Episode Report Card Kim: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Performance 5
By Kim | Season 6 | Episode 9 | Aired on 04.14.2008
Last week, Priscilla got penalized for her lift. She thought their bottom two finish was a wake-up call to up her game. In rehearsals, Louis tutored her on the rumba, including leg and arm placement. Can I just say that Priscilla looks incredible, for any age? I would kill for her figure. Anyway, she gets frustrated with Louis's teaching style, but they manage to pull it together.
They begin their rumba, which I didn't realize was quite this slow. The beginning has a strange lack of intent -- it feels sort of aimless and more like they are walking around not quite in time to the music. And then Priscilla totally does a split, like what's up with that? The rest of the routine is nice until they get to their final pose, which I can't really explain. It somehow involves Louis spreading his feet apart and Priscilla bracing against him while one of her legs is up in the air, so she's like a capital F, and he's like a capital A. Sort of. Anyway, Priscilla looks totally tentative on this move, which makes me wonder if one of them is injured or if they screwed it up in rehearsal or if something went wrong. Anyway, I didn't think it was their best routine.
Bruno thinks that Priscilla always does a good job playing her role, but the slow speed of the rumba exposed a lot of her faults. Carrie Ann thinks she was in her head too much instead of flowing. Len says he was disappointed, and he thought it was too careful and lacked spontaneity. People can't believe how harsh Len was, and the other judges start arguing with him for being too much of a stickler on the heel leads and whatnot. So how does that translate into scores? Carrie Ann 7, Len 7, and Bruno 7 for a total of 21 out of 30. Priscilla thought the scores would be lower, so she's pleased.
Last week, Marissa finally got good scores from the judges. She reports that it made her want to work harder this week, while learning the samba. Marissa says that she's learned that this dance is all about shaking her butt, and she's moving her body in ways she never has before. While Tony is trying to teach her the moves, she looks confused. And then she puts on the samba headdress, which is about five feet of feathers. Somehow, she claims, it helps.
Marissa starts the samba with a lot of shaking and shimmying and doesn't really let up. Her footwork seems better than usual to me, although I still don't think the costumers know how to dress her body. I also think she might faint from lack of breathing when she finishes. Carrie Ann thinks it was her best routine by far. Len liked the mixture of steps and the choreography, and he thinks she needs to work on moving her hips as much as her shoulders. Bruno compares Marissa to a beach ball, which is sort of unfortunate, but he mostly says nice things so hopefully she didn't hear that part. Scores are Carrie Ann 8, Len 8, and Bruno 8, and Marissa is happy.