Sharna Burgess in the 4th Chair: Prince Night (Week 10)

It’s time for the semifinals on DWTS and we need an expert more than ever! Sharna is back with her thoughts on all the dances from Prince Night.

Like most ballroom fans, Sharna has some feelings about Whitney’s elimination and can’t imagine a world where we’re deprived of a new Mark Ballas Freestyle.

Plus, heading into the Finals, Sharna locks in her guess for who will end up winning the Len Goodman Mirorrball.

We’re almost there, guys. Listen to the penultimate episode of…The 4th Chair.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
And now welcome to the ballroom in the fourth Judges Chair.
It shun up, Burgess, what's up? Everybody? Welcome to another
episode of in the Fourth Chair. I cannot believe we've
just had the semi final of Dancing with the start
of season thirty fourth, Like this has gone so unbelievably fast.
The season has zoomed right by. It's been such a
gift doing this podcast with you all and hearing all

(00:24):
of your thoughts and hear you learning about technique and
all the things. And I'm super sad that next week's
going to be the last one. But wow, did we
have an amazing semi final. It was a Prince theme night,
and I think for the very most part, the songs
were great with the dancers. I think we had some
that were a little bit of a miss, you know.

(00:44):
I think for me and Argentine tango, I really want
to have that Argentine tango sound something that's a bit
more authentic or at least with a real sexiness to it,
and so I feel like our Argentine tangos didn't quite
hit the mark for me tonight. But we'll get into
those when we get to them. And I thought you know,
we do a lot of themes, and some of them

(01:05):
really work and some of them don't. I love Prince's music.
I do think it really worked. I think maybe my
favorite theme that we did was Wicked, to be honest
with you, because I'm a wicked girly. But overall, I
think that everyone did a fantastic job. This was also
the first week really we're seeing them have to do
two straight up serious dances, you know, where it is

(01:27):
just them on the floor and they've got to give
us the technique these two performances that are supposed to
be at this semi final level, and I do find
that well. Naturally, of course, one of their performances was
stronger than the other. I wasn't as wowed as I
wanted to be in some of the performances, especially in
the first half, and then some of them really wowed

(01:49):
me in the second. It was a little bit all
over the place. I think you have to understand that
the semi final is quite honestly the hardest of the
weeks out of the entire season. This is where you
are so close with so far, you are also so
freaking tired as a pro. You know that every little
thing counts. Now every point counts. Do you take risks
or don't you? Are you pushing the choreography enough? Have

(02:12):
you in these redancers? Have you improved the technique enough
so you've got to spend time on that in really
getting back into it. It is so much pressure for
both celebrity and pro dancer. And then once you get
to the finale, should you make it that that part's easy.
That's like you get to do your freestyle, you know
you've made it. You leave it up to the gods

(02:32):
of where you land. Of course you want to win,
but you just do the best you can. You know
you're in the final, but this semi final business is
cut the roat and it's hard. We had I would
I don't know if i'd call it a shock elimination
because of all the crazy hate that we see online.
But I was really sad to see Whitney go. I'm
so sad that we're not going to get a Mark

(02:53):
and Whitney freestyle. She was by far the best dancer
in the competition and I think it would have been
so good. Could you imagine what Mark could have done
with her in a freestyle? And it's crazy, look it
does come down to public vote. Obviously, you guys are
our newbies too, were learning how powerful that vote is,

(03:14):
which is important to know. But man, I did not
love seeing the massive amount of petitions to get her
off the show, simply because she was petitioning to be
on it, you know. And I don't want to get
into the politics of that, I sort of said on
my social media because I don't watch the Mormon Wives show,
like what is all this hate and what's it about?
And I don't necessarily get it, but I don't know

(03:36):
the law that's there. But I do appreciate that she
came out upfront with her ambition and was like, hey, yeah,
I'm coming back because I want to do the show
because this is an opportunity for me. That's a business move,
and I loved that for her. But anyway, I listen,
I don't know Whitney from a bar of soap, and
I know nothing about her, but anytime I've met her,
she's lovely. And I hope that this has been a positive,

(03:58):
wonderful experience for her, and I really hope that it
just semifinal or final. I think regardless, people now can
see the performer that she is and I have no
doubt that we're going to see her on Broadway should
she be able to sing and head off into doing
other things. And I love that for her. But yeah,
I'm very, very sad to see her journey come to
an end a week too soon. But how about we

(04:20):
get into the couples and we will get back to them.
We have twelve dances to get through today, so let's
get stuck into it. We first start with Elaine and Alan.
They had a fox trot. The judges said, carry inne
you so deserve your spot in the semifinal. It was sophisticated, smooth,
it was strong, it was solid, but she would love

(04:41):
to see the edges a bit more and for her
to push it a little bit harder because she's making
it look too easy. I totally understand what she's saying.
We're going to get back to that. Derek said it
was beautiful, the articulated feet with the rise and fall,
really complimenting on the way she's getting that rise and
fall in the foxtrot, which is something that we have.
We don't want it to be bouncy. She was using

(05:02):
those ankles and feet as her shock absorbers, so it
had a nice and smooth rise and fall to it,
which I did love and notice, and he did say
that he wanted more fight in it, and then Bruno
said it was flirty dancing really is much a lot
like acting, and it's very character driven and the performance
is great, but yes, he also wanted to see her

(05:22):
push it just a little bit further. So what I
think that comes down to is the first thing I
wrote down when I was watching this was there's no
glide and no power. And this is something that I
felt from a lane in her other ballroom dances, and
maybe it was when she did foxtrop before, but I
understand that we have things with our frame, and you
know that we can't get bigger space on that. But

