My Comments and Scores in Dancing With The Stars--Season 9--Semifinals

Semifinals for Dancing With The Stars--Season 9 (2009)

My Comments and My Scores and Judges' Scores

Here, I give comments as soon as I finish seeing the dancers dance their heats on TV, just like the judges make them. And then, I give the overall score to the couple before the judges' scores are announced. That's what I do.....So, since I am "The Little Lily of Dancing", a dance lover, and a dancer myself who adores (yea, "loves") dancing so much, as Kool and the Gang would say..."Get Down On It!"


Donny Osmand and Kym Johnson

TANGO
In some of the promenade sequences, Donny's footwork was sometimes not in sync. Sometimes, in the close promenade position moves, Donny's face and top line is not too much strong and sometimes lacking in posture. Some of his other walking and rocking footwork was fairly poor in synchronization even though there was some good tango content. Considerable introvert feelings from Donny were, sadly, the norm for most of his routine.

My score: 6.
The judges' scores: 7, 7. 7

SAMBA
Donny's solo part in the samba was good. The leg drop was great. Good samba content for most of the routine. Well, the promenade runs were good. The runaround move was great....so does the drunken circular volta move that you don't usually see in International samba (it is called the Argentine Cross). Even more....Donny's leads in the Rolling of the Arms and the Botafogo with Hand Change were good but I had seen that the footwork was a little bit lacking...he sometimes lets Kym do all of the dancing and not him. I was expecting more body rolling actions like the Reverse Roll from Donny but I did not really see it.

My score: 8
Judges' scores: 8, 9, 9.

JITTERBUG

His twists were good...his shimmies and his good clean fun as a showman were good. He even took a dare of going into his own man's aerial with Kym's help....in a much shorter routine.

My score: 8
Judges' scores: 9, 9, 9.

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough

VIENNESE WALTZ
Well, her arm styling was very good and her top line was very, very good. Her running fleckerl turns were right on. The only problem was the opening without the Viennese waltz content. The choreography at that point was a little bit too freestyle. Nevertheless, Brooke Burke's advice really helped her a lot. Good job. Especially when she was released from hold into what I called a Side-by-Side Lunge Point Pose (common in advanced American Viennese Waltz)...her arms were great!

My score: 8.
The judges' scores: 9, 9, 9.

CHA-CHA-CHA
Great hip action from Joanna especially when Derek led her in the 2-hand Open Facing holds. Good swivel actions and slip pivot actions and hip twists (especially the "continuous hip twist") by Joanna....and also...great position in the bending dips and the drops by Joanna too. Great job, Joanna. Looks like her past ballet training really, really helped her so much!

With that, she may become the next "Brooke Burke" if she gets to the finals!!

My score: 9
The judges' scores: 9, 9, 9 (the same as I!)

SALSA
Cross-body lead turns were great and right on the beat (looks like she was thinking about the "on 1" salsa timing), as well as the spins and turns. Good hip twists and shimmies and swivels. Good drop at the end even though Derek almost messed up the drop.

My score: 9
The judges' scores: 9, 9, 9.

Kelly Osborne and Louis van Amstel

RUMBA
Kelly was very good. The last move...a cantilever stretch, was great even though there was a slight stumble. Great extrovert feeling for the character of the dance. She had a good fan kick and ronde. Her fold pose (I would call this a "Folding Leg Lift") and fold stretch was good in the middle of the routine. Opening out movements were very good. Well, I can agree to Bruno that hip action should stand out more....I need to see more of it.

My score: 7
The judges' scores: 8, 8, 8.

QUICKSTEP
Very good Kelly! Her feet were floating on air on all of those polka chasses and scatter hops and charleston flicks and running chasses. One specific jump in the charleston variation...called the cross-hammer jump drop...was right on! Great! Even to a non-quickstep rock song like "99 Luftballoons" by Nena....it suits her so much because she grew up with rock music thanks to Ozzy. They say, "O, Nellie"...but I should say, "Oh, Kelly!!"

Well, the only problem was Louis's final drop that almost caused Kelly disaster...Kelly almost fell to the floor on that drop (I guess it was a death drop).

My score: 9.
The judges' scores: 9, 9, 9.

CHA-CHA-CHA
Pretty good cha-cha by her. There were some misses in the cha-cha because she was a little bit too introvert when she exploded into those "New Yorkers", but the rest of the choreography seems to be right on for the rest of the routine. The song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" fit her since she was allowed to choose the song as well as the knockout dance.

My score: 8.
My judges' scores: 9, 9, 9.

Mya and Dimitri Chaplin

WALTZ
Slight failure in choreography in the end...more of a freestyle ending that was too much. Arms by Mya were very good in styling. A little too raunchy in the end. But the good news despite of that is that she was right on in most of the dancing. I loved so much the one-legged standing spin by Mya in attitude leg in the middle of the dance...in fact, this was the best part of the dance.

My score: 8.
The judges's scores: 9, 9, 10.

SALSA
Well, Mya is the "isla bonita". The song "Isla Bonita"...in mambo style...fits Mya so greatly!

