| Music Rant of the Week | [Nov. 5th, 2007|08:06 pm] |
Dancing With the Stars music rant:
First round
Helio dancing tango to a swing. Means his tango was too bouncy, not nearly cat-like enough. Len complained about no heel leads? There aren't heel leads in swing. I think Carrie Ann has simply given up on the music supporting the styling. 9 8 8
Marie got to do her quickstep to the music that Jane should have had for her jive the week before. The good thing is that quickstep and jive are much the same tempo and so the style wasn't compromised. 10 9 9
Mel B's foxtrot music wasn't as bad as it might have been but it still didn't support the styling of the foxtrot as much as it could have done. Carrie Ann's comment about the step size being a little out-of-sync with her being pulled along is a symptom of this. The dance is meant to be stretched out on the floor and the music was supporting a shorter, bouncier style. 8 8 8
Jane's quickstep to Walk The Line is again not only Too Damn Slow but it's also not in any way a quickstep! It's a two-step. Compare it to Marie dancing quickstep to jive tempo and once again, Jane isn't being pushed. And Len was absolutely right about the total lack of body contact. And Jane isn't going to be exciting us as long as she keeps getting music that's too slow for the dance she's doing. It makes the dance feel leaden. 8 8 8
Jennie's Viennese Waltz is... 3/4 time! And it flows which supports the style. Someone must have delegated finding this music. 8 8 9
Cameron's quickstep music was, well, fast. But while it did elicit some bounce it didn't support the glide that's also supposed to be there. Hence Len not liking the style. It was only partway there. 8 8 8
Second round
Helio! Wow! I knew it was samba before I looked! Finally, an excellent music selection! And look what happens when the music strongly supports what the dancers are doing! 9 9 9
And again! Marie's cha cha is to music with a strong cha cha rhythm! She really sells what she's doing but they're right -- not quite enough content. 8 8 8
Mel B and the *checks closed captioning* paso doble? What paso doble? Nothing, absolutely nothing, in that to pull out the paso styling. Nothing. Compliments to Mel for dancing a strong paso regardless. 10 10 10
And again, a real cha cha. Not the liveliest one, it's more relaxed, and that's not what Jane needed. She's had too many that were just a hair too slow to be exciting. She needed lively. 8 9 9
Jennie got a nice rumba, too. Good tempo, has the back beat feel that helps pull out the styling. For myself, I would have liked a little more change-up in the styling -- most of her moves were quick and staccato and I would have liked more mix of slow stretched-out moves with the quick ones. 9 9 10
Cameron's jive was a little slow but not so it felt too slow. And he had some difficult choreography to do which was helped by it being just a little slow, since it gave his longer legs the chance to get to full stretch in some of those moves. 9 9 9
Who should be going home tomorrow: Jane. I like her and she dances well, but not in the same league as the ones who are left. Had the music this week and last not been below tempo I think that would have been much more apparent.
Who will be going home: after last week, it's anyone's guess. |
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