I am feeling mighty sad, because I am going to have a hard time blogging SYTYCD this year, but I am going to give it my best shot. Tonight, they picked the top 20 dancers, and I think there were three or four Utahns in there. But my fave? It’s Thayne Jasperson. I have personally taken a “parents’ class” from Thayne, and he was very kind to us old fat ladies. And my daughter ADORES him. She has had the opportunity to learn from him more than once.

So we are THRILLED to see him in the top 20! GO THAYNE!!

The final evening of the season opened with three performing couples, but soon was cut down to two.  The first casualty of the evening was Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke. Leaving Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas and Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska to battle it out for the mirrored Disco Ball Trophy for season six.

In the midst of revisited dances from Celebs and their professional partners of this season now past, a Junior Champion was crowned, Brandon and Britany. And much to the excitement of Brandon the Junior title trophy was presented by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

The finalist dance one final dance to impress the judges, before the votes were tallied and the mirrored trophy presented for season six.

Kristi & Mark reprised their Jive, a fast, fun, musical frolic that earned them straight 10s, for a total of 90 points on the week.

Jason and Edyta, revisited their Quickstep. This is definitely a dance for Jason. He may be challenged by the Latin dances, but the Quickstep is a fast dance that definitely suits him and his personality. He has wonderful lines and character.  The judges liked it too, giving them straight 10s for 30 points, and 81 on the week.

The winner of Dancing With The Stars Season Six -

 Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas

Until Season Seven in September,

Ciao, Buono Fortuna

Tanglefoot

I am loving this season, Ducky on the other hand his bemoaning that it is in the stars that a woman is going to win this season.  He believes the season is rigged. I on the other hand see this season as a great competition, but yes I think Kristi and Mark have it sewn up.

Tonight the finalist danced two dances, and in a first they had a dance off. A very interesting segment where one couple opened the dance, a second covered the middle portion of the same song, and the third couple closed the dance. 

The song: Lionel Ritchies’ Dancing On The Ceiling

The dance: The Cha Cha (poor Jason, he was not built for this dance)

Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke opened the competition. She was great (per normal) he was bla. His movements lack sharpness, but his hips are great.

The judges scored them 8 - 9 - 9 for 26 points.

Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska delivered the middle portion of the dance.  Not much of a  Cha Cha Cha.

The judges scored them straight 8s for 24 points.

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas closed out the dance with a High energy Cha Cha - they kept real.

The judges scored them straight 10s for 30 points.

Round One to Kristi and Mark.

The freestyle competition separated the boys from the girl.

Kristi & Mark opened the round with a high energy, highly entertaining dance.  It featured great lifts, great hips, but I think she had a misstep (but she didn’t fall) 

The judges scored them straight 10s for 30 points and a total of 60 points.

Jason & Edyta danced a fun number that offered great lifts, but wasn’t an overly ambitious dance. Jason personality shines, but Edyta doesn’t choreograph for him as much as she does for herself.

The judges scored them scored them straight 9s for 27 points and a 51 total on the night.

Cristian & Cheryl offered up a high energy dance, the lifts were light because of his arm.  I give him credit for continuing on in the competition after being injured but I think he’s being given sympathy votes from the judges. This dance shouldn’t have scored higher than Jason and Edyta’s and yet…

The judges scored them 9 - 8- 9 for 26 points and a total of 52 on the night.

Jason & Edyta were robbed, but Kristi and Mark were clearly the winners on the night. Round Two to Kristi & Mark.

Who will win the Disco Dance Ball? Tomorrow night will tell.  Until then,

Sith

Tanglefoot

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas Tango opened tonight’s dancing as the encore performance of the week. Kristi & Mark recaptured the top of the leader board after two weeks at number two.

Tonight’s competition sees the couples whittled down to the top three going into the final week of dancing, next Monday night. It also saw the junior competition’s final dance off towards next week’s crowning of the first Junior Dancing With the Stars winners.  The three finalist couples that had been gleaned over weeks of competition, were…

Rachell and Aaron – 8 and under – Cha Cha

Cara and Jaryd – 10 and under  - Samba

Britany & Brandon – 13 and under – Paso Dobles (Fantastic performance)

Tonight’s Stars of Dance presented by Macy’s was a tribute to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It made me realize how much I don’t miss crotch grabbing and jerking by performers. On the other hand, vocally, Omarrion is no Michael Jackson.

