The Greater New York Chapter of USA Dance
 
First Two Out: Penn & Monica
March 26, 2008 ed.
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Greetings from the Greater NY Chapter of USA Dance!
Last night on DWTS, the show had its first double elimination. After all 12 couples danced either quickstep or mambo on Monday night, the scores from week 1 were combined with the scores from week 2, and after tallying all the votes from the viewing audience, the first two to be eliminated were Penn Jillette and Monica Seles. After week 1, I expected comedian and radio personality Adam Carolla and Monica Seles to be the first two out, but after seeing Penn dance -- or shall I more properly say, attempt to dance -- the quickstep, I could see that Penn did not have much of a future on the show. If you can imagine an elephant trying to dance a quickstep, well . . . that was what Penn looked like, dragging poor Kym Johnson across the floor through the entire ordeal. It was not magic; it was tragic. As for Monica, well, let's just say that as a ballroom dancer, she is a terrific tennis player.

[img:penn_kym]Turning to the rest of the field, I found all the dancers, with the exception of Jason Taylor and Kristi Yamaguchi, uniformly awful and hard to watch. And what was the deal with ending all the routines prone on the floor? I think practically every couple had some variation of closing out their choreography in a horizontal position. Jason Taylor, doing a respectable mambo, bucked that trend and earned well deserved high marks. The score inflation arrived early this season, as in only week 2, Shannon Elizabeth scored three 8s with a quickstep that stood out for its poor dance frame. And Derek Hough was not helping matters! My favorite is still Kristi Yamaguchi, who demonstrated again some strong dance skills. However, she did not outshine Jason on this episode, and I was not surprised to hear that the judges' command performance for the results show was Jason and Edyta's mambo.

Next week: tango and jive. Let's hope that the pros will do their jobs and start teaching their celebs how to ballroom dance by next Monday. Once again, we plan to convene at ACME Bar & Grill if you're in the neighborhood and would like to help us take over the bar in the back.
With the success of shows like DWTS and "So You Think You Can Dance," other tv stations have jumped on the dance bandwagon. Cable channel BRAVOtv weighs in with "Step it up and Dance," a reality show featuring twelve dancers called upon to master different dance styles (including ballroom) week after week, and the last one standing will win a prize of $100,000. On Monday, March 31, chapter member and journalist Simon Appelbaum will be interviewing the producers of that show for an internet radio show called "Tomorrow will be Televised," on www.nowlive.com. If you'd like to tune in on Monday afternoon and find out more about "Step it up and Dance" (and the producers' other creations, such as "Project Runway"), get the details here. ("Step it up and Dance" premieres on April 3 on BRAVOtv.)
[img:elijah_pasha]Updates on some couples: Craig Shaw, who turned pro with Malin Johansson, has terminated his partnership with Malin. Elijah Piker, who took the Open Latin division at the MAC at the beginning of this year with Stas Savich, has changed partners and will now be competing with Pavel Stepanchuk.
[img:padclogo]If you're looking to compete locally, Rutgers will be hosting its 9th Annual Rutgers DanceSport Championship at the Rutgers New Brunswick campus on Saturday, April 12 -- yes, that's one week after the USA Dance National Championships. New Brunswick is not too far from New York City, and it costs only $30 per person if you register by today, March 26. After that, the cost will go up to $35 per person, until the final deadline of April 9. Register on-line today!
The USA Dance Chapter in Pittsburgh will be holding the 3rd Annual Pittsburgh DanceSport Championship in -- you guessed it -- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event takes place from April 25-27, 2008. The cost is $95 per person for adults and seniors, and $45 per person for youth and collegiate dancers. On-line registration is now open, and you should book your hotel rooms by March 26 to lock in your rates. For more details, read this post.
On the social front: For more suggestions and ideas, check Wayne's Dance Commentary or NJoyDancing News & Notes.
That just about does it for this week. Keep in mind the Wartime Ball, if you like to mix in some art with your dancing, part of the art show "Disarmory," on Sunday, March 30.
Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NYUSABDA)
www.nyusabda.org
www.nyusabda.org/forums-df
yang.chen@nyusabda.org