Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Alas, Poor David - Steve-O Still Lives to Dance Another Day

Okay kids, another one bites the dust! Bye-bye to David & Kym and I’m personally sorry to see him go. He danced much better than Lawrence Taylor and his attitude was SO much better. He tried so hard but never quite seemed to get it (he said in his confessional that he felt like a stepchild with the judges, and I can’t blame him). Lawrence will be leaving soon, anyway. Although, that brings us to .... Steve-O & Lacey ARE STILL AROUND?!!! His fans must be legion, because while he’s a very likeable guy (more likeable than Lawrence, for sure) he just can’t dance. And yes, this is a popularity contest dressed up as a dancing competition, but - ???

The show opened rather interestingly, with no real intro to the fact that Lil’ Kim & Derek would be dancing their Viennese Waltz as the encore. No talking to Len, nothing but Tom saying they would be dancing. Weird. Then when their dance was over, the shot of Tom and Samantha talking had Lil’ Kim & Derek in the background, bowing to the crowd and twirling around. It looked like Kim was getting ready to leave and Derek grabbed her arm to keep her there - which was distracting from what Tom and Samantha were saying. Bad camera work there, ABC!

We find out from the confessional that Melissa stepped on her dress and ripped it and had her shoe temporarily caught in her dress, thus the reason for her mistake at the end of Monday’s performance. Tony was very complimentary, though, telling her that most people would have freaked out at that point but she kept going, and he was very proud of her. I’m glad Tony finally has a partner that can dance, let him stick around for awhile longer. I love his choreography and he’s usually gone too soon from the show.

Announced as safe are Shawn & Mark and Lil’ Kim & Derek. Poor David is standing behind Kym with an absolutely miserable look on his face (kind of like a Karina sneer but less snotty).

Etta James sings her signature song "At Last." She looks fabulous for 71 (okay, she could have gotten Botox or a face lift) even though she’s sitting in some kind of special chair with high arm rests. Still sounds damn good, too! Appropriately, the engaged Maks and Karina dance to the song and do a fine job, very sexy. Their lifts were fantastic.

Next announced as safe are Gillis & Cheryl; to everyone’s surprise, especially them, Steve-O & Lacey; Chuck & Julianne and Melissa & Tony. Chuck actually looked happy when they called his name - which is a bit different for him, he never looked all that excited about sticking around.

We see a clip with comments from the stars about how the show has impacted their lives, with Gillis saying he now "Sees Cheryl more than anyone" and "It’s hard taking orders from a 23-year-old" as we watch drill instructor Cheryl put him through the paces in rehearsal. Melissa gives a "before" look and the "after" - after 5 hours in makeup (she’s cute, but yes it’s an improvement). Chuck is happy that he can still keep his Man Card even dancing with spray tan. Steve-O says even walking down the street with his buddies, he catches himself practicing dance moves.

The Stars of Dance performance is the cast of La Rêve. No clue what that’s about, but trusty old Wikipedia helps me out: "Le Rêve ('"The Dream" in French) was the first production show to open in the Wynn Las Vegas casino resort. It is set in a one million-gallon (water) capacity theater and features diving and feats of strength with state-of-the-art special effects, where no seat is more than 40 feet from the stage. The production was created by Franco Dragone and is similar to the shows produced by Cirque du Soleil." Maks also choreographed it during Season 6 when he sat it out. Now I get the dance a little better - at least I understand why it looked so - um, different. There was a couple dressed in traditional ballroom garb dancing traditional ballroom, circled by a bunch of guys shirtless with high-waisted Buddha looking pants/skirts. The guys dressed all in black in the background were neat, tossing each other around from group to group (like cheerleading moves, almost). The Buddha guys were swishing their skirts around as they moved and even picking them up high enough to show their little red panties. Pretty strange!

Demi Lovato comes out to sing. I have no clue who she is. Per reliable Wikipedia, she’s one of the Disney actresses/singers. She’s no Miley, that’s for sure - the song was crappy and she sounded equally crappy singing it - but I guess she’s this week’s "let’s give the younger crowd a reason to stick around." Lacey’s brother Benji (cutie!) danced with a female, didn’t catch her name but that’s okay, she looked like a dork with that big pink bow thingie on the back of her costume.

Backstage, Samantha can talk again and asks Chuck another goofy question (after she tried to pin him down Monday night about the getting down on one knee ending to the dance - why didn’t she ask Julianne, who choreographed it, if she was trying to tell Chuck something? I guess it’s ok to mess with the stars but not the pro dancers). Anyway, she says that next week they get the romantic, sexy Rumba, and that should give Chuck & Julianne "home field advantage" since they’re already dating. He agrees and says he wants to make Carrie Ann scream when they get done dancing.

The last three couples stand on the stage for Tom to announce who will be in the Dance Off. Ty & Chelsie are told they’ll be back, leaving David & Kym and Lawrence & Edyta to try again. David & Kym are first, and David starts off with the stiff face again, but relaxes and looks like he’s getting into the part. Len says he liked it last night, but tonight he had more expression and improvement. Bruno said David "works well under pressure" and should be in the Dance Off every week if that’s the way he improves. Carrie Ann felt the connection tonight and said he had more passion. They improve 2 points from Monday night’s scores: 8-8-8=24.

Lawrence & Edyta will re-dance the Paso Doble. LT looked a little better but I wasn’t that moved - he just doesn’t do it for me at all. Bruno said that "we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg" and that he needs to get into the music from the beginning of the dance, not just halfway through. Carrie Ann loved his power and mentioned the difficult music again, with all its tempo changes. Len reiterated the tough music and said there was real improvement. They matched their scores from last night: 6-7-7=20.

Okay. So David improved, LT didn’t, and so....David is going home. Again, the couple scoring higher and improving their scores leaves, making the Dance Off totally pointless. If it changed the outcome, great. Otherwise, find something else to fill the time and stop torturing these poor couples!

So, should we start taking bets on how long Steve-O can last? Should the audience do Edyta a favor and stop voting for LT? Why are they voting for him anyway? Will ABC wise up and dump the Dance Off? Or do you like the second chance dance? Let me know!

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