The bubbly maybe be out of Dancing With The Stars as tonight Marisa Jaret Winokur and her dancing partner Tony Dovolani drew the short list, but the bubbly will never go out of Marisa Jaret Winokur. You could see she knew before her name was said, and she took it with a smile, grace, and humor.

Going into next week’s Dancing With The Stars, Season Six Finals are…

Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas

Jason Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska

Cristian de la Fuente & Cheryl Burke

Until next Monday night

Sith,

Tanglefoot

Four couples dance into the week, only three will dance in next week’s final competition.  The judging this week was interesting; the judges contentious. In my honest, but uneducated, opinion I didn’t feel the majority of the dances were up to semi-final standards.

Shall we?

Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska opened the evening with an elegant Foxtrot.  It offered great musicality, wonderful lines, playful characterization, and good footwork.

The judges scored it 9 - 10 - 9 for 28 points.

Marisa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovolani danced a Quickstep.  Not very challenging although the judges said differently.  Too much smile and she did suffer a misstep.

The judges scored them 9 - 8 - 9 for 26 points

Cristian de la Fuentes and Cheryl Burke Viennese Waltzed in the ballroom round.  I thought the dance was flat, not enough up and down dancing, Cristian’s stiff arm was very noticeable tonight. It was an okay dance.

The judges liked it better scoring them straight 9s for 27 points

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas closed the Ballroom round with a Tango. Absolutely no musicality, the music was very fast for the dance.  She fell out of character several times smiling where she shouldn’t.

The judges liked it much better than I did scoring them 10 - 9 - 10 for 29 points

The Latin round for the evening was met with mixed results.

Jason & Edyta drewy the Paso dobles.  The Choreography was wanting, just not a semi final dance.  Jason’s movements seemed a little stiff and lacked sharpness in action and cut.

The judges scored them straight 9s for 27 points and a total 55 on the night

Marisa and Tony performed a Rumba. Nice legs, but it was a boring dance, (this is where the real contention came in between the judges) but well danced.

The judges scored them 8 - 9 - 9 for 26 points and a 52 total on the night

Cristian & Cheryl drew the Samba for the Latin round. Despite misgivings about the Samba Cristian performed a good, if not a bit stiff dance.  Nice hip and foot work, great rhythm.

The judges scored them 10 - 9 - 10 for 29 points and a total 56 on the night

Kristi & Mark closed out the round and the night with a Jive. The dance offered great energy, good attitude, great rhythm, and musicality.

The judges scored them 9 - 9 - 10 for 28 points and a 57 total to lead the night and regain the leader board.

Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas 57

Cristian de la Fuentes & Cheryl Burke 56

Jason Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska 55

Marisa Jaret Winokur & Tony Dovolani 52

Until tomorrow night

Sith,

Tanglefoot

I figure if I am still around for my 100^th, I’ll by pass the Geritol and go straight for the Milk of Magnesia. But when Dancing With The Stars celebrates their 100^th it’s with stars, stars, and more stars and then they throw in some dancing. And what a great episode it was.

The two hour extravaganza opened with a top ten countdown of the Judges: Len Goodman, Bruno Tomioli, and CarrieAnn Inaba’s  top ten dances from the first five seasons. Beginning with…

#10 Kelly Monico and Alex Mazo’s Latin Potpourri from season one

#9   Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas’ Paso Dobles from season five

# 8   Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke’s Cha Cha from season three

#7    Apollo Ono and JulieAnn Hough’s Quickstep from season four

#6   Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson’s Jive from season four

#5   Helio Castroneves and JulieAnn Hough’s Quickstep from season five

#4   Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke’s Cowboy Freestyle from season two

#3   Stacy Kebler and Tony Dovalani’s Samba from season two

#2   Mel B and Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s Paso Dobles from season five

#1 Mario Lopez and Karina Smirnoff’s Tango from season two

Hour two of the evening continued the revelry, but contained our normal elimination night results

JulieAnn Hough and Apollo Anton Ono performed a beautiful freestyle to musical guest Rascal Flatt’s performance of Everyday. Mario Lopez and the cast of A Chorus Line offered up a specially choreographed performance of One for Macy’s Stars of Dance. And Mel B and Maks performed to Rascal Flatt’s Life Is A Highway.