Mya is a dancing diva in the salsa with Dimitri! Great turns, great spins, great rondes, great shimmy shakings and hip actions. Dimitri's sombuka wrap variation (the "continuous sombuka") was spectacular.

My score: 10.
The judges's scores: 10, 10, 10

CHA-CHA-CHA
Mya's hip action in the chasses were right on. Great Latin movement overall by Mya. Could have seen more if the cha-cha was for an extra 40 seconds in the heat. The split drop by Mya at the end was great.

My score: 9.
The judges' scores: 9, 10, 10.

Well, how do I feel about all of this dancing I have seen....GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking Back--U.S. Involvement in the Second Gulf War in 2003

This is a journal of mine that focuses of my reactions to the first day the U.S. got involved in the Second Gulf War...


What a disgrace! As soon as I saw the first live TV
pictures last night--hearing and seeing the
'crackle-crackle-
crackle' of Iraqi AAA fire and detonating 'bangs' from

U.S. cruise missiles and bombs across the hazy
predawn sky in Baghdad, I was stunned, partially
because I thought Saddam Hussein would obey
the final ultimatum brought by President Bush. It
tells Saddam: Leave Iraq or face war. He did not
leave Iraq and I even speculate that Eli Pariser
(I actually saw him on the TV news 2 days before
the war, on NBC news), the famous leader of the
anti-war group known as MoveOn.org, is shocked that
the U.S. had chosen the wrong choice--war--instead
of letting Saddam leave the country.

I am a Chicago native and I am pretty nervous. And you
probably know why. WAR HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!!! I have
jitters about possible retaliatory attacks on downtown
Chicago because even with the upgrading to the orange
color on the
National Terror Alert and the ratcheted-up security,
there is still free air space around downtown Chicago.
Mayor Richard Daley is presently trying to tell the
FAA to limit air space in that area.
I do not live in downtown Chicago, but memories of
the September 11 attacks still haunt me a little bit.

No-fly zones had already been established around
downtown New York and Washington D.C. and Disneyland
parks in California and Florida about 4 days just
before the first bombs and
missiles hit Baghdad yesterday and today.

It is a deep disgrace for all of those anti-war
protesters. They did everything they could to stop
war in Iraq by marches and blockades and die-ins and
sit-ins and human chains and human shields and other
'direct actions' not just in the United States--not
just around the
University of Illinois campus--but around the world--
Europe especially. Now that the war has happened,
the only light at the end of the tunnel is that we
all 'delayed war' by about 4 or 6 months. That is the
good thing we should be proud of. All was not lost in
the struggle to keep Bush from choosing military
action.

My Dream Experimental Jazz Ensemble Revealed!!!

Let me tell you that I am ready to make a proposal for my dream experimental jazz ensemble in Chicago.

My encounters through my original performance art dances with such Chicago experimental jazz ensembles and indie band ensembles like the Tomorrow Music Orchestra, Pedway, Whitewolf and Sonic Princess, the Telepaths, and the Hathaways are making me so inspired that I

The name of the ensemble I am thinking of is going to be called.......

LINDEN JOY!!!!!!!!

This is inspired by my alter ego, Lamar Jacobsen Linden, that I used in my performance art dancing since 2001.

This ensemble will feature my good musical friends who are, I believe, great creative musicians and emerging improvisers that I had ever seen in this city...

The tentative lineup for Linden Joy will likely be......

Matthew Golombisky, bassist
Cale Piepenburg, flutist, assistant performance artist
Quin Kirchner, drums
Caroline Davis, saxophone
Bill MacKay, guitarist
James Moeller, guitarist
Carla Hayden, tambourine/assistant spoken word artist
Carlos Pecciotto, percussion (you know him from the Environmental Encroachment
Circus Punk Marching Band)
CHARLES JOSEPH SMITH, bandleader and performance artist/spoken word artist

Other added guests in my experimental ensemble will likely include more of my good musically creative friends....

Paul Velat, spoken word artist/experimental singing artist
Rosie Velat, backup vocals
Amanda Crumley, additional vocals
Maestro Phil, percussion
Huntress Diana, bass guitarist

What will make this band rather unique from other experimental bands and ensembles is that I will use my performance art dancing to lead the band.

Inspired by the spoken word artistry of Leslie Beukelman, who currently sings for Information Superhighway I am also going to use my experimental spoken word also to lead this ensemble.

Graphic notation will likely be used to make things easier. The style will be almost like Chicago's Lighthouse Orchestra, but not exactly..

The ensemble I am dreaming of was inspired by the Tomorrow Music Orchestra, where Matthew Golombisky acted as bassist and bandleader.....My memorable thing was dancing with the TMO at the 2008 Around The Coyote Festival.

This proposal was inspired by my performance art dancing I did for 6 years. I love the drums so much because this is my elixir. Frank Rosaly, one of the famous emerging creative drummers in Chicago, strongly inspires me. So does another drummer...Kalyan Pathak, an Roosevelt University alum (I was also an alum of that school too).

First gig I am planning for this "dream band" would be the Hideout because I love it so much. I am going to announce the gig like what happened when the Hideout was a sellout when "Little Shop of Horrors" happened this Halloween 2009.