Dancing With the Stars update
It’s what you really want, isn’t it? For me to leave behind all the tedious blather about Obama, and offer some tedious blather about “Dancing With the Stars” instead?
So let me just say that I’m sad today because the guy who was in some ways (not all ways!) my favorite contestant this season, Jaleel White, was voted off last night in a travesty of justice. I already wrote about Jaleel and offered some videos here and here, in the “Vote for Obama, he’s cool” thread.
You may or may not remember White as the quintessentially nerdy character Urkel in the popular TV show of the late 80s through 90s, “Family Matters.” When he began the role he was 12 years old and it was only supposed to be a one-shot deal, but the series went on for 9 years and Urkel was its most popular character, although by the time it was done White found himself typecast as a nerd.
That doesn’t mean he couldn’t dance, though, even back then. Unfortunately, the full video of the Urkel Dance can’t be embedded (I assume for copyright reasons), but you can watch it here. Here’s a partial version:
And now, White’s still dancing, although it’s not quite the Urkel dance:
Mock me if you life, but DWTS is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I appreciate how hard this sort of dancing is for amateurs, much much harder (and more exhausting) than it looks.
My guilty pleasure is the Kardashians, even though I hate everything they stand for.
Neoneocon,
Out of curiosity, who do you think is the best contestant in the history of the show? To me, it’s Kristi Yamaguchi, and it’s no close. Granted, she had the biggest built-in advantage as a Olympics gold medal winning figure skater, but still. She was absolutely amazing.
John: Yamaguchi was fine, but she wasn’t even close to being my favorite. I prefer people who are more untrained as dancers, and I think that ice skating is too close to dance training to give it the quality I’m looking for (plus, ice skaters have tons of dance classes). I also think she’s too controlled, which may be related.
It’s a good question; who have I liked the best? I’m not sure I have a favorite, and that’s not just being coy. I liked Ricki Lake and also Kirstie Alley (I guess I like those weight loss stories!), as well as Jaleel White this season and Maria Menounos. I don’t usually like the leaders the best.
Having expressed my feelings for DWTS as uncool I should say I don’t feel this way about dance in general.
Several years back, I serendipitously come across some videos of the tango. Talk about cool — and hot. Nothing so evokes the quintessential dynamic of man/woman together as the tango. I won’t say that the tango has ruined all other dance for me but it has certainly relegated them to distant second, third, and other.
You’re in good company, neo. My wife also likes DWTS. I sometimes join her and admire the hard work and persistence that the amateur dancers display. It’s inspiring to see how they rise to the challenge.
My only personal favorite was Marie Osmond. I met her on a charter flight back in the day. She was quite nice and, I thought, incredibly pretty. In spite of her stardom, Marie has had a pretty tragic personal life and her come back on DWTS was gratifying to see.
George Pal: the tango and me.
Neo-neocon,
I know shuffle-shuffle-hold-hold. It’s the only dance I can do without stepping on my own feet. Well, not the only one — there’s the hold tight and sway – popular in the early morning hours at country and western bars. As for the tango, the notes accompanying the videos I’d seen remarked on the radically improvisational dance steps and the difficulty involved in following the lead. Knowing that makes the tango even more compelling.
DWTS is my guilty pleasure. Nobody I know watches it but a retired lady.
This season I’m digging Donald Driver. Mostly because I’ve liked him playing for the Packers.
Katherine Jenkins has won me over and so has Maria Menounos.
“much much harder (and more exhausting) than it looks.”
I’ve only seen the commercials for the show, but the dancing looks very really extremely hard and exhausting to me. So if it’s even more so…. I’m always impressed that dancers can keep big smiles on their faces.
Urkel is Obama!
I watched DWTS’s show for Mon./Tues. this week last night (I DVR it to skip the commercials and even some of the 2nd night performances…many of which do nothing for me…I’m there to watch the dancing contest.)
This late in the season and with the new rules, it’s gotten to the point where good dancers will have to leave.
I like Jaleel too but did not think his last dance was as good as his dance last week…which was fabulous in my opinion. I also liked his bit-on-the edge sense of humor (“Len is like the old man in front of the grocery store who won’t give a kid money for candy.”).
I want to point out that often the dancing stars (and I’m sure the professionals as well) are “playing hurt”. Seems especially so this year. I’m certain that’s part of “tha’ dancin’ bidness” (I’m sure Neo can attest to that.) but it makes the grueling nature of the practicing and performing even more impressive.
Maria has been playing injured since early in the season so that makes her 10-10-10 Monday night especially impressive.
My favorite this year is Katherine Jenkins. I have to admit partly because of her beauty although I usually go for brunettes. I also like her sweet personality. She’s a competitive person or she wouldn’t be there but watch her in the background when someone gets high scores. She seems genuinely happy when others do well. And as a definite plus, to my eyes, she’s a damned good dancer…especially for a non-professional dancer. I also like her life story…seems quite solid.
Two of my past favorites are the young male Olympic speed ice skater (sorry…can’t remember his name) and the gal who had danced in “Dirty Dancing” (sorry, can’t remember her name either…having a senior moment this morning). Yes, I know it was unfair for her to be in the competition because she was pretty dang close to being a professional, but I still liked her and she did “play hurt” towards the end of that season. And again, to my eyes, a very good dancer.
…oh yes…I also like the tango. Almost went to Buenos Aires this year to see it done where it is an important part of the culture. If I had gone, I would have taken a few lessons so as not to be totally embarrassed if I somehow found myself on the dance floor in one of those tango salons.
There are certain rules of etiquette in those tango salons…even to the point that if you look at a woman in a certain way, you are expected to ask her to dance or might even be ASKED to dance. (My wife would just LOVE that and it would create maximum chance for me to be embarrassed.)
Neoneocon,
Thanks for the response. To clarify, I wasn’t asking who your favorite contestant was (for me, that’s Hines Ward, as I’m a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan). I was asking who you thought was best dancer (to be fair, I did say “best contestant,” not “best dancer,” so any confusion on that point is my fault). But the response is still appreciated.