(05:42):
what I did miss in this is the push and
the drive along the floor, the longer strides in the feet,
the using the power and the power center into the
standing leg to drive and get a longer stride. I
felt like nothing pushed outside of underneath her body, if
that makes any sense. If you go and you watch
a fox trot that pushes and glides, you could just

(06:05):
go YouTube it, you know what I mean. If you
want to see what a slow fox trut really moves
like and you will see they are long steps with
long heel leads, and they push so far outside of
where the body is standing, and then you use the
power and your standing leg to drive yourself over and
onto that foot. And I feel like we didn't have
the drive, we didn't have the power, we didn't have

(06:25):
the stride. And so that's where I think these judges
are talking about wanting more push. Was it yet to
push a little harder, to fight a little bit more
for it. It's not like a literal aggression, you know,
don't take it as something so literal, but really that
they just could have been more done with the energy
and the power that is true to the technique of
the fox trot. And I do agree with them. And

(06:46):
so unfortunately for me, this one just fell flat a
little bit. And I hate saying that because I love
a lane and I was actually the judges gave it
a nine ninety nine. I was in between an eight
and nine and eight and a nine because I just
felt a tiny bit underwhelmed by it in that sense. Look,
I know she's a great performer, her face or everything
that she was giving in that sense, her arms and

(07:07):
the way she's using it. The connection between her and
Alan fabulous. I loved it, but this is a semi
final man and that drive in that power is an
absolute necessary thing, and I really was missing it. So
I was in between an eight and nine, probably the
higher end of her an eight on this one. Moving
on to Alex and Val and Argentine Tango, this is

(07:28):
one of those ones where I was like, oh, it's
just missing the mug. But let's get into what the
judges said first. So Derek said he absolutely loved it.
She has potential to go all the way beautiful lines
and shapes, which is also true. All of that is true,
beautiful lines and shapes, and absolutely she's going to go
the whole way. Bruno beautiful shapes and lines, agreed with Derek.

(07:49):
Her body work was top notch, So everything that's happening
in her body, the texture, the way she's moving, the
way she's holding herself, to the way she's allowing Val
to lead her, all of that was not But then
he called out the ganchos that needed to be a
little bit sharper. Now, garanhos are without showing you it's hard,
but it's where some of the leg flicks are happening,

(08:10):
and it's where the lady flicks and links her leg
around or underneath the man's legs, and so what was
happening there is Some of them looked really good, and
then some of them felt a little bit loose, like
there are ones where they were sort of coming towards
the camera and she lifted her right leg off the
ground and had to hook it over the top of

(08:30):
vow's leg right. It stayed a little bit wide. It
was pretty, but it wasn't in the way that Argentine
tango requires it to be done, which is the retraction
on it, the bounce, the speed in which you have
to flick hook and flick back and pull it back.
It just wasn't happening in there. And I did feel
that throughout it, the flicks and the movements, the ganchos,

(08:52):
the oa SHOs, the lynx, they just felt a little
bit wide. There was something in one of the tricks
where she came down. One of them was absolutely beautiful
where she was in a stag position. She looked stunning
in that her leg lines were gorgeous. But then there
were other ones where it just didn't land and it
all felt a little bit wide, and so yeah, for
that it kind of took me out of it, paired
with the fact that I think it was the song

(09:14):
that also for me wasn't showing the steaminess that I
would love to see in the Argentine tango. Getting back
into what the judges said, Carrie Anne said she is
the most improved, but where her shoulders were up and
she was gripping onto the dance instead of in control
of it. So I actually really agree with carry Anne
on what she's saying that it didn't feel like she

(09:38):
had so much confidence and control in this dance. I
think she was totally in control, but the performance of
it wasn't really selling that for me, and agreed with
carry Anne. The shoulders were definitely definitely up, So there
were a couple things in there. The things that I said,
you know, the steaminess and the gun shows being a
little bit loose, but also those shoulders going up when

(09:59):
she turned. It just didn't feel as grounded as we've
seen her in other performances, and so it really took
me out of it, I think, and again being up
against doing an Argentine tango to Little Red Corvette is hard,
fabulous song, but hard, and so some parts of it
were really incredible and then other bits less so. But
you know what one thing about Alex I will say

(10:19):
is that her attitude every week at the moment just
wins me over even more. Like seeing her it's hard,
but she wants to be in it. She wants the criticism,
she wants to work hard, she wants the blood, sweat
and tears, Like I'm just so impressed with the way
that she is embracing this experience, in the way that
she's in this experience. It's just phenomenal, and I'm really

(10:40):
impressed with her. She won me over as a fan.
The judges gave it a nine to ten to nine.
I was actually in between an eight and nine. That
seems pretty harsh. I'd probably be on the lower end
of a nine, but I did. I felt it was good,
but it just wasn't amazing, missing that character into and
some of the technique of the Argentine tango. So yeah,

(11:02):
in between an eight and nine on Alex and vows
Argentine moving into Whitney and Mark doing a chuccha chucha
is just so hard to do at this point in
the competition. It is It's a dance that can die
a thousand deaths on television because it's very monotonous and
it's timing. The technique is really hard to grasp. You

(11:23):
want to get this one done and out of the
way early in the competition when you come back to
a chutcha. I was shocked that there were two chutchyars
in the semi that I think they chose to do
because for me, chacha is just a risk. So let's
get into it. The judges said first. Bruno said, the
content everything is what you want from a chutcha. The precision,
the placement, the execution, the level of difficulty was incredible.

