Wednesday night we were treated to a less-than-magnificent evening of dance, and the results last night were, for the most part, unsurprising. Chris and Ashley, who performed a bland, cold salsa ended up in the bottom three, along with Jordan and Tadd (their waltz was beautiful, but the technique needed work) and Ryan and Ricky (I guess America is over its zombie obsession).
Last night, we also saw a kickass performance by Florence + The Machine (even though Florence Welch was standing still the whole time), a striking performance by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and host Cat Deeley's hand get a little too friendly with Tadd's shoulder.
It was actually kind of an off night for Cat, who is usually the least annoying of the reality show hosts. Before announcing whether or not Ashley and Chris had made it into the bottom three couples, she made the remarrk "We already knew you weren't Shakira." Did Cat Deeley just burn Chris and Ashley? Really?
The remaining dancers dance for their lives, and with two of the three couples having been in the bottom three before, I think they just started to get tired of it. Ashley's routine was mostly extensions and pirouettes, Chris, with his tapered baggy pants just looked like a jerky frog, Jordan did her usual strip jazz (sorry, Jordan, I know you're a great dancer, but there's no other word for your style), Tadd did lots of handstands and power moves, Ryan's contemporary routine involved a lot of movement and little direction and Ricky was simply beautiful.
Still, at the end of the night, it was Ashley and Chris' time to leave. In yesterday's recap, I wrote that they fell victim to some mediocre choreography, and I think to a degree this is still true. But, as Lil C has said previously, the choreographers work with a toolbox, and can only build so much with what they're given. Chris is a fantastic dancer in his own style, and arguably gave the best dance for his life. But he repeatedly couldn't bring it to other styles. The person I feel bad for is Ashley, who I don't think was really given a chance to show how powerful she can really be because she had a weaker partner.
And I think this exposes a weakness of the show. Dancers only work with the same partner week after week, and while it's great that they are able to form real relationships and bonds with each other through this method, I think the individual dancers would be better served by mixing it up each week.
Next week: The dirty dozen.
