As summer comes to a close, we’re back to another season of Dancing With the Stars. Initially, we were unimpressed by the list of celebrities announced for season 34, but we’ve found in previous years that a group of lesser known names often produces exciting results. This season promises to be like that as well.
The opening number was great, as it always is. Then it was on to the first dances for each of these couples. Having taught hundreds of beginners over the years, Wendy and I are fascinated by the journey people go through who have to perform in front of others when they have very little or no meaningful experience in ballroom dancing. And in the case of shows like DWTS, they are putting that performance in front of millions on television! That pressure adds to the difficulty, for both students and the pros teaching them how to own their performance.
It was a suprisingly strong start this year for Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars. Many of the dances looked much better than typical first week performances.
We were especially impressed with Robert Irwin’s Jive. Now, to give you some background: when his sister Bindy was on the show, we found her so annoying that we had trouble looking past her artificially exuberant personality to actually enjoy her dancing. In a 180-degree contrast, Robert has a calm, relaxed demeanor that made us like him even before he danced. And the quality of his dance was exceptional. How many times do you see beginners, especially men, actually point their toes when doing flicks and kicks? It never happens! Yet Robert aced that technical detail as if he’d been dancing Jive his whole life.
Whitney Leavitt was understandably polished, given her dance background and the fact that she was paired with Mark Ballas. But her background was not in ballroom dancing, and so I don’t get too upset that she has some experience as a dancer.
Those who have zero experience in dance, who feel like fish out of water, and especially when it’s men like Dylan Efron, can be impressive when they bring confidence to their performance. I thought Dylan would be a train wreck but his dance was much stronger than expected. It’s only week 1. Let’s see what he can produce going forward if he stays in.
Danielle Fishel produced a nice Tango with Pasha Pashkov. Jenn Affleck did okay, but it was hard to not watch her pro partner Jan Ravnick, a new pro on the show. Elaine Hendrix, partnered with Alan Bersten, surprised me with a Cha Cha that was much better than I expected to see for week 1, even if her leg action was too soft. And Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin’s wife, surprised me as well. I had already written her off based on what I knew of her, but she showed a side I didn’t expect to see and danced quite well with Gleb Savchenko, demonstrating great leg action. She also has a bit of dance background, but as with Whitney it’s not in ballroom. At least we won’t be getting any television drama about Gleb’s behind-the-scenes shenanigans.
And then there was Corey Feldman, partnered with Jenna Johnson. After hearing how the two of them had not had a chance to even work together for several weeks after their introduction to each other, I thought he would be a disaster. But he wasn’t. Sure, he danced a clumsy, flat-footed Tango that didn’t have much real Tango character, but he owned it and he was super entertaining to watch.
So I think this will be another interesting season of Dancing With the Stars. We like this show a lot better when it is about the dancing, and not just the celebrity drama.
Dancing With the Stars is broadcast on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesday nights. Follow the show on Facebook
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