(11:47):
Carrie Anne said she felt that the technique that she
could see it that you could see Whitney processing and
thinking about it. She could see the technique too much
instead of the technique blending in and becoming part of
the dance and just disappearing into it. Totally understand what
she's saying. We'll get back to that. Derek said that
carry Inne was out of her mind. Said it was

(12:08):
literal perfection. Chatcha is risky, but the precision, technique and
performance was awesome. So here's my notes. The legs were
entirely too straight for too long. In chatcha, yes, it
is a straight leg action, but you go through a
bent and flexed leg that develops out to get there
or bends to move backwards. What Whitney was trying to

(12:30):
do was keep her legs straight for as long as possible,
and so it made her look like a Barbie doll
dancing on the floor right where her legs were so
stick straight and they didn't really bend. It made it
feel like it was out of the floor, which made
it feel like there wasn't any hip action in it,
which meant it didn't feel like there was any rotation
or opposition in the body in that middle snowman and

(12:52):
lower snowman, as I've talked about before. So I just
truly feel that it wasn't the right dance for them
to choose as a redemption or a redance. It just Now,
that's not to say that the content wasn't amazing. The
content was phenomenal. Marx musicality, her performance factor, the cheekiness
between them, the booty slaps, like there is so much

(13:15):
to love in this routine, her arm placements, her everything
is absolute fire. But the way she was using her legs,
the way that they were tracking, the way that she
was moving from foot to foot, her New Yorker positions
where you both go through when you face forward ish right.
It's hard to explain, but her back leg was bent

(13:36):
and a straight leg was her front leg was straight,
which means her weight was too far back on her
back leg. She needed to have her nose more over
her toes in that position. And while from the first
chutch that she did, it was vastly improved, because I
was really not a fan of the first chutcher that
she did great improvement. And you can see she worked
a lot on the technique and there were some parts

(13:56):
where there was hip action and she was using her
legs properly, and there was also a lot where she wasn't,
And so it just took me out of it. I feel, yeah,
I don't know if this dance hurt them. I think
maybe the voting was going to go the way it
was going to go anyway for her, and also her
performance was pretty spectacular and memorable, but as far as

(14:18):
the technique things go, it just wasn't the one. In
saying that the judges didn't necessarily feel as strongly about
it as I did. I was in between eight and
nine because the technique thing really really got me. But
her performance factor is a ten, so I probably would
have landed on the lower end of a nine. Carrie
Anne was a nine. Derek and Bruno were both tens.

(14:38):
I think it's fair. Look, I think you can see
how they're going to give it a ten. But for me,
that chatcha technique and leg action was just so off,
and as Carrie Anne said, you could see her focusing
on it so much, or that you could see too
much of the process of it. In a sense, it
really took me out of it, guys, which is such
I'm sorry, I'm still processing that. I am so bu

(15:00):
We're not going to see a freestyle from them. Well done,
Mark and Whitney. All right, moving on to Dylan and
Danny doing a tango. Let's get straight into the judges.

(15:20):
Carrie Anne said that it was a very smooth debonair
leading men and he was very in control. However, there
was a mess up in the footwork and he wasn't
feeling the music, so he needs to come back and
really feel the music. I get that. I get that
as maybe hard in a tango because you've got this
character that you're trying to give it. But I think
the musicale ltty is really what Karanne is leaning into.

(15:42):
That he wasn't sitting in the musicality of it and
using the music not so much as like a character
and tension thing, but a body thing in the way
that we use the music. Derek said he complimented the
frame when he's going into promenade positions. So promenade position
is when we both were in frame, but we go
to face the same way. And in tango you do

(16:03):
there's like rap these head movements that have this like short,
sharp staccato type of shake to them, right. He did
that there was a lot to love when it came
to the intention of the tango from Dylan in this
like really really good in some of that action and
that flavor. Again, it's like the nuances that Danny teaches

(16:23):
that are just so freaking cool that I don't know
I've ever really seen a female pro teach before. I
love that about her, and he did. Derek called out
that it was missing heel leads, which it was. I
had to go back and watch it another time to
actually focus on footwork and my goodness, there were very
few heel leads, and that's what I think was making

(16:43):
it feel not quite as grounded and powerful as I
wanted it to. Like he was doing things like he
was doing the head flicks and the frames and the
intention of it, but it wasn't reading as powerful as
I wanted it to. And I think it comes from
not driving through that leg onto a heel lead and
truly getting that roundedness. So I totally agree with Derek.
We were missing on those things. Bruno said the bum

(17:06):
was under control. He is a leading man, and felt
his firm assertiveness and he got all like funny with Derek.
I felt his assertiveness and that was the part of
his intention and those head flicks and the you know whatever.
But again I agree with Derek at the hill Leads
that it was lacking a little bit of power. It

(17:28):
was just lacking a little something. But at the same time,
so much improvement with that bum being under because that
was a whole thing for him, and so there was
a lot about this to love for me. But then
there was some stuff where I was like, I don't know,
it wasn't the greatest. I also felt that his frame,

(17:48):
it's just it is definitely more angular in this this tango,
and so you want that to be, but it felt
a tiny bit rounded. And his head just goes so
far left, like he's looking over his shoulder instead of
slightly left where he's looking over his left hand. And
so that's always bothered me when it comes to his
ballroom dances, and I wish that was something that they

(18:09):
had fixed and worked on because it just takes me
out of it, Like it's like, where are you looking, dude.
You're supposed to be looking over your left and also
have the idea of where you're going, but he looks
like he's looking over the back of his shoulder, like
there's someone behind him. So that took me out of
it a little bit. But the opening arms, the opening
thing that they did where he like burst his arms

(18:29):
out and there was a little texture and energy and
musicality in his arms. I thought we were starting strong,
and then it just teed it off a little bit.
The judges gave it nine ninety nine. I was solid
on an eight. Moving on to Jordan and Ezra doing
a jive, let's get into the judges first. Derek said
it was funky and fun and fresh. But he wanted

