Re: Dancin' W/the semi-stars - rigged

Is it ever really fair to have a female amateur and a male amateur compete
against each other in a Pro-Am competiton? Most competitons judge men and
ladies seperately, for the very reasons that you saw on this show.

Normally, in a Pro-Am competition, a male amateur would have to contend with
other dancers on the floor at the same time, mostly other pro men. In John's
case, he was dancing a routine choreographed by his partner, and did not
have the need to ever use floorcraft or dance avoidance skills, so much of
the difficulty of being a male was alleviated. Second, of course, was John
was dancing with one of the top females in the world, both as a dancer and a
coach, and she was the only female who had achieved a high degree of success
in both Latin and Ballroom. When John switched from practice shoes to
patents, although patents are a little harder to dance in (they are not as
flexible as practice shoes), there is no difference in the heel height. And,
of course, John and Charlotte always got music appropriate for the dance.
Music, as any of you dancers know, is the fundamentally most important
element to expressive dancing. The three Latin dances that they did were
Cha-Cha, Samba, and Paso Doble. John was spared the much more difficult
Rhumba and Jive.

A female, on the other hand, has a much tougher job. First, because Kelly
and Alec primarily performed Latin and American Smooth, the lady's legs,
ankles, and feet were always on display. What amazed me about Kelly was how,
in one week's time, she attempted a REAL jive, which as any of you Latin
dancers know, is extremely difficult to get down, to say nothing of the fact
that she was attempting it in HIGH HEELS, no less. I have known many very
good female Latin dancers who said that they felt "wobbly" in high heels for
months until they learned to compensate for them. Watching Kelly's ankles,
her swivels, her spins, etc. showed a lady who had really made remarkable
progress, and was still progressing. The difficulty of the material she was
given dwarved just about anything that I had ever seen in a Pro-Am
competition. Just remembering ten routines of such difficulty as a lady is a
testimony to her dedication and determination.

The judges were amazed at how far she had come, and were blown away by her
execution of extremely difficult material. The "10's" did not seem to imply
that they thought that the routines were perfect, but was the fairest score
that they could give on a comparative basis to the judges previous scores.
Considering the speed, difficulty, and relatively decent execution of the
material, I wouldn't quibble with that.

On other boards I have seen enough Kelly bashing to last a lifetime, and
undeserved praise for John the actor. When my wife and I slowed John's Fox
Trot down we were appalled to see his (1). Frame - his left side was away
from his partner, always, like he was dancing a Tango Corte line (even then,
danced correctly, the left side is always toward the partner); his shoulders
and spine were back which made him barrel-chested and belly-forward (2).
Body Position - he was never "front-to-front" with Charlotte. He looked like
he was dancing with someone else half of the time, again because his left
side was away. This was very evident when in outside partner steps the
entire right side of his tailcoat was visible. This cause the CBMP to be
created with the leg instead of the body, and he nearly fell over he was so
across his own body (thankfully, Charlotte was so grounded that John could
not disturb her no matter what he did). (3). Head - he turned his head to
look at Charlotte all the way through the feather, compensating I guess for
his awful body shape; during many figures he looked at her with a cocked
head. During the pivots and spins he TURNED his head to the left instead of
shaping to the partner so that his head would naturally be left. That was
rather ugly looking, as if his head was detached from his body. (4). Rise -
the Fox Trot that they danced was rather fast by today's standards, so he
should have used the old-line rise as specified in the technique book; i.e.
EARLY Rise as the free leg passes underneath and then a lilting forward
projection. He actually showed PENDULUM swing in his feather, totally
inappropriate for Fox Trot, and most of his rise was on step 2 in ALL of his
Fox Trot, not step 1.

However, he sometimes did look great with Charlotte, to say nothing of his
obvious dedication. I loved his Quickstep. It was far and away his best
dance, and some of what he did was very commendable. However, because of the
nature and relatively simplicity of the dance, his mistakes carried more
weight. The free-style dance was fun and clever, and he showed a playful
side that was a nice contrast to some of the hamminess that so many of his
other performances had.

In the end, I didn't really care who won. I felt there was an unfair
advantage that John had by (1). dancing with Charlotte and (2). being GIVEN
music that was real ballroom music. Yes, I said "given". Alec said that in
the Paso Doble they were given NO CHOICE, that he was TOLD "this is the
music you will dance to". (A SAMBA! A MAMBO! A CHA-CHA! - take your pick,
depending on WHEN in the music you decided to dance! Oh, but no SEMBLANCE of
Paso anywhere in the music!) Based on this I thought that by default he
would win. Kelly was at a disadvantage becuase her pro obviously had no pro
competitive experience with Smooth, Ballroom, or Theatre Arts, she had NO
CHOICE as to the costumes she wore (they were given to her by ABC), she had
NO CHOICE in the choreography (she knew nothing about Ballroom or Latin
figures) and what she had to learn in such a short period of time was
astonishing, and ridiculous.

I was pleasantly surprised that on some of the forums respected competitors
echoed many of the things that I too observed, and actually LIKED Kelly's
dancing. Some say it was her sex appeal, but, although I am as virile as any
man, I didn't even think of her in that way, I just admired how she had
learned to dance.

JMHO


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