DWTS All Stars - The Semifinal

[semillon27]

Interesting - you could maybe have predicted the finalists based on the popularity of the dance clips on Hulu. If you look through the list of "Popular" clips, the dances show up in the following order starting with most popular:

Shawn's Bhangra
Melissa's Hustle
Melissa's Argentine Tango
Shawn's Argentine Tango
Kelly's Flamenco
Kelly's Rumba
Apolo's Jazz
Apolo's Rumba
Emmitt's Lindy Hop
Emmitt's Tango

I'm so torn between whether to vote for Shawn or Melissa. I love Shawn and think that, even though she won her season, she is SO MUCH BETTER this time around. I'd actually vote her most improved over everyone. Melissa has been good to.... but if I vote for them it will be for Tony, really.

[Spareoom]

Interesting. I went to Hulu and sorted all the dances by all-time popularity. I dunno how accurate it is, but of the three finalists, here's how their dances ranked in terms of popularity. Note that the top dance isn't the most popular video overall; both team dances ranked above the highest individual dance.

Shawn - Foxtrot
Shawn - Rhumba
Shawn - Tango/Paso
Shawn - Jive
Shawn - Mambo
Finally:
Kelly - 7th dance (I forget which one this was; waltz?)
Melissa - Foxtrot (I think; sailor)
Melissa - Jive
Shawn - Cha cha
Shawn - Samba
Shawn - Quickstep
Kelly - Contemporary
Kelly - Cha cha
Melissa - quickstep?
Shawn - Waltz
Melissa - Paso doble
Kelly - Waltz
Shawn - Bhangra
Kelly - Paso
Melissa - third dance
Melissa - Hustle
Kelly - Trio
Kelly - Tango?
Kelly - Flamenco
Melissa - Argentine Tango
Shawn - Argentine Tango
Melissa - Seventh dance

...aaaand etctera. Remember, I don't how how accurate these rankings are (and note that there are a LOT of clips and other dances in between these ones) but yeah. As you can see, the rankings are pretty top loaded.

[MR-FAN]

This article has a link to an interview with Kristi Yamaguchi, with comments on her favorites in the DWTS final 5 contestants, and they ask her point blank whether she was asked to join the All Stars season

Like fine wine baby

[cruisin]

Cannot believe that Kelley is in the finals! If she wins I will vomit!

[Scrufflet]

Ditto to that!

[Debrah]

Actually my vote for the most improved dancer in the history of the show would be Kelly; esp when you compare this all star season to her 1st foray much shorter turn on DWTS. It is night and day. She was so stiff and akward in the beginning, she has grown so much it is really hard to believe it is the same person dancing. So I think she totally deserves to be in the finals! Kelly more so than any of the others has to work so much harder just to keep up, because dancing is just not natural for her at all! OTH, choreo would be 2nd nature for Shawn; she also has natural athletic skills too, so it is just about re-packaging and refining what's already in her wheelhouse, training is also 2nd nature for her, and then add in youthful enthusiasm and the 2 most popular young male dancers Derek and MarK to partner her. she will likely win the mirror ball in a landslide! Melissa also has very good natural dancing skills to build on (probably has the best technique of the all stars) and the very likeable, expert Tony D teaching her, Tony has never had the chance to get this far in the comp having been saddled with dancing fodder type partners on his previous seasons and so you can tell he is hoping America votes for the best dancer, not the favorite or most popular one, so they may pick up the sympathy and the more knowlegeable ballroom votes. Kelly is very much the underdog here despite her soap fanbase. I really admire her efforts to improve her dancing skills, her work ethic, and her desire to prove to everyone who supported her that she does deserve to be an all star. She has taken the most heat all season from the judges, there was a judging love fest going on for most of the others who didn not really deserve it IMO. So I say Go Kelly Go! Kelly is what this competition is all about - learning how to do the best with what you naturally have and then relying on hard work and a great dance teacher to help you to bring it all out on the dance floor.

[nursebetty]

No way...........they invited Bristol, but not Kristi. Wonder who else didn't get invited. Have to admit I didn't even think about the fan base for Kelly. Melissa should be proud of herself making it this far without the fan base of Shawn, Emmitt and Kelly. We need to remember it's just a mirror ball, in case there is a lesser winner. Can't wait to see Shawn's free dance, hope Kelly does a good job, but fingers crossed for Melissa.

[Spiralgraph]

When they originally announced this all star season, I remember Tom Bergeron saying that in addition to former champions and fan favorites, TPTB also wanted past controversial stars. So I assume Bristol fit that category well (and I'd rather see Bristol than Kate Gosselin or Master P) The aim was to get a variety of celebrities back they hoped would get people to watch. So more worthy and better dancers like Kristi weren't asked to return..

Anyway, I'm hoping Melissa and Tony win. And I might just vote for the first time this season next week for them.