(18:49):
a bit more attack and sharpness and bite from it.
Bruno said that it was high energy fun, but it's so fast.
She lost the timing a little bit, but otherwise it
was brilliant. It wasn't really fun jive. I wonder if
they weren't allowed to slow it down or if it
sounded weird slowed down, because it did seem fast at least.
And I agree with all of this on the attack,

(19:10):
so we'll get back to that. Carrie Anne said she
loved the performance, but she saw that there was a
mess up and she was her favorite performance actually so
far of the night. So this one's tough for me.
First thing I said was she has flexed feet in
her kicks. I was like, wtf, Like, point those toes, girl,
and you could see them, especially as she was going

(19:31):
backwards down the stairs, I think, and she'd kick her
foot up. That thought was fulllexed. We need to work
real hard to point those toes, especially when in a
Latin heel and in a shoe that can accidentally make
you look a little bit more flex than you are.
We definitely needed to work on that. I said that
it was back weighted and low energy and it was
somehow missing dynamics, which is kind of also what Derek

(19:55):
and kind of everyone is saying. It felt backweighted. So
I have more than ever and we have another drive
to compare it to, which is Roberts, and you can
compare this in them. He is so nose over toes, right,
it's so far past his toes because the energy is
right on the balls of the feet, so naturally your
weight moves forward over your center is different, and you

(20:17):
want to have that lightness the whole time. There is
a bounce that's happening in your core, in your belly,
not just through your toes or your ankles. It has
to be coming through your belly into the knees, into
the ankles, into the toes to be bouncing the whole time,
right with the kicks and the flicks and the retraction.
There is energy in it constantly. Nothing hits slow and heavy.

(20:39):
And I don't mean heavy in weight to reiterate, I
mean heavy in timing and movement. And so I felt
like with Jordan and Ezra it was just I know
she was giving face, and I know there was performance
in that, and I loved that, but it was missing
the energy of jive for me, which is crazy because

(21:00):
she's super athletic. It's not like she was struggling for energy.
I mean the energy of the jive, the essence of
the jive, and that essence of the give then translates
into the body and the action these kicks and flicks.
I also found that the you know, her kicks and
flicks were a little bit mechanical instead of coming from
the core, so they were muscled through with the legs

(21:22):
as opposed to being a reaction to a contraction, and
so it just missed the mark for me. She did
jive before, and I actually think I preferred the other one,
but that could have been a song situation. I don't
know that this song necessarily gave me jive feels right,
and I think before she did I think she had
fringe pants on. Also a nice little hack when you

(21:44):
wear fringe pants. But yeah, I just I was super
bummed when I saw this one because I love Jordan,
I love Ezra, I love what they've done this season,
but it just it was you know again. I wasn't
all that impressed with the first performances, so I landed
on an eight. The judges landed on nine. Nine nine.

(22:06):
What more could Jordan have done? It definitely needed to
have that lightness, the excitement, the energy of a jive,
the contraction in the middle, the joy in the laugh
room between the two of them, the joy and the
joy when you're coming forward with it, like it is
the most joyful dance of them all. And I feel
like it just wasn't giving that for me, not just

(22:28):
in the presence and personality of it, but in the
action of the body. So bummer. But their next dance
was pretty good, so I did land on a note. Okay,
getting into that other jive that we were talking about. Now,
For some reason, Robert is just he's just he's a driver.
I don't know how to explain it. This man came
out week one and I was like, holy crappy can dance.

(22:50):
And then like we had a journey with Robert of
things he can can't do, and we remembered, oh wait,
he's not a dancer. But this was strategically a spectacular
choice for which to go back to it with Robert
and to do the give again, because the give was
an amailing dance for him, you know, which is where
I say, I don't know why people chose chutcha. I
would never choose to do a chutcher in a semi final.

(23:12):
I would honestly choose one of my stronger dances from
the first half of the season and come back and
do that even better as a redemption dance. So interesting,
So let's go judges first. Bruno said it was a
superstar jive. It was so energized, but it was so
in control, never a foot wrong. Loved the choreography from Whitney.
Carrie Anne said, that's how you demand a spot in

(23:35):
the finale. So sharp, so clean, so buoyant, so amazing.
Agreed the buoyancy. Buoyancy is a great word, actually, which
is what I was missing from Jordan. I needed the
buoyancy and this kid has it in spades. Derek said,
great example of dancing with your whole body. I love
that he called out steps like a sugar push and

(23:57):
all sorts of things they did, which is a true
content of a jive that is in the syllabus book.
They did it really well, and he said it just
had it all. This is what he's saying about the
whole body. A great example of using the whole body,
like yes, this is it's such a beautiful way to
describe Robert, and also like a couple others in the
season two but when he dances, it's from the tip

(24:18):
of his head to the bottom of his toes, to
the tips of his fingers, to his entire face. Like
he says it, with his whole body. It's a whole
body experience. There is not one bit that is left untouched.
Every single little bit of him is cleaned, especially in jive.
I think Whitney is just a queen of jive, right.
I've loved all of her jives, Alfonso's drive. There's so
many of her jives over the years where she's just

(24:40):
kind of a master at creating something that is dynamic,
that is musical, that is clean, that gives good action.
And so I feel like she just absolutely crushed it
with him on this one. I look my notes. I
was like, Okay, Patrick Swayzee, the way this man jumped
off the judge's table, you put that side by side
with Pat jumping off of the stage in Dirty Dancing,

