Introduction

Dancing With the Stars has become a huge success amongst dance-loving homes across the United States, and the show platform has launched across the world. Dancing With the Stars, or some version of the show thereof, airs in countries ranging from the United Kingdom, where the show platform originated as Strictly Come Dancing, all the way to New Zealand, Hong Kong, and even Chile (where Simeon and I were invited to perform in their Santiago studio back in 2006). Simeon and I watched the earlier seasons, and from time to time we’ll catch episodes of Strictly Come Dancing during our months of training in London. But since we started teaching, every day from 3pm to 10pm, we found it too difficult to keep up on all of the episodes. Besides, we soon found the commentary about the dancers a little too flippant for us. I mean, we dance as our careers. We know what ballroom dancing is supposed to look like. We know what things matter, and which ones don’t. After all, out of all the things a “star” could do wrong, is the “develope of the leg” really that important? And in the 21 years of my dancing, I have NEVER heard of Jive described as a “well-peeled onion”.

Our students have caught on to this, as well. The judges are too happy, too indulgent, and too frivolous. This was the biggest reason why we stopped watching. It’s also the biggest reason why most of our students stopped watching. The routines may be fun, the music interesting, the behind-the-scenes footage endearingly familiar, but the judges’ comments are simply too much to digest. So it was suggested to us to provide our own professional critique.

We thought this was a great idea. Simeon and I have the background to be able to tell at a glance what the stars are missing. We can tell their weaknesses and their strengths in a millisecond; and we can tell when the judges hit the mark, and when they’re a mile off. Therefore, starting with tonight’s premier episode, we will be watching the episodes and giving commentary on the stars’ dances, the pros’ choreography, and the judges’ comments and critique. We thought this would give the show some of the depth it is definitely missing.

So stay tuned! We will be adding our first Dancing With the Stars professional critique tomorrow.

The Professional:

Kora Stoynova has been been dancing Ballroom and Latin since she was 5 years old. She was youth National Champion at 16 years old and the Pacific Northwest Regional Champion in Latin, Standard, and 10 Dance individually 11 consecutive years. Now dancing for Bulgaria in the Professional ranks, Kora was their chosen representitive for the World Standard Championships and the World Showdance Championships, where she placed 9th with her partner Simeon Stoynov.

The Couples

1) Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas

2) Wendy Williams and Tony Devolani (ELIMINATED Week 3)

3) Hines Ward and Kym Johnson

4) Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin (ELIMINATED Week 5)

5) Romeo and Chelsea Hightower (ELIMINATED Week 8)

6) Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya (ELIMINATED Week 4)

7) Kendra Wilkinson and Louis van Amstel (ELIMINATED Week 7)

8) Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff (ELIMINATED Week 9)

9) Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke (ELIMINATED Week 6)

10) Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer (ELIMINATED Week 2)

11) Kristi Alley and Maksim Chmerkovsky

The Reviews

1) Season 12 Premiere Review (March 21, 2011)

2) Episode 2 (March 28th, 2011)

3) Week 2 Elimination (March 29th, 2011)

4) Week 3 (April 4th, 2011)

5) Week 3 Elimination (April 5th, 2011)

6) Week 4 (April 11th, 2011)

7) Week 5 (April 18th, 2011)

8) Week 6 (April 25th, 2011)

8) Week 7 (May 2nd, 2011)

9) Week 8 (May 9th, 2011)

9) Week 9 (May 16th, 2011)