My life lately and my opinions of the DWTS premier

Hey, we're more than halfway through Spring Break! It feels like this week is dragging on forever, for one reason or another.

Tuesday we went to a meeting of the Senate which turned out to be less than thrilling. It only lasted about twelve minutes - most of the Senators never even sat down. They simply wandered around on the floor and chatted with each other. Then they all vigorously approved the motion to adjourn, and that was that. lol.

Yesterday I spent five hours or so working on a little dance bit for Easter morning. This young lady at church has choreographed some ballet work with streamers - not a lot, but a fun little chunk that she and I will do together. If I can manage to keep my ribbon from getting all knotted up, I'll be good. So much choreography to remember! I'm not exactly happy about having do this for all three services, but hey, it won't be bad.

The hard part is costumes. After we finished dancing Melissa and I went shopping to see what we could come up with. Melissa has a liturgical crepe skirt but I don't. We managed to find one for me without too much difficulty. It matches hers almost perfectly. The leo - not so easy. We found out that not one of the not so scarce dance boutiques in town carries two matching white leos in adult sizes. How is that possible? Well, there are a few restrictions - it can't be a spaghetti strap or strapless or otherwise revealing design. Halter, maybe, depending on the cut. Mock turtle, tank, long sleeve, short sleeve, nada. Black, enough to outfit and entire company. Maybe we can find something in a pale Eastery color? Not too many choices there either. Too bad we have like three days. If we had a money tree we could rush ship something, but that would be a risk as well. Hard to judge how see through a leo will be. Grrrr.

Poor Melissa's car doesn't do too well at stop lights - think Princess Mia of the Princess Diaries - and after going all over town all afternoon, we were quite discouraged. Ah well, it will come together.

--------------

Since the girls and guys danced on separate nights, I can give you my rankings only withing these categories. When I see them all dance together, I'll mix the two lists. Sorry about the picture quality - I can only post what they give me. I'll start with the ladies, who as a group impressed me more than the guys. In order of favorites:

Marlee and Fabian

The top three ladies were all just wonderful, so it was hard to pick an absolute favorite, but I guess it would have to be Marlee. She looked so beautiful out there - not nearly as nervous as Priscilla, for one thing. She never strayed from the beat, and for a person who can hear nothing whatsoever, this is something indeed. I think I'm mostly just fascinated watching her speak through her interpretor. I happen to think that sign language is beautiful to watch, and for some reason it is amazing to me that her interpretor can translate as fast as everybody else talks. This seems silly when you think about it. I liked her partner, the only new pro this season. For him to undertake teaching ballroom dancing to somebody who can't even hear him is laudable to say the least. They were actually fantastic together. It has got to be frustrating having to speak everything through an interpretor. Are there signs for specific dance steps? Using ballet terms, as I don't do ballroom, how do you say pas de chat or coupe or sissonne in sign language?

Kristi and Mark

Very impressive, very polished. Way too good for the first week, which doesn't necessarily bode well. Number one, people like underdogs, and number two, you have nowhere to go but down - or sideways, I guess. Technically, Sabrina Bryan was the best technical dancer last Season, and she didn't even make it to the finals. Anyway, I don't care that Kristi has a lot of advantage over the other competitors. I like the costumes and the dancing and the better they dance the better I like it. You can't possibly tell me that figure skaters don't receive intensive and sustained ballet and strength training. Some dancing ability is required, and ABC knows this. I just choose to enjoy them for what they are. And it was lovely!



Priscilla and LouisAll I can say is whoah - Priscilla definitely came out of nowhere. You can always expect greatness from Louis, though, and he certainly delivered. Absolutely exquisite. Not to say they're perfect, but on the first week - shoot! I don't think I would do too well with Louis as a partner. He has such challenging choreography and demands so many risks. Props to Cilla and Louis, even if it is painful to look at that plastic face of hers. Such a shame.

Shannon and Derek

She's cute, and has potential, but I wasn't overly impressed. Her technique is okay, but I didn't come away from the number thinking "Wow! That girl's good!" It has to wow me. She was a little annoying in the rehearsal videos too.

Marissa and Tony

Besides my opinion that Tony is a little weird, this is a very fun couple. Marissa's enthusiasm and energy is unbelievable! It's impossible not to love her. The dancing though...hmmm. Not a bit of real cha cha in it - hard to tell if that's truly all she's capable of or if Tony just didn't give her enough to work with. Either way, she's not exactly America's next ballroom champion. I'd hate to see her go, though.

Monica and JonathanDefinitely the weakest of the ladies. She is rather challenged in the dance area, understandably, and it wasn't like she was terrible beyond belief with no possible with no potential improvement, but its unlikely she'll be here for very much longer. The story was beautiful, though. Jonathan is a great choreographer.


NOW FOR THE GUYS!

Cristian and Cheryl
I was absolutely thrilled with this dance. Cristian's hips and footwork were tremendous. His posture was his undoing - yeah, it needs work, but the judges threw him over a cliff for it. I got quite worked up about it, and still think he was totally robbed. Very promising. I mean, he has Cheryl - he can't lose! Mario's dancing was technically better, but I clicked more with these two.


Mario and Karina
Say, where have I heard those names before? This Mario looks to be just as good as the first. Karina is certainly the nicest she has ever been. This couple was great, and will probably go a long way. Loved the costumes.


Jason and Edyta
Edyta has grown on me each season. They sure seem to be fond of giving her bald guys! [link] [link] I really like Jason's personality, and if he can get over feeling effeminate he should do quite well. His lines are gorgeous! Love the costumes. Choreography - so so, but great potential.


Steve and Anna
Very very likable and charming. Definitely want him to stay. His dancing will surely improve - Anna's very talented, and he wasn't dreadful. I bet he'll do even better next week. If he didn't have such unimpressive choreography it would help a little.


Penn and Kym
In all fairness, there wasn't a lot of difference in how much I liked Steve and Penn, but Steve was a bit more graceful so he goes first. Penn was quite clunky and his dancing was not good, but what 50 year old has ever "waltzed" right into this show without a hitch? His dancing was more than a little reminiscent of Billy Ray Cyrus. :-) By the way, who would name their child Penn? Worse, he named his daughter Moxie CrimeFighter. Heaven help them. According to Wikipedia, unreliable as it is, he does not drink, gamble or do drugs, yet is a confessed "chronic liar." Mmmhmm, this is where you raise the eyebrows. He apparently also paints a single fingernail bright red, though I confess I didn't even notice it.



Adam and Julianne
Oh boy. What to do with these people? By the time their rehearsal videos finished and they got ready to start dancing I was ready to boot them off. This guy has got to be the most obnoxious and frustrating person alive. A lot of his comments seemed to remind me of Jerry Springer, whom I actually enjoyed. Oooh, he'd do a lot better imo if he never opened his mouth at all. His dancing was surprisingly not too awful. I watched it a second time on the internet and it wasn't horrendous or anything, but quite meritorious of a first week elimination. Keep your fingers crossed - but people will probably vote for them just because of Julianne. :-(