(25:02):
the knee slide into her amazing. And then whatever this
like backward kip up situation is that he did the
athleticism in his body very very impressive. And then I
love that we caught the James Brown moment with the
feet this time, because we didn't see that in the
very first episode when he did jive, so Witt made
sure she's like, let's do it again. They both did it.
We were on a wide shot. Love that I wrote

(25:25):
so good. His nose is so over his toes, his
retraction and his lightness is amazing. It is so clean.
I'm obsessed. I truly loved this. Now is he absolutely
absolutely perfect? Well, no, there's tiny bits of awkwardness sometimes
in his hands that can feel like the fingers are
all stuck together, the teeniest of things. Not anything that
I would take a whole point off. But the reason

(25:47):
I pointed out is because this is what reminds you
that he's so freaking good. But there is just enough
that's a little awkward or not quite perfect where you go, oh,
that's right, he's not a dancer. It reminds you that
this man, this is not what he does. He wrestles
crocodiles for a living and saves wildlife like this, that's

(26:08):
what he does. But this man can dance, and I
don't know where he's going to take it in his
time or in his future or what he wants to
do with it. But he is a natural born performer
and if anyone has ever seen him at the Zoo
in Australia and where he's doing his thing, he is
also a performer. And I think what it is he
has so much passion in everything that he does. This
is real. The passion that you're seeing from him when

(26:30):
he's out on that floor, his love for it. I
think Whitney in his connection and what they have is
just so freaking beautiful to watch. It's one of those
partnerships which is the reason we love to watch Dancing
with the Stars is the team, you know, and the
genuine love and camaraderie and support and friendship that they've built.
It's just so beautiful. I loved everything about this. The

(26:53):
judges gave it a ten ten ten. I gave it
a ten, no question. I absolutely loved it all right.
Getting into Elaine and Alan coming back for their second dance,
now she did a passa dob lay. Carrie Anne said
it was amazing. She basically ran over to hug her
and got on the ground and gave her flowers pretty much.

(27:14):
Derek said it was a proper beautiful passo with all
the shapes and lines. But more impressively, she came with
that fight, especially after that first dance, and that's what
we're talking about. It was powerful and it filled the room.
I agree. Bruno said it was like a regal bird
of prey. It was authentic as it should be, and
it was majestic. So I said, okay, like the power

(27:39):
and the drive there you are, there you are. That's
how I want to see you move across the floor.
Like that drive and energy that was in it. You
can have that in every dance, just with a different intention.
That's what I've been missing from her, and I'm so
glad we got to see it in this dance she had.
There was this it's not a shadow position, she's slightly
behind and off the shoulder of Alan. They did this

(28:00):
like choreograph head flick thing that is like, it's an ism.
It's not even a step, it's an ism that we
do when we dance. It can be any dance. But
I love that she matched Alan on it. And I
don't know if that was a choreographic choice or she
was just so in it and so fired up that
she got into it. And she gave it. I loved that.
I loved this. I loved the authentic content. I thought

(28:21):
Alan did a really, really great job on the routine.
I thought her center was nice and high passa doblay.
We've talked about this before. You want to raise that center,
you raise it up a little bit higher. So you're
trying to make your legs feel as long as possible.
Your hips are pushed a little bit forward, your nose
is not necessarily over your toes, but you're not back weighted.
You are straight up and down, and then the hips
are pushed forward. From it, everything is tight and lifted.

(28:43):
The elbows need to be out, the shoulders are down.
You want to get nice big shapes in it. Passadoblay
shaping is very very specific, and I feel like she
did a fantastic job at doing that. In the chasse capes,
the twist turns some of the choreography that they did
where you really require that true passo shaping. She got it, man,
and I think she did a great job. But what
was the most amazing for me was seeing that power

(29:05):
in that drive. I was like, Elaine, give it to
me more and more and more. This is what I want.
This is what I want in the finale, I don't
know what their freestyle could be. I have no idea
what any of these guys are going to do, and
I'm actually so excited to see it. But I hope
we see this continued attack and once again, it doesn't
have to have the passive dobe late energy or presence

(29:26):
or character to it. It could be a veniese waltz,
but you still use the power in your body, finding
that power center, driving into the standing leg, getting a
long stride, and using that energy slow or fast. That's
how we generate power, and she found it in this dance.
The judges gave it a ten ten ten. I started

(29:46):
as a nine to ten, but then I was like, well,
what more am I asking from it that she can do?
Because again I know I could have asked for a
bit more stretch in the neck and the shoulders and
the backbends of it, but I don't think she can
do them. So then I landed on ten because I
thought this was fantastic and it's actually, I think one
of my favorite dances that she's done, and I was
very very impressed. I love how she came back fighting

(30:08):
from that first one. It was really great to see
all right getting into Alex and Val doing a Viennese waltz.
Here's the steaminess like here, of course they have purple rain,
like what a hot song. So yes, that lends it
to it. Maybe that answers the question of why Little
Red Corvette didn't have the steam miss in the Argentine tango.
This was so good, so Derek said, we have seen

(30:30):
you transform into a dancer. It's powerful, it's passionate. It
was stunning. Bruno said it was the perfect combination of
motion and emotion. It was so connected to the music
and to vow he absolutely loved it. I agree with
all points from Bruno and Derek. Carrie Anne said, this
has been the most challenging and competitive season ever, but
that performance will go down in history. You've grown so

(30:52):
much and you delivered a passionate performance. You basically loved it,
no notes and just said, what a fantastic dance. Will
it go down in history? I don't know. Like I've
seen some pretty spectacular vein Is waltz's on the show,
and this was absolutely spectacular. I loved the opening shot,
loved the sitting on the ground. There were so many
things about this that was beautiful. But I just really

