Dancing with the Stars - Week 9 Commentary

Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars is finally upon us. Each week Syracuse, NY FADS co-owner and award-winning ballroom dancer Natasha Oreshkina will be sharing her thoughts on the competition and giving us her take on which celebrities had the best week on the dance floor and which ones should be getting ready to pack their bags.


*
WEEK NINE

[Natasha]This week we had four couples performing three dances - a ballroom dance, a Latin dance and a "Winner Take All" 15-point Cha-cha dance. The celebrities all tried to do their best, but there were three dances to practice and there was too much nerves, so there were some mistakes.

1st Place - Chelsea Kane/Mark Ballas (W1:21 + W2:18 + W3:23 + W4:26 + W5:26 + W6:28 + W7:34/G30 + W8:29/26 + W9:28/30 + 15b = 334 total) [Overall position: 1st.]
Chelsea and Mark first danced the Argentine Tango. They showed good character in the dance, and it was good choreography. I agree with judges Carrie Ann and Len, though, that Chelsea wasn't so good with her leg movements on this dance. They scored a 9-9-10 with that dance. With their second dance, a Rumba, they definitely did a much better job. Their costumes were very beautiful and the dance was elegant and romantic. On this one they scored 10-10-10, for a combined total of 28 points.

2nd Place - Hines Ward/Kym Johnson (W1:21 + W2:23 + W3:25 + W4:25 + W5:27 + W6:27 + W7:36/G30 + W8:28/26 + W9:30/30 = 328 total) [Overall position: 2nd.]
Hines and Kym danced the Argentine Tango first, and it was full of passion and had some interesting moves in it. Their second dance, a Salsa, was a lot of fun. Hines nailed all his moves and was very successful. After their first dance, it looked like Kym was still hurting from the fall she took the previous week during practice (when she had to be taken to the hospital). They scored all 10s on both their dances, which gave them a combined total of 60 points.

3rd Place - Kirstie Alley/Maksim Chmerkovskiy (W1:23 + W2:20 + W3:21 + W4:21 + W5:23 + W6:26 + W7:30/G30 + W:28/25 + W9:27/27 = 301) [Overall position: 3rd.]
Kirstie and Maks danced a Viennese Waltz first. Kirstie showed good posture, movement and good footwork in the dance. She looked beautiful and did great, scoring 9-9-9 from the judges. On her second dance, a Paso Doble, she again showed good footwork, and the dance had good character to it. Great choreography, too. They scored 9-9-9 on that dance, for a combined total of 54 points.

4th Place - Ralph Macchio/Karina Smirnoff (W1:24 + W2:21 + W3:21 + W4:25 + W5:22 + W6:24 + W7:36/G30 + W8:25/21 + W9:25/23 = 297) [Overall position: 4th.]
Ralph and Karina first danced the Argentine Tango. It was sharp and the footwork was good, but Ralph didn't show good enough emotion for the Tango. They scored a 8-9-8 from the judges. As for the second dance, a Salsa, it was just not a good week for Ralph. There wasn't any rhythm to the dance, and I think Len was right, there were too many wild movements. On this one they only scored 8-7-8, for a combined total of 48 points.

*

Everyone's third dance was a Cha-Cha for a "Winner Take All" 15 bonus points. Hines and Ralph went up against each other first, with Hines winning. They were followed by Chelsea and Kirstie, with Chelsea winning that matchup. Finally, then, it was Chelsea versus Hines. Chelsea's cha-cha was very technically clean and fun to watch, and she was able to beat out Hines to get the 15 points from the judges.

So next week is the Finals show. It should be a very good competition between Hines and Chelsea, and I think Chelsea will win it, with Hines coming in 2nd and Kirstie coming in 3rd.

- -