Hard to believe 10 weeks have gone by since the Dancing with the Stars season began. The finals brought mostly dazzling dance with a minimum of clunky performances.
Tonight the dancers did a cha-cha faceoff as well as a freestyle dance. Here’s my perception of the dancers from tonight:
- Cristian & Cheryl: (Cha-cha) I particularly liked the end of this routine, but otherwise it was sort of blah. I feel like Cheryl let him down on the choreography. (Freestyle) I liked this routine a lot, better than Jason’s. It’s really too bad his arm kept him from doing the dazzling lifts the judges felt were necessary. I loved that Cheryl had him dancing in and out of hold and doing some good looking lifts with just one arm.
- Jason & Edyta: (Cha-cha) Latin is not Jason’s thing. This was his best effort with the cha-cha, in particular his performance of it. He sold me on his enjoyment of the dance. Unfortunately, his technical aspects, especially the floppy arms, didn’t work well. (Freestyle). Not my favorite… There was way too much hip-hop-esque content. I did love the lifts though, which really showed off his physical strength.
- Kristi & Mark: (Cha-cha) Simply stunning. It was fast, precise, fun and completely deserving of the perfect score that it got. Best of all, she really let her personality shine through and that is what made it so perfect. The picture above is from the cha-cha… love the look on Kristi’s face as she flips Mark. (Freestyle) Another example of perfection. I was disappointed that Mark didn’t have her dance at all in hold, but it was so wonderful overall I can’t fault too much for that.
There’s one more dance tomorrow night that the judges will get to score and the viewers won’t. The dancers get to re-do one of their past performances. Not seeing what’s to come, I stand by my original prediction. I think Kristi will find herself with a mirror ball to add to her Olympic medals.
Final Results Update: Congrats to Kristi! She deserved to win for her outstanding performances during the finals, but also for her consistent high scoring dances all season long. It’s really nice to see a woman take home the trophy again (first time since Kelly’s win in season 1). Congrats also to Brandon & Brittany for winning the junior competition, also very deserving (and you know Brandon was freaking out as the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders presented the trophy).
Overall the results show was good. It was nice to see everyone dance again. The Usher performances were incredibly good.
It all starts over again in late September. I can’t wait!