(31:15):
loved singing this like sexy connection between the two of them,
because hey, the song requires it, and ven is Waltz
would normally be the dance of true love for me,
the veen is Weltz is the romantic love. Rumber is
the dance of lust and the one night stand. But
when a song like this comes on, you got to
give it some lust, you know what I mean. And
I feel like they really really got there everything that

(31:37):
I wanted in the Argentine tango as far as connection goes,
I feel like I got in this one. Her frame
was doing better, you guys. I've pointed out previously in
the past about Alex and Val that we weren't getting
the vol and the dol right that connection low in
the body around the groin area. I felt like we

(31:58):
got closer to it today. The body contact was much better.
Teeny tiny little bit of gapping in the hips, but
the bodies were together. I so appreciated that they were
finally getting that in, you know, and so therefore the
movement felt stronger and better. The frame was better. She
could still get a little bit more in the window
on the outside edge of the circle. However, it was better.
I really really was impressed with this. I loved she

(32:22):
was using this gorgeous release through her body when she
was doing the side by side or the solos or
the arms or the opening outs. This release that was
coming through the middle of her body and into her
chest and into her neck as she was dancing, like
the music was quite literally flowing through her body leg
it was her blood and you could see it coming
out of her. And I loved it. I loved this
performance from them, and I thought it was a great

(32:44):
way to come back from a dance that I was
kind of like meh about, and I honestly just wrote, wow,
I love it. So the judges gave it a ten
ten ten. I absolutely one percent landed on a ten.
Moving into Dylan and Danny now doing a chatcha chutch
Man Like I know, I was actually a fan of
his chutcha earlier in the season, but that's because it

(33:05):
was chuched on the earlier of the season. Like, I
don't know, I don't know, it's it's just hard. Now, Okay,
let's get into the judges first. Bruno called him a
sexy beast, said, you've done so much work on the
hip action and the foot placement, and he did such
a great job, said Danny has done a fantastic job,
which by the way, she has and those things are
absolutely true and accurate. Carrie Anne said she liked the

(33:27):
attack and loved what he did with the music in
this one, but felt that the arms were getting a
little bit small sometimes. Now let me tell you what
she means by that. It's not that his arms were
literally coming in and doing nothing or being small in
their action. It's that when they're out, his elbows were
down too low. And so what that does is it
weakens the position on the man because it brings it in.
You want to feel like the elbows are up and out,

(33:48):
there is space and air underneath the arm pits, almost
like there is a balloon there. That doesn't allow your
elbow to come in closer to your body. It has
to stay out and broad and strong. And so when
he's doing this action, sometimes the elbows were coming into much,
which gave it a bit of a softer edge, a
bit of a smaller feel to it. Right, I would

(34:09):
have loved to have seen his elbows go up and
take a little bit more space a little bit more
air around the rib cage and the armpits. So I
do agree with her, and that's what she means by that,
Derek said. The knee slide, he called it out. He
said it was compact, the chassets and the New Yorkers,
the details, the proper cuban motion the New Yorkers, and

(34:29):
the foot placement of the foot being turned out. Nobody
does that, the arm placements. There was just so many
things that he called out. Now, this is what I
love that Derek called these out. Whether they make sense
to you or not, but let me help. These are
the nuances. These are the layers that Danny goes to
right when she is teaching. She's not just teaching, hey,
hit a straight leg position. She's teaching from the ground

(34:52):
up the position of the foot, to where the knee
is placed, to where the hip is, to how the
ribcage stretchers, to how to get the arm out and
how to get the and then on top of that,
she teaches these little nuances and layers that pro men
do that are the again, like the isms of it all.
And I just so appreciate the way that she teaches.
I don't think we've ever had anyone teach the way

(35:14):
that she does, and I love it, and I think
that she did a fantastic job with Dylan on this,
and I love that Derek called out those movements because truly,
those are the things that we see as professional borehom
dancers where we geek out over it and there's such
tiny little details, but men do they make a huge
difference when you see them. So they're not the big

(35:34):
flashy things or it's not a timing thing or a
slickness thing. They are the isms that we recognize as
professional boom dances and go, that's crazy, that's amazing that
he got that, that he did. That first word I
wrote was cute. I'm not one hundred percent sure why,
but I wrote cute, and that oh write the beginning
with everyone, he did a little hip bump that was cute,

(35:54):
That was slick, and I did like that. He had
amazing action in the beginning of the chutcha, the way
he was using his hips, his slow time steps with
the cuban action in them. There was really beautiful movement there.
It was so freaking well done. I dare say better
action than many other men that we've had on the show.
Doing a chutcha. The elbows, I said, were too low.

(36:18):
We lost a little bit of footing. We did have
a mistake which Derek did try and call out, but
he ran out of time. There was a little bit
of a mistake, and then after that we kind of
lost some of the crispness some of the action there
was after he'd had a little bit of a mistake.
He was doing two or three chutcha walks into a
lockstep to then start to go backwards. It wasn't as clean.

(36:39):
I think it was reminiscent of a combo that they
did in their first chutcha, but this one actually didn't
hit as hard as the first one. So he started
off super strong and then something happened and then it
was a little bit less strong, and I felt like
it was good. It was good, and it gets a
high score from me because the work that he did
on the action was spectacular and there's so many of

(37:01):
those isms and things in there that make it great.
I don't know that it would have ever gotten to
a ten because dynamically he's just missing things. For me.
That does come with the elbows being in the arms,
there's like a threshold or there's a barrier, there's one
last hurdle that he is supposed to jump over to
get that face and that performance. And I also felt
this in his tango too, like there was no real

(37:22):
face and performance. He was doing it with his body,
but it wasn't registering on his face. And this is like,
this is the storyteller, right, you want to you want
to see it. It translates what the body is doing
into an emotion for you, or into it he tells
you how to feel about it, right. I didn't get
that from him in either of his dancers. I didn't.
I know, he was smiling and there were some playfulness,

(37:44):
but I just wasn't getting enough face and performance on
top of it that I think I wish that he
cracked that. You know, we saw it in his Argentine
tango because that was a different kind of energy where
it could be a little more subtle, but Chat ain't subtle.
And yeah, and I very much wish that we got
a little bit of a bigger animated performance from him.

