himself for messing up so publicly before the judges. He might have gotten just a little higher score if he hadn't.

He did get his groove on in the Samba, and while it was just a little sloppy, he was really enjoying the dance and it showed.

Mya looked wonderful in the Waltz and Salsa. At this point, I think she should be the one taking the trophy. Will next week change my mind?

Please, America, vote Joanna off tonight...please? If not her, then Kelly....pretty please?

 

[danceronice]

I'll still vote for Donny over Mya, first because he is more entertaining, second he has really demonstrated how a celeb SHOULD behave with the judges (yes, I'm just repressing that moment with Bruno) and because I have yet to see anyone call Mya on having done a Latin competition scene in a movie about ballroom dancing with cast members of DWTS in the same film.

Mya second, Kelly third for effort and simply for making me like and appreciate Louis van Amstel.

 

[TinyDancer109]

I have yet to see anyone call Mya on having done a Latin competition scene in a movie about ballroom dancing with cast members of DWTS in the same film.

REALLY?????? What movie?????

I think it is going to be a pretty surprising elimination no matter what tonight... these are all competitors no one expects to go home for the following reasonns:

Donny + Kelly: large fan following/crowd pleasers

Mya: best dance-wise = good judges' marks + audience votes

Joanna: Derek's fan base + solid judging scores roll

 

[Beto]

REALLY?????? What movie?????

I think it is going to be a pretty surprising elimination no matter what tonight... these are all competitors no one expects to go home for the following reasonns:

Donny + Kelly: large fan following/crowd pleasers

Mya: best dance-wise = good judges' marks + audience votes

Joanna: Derek's fan base + solid judging scores roll

I haven't seen it, or the original Japanese movie that inspired it, but danceronice is most likely referring to Shall We Dance? Karina Smirnoff, Slavik Kryklyvyy and Tony Dovolani are all in the film with Mya.

 

[and123]

BETO! Holy crap! You *MUST* see the original Japanese version! :shock:

 

[Beto]

BETO! Holy crap! You *MUST* see the original Japanese version! :shock:

It's been on my Netflix queue for the past year or two. Just haven't gotten around to it yet due to my never ending quest to keep up with my TiVo. Still have to see Dirty Dancing too (start to finish as I've only seen bits and pieces).

 

[danceronice]

I have both versions, which I like for different reasons.

Mya plays a secondary character's fiance, dances with him in the "latin competition" at the end, and Tony's in the same scene (and actually has a fairly big part, beyond "background artist", anyway.) Karina's in an earlier scene at the dance studio (also a speaking role) and Nick Kosovich is also in the film somewhere. Slavik plays J.Lo's "new partner" in the 'flash forward' scene at Blackpool at the end, and Gary McDonald plays her old partner in a flashback.

There's "no prior experience" and "OH COME ON."

I'm still Donny FTW.