The Greater New York Chapter of USA Dance
 
Da Goot gets Da Boot
April 4, 2008 ed.
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Greetings from the Greater NY Chapter of USA Dance!
DWTS This Week: Work required me to be out of town, so I could not join the gang at ACME to catch DWTS on Monday night, but I caught it on the tube, in the comfort of my hotel room. The surprise for me on the Monday night show was Adam Carolla. I had to agree with the judges that he actually put in a watchable performance. I had to agree with Adam that the "Sandy Duncan" brunette wig did not work well on Julianne Hough, and her orange and black dress was not altogether becoming. I had to disagree with the judges again on Shannon Elizabeth and Priscilla Presley. They weren't dreadful, but they were way overrated. Jason Taylor continues to be consistently decent. Kristi Yamaguchi continues to shine as the most polished dancer among the group. I have to say, though, that as good a dancer as Mark Ballas is, his gaping mouth is just plain distracting. Close that mouth, Mark, before a fly finds its way in there.

[img:da_goot]On the results show, the surprise for me was that Marissa Jaret Winokur was safe. I had expected that she wouldn't be able to muster the votes to overcome her low score (bottom of the pack), but perhaps her exhortations to the audience to vote for her had the desired effect. As one after another couple was declared safe for next week, only Mario and Karina Smirnoff and Steven Guttenberg and Anna Trebunskaya were left in the bottom two. Mario got heavily criticized on Monday night for being sloppy in his tango and even got a 6 from Len Goodman. I actually think all the judges were unnecessarily hard on Mario and were unduly influenced by the footage of his whirlwind tour schedule last week which cut into his practice and rehearsal time with Karina. Under the circumstances, I thought Mario accounted for himself pretty well. In any case, there he was in the bottom two with Steven ("Da Goot") Guttenberg. Both pro partners appeared anxious and Karina looked like she was bracing herself for bad news. After a few tense moments, it became clear that the votes did not come through for Da Goot, and he got Da Boot.

I'm looking forward to week 4 of DWTS at ACME on Monday night. Please join me there, as the remaining nine couples take on the Viennese Waltz and the Paso Doble.
Looking to social dance? For other ideas and suggestions, check Wayne's Dance Commentary or NJoy Dancing News & Notes.
[DD_BW]Reminders:
  • Audition for the stage production of "Dirty Dancing," Monday, April 7. More details here.
  • Ninth Annual Rutgers DanceSport Competition will take place next Saturday, April 12, at the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University. You can still register up to April 9 and the competition is open to adult competitors, not just college students. For more information,please visit the website.
Any ladies out there looking for a pair of practically new Ray Rose latin dance shoes? If so, check out this post from NonieS.
That does it for this week. Good luck to everyone competing at USA Dance National Championships this weekend! If you're at Nationals, be sure to say 'hello.'
Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NYUSABDA)
www.nyusabda.org
www.nyusabda.org/forums-df
yang.chen@nyusabda.org