(38:09):
I think that would have been a really cool moment
to see. So the judges gave it a nine nine
ten I landed I was an eight nine. I was
an eight nine. I think I landed on a nine
because I really appreciated the chatch our work that he
did and that Danny did on the action, but dynamically
it was missing a couple things. Oh okay getting into

(38:39):
Whitney and Mauk, so I basically was right. I said
lots of swear words in this, but I was like, no, notes,
she's exceptional. And I said all the F bombs in
the middle of it, which I won't say because you'll
you have to bleep me out. So it was exceptional
and I absolutely loved it. There is one tiny little
thing where I would say that her frame tilts down

(39:00):
instead of her tilting up and stretching up and out
into her frame into that window onto the left side,
she sort of like has this little bit. It just
has a slight few degrees of an angle that goes down,
which bothers me. But her actual frame is lovely. It's
just a direction of her tilt. It was, Oh my god, guys,
it was so good. There was a little double foot

(39:21):
balance thing where she did hop. She absolutely did hop.
I think it was twice. I definitely saw one time.
Carrie In said twice. So there was a balanced thing
in it. There was something about this performance in her
face and in the beauty in it. I have a
feeling that they knew. I think they knew. And let
me tell you, you wake up. I think I've said

(39:43):
this here before. You wake up that day and you
just know, you know if you're winning, you know if
you're losing, you know if you're going home. That you
just have a knowing, right you wake up and that's it.
And so I think part of the emotions for her
that we were really seeing her experience in this and
Mark's saying, you can do this, you can do this,
and you know, none of us know really what's going

(40:04):
on behind the scenes there and what's happening in her world,
but she was experiencing some high level emotions and that
could be why we saw a little bit of a
foot hop and a balanced thing. Let's go to the
judges now. So Carrie Anne said it was her favorite performance.
It was so authentic and it was unmasked and it
was beautiful and she was almost emotional saying this, and

(40:26):
then she said did say but there was a hop
and that she has to Mark for that. Derek said,
thank you for sharing your ambition and your dreams. It's
so courageous, and so many people don't do that. They're
afraid to share it just in case it doesn't happen.
I appreciated that Derek said that because I also really
appreciated that about her. I don't understand. Again, I don't
know the law, but I don't totally understand the backlash

(40:49):
that she gets for being ambitious. I think it's spectacular
that she is. And we see men be ambitious all
the time and say what they want and go for it,
and I think, why can't we see her do it?
And so I agree with Derek. I love that he
said that. Bruno said she's immensely talented. The quality of
movement that we see very rarely, she's so in tune

(41:10):
and it was phrased with the music. Everything was impeccable. Agreed.
The way that this girl moves, I mean, listen, yes,
I know she's got dance experience, so sure, but the
way that she moves is not just having dance experience.
There is something beautiful in there. She is meant to
be doing this. She's she for whatever reason, I think
she said it in a package. She just didn't think

(41:31):
that this was for her because she fell into having
a family or whatever, and that obviously happened quite young.
I hope that this has sparked a new direction for
her where she follows this passion because it lights her up.
It absolutely lights her up, and she is brilliant at
it now wherever it leads her. I don't know if
can she act? Can she sing? You definitely need those

(41:53):
skills too, But I really hope that she pursues it
in some way because I think it is healing for
her and I think it is a part of who
she is and she needs that expression. And the partnership
between her and Mark has been absolutely so beautiful, and
you know, as I've said before, her freak matches his
freak and we just get to see some magic happen

(42:15):
between them. And I think that it's going to be
really exciting to see where she goes with this. I
will say that anytime I've met her, she's been absolutely lovely.
She seems to have built really beautiful, genuine connections with
everyone at the show. She seems so incredibly supportive when
I observe from a distance because I don't know her,
and when I'm there and I watch her so supportive

(42:36):
of everybody else, so genuinely supportive when people get good scores,
bad scores, have a good dance, make a mistake or nail,
it doesn't matter. She's in there with the people that
are around her, and I love seeing that she's a
part of the family of the season thirty four cast,
and she will definitely be missed on the floor and
I have truly loved watching them do their thing. So

(42:58):
the judges gave it nine ten. Carrie Anne landed on
a nine because of the foot hop and all the things. Listen.
As a spectator, I'm tens all day. As I said,
I said all the very colorful words and saying no notes,
but there were definitely things in there that I can
see the nine, and should I be sitting at the
judge's table, I probably would have had to have done

(43:18):
the same thing and said a nine as well. So
but it doesn't mean I don't think she's spectacular. I
think the performance was amazing. Do I actually feel that way?
It was just one little foot hop and her frame
was a little tilted. I don't know. Let's call it
a nine ten, Let's let's not commit. I'm gonna be
noncommittal and say it was a nine ten heading into
Jordan and Ezra's Argentine tango. Derek said that was a

(43:42):
top performance. Loved the lines and the smooth, slick tricks.
Bruno said it was beautiful, powerful and focused, so strong.
She is a leading lady. And Carrie Anne said she's
in a class of her own. She's the biggest risk
taker and that was the bomb. So no real dance
notes really to go off here for me, Like was

