Media Center
Media Center » General Interest » Dancing With The Stars - Week 10
Dancing With The Stars - Week 10
- Author:
- Phillip Stephens (713-248-2299 | philtex44@aol.com)
- Date Published:
- November 20, 2006
Dancing With The Stars Week 10 & Final Results
Commentary by Phillip Stephens
First, let's talk about Emmitt Smith:
Emmitt Smith's Samba looked heavy to me. His legs were not synchronized, his feet were flat and the bounce action was bad. He did have good arm lines and good body rhythm/action, but I certainly would not have given him a perfect score of 30!
Emmitt's Mambo has not wowed me the same as it has the judges on any of the 3 occasions when I've seen it. He gets off time, his footwork is bad, he looks heavy in many of the moves, Cheryl has to lead him in some places and he always seems to miss some of the steps. Again, he has some good body actions and is very rhythmic in his dancing, and he doesn't look strained while dancing it; but I certainly can't agree with Bruno's statement that Emmitt looks like he's been dancing Mambo forever. Again, 30 points was way too high for this performance.
Other than having a fantastic amount of energy and doing some great moves and lifts, Emmitt's freestyle routine did virtually nothing for me. With all that repeat choreography where he and Cheryl chassed to the side over and over and over, it reminded me of one of those booths at the county or state fair where the ducks go by and you are supposed to hit them with a ball to win the prize. It was interesting that he made so many errors in the other two dances and received no criticism from the judges, then got nailed on a minor thing like the exit from a lift in the freestyle.
Now, let's talk about Mario Lopez:
Mario Lopez's Samba was terrific, with fantastic synchronization with Karina, great body rhythms and loads of energy, good arm lines and very good posture. His feet were not so great, and his leg actions could be stronger, but I wanted to bop Len on the head for going on about Mario messing up a bit in the Running Promenade. I felt this was better than Emmitt's Samba, and that the scores should have been reversed. I wondered at this point if they were setting things up for another "staged" tie, and think I was correct.
Other than being a bit too "light" for this dance, and just a bit jerky in the feet, I think Mario did a very good job with the Paso Doble. If I were going to chose a dance to give a lesser score in, this would be it. I don't really think he deserved a 30 for this one, even though it is fast-paced, high energy, great choreography and was performed rather well.
There was just no comparison between Mario's freestyle and Emmitt's! That was one of the best dance numbers I've seen in a long time and I would definitely agree with Kari Ann that this was the best routine of the season. That number was so well executed from beginning to end that it was difficult to remember that it had been learned in such a short period of time. The synchronization was fabulous and the footwork looked very polished. They displayed so much energy! It was just great and definitely deserved 30 points.
Well, we know how things turned out - Emmitt won and Mario lost. It was a great "battle". On sheer technical merit, Mario should have won. Emmitt deserved to win for charm, having improved the most over the season and for having a bigger fan base. Emmitt did win, and we can't change that.
Hopefully, we will see more of this program in the future. As a studio owner, I am thrilled to see this type of programming on prime time TV. I hope they keep the "sex in the city" atmosphere out of it because it is something that the entire family can enjoy and I don't want to see that ruined. If you agree with me, let me know and we might start some sort of campaign to let ABC and the show's producers know how we feel.
That's it for now.
Happy Dancing
and remember
www.the-dance-place.com
is also