Dancing With The Stars - Week 5

Where to begin? Last night had some great numbers and some not so great numbers. Regarding the West Coast Swing--argh!! So much potential! Not much delivered. I was thrilled to hear that Lacey and Lance were assigned the WCS. I took a few lessons from Buddy Schwimmer when he was guest teaching locally. It was a lot of fun. Last night's routine was not fun to watch.

Lance's posture and presentation were really sloppy. I never really realized that the guy matters so much in WCS. West Coast Swing (and the Hustle) are slot dances. The guy stands there and the girl moves by him in a slot. I've heard people joke that the guy is a door, and the girl walks back and forth through the door. It's a great dance for an inexperienced guy to lead an experienced girl through as the guy can do the same few basic steps and the girl can improvise fun and fancy moves when she's out at the end of the "slot." But that's social dancing. When it's choreographed, it needs to be much more balanced. In other words, you need a really solid and good-looking door! Sad to say, the blame for this one does fall on Lacey. The dance is also characterized by a breezy, confident style. That didn't come through with Lance. So sad, since I loved their routine last week.

Toni and Alec were cringe worthy too. Alec didn't look comfortable at all. I don't know what it is about West Coast, but I've never run into very many people that dance it well. Or even teach it well. Must be a very separate subculture like Argentine Tango. Too bad. I've always loved to dance it, even if I only know the Sugar Push and two turns. It's a feel good, strut your stuff dance.

Susan Lucci looked very relaxed doing the hustle. It didn't dispel her trademark tentativeness, but I still feel like she's growing every week. Great gold boots too! Warren Sapp doing the hustle? My hero. He and Kym looked great.

As for the two salsa teams, I really can't comment on one of them. Cloris and Corky are in a class of their own. Enough said. Maurice and Cheryl did a nice job. Cheryl is a master of choreography. This dance seems to resonate with Maurice pretty well. It reminded me of Mario and the samba. Maurice even had a little looseness in the ankles which "real" salsa dancers seem to have.

I enjoyed both jitterbug routines. Didn't even recognize Brooke with bangs the first time I saw her. Very, very cute number. Cody's awkwardness was well played last night as well. Good job Julianne with leveraging that! She is really brave doing those lifts/stunts. Cody doesn't seem like the strongest base.

Now, it's time to see who gets voted off!