(44:03):
it good? It was good? But I was seeing flexed
feet in these kicks again and I was like clutching
my pearls, like what are we doing? No, this is
like a one oh one point your toes. So I
was feeling very very distracted by the flexed feet. And
I love the opening. I love the coming out upside down.
I thought that was very cool. I thought the content

(44:25):
was fabulous, the ganchos, the ochos, the lynx, the everything,
the chain step like it was really beautifully choreographed. The
tricks were were really good except one. There was one
that went a bit weird, and I think it was
meant to be. If you remember last season, Whitney did

(44:45):
one in her Argentine tango, the deadpool situation that she
did where she like lifted one leg, they fann she
fully rotated in the air and then she was caught
on Danny's shoulder. I think that's what it was supposed
to be, but it didn't get the high or the momentum,
and so it didn't land right. It was a little
bit a little bit dodgy for me on that one,

(45:06):
but the rest of them were seamless. There was also
no steamingers. But like I think it was the song.
It's hard for me to criticize them for that because
I do think the song didn't lend itself to it.
So I again it was that Argentine tangos were a
miss for me tonight with the song choices, but I

(45:27):
think it was a really hard dance for them with
their height right, so some of these kicks and flicks
in the way that your legs and your knees have
to align and your stride has to align. I think
it just made it a little bit of a harder
dance for them to truly get it right. It's not
to say that she didn't execute things well. I think
she did do well on it, but I wasn't necessarily

(45:47):
as blown away as the judges. The judges gave it
a ten ten ten. I landed on a nine. I
truly was deeply affected by the flexed feet in the
kicks all right. Heading into the last dance of the night,
we have it doing a very sexy Viennese welds. Bruno
said it was in top gun mode, it was thrilling
and that he will definitely be in the finals. Carrie

(46:09):
Anne said he always delivers, but he drew us in
differently tonight and that is the evolution of dance and
she loves watching him. She's just so proud of him.
Derek said it was ferocious, commanded it with every fiber
of his being, and the frame was meh okay, I agree.
The frame was a little rounded, It was a little
bit forward. It wasn't It wasn't as great as it

(46:30):
could have been. It felt almost a little bit more tango,
but rounded instead of a Viennese or a close hold
frame that you would see in international ballroom. Tango was
always a little bit sharper. So I I look, did
I love the dance? Love the dance. First word I
wrote was hot. Second two words I wrote was oh no,

(46:51):
And that then it was like frame is rounded, and
so it also got a little bit skippy, which meant
he wasn't using his shock absorbers and getting that strike.
He had a lovely stride, but he wasn't softening it
with his ankles and knees to truly make it feel seamless,
like if he was if you could only see the
top half of him, it should be so smooth like

(47:12):
a duck on water. Right, we shouldn't see the hard
work that is happening on the ground. And I felt
like we could see the hard work a little bit. Now.
There was a lot to love. There was a lot
to love. I love their connection. I love the performance factor.
I love his musicality. I love how big he goes
on things, even the drive and the stride, Like I
have to give props to that, just the bumpiness on

(47:33):
the other end of it, but also like props for
getting it in. So for me, I did love it,
but I didn't love it as much as his drive.
The judges landed on a ten nine ten, and I
landed on a nine for Robert on this one because
I did love it, but there was just a couple
of things in there where I felt kind of like
Derek wasn't quite there. I think you guys that it

(47:56):
is between Robert and Alex. That's what I think. I
have no idea where the other three land. I think
it could go anyway heading into the finale. It is
very much going to depend on what the pros create
as a freestyle. So the game with the freestyle is
you want to be different to other people. Someone's gonna
go emotional, someone's going to go upbeat, someone's going to
go big band, someone's gonna you know, you want to

(48:18):
be different, and you can never tell which one's going
to hit or which one's going to resonate with people
the most. The freestyle is the make or break moment,
you know, that's the last thing that you guys get
to vote on. It is the pinnacle, It is the crescendo.
It is the ending of their journey. And so I
feel I have no idea what anyone's gonna do. I

(48:40):
think if I would predict, I would say Robert and
Whitney will do something that is quite upbeaten fun, because
let mean, look what he's like in jive. I don't
know what Alex and Vow will do, but I know
our vow is an incredible like his beast, his craft
said at many times what he's going to create. He's
done many freestyles. I wonder if we'll go a little
bit of the rumor willis angle and that was a

(49:04):
really great freestyle. It was like Argentini or v An easy.
I can't remember someone go back and check it, but
we will see. Now it's you know, they're in the final.
No one can take that away from them, and they've
just got to create an amazing freestyle and I'm really excited.
It's one of my favorite things. I will be at
the show. I most likely won't sit in the audience

(49:24):
because that means I don't get to see as much
as I want to see. I'll be floating around backstage
and absolutely cheering and screaming for everyone. And I can't
believe it, you guys, this is We're heading into the
final of season thirty four, the finale of just such
an incredible season across the board. It's just the magic

(49:44):
is back, what everyone has created, the ratings that are
going up, the voting that you're all doing, like it
is just so spectacular to see this show coming back
around again like this and this new and younger generation
are part of it too, that are also upping the
level of it. You're not even pros like Yahn that

(50:05):
are new and learning. But that's the future of Dancing
with the Stars because it is evolving and I love
that because as it should, everything should evolve, And not
only is it evolving, it's bringing in more and more
of the magic that we used to have at the
same time. So what a joy this season has been.
What a joy it's been to do this with you guys.
I'm going to see you for one more next week.

(50:27):
Thank you as always for tuning in, and of course
if you have any questions about anything, put in the
comments on the reels and I will try and get
to them fail