At the end of the evening the two couples left standing on stage were…

Mario and Karina Smirnoff

Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinskya

Going home this week… Mario and Karina Smirnoff

Until next week,

Sith

Tanglefoot

The second week of double dancing left me wanting a do-over in the Latin round. It just didn’t wow me as week eight should.  And now the judges have allowed each team one lift per dance, but it must keep in character with the dance.

Thank heavens the night started out with the Ballroom round.

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas drew the Quickstep this week to open the night’s competition. It was okay but not the eighth week flashy that you would expect.

The judges scored them 9 - 10 - 10 for a 29

Mario and Karina Smirnoff danced the Viennese Waltz. Very elegant with clean, elongated lines and a beautiful lift.

The judges scored them straight 9s for 27 points

Marisa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovalani performed a Foxtrot. Very nice, very elegant, great lines, and lovely flow.

The judges scored them 9 - 8 - 8 for 25 points

Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinskya danced a Tango. A very sexy Ballroom Tango. Wonderful open, great dynamics, and definite musicality.

The judges scored them 10 - 9 - 10 for 29 points

Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke ended the Ballroom round with a Tango. What was the musical director thinking, a Tango to Beat It? His injury hampered it, the lift was not in character with the dance.

The judges loved them 10 - 9 - 9 for 28 points

The night fell apart for me in the Latin Round.

Kristi and Mark danced a Samba, it was fast, fun, and offered up a cool spin to close out the number.

The judges scored them 8 - 9 - 9 for 26 and a total on the night of 55 points

Mario and Karina performed a Jive.  Overall Mario’s performance was lack luster. His kicks were flat footed, no sharp toes. There wer a few slow spots, and the balance at the end of the dance was bad.

The judges scored them 9 - 8- 9 for 26 points, and a total 53 points on the night.

Marisa and Tony offered up a Mambo. This girl gives it her all.  Good hip action, good energy, good musicality.

The judges scored them 8 - 8 - 9 for 25 points, a 50 point total on the night and the bottom of the leader board.

Jason and Edyta Samba’d. I really didn’t like the tempo, very slow. Jason lost his rhythm and energy in the dance. And the lift at the end, not good.

The judges scored them 8 - 7 - 8 for 23 points and a 52 point total on the night

The final dance of the even pitted Cristian and Cheryl against the Mambo. It had good energy, good foot work, good lift (That Fit The Dance - thank you Cheryl) and good musicality. 

The judges scored them 10 - 9 - 10 for 29 points and a 57 point total on the night.

Once again the leader board has changed position placing Cristian and Cheryl in the lead for the night, Kristi and Mark in second, and Jason and Edyta in third on the even.

Tomorrow night is Dancing With The Stars One Hundredth episode and will the top dances from seasons past.  Returning Celebs to dance in the night will include Apollo Ono, Laila Ali, Mario Lopez, Mel B and a lot more to celebrate DWTS Centennial episode.

Until Then,

Sith,

Tanglefoot

The third in the Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mysteries, POINTE AND SHOOT, dances into stores Tuesday!

Keeping readers on their toes!

Studio owner Jenny needs her girls to win the Ultimate Dancer Championship—and the prize money— to expand her business. But first she’’ll have to do some fancy footwork to stay alive.

“Blending the humor of Janet Evanovich with chick-lit quirkiness, Roberts adds sassy prose and a spunky heroine to create a new series to watch.”–Library Journal

If you love dance, love psycho dance moms (as long as they aren’t aiming at you as their next target), and love to laugh, you’ll love Jenny and her crazy world.

www.jennytpartridge.com

The Encore Performance of The Week…

Jason and Edyta reprised their Quickstep, darn I was hoping for the NFL Paso Dobles. But the Quickstep was great.

