DWTS S26: All-Athletes Edition! (i.e. the DWTS thread for NOT yammering about what happened 24 years ago)

I think the thing is that Adam is great at sounding/looking sarcastic or otherwise not serious when he says snarky things. Mirai isn't nearly as good at that. So even if both say the same thing with the same intention, it will come off worse for Mirai to say because of her tone of voice and body language.

I want to add that Mirai's one of the few people I think should play the ice princess or at least back off the snark attempts. Because of the tone of voice and body language she adopts, I think that role is the one that will garner her the least criticism. Maybe she can add flair to it - sharing her interests, friendships, etc. - but anything else looks bad. Especially with the comments at and after the Olympics that sounded bad, DWTS and her agent should focus more on optics and marketing her. Because she's a smart and nice person, but she hasn't been coming off that way all the time lately.

Sasha'sSpins said:
I had to watch again but you're right - they called a Rumba but Tonya DID NOT dance a Rumba. Not her fault though - it's her partner's or the shows. She doesn't choreograph these numbers, she just danced what she was taught like the others. I'm mad as heck but not directly at her. I'm mad for Mirai. I'm angry that they lowballed her just to keep her out of the Final.
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One of the reasons I never watch DWTS is that it's all about narrative. It doesn't matter if the dance is the correct style or how well the person danced, it matters who the producers want to do well.
The producers are dumb to chose styles like Rumba for these dancers if they want the real style. Some styles like swing and waltzes have easy versions for new dancers that look nice, but a lot of latin ballroom dances look bad on anyone who hasn't been doing it for a while. Therefore, it seems like the pro will choreograph something easy that will look good, forcing them to leave out any style from the dance they're actually supposed to be doing.

Firedancer said:
Just saw this on DWTS Instagram:
https://instagram.com/p/Bizki3HHRzo/

DWTS Juniors this Fall. Most likely not watching. It was really not good on So You Think You Can Dance.
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No. No. No. These always end up bad. Not that I watch DWTS at all, but kids editions of anything are usually cringeworthy.
I think why SYTYCD's was particularly cringe-worthy (and I watched every other season) was because they tried to turn it into a Dance Moms like competition with a literal Dance Moms cast member on the judging panel, playing obvious favorites with the dancers (even if the dancer wasn't strong compared to other passed-up dancers), and putting way more focus on the parents than there was any right to be.
 
Willin said:
think the thing is that Adam is great at sounding/looking sarcastic or otherwise not serious when he says snarky things. Mirai isn't nearly as good at that. So even if both say the same thing with the same intention, it will come off worse for Mirai to say because of her tone of voice and body language.

I want to add that Mirai's one of the few people I think should play the ice princess or at least back off the snark attempts. Because of the tone of voice and body language she adopts, I think that role is the one that will garner her the least criticism. Maybe she can add flair to it - sharing her interests, friendships, etc. - but anything else looks bad. Especially with the comments at and after the Olympics that sounded bad, DWTS and her agent should focus more on optics and marketing her. Because she's a smart and nice person, but she hasn't been coming off that way all the time lately.
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Body language? :scream:

Ok, consider me #Team Mirai don't become a boring ice princess; #don't keep your mouth shut; #you do you; # it's not worth it. I really doubt she's missing out on all of these good Nike sponsorships or something by being herself. :rolleyes:
 
Somebody mentioned like 10 pages ago that this thread was jumping around? It keeps happening to me too. I'll click on the next page and it is down 3-4 posts. And when I scroll, it jumps to the bottom. Only in this thread. There were 6 pages of comments overnight and I couldn't read them because I kept seeing the same thing halfway down the page as at the top. Weird.
 
@GullyGirl84 I'm not saying she's not allowed to be herself, I'm saying that she needs to understand the optics of how what she says looks. Her Reddit AmA was all her, but her responses to the questions that were snarky came off as snarky so it worked. On DWTS and TV appearances, her snark isn't coming off that way.

And yes, she may be missing out on sponsorships with some of the things she said. Unless you're an NBA/NFL star or someone like Simone Biles you're not famous enough to get sponsorships by virtue of your talent - you need good optics as well. Her quotes at the Olympics about the ladies competition got a good amount of bad press and may have made her less marketable to brands looking for an ambassador. A few other quotes since then make it seem like that might not be a one-time thing.
 
Willin said:
@GullyGirl84 I'm not saying she's not allowed to be herself, I'm saying that she needs to understand the optics of how what she says looks. Her Reddit AmA was all her, but her responses to the questions that were snarky came off as snarky so it worked. On DWTS and TV appearances, her snark isn't coming off that way.

And yes, she may be missing out on sponsorships with some of the things she said. Unless you're an NBA/NFL star or someone like Simone Biles you're not famous enough to get sponsorships by virtue of your talent - you need good optics as well. Her quotes at the Olympics about the ladies competition got a good amount of bad press and may have made her less marketable to brands looking for an ambassador. A few other quotes since then make it seem like that might not be a one-time thing.
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Well, Mirai already has an agent, so I'm sure they are giving her the feedback that they think is necessary.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with getting more media training, but Mirai should only do it if she feels like she is being misunderstood.

