Dancing With The Stars, Season 11 Commentary

Week One
By Natasha Oreshkina, award winning ballroom dancer

Opening night for the new season was a great kick off with 12 celebrities, ranging from actors and actresses, athletes, singers, and reality TV stars, performing, and this season looks like it will be much stronger than the last season!

After the show, I quickly divided up all the couples into three different categories based on their performances.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
I placed three couples in the "Needs Improvement" category: Margaret Cho, "The Situation," and David Hasselhoff.
Margaret Cho (along with partner Louis van Amstel) danced the Viennese Waltz to a very strong piece of music but she made it into a comedy and this wasn't good for the V. Waltz. Her dance wasn't smooth or elegant and I wouldn't be surprised if she was eliminated early.
"The Situation" (with partner Karina Smirnoff) did not have enough time to practice his dance. Although Karina, because she is such a strong professional dancer, can make anyone look good, "The Situation" needs to concentrate on his posture and focus on being a strong leader.
David Hasselhoff (with partner Kym Johnson) danced the Cha-Cha. He is a great actor but he needs to work more on his posture and concentrate on timing. Dancing is not just entertainment; there has to be some technique there as well.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Six couples fall under the "Has Potential" category: Michael Bolton, Florence Henderson, Kurt Warner, Bristol Palin, Audrina Patridge, and Brandy. All of these dancers did a great job for the first week!
Michael Bolton (with Chelsie Hightower) has musicality but I was expecting more from him. We use a lot of his songs to dance to! His dance wasn't smooth and he did not have good posture. He also wasn't leading his partner.
Florence Henderson (with Corky Ballas) was very focused and is definitely a hard worker. It will be interesting to see what Corky, who is a very strong choreographer, will do with her since she is so willing to work hard.
Kurt Warner (with Anna Trebunskya) danced the Viennese Waltz. I didn't like his performance. He was too stiff. I didn't see any flow or elegance to his movement.
Bristol Palin (with Mark Ballas) had good hip movement in her Cha-Cha. She looked nice on the floor and not particularly stiff. She has a very strong professional partner so it'll be interesting to see how she progresses.
Audrina Patridge (with Tony Dovolani) was the first to dance last night. She performed well under a lot of pressure. I was happy to see that Tony has a much better partner than last season.
Brandy (with Maks Chmerkovskiy) danced the Viennesse Waltz. She seemed to be very focused. She looked fine and her lines were good but she wasn't as good as other couples performing the same dance.

STRONGEST
I put three couples in the "Strongest" category: Kyle Massey, Eric Fox, and Jennifer Grey.
Kyle Massey (with Lacey Schwimmer) is the youngest celebrity on the show this season. He had the best Cha-Cha. It was a fun performance and he had good musicality. I was also happy to see that he had good technique. It'll be interesting to see how he does in ballroom. I suspect that his Latin dances will be stronger for him.
Eric Fox (with Cheryl Burke) had great posture! He holds his himself very nicely and his lines and movement were very smooth. I thought it would be hard for him because of the difference in Eric's and Cheryl's height) but his dancing was elegant and nice. There was a huge difference between Kurt and Eric - the two athletes on the show! Eric and Cheryl are one of the strongest couples in the competition.
Jennifer Grey (with Derek Hough) performed an emotional dance to music from the famous movie, Dirty Dancing. Her dance was very lyrical. Jennifer and Derek are another strong couple in this competition. I predict that she'll do well in Latin also.