Showing defeat to the lift the Judges decided to allow one lift, in character with the dance, beginning next week. Dance Center broke down the remaining Celebs in the competition. Kenny Mayne is really getting into the eye shadow, where Jerry Rice is really into those shiny bright shirts, their break down and humor delightful and a bit bent.

But the strangest turn of events was the night’s Musical Guest….Def Lepard performing Pour Some Sugar On Me. Now I love Def Lepard (side note, a Def Lepard concert was the only concert I ever walked out of…that first tour was hideous…thank heavens they have vastly improved.)

The Bottom Two:

Marisa Jaret Winokur and Tony Donalani

Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough

Going Home….Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough leave Dancing With the Stars.

They dance again next Monday night, and then remember to tune in for the special 100 episode edition of Dancing With The Stars next Tuesday night.

Until Then,

Sith,

Cele

 PS: So You Think You Can Dance debuts May 22^nd on Fox with a two hour premiere. Happy Dance!

 Six Celebs, Six Professionals, and a dozen dances rounded out the first night of double dancing for the dance duos.  Ballroom opened the night, Latin dances closed out the evening with a change in the leader board, the first since the opening week of competition.  So how did the dancers fare in the Ballroom competition tonight?

Marisa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovalani opened the night with a Tango. I missed this dance, but Ducky was impressed.

So were the judges who scored them straight nines, for 27 points.

Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke danced a Viennese Waltz for their first number. A lovely dance that showed tight footwork, lilting movement, romance, and wonderful shoulders.

The judges didn’t like it as well as I did, scoring them 8 - 8 - 9 for 25 points

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas delievered up the second Viennese Waltz of the night.  Very nice, good feet, good timing, and very nice musicality.

For the first time Kristi and Mark do not lead in the scoring after receiving 9 - 8 - 9 for 26 from the judges.

Mario and Karina Smirnoff danced the Foxtrot.  I thought it romantic, but unremarkable, unmemorable.

The judges were not overly pleased either scoring them straight 8s, for 24 points.

Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough danced a Tango for their first number.  Terrible music that made me really lose the dance.  The choreography was good, but that hideous music.

The judges scored them straight 9s, for 27 points.

Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinski danced their way through a Quickstep.  The footwork was good, it was a fun dance that reflected the upbeat music.

The judges liked it too scoring them 10 - 9 -10 for a 29 to take the leader board after round one.

In the Latin Round the couples danced in the same order…

Marisa & Tony Rumba’d. Romantic but for me slow.

The judges scored them 9 - 8 - 8 for 25 points, and a 52 total on the night

Cristian & Cheyrl began a Samba, but a “severer” muscle cramp in Cristian’s left bicep cut short the number. What I did note was a few missed steps and moves, but he injured himself so early it was hard to tell.

The judges scored them straight 7s for 21, a 46 total on the night.

Kristi & Mark Cha Cha’d. This piece offered good musicality, great energy, and fast footwork. I’m not a fan of throwing hip hop into the fray, but I liked the dance overall.

The judges scored them 10 - 8 - 10 for 28 points, and a 54 total on the night.

Mario & Karina Mambo’d.  The judges all commented on how the fast Latin dances suited Mario. I thought they were a bit out of sync. The dance offered good musicality, and footwork.

The judges scored them straight 9s for 27 points, a total 51 on the night/

Shannon & Derek Mambo’d as well.  She tries so hard, but in truth she’s not a dancer.  She doesn’t know how to move from one movement into the next - so it is finish - stand - start.

The judges scored them straight 8s for 24, a 51 total on the night.

Jason & Edyta closed out the night with the NFL Paso Dobles. Being a long time Dolphins fan I LOVED IT!  The dance was…er… interesting. Who knew you could Paso to the Monday Night Football Theme?

The judges scored them 9 - 8- 9 for 26, a 55 total on the night and the Lead.

At the end of the night the leader board was as follows:

55 - Jason & Edyta

54 - Kristi & Mark

52 - Marisa & Tony

51 - Mario & Krina

51 - Shannon & Derek

46 - Cristian & Cheryl

Tomorrow night will see the return of Dance Center, Mario Lopez, and special musical guest… Def Lepard (which just blows Tom Bergeron’s mind.)  Until then

Sith,

Tanglefoot