[Nan]

I think Kelly over Apolo is very wrong, but I wonder how much of the voting had nothing to do with the celebrities and everything to do with voting for Val over Karina.

[danceronice]

Given Val probably now has the record for closest-to-naked for a male pro (Edyta is probably the all-time record holder) I suspect Nan is in part on to something.

Debrah--really? Less natural than for Emmitt? Apolo? Maybe than Sabrina or Melissa, but no one else on the show this season comes from a dance background-even Shawn's a gymnast, not a dancer. Kelly isn't doing anything a halfway-competent bronze dancer couldn't do to the same skill level or better, and she looks like she's sucking on a lemon while she does it. The trick is to ignore Val (he's supposed to be beside the point-we know he can dance) and watch HER, and she's just not particularly good and has very poor presentation skills (especially for an actor, even off a soap opera.) She's no better than Emmitt and at least when he looks awkward, he laughs about it instead of pouting. Jennifer Grey whined her way to a mirror ball, we don't need Kelly doing it again...

[Cherub721]

Apolo I soooo wanted him to win again. He was the best dancer this season, IMO. Maybe it's for the best that he's not in the finals just so he can do a beautiful dance and have the judges crap on it. All season long, he's been dinged for every microscopic flaw and damned with faint praise at best while others have skated by. I can't express how unpleasant the judges and producers made it to watch his beautiful pairing with Karina. And every time he said they were going to work harder that week to improve - and they almost always lived up to the hype for me - that was almost like he was giving credibility to their assertions that he wasn't that good. I feel like his modesty, maturity, and hard work ethic worked against him, and it stressed Karina out. Karina never gets to coast like the other pros. They only let her win with JR Martinez because he was a war veteran (if they knew he would turn out to be a good dancer, he probably would've had another partner), and even then they would give freaking Rob Khardashian higher scores.

If Apolo and Karina had been given their due credit from the beginning, I feel like the whole season would've been different. They'd have played off that energy and relaxed more (the dancing was never the issue).

Been waiting 6 years to see Emmit eliminated from DWTS... finally!

As disappointed as I am, an all-girl final is pretty cool. I'm really happy for Kelly. I honestly thought she would have been voted out first this season! Get it girl! While not as good a dancer as Apolo, she too has been undervalued all season. Her freestyle with Alec is one of my all time favorites, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do, which hopefully won't involve rolling around in a bed. Really disappointed they didn't do Argentine Tango this season though! I would love a paso, flamenco, tango inspired freestyle... surprise the judges by really dancing which is what she did in S1. Or she could do swing... I really liked her and Val in the marathon.

I did not think Melissa was going to have the votes to stay. I would love to see her win because she really is the best dancer, and yeah, a small part of it is because I want Tony to finally win, but I don't believe in the theory that "everyone should have a turn." Tony is another one the producers hate, always saddled with bad partners ever except for his first season, and only getting a good dancer like Melissa as a fluke... what an FU it would be for him to win.

I want Shawn to do something amazing like her mambo, and not drag out a balance beam (cause I know she was joking, but I wouldn't put it past Derek ).

Derek's contemporary dance with Allison, Melanie, and Kathryn from SYTYCD was gorgeous.

So next week it's a favorite dance, supersized freestyle, and then an instant dance where the music and style will be revealed that night. That'll be interesting. I guess the idea is that they should be dancing, not just doing choreography... I hope they are fair and only give them dances they already performed this season!

I feel like the freestyle thing is just an excuse to let Derek and Mark dance together one more time. But luckily Shawn is awesome and doesn't get overshadowed by them. Hoping Val doesn't invite Maks and Peta to dance with them, barf. No clue what Tony will do.

[LadyNit]

I'm disappointed not to see what Apolo could do in the final free styles. When he talks about the challenge and "baring his soul" and going to places he's never been, I believe him. He is so committed, so smart, and so able.

Apolo's final few dances showed sophistication and skill. His range is amazing. He handled so many styles and themes with aplomb. For me, he is the best dancer of this and many other seasons.

[Cherub721]

Jennifer Grey whined her way to a mirror ball, we don't need Kelly doing it again...

I get how people think Kelly didn't show enough excitement and wasn't smiley and happy, but whining? When Brooke specifically asked her how hard it was to do the show while working full time, she said her situation wasn't special because everyone had their own obligations, families, etc. According to TWOP she had a broken toe, flu, and rib injury that were barely mentioned or not mentioned at all. She didn't say anything negative about her scores all season. She's been humble and said she wasn't the best dancer and is trying to improve and take what she can from the show, both technically and emotionally.

[danceronice]

Really? Oh, boo hoo hoo, showing emotion is so hardz? That's not whining? She still doesn't do it, but really, she's an actress, allegedly. And a pouty face (which she always has, even while dancing) is worth a thousand words. She always looks sulky, and clomps through her dances (my GOD, woman, freakin' finish a line, it's not that difficult.) And the whole groping each other thing is just creepy. (That's not just her, that's Val, too.)