I will readily admit that Mirai seems a bit less media trained and polished compared to a few of her US lady competitors (who honestly have also gotten more opportunities/had more experience), but let me just say that I also think they likely would have gotten a problematic edit on DWTS, and leave it at that.
 
Willin said:
@GullyGirl84 I'm not saying she's not allowed to be herself, I'm saying that she needs to understand the optics of how what she says looks. Her Reddit AmA was all her, but her responses to the questions that were snarky came off as snarky so it worked. On DWTS and TV appearances, her snark isn't coming off that way.

And yes, she may be missing out on sponsorships with some of the things she said. Unless you're an NBA/NFL star or someone like Simone Biles you're not famous enough to get sponsorships by virtue of your talent - you need good optics as well. Her quotes at the Olympics about the ladies competition got a good amount of bad press and may have made her less marketable to brands looking for an ambassador. A few other quotes since then make it seem like that might not be a one-time thing.
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The window for sponsors has closed. Sponsors come around the Olympics and only a few stick around after that. You need to be a consistent winner for endorsements. Nathan got his because of his record. So did Ashley.

What lost her a chance at sponsorships ultimately was losing at the individual round. Keep in mind, Adam didn't get any either.
 
essence_of_soy said:
What I am really enjoying about seeing Tonya Harding on the show is, she isn't treating this like a competition, but a personal journey.
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You're right, it's compelling that it is both talent and a personal journey for her. Her dancing is also quite better than many would have expected. I believe she tied for 4th place last night, which is about right. So it was really America's call. Adam and Mirai probably had FS fans splitting their votes. So did the two shirtless pieces of eye-candy. Nobody was robbed.
 
Inessence said:
You're right, it's compelling that it is both talent and a personal journey for her. Her dancing is also quite better than many would have expected. I believe she tied for 4th place last night, which is about right. So it was really America's call. Adam and Mirai probably had FS fans splitting their votes. So did the two shirtless pieces of eye-candy. Nobody was robbed.
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We'll have to disagree.
 
Firedancer said:
Just saw this on DWTS Instagram:
https://instagram.com/p/Bizki3HHRzo/

DWTS Juniors this Fall.
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UGH :wall:

I find it so :huh: that people are upset about Mirai's snark. That was what made her soooooo refreshing in the 2010 Olys and leadup. I'm not watching all the clips, so I'm sure if it's constant it gets old, but I've found her very enjoyable.

I only watched one of Tonya's clips. I find her dancing ok, and even her clips fine, but the DWTS revisionist history is just too much.
 
It looks like Tonya has lost weight. It looks like she is more confident in her steps and movements. She is looking a bit athletic again. She is starting to look a little bit like a ballroom dancer, or a beginner who has taken lessons.

That being said: It appears her dancing is very self-conscious. It appears when not dancing, she is extremely self-conscious. In the interviews after the dancing, she has shown maybe 5 seconds where her guard was down. She acts as if she is being vivisected and psychiatrically analyzed.

As a result, what she lacks with Sasha, the thing Adam and Jenna have, is partnering and a relationship between the two dancers. Tonya does not really relate to Sasha, and when they do, they break the character of the dance. You can see Tonya giggling or crying or acting when trying to perform anything sentimental with Sasha. But their acrobatic elements together are really good. A good dance for them would be fun, acrobatic and not sentimental so they can have fun together and show the dancers relating to each other. That being said, Sasha doesn't seem to be an expert in showing he relates to the partner in a genuine way either.

But - I think they have done a very good job with her, the show. It doesn't matter if anyone feels she should not have been invited. She was and is there. They should do a great and professional job with her - they are ABC.

Remember, Kristi Yamaguchi is more famous for winning DWTS than winning the Olympics - she even has it on her resume. ABC is giving Tonya a chance at redemption. Interesting it is the network of ABC, who also had Peggy F, who was not a great fan of Tonya's style.
 
Inessence said:
You're right, it's compelling that it is both talent and a personal journey for her. Her dancing is also quite better than many would have expected. I believe she tied for 4th place last night, which is about right. So it was really America's call. Adam and Mirai probably had FS fans splitting their votes. So did the two shirtless pieces of eye-candy. Nobody was robbed.
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And that was a manipulation deliberately staged by the producers.
 
So the point of the contemporary is to do as little dancing as possible? Seriously, Adam and Norman's dance mostly posing and a bit of lifting. Bored by both.

The thing with Mirai is that they put her against Adam who is pretty much a ringer for the win. I think if Mirai danced off against anyone else she would have passed through.
 
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Rewatched Adam/Jenna. I used to train ballet + contemp semi-seriously for yeeeeaaaars and I'm pretty sure I never once exhibited the kind of body line and snap Adam did, and he did it after just few weeks under Jenna's teaching. I don't recall Adam ever having that kind of snap in his skating programs either, which isn't surprising, considering how that's not really something that's required from singles skaters. (And even when it comes to ice dancers, there's not a lot of skaters who really snap who aren't called Guillaume or Tessa.)