I don't think Apolo's the best, though he's definitely in the running, and he was definitely missing something with Karina that he had with Julianne, but he deserved, based on dance skill and work ethic, to make the final. If it had to be one of the final two, Emmitt at least gives the appearance of having fun while not being any technically worse than Kelly.

Personally, I'd give it to Melissa, both because Tony's due (and really, a skating board is gonna complain about that as a criteria?) and because she's the closest to a total package (Shawn's one pure dance Monday had more issues than Melissa's--I'd like to see one where Derek has her just dance it straight. He's more than capable of turning out an amazing routine playing strictly by the rulebook.) And she seems to be really loving it.

And on a side note, I would LOVE it if some of these couples came to a real comp and tried it. They might have to create a special event and NDCA might still nix it (the celebs on paid to be on DWTS which technically eliminates them from ever being eligible to compete NDCA pro-am events), but it would be fun. Though the show pros would have to be careful as every other pro on the floor would be gunning for them (of course that happened to Corky anyway when he started in pro-am, as he came in expecting it to be a cakewalk...it, uh, wasn't.)

[skatesindreams]

I'm disappointed not to see what Apolo could do in the final free styles. When he talks about the challenge and "baring his soul" and going to places he's never been, I believe him. He is so committed, so smart, and so able.

Apolo's final few dances showed sophistication and skill. His range is amazing. He handled so many styles and themes with aplomb. For me, he is the best dancer of this and many other seasons.

Great post, Lady Nit!
What derailed Apolo, IMO, was that his first few performances were a bit "flat" for some reason I can't quite explain.
He was in the middle of the pack; and by the time he found his "mojo" and confidence - as he did in these last weeks - it was too late to regain the votes/scores he lost earlier in the season.

I said this during Apolo's original appearance on DWTS; but, it bears repeating:

What I love most about DWTS is seeing someone discover a skill/talent they didn't know they had; and through hard work, seeing them develop into a great performer who enjoys sharing that with an audience.

For me, this was particularly true of Apolo, Gilles, and Evan.

[Cherub721]

Really? Oh, boo hoo hoo, showing emotion is so hardz? That's not whining? She still doesn't do it, but really, she's an actress, allegedly.

I don't see opening up about having a difficulty with emotional vulnerability as whining (Shawn made similar comments before her rhumba), but YMMV, and clearly does.

What I love most about DWTS is seeing someone discover a skill/talent they didn't know they had; and through hard work, seeing them develop into a great performer who enjoys sharing that with an audience.

For me, this was particularly true of Apolo, Gilles, and Evan.

ITA. I have no problem with ringers, in fact I quite enjoy them, but it's definitely special to see someone without prior experience turn out to be a great dancer like Apolo, Helio, Brooke, and Gilles (I count figure skaters and gymnasts as ringerish).

[danceronice]

I don't see opening up about having a difficulty with emotional vulnerability as whining (Shawn made similar comments before her rhumba), but YMMV, and clearly does.

Shawn I can see having problems with portraying emotion, but Kelly is paid to fake it every single day. Dance is absolutely the same thing as acting--it's just pretending, not actually feeling (for all Carrie Anne blubbers about it.) It's no more real than soap operas. I cannot believe an actress would have problems presenting emotion--athlete, sure, that's not their job, but this is what she does every day, allegedly.

Possibly that's the real advantage to athletes over actors--while acting IS a physical profession (the read doesn't sell it if your body language isn't working) actors get to hide when they screw up (at least in film and TV), rather than getting one shot at it and no retakes. Athletes don't get their "emotionally vulnerability" (whatever that means anyway) indulged so they know how to suck it up.

[kwanfan1818]

I'm with those who thought Apollo wuzrobbed (by not being recognized for how good he was).

[BaileyCatts]

Finally got around to watching and my comments have pretty much been covered expect for this one ....

what the hell happened to DanceCenter??!!

Why didn't they do DanceCenter? Will it be on Monday's show or maybe something on the finale on Tuesday?

[Cherub721]

Spoilers for the dances the girls have selected as their repeat dances (from TWOP):

Spoiler

According to the Offical DWTS Instagram account, for the repeat dances they are all doing their week 3 Iconic dance. So that means Melissa is the Samba, Kelly the Paso Doble and Shawn the Quickstep. Along with the freestyle of course.

Loving the choices for Kelly and Melissa. As for Shawn,

Spoiler

it's a bold choice considering the judges dinged it for lack of quickstep content the first time. Will Derek switch it up, or will the judges somehow "find" enough content to give them all 10s?

Shawn freestyle spoiler:

Spoiler

The Fierce 5 are supposed to make a cameo appearance!!! Can't wait.