I totally understand some people not liking the style or the choreo but it's beyond me how someone doesn't see there's some serious dancing there, not just "posing". It's not my fave piece of dance choreo of all time or anything, but IMO it's pretty impressive what they were able to put out there, esp. considering the limited training time.
 
nimi said:
I totally understand some people not liking the style or the choreo but it's beyond me how someone doesn't see there's some serious dancing there, not just "posing". It's not my fave piece of dance choreo of all time or anything, but IMO it's pretty impressive what they were able to put out there, esp. considering the limited training time.
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I totally agree. The general public who watches DTWS, but not figure skating, will have a different collective view of the dancing than figure skating enthusiasts or forum enthusiasts, who see the dancing with the biased views of figure skating fans who spend hours and hours a day reading and writing tomes while medicated for various ailments that allow them time to work so hard on their responses and fandom.
 
SkateFanBerlin said:
The thing with Mirai is that they put her against Adam who is pretty much a ringer for the win. I think if Mirai danced off against anyone else she would have passed through.
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Someone had to dance against Adam. Who should it have been? What would have been more fair--to have matched Adam with, say, Jenny?
 
Prancer said:
Someone had to dance against Adam. Who should it have been? What would have been more fair--to have matched Adam with, say, Jenny?
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I'm assuming everyone here really thinks he should have been matched up against Tonya, so she would have been eliminated.
 
Honestly, the only way for the dance battles to be fair was to do the matches like they were. The judges in the ballroom battle of Mirai and Adam were tied, Mirai was always going to lose the online vote if it was the tiebreaker between her and Adam.

I do think that they should have skipped the contemporaries for the third episode since the season was four episodes, and just saved the dances for the "free style" in the finale. I've also seen some online grumbling about Adam supposedly getting "jazz" next week as well (he can obviously handle ballroom, I'm annoyed that we aren't getting to see him do something different. This four episode format is a mess).
 
meggonzo said:
I'm assuming everyone here really thinks he should have been matched up against Tonya, so she would have been eliminated.
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I don't think Tonya should be on the show. No one cares what I think. But if I were matching teams for competition, I would match them by general ability level. If Mirai and Adam are the two best dancers, matching them against anyone but each other would be pretty unfair.
 
Prancer said:
... if I were matching teams for competition, I would match them by general ability level. If Mirai and Adam are the two best dancers, matching them against anyone but each other would be pretty unfair.
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I agree. ETA: And I don't believe the dance-off matchups/2 points gained made a real difference re. which 3 made the finale.

Press release for the May 21st finale: https://www.disneyabcpress.com/abc/shows/dancing-with-the-stars-athletes/episodes/episode-2604-1/
All 10 of the athletes are set to reunite for a spectacular dance number. As for the three finalist couples, each will perform two dances. The first round will be inspired by their journey on the show, and each couple will perform a jazz, foxtrot or Viennese waltz routine. The second round will be a no-holds-barred freestyle dance. At the end of the night, based on “last chance” live viewer votes in the EDT/CDT time zones via ABC.com and Facebook, as well as the judges’ scores and last week’s viewer votes, one couple will be crowned the champion, culminating an incredible season, and take home the special Athletes Mirrorball trophy.
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Each couple will dance to the following songs (in alphabetical order):

Adam Rippon and Jenna Johnson – Jazz – “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun” – The new Broadway cast recording

Josh Norman and Sharna Burgess – Foxtrot – “Conqueror” by “Empire” cast, featuring Estelle and Jussie Smollett

Tonya Harding and Sasha Farber – Viennese Waltz – “The Time of My Life” by David Cook

Each couple will dance freestyle to the following songs (in alphabetical order):

Adam Rippon and Jenna Johnson – “Scooby Doo Pa Pa” by DJ Kass

Josh Norman and Sharna Burgess – “Walk on Water” by Thirty Seconds to Mars

Tonya Harding and Sasha Farber – “I Will Survive” by The Pussycat Dolls
 
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Yazmeen said:
And from this one, regarding Tonya: "You want to believe she’s sincere, until you remember that from the beginning of the show, she’s been clear her goal is to change the public’s perception of her and redeem herself – as if a dance competition could make you forget [the "incident"]. She continues to play the victim, assuming no responsibility for her poor reputation, and it’s annoying." https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/05/da...tonya-harding-finals-video-replay-recap-watch
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THIS. So much this. I wanted to believe she was sincere about wanting a shot at redemption, but I just... don't.
 
nimi said:
I totally understand some people not liking the style or the choreo but it's beyond me how someone doesn't see there's some serious dancing there, not just "posing". It's not my fave piece of dance choreo of all time or anything, but IMO it's pretty impressive what they were able to put out there, esp. considering the limited training time.
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I agree - and the judges did too. Even Len, who called the choreo "spiky," admitted that it was the best dance of the night. And I've seen several comments from people who mentioned that Adam and Jenna's contemporary was more like something they might have seen on So You Think You Can Dance, where the competitors ARE dancers. It wasn't all lifts and poses. They danced so in sync that I was seriously impressed. And Adam has definitely learned how to point his toes, LOL.
 
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