Episode Report Card Kim: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Try to Do A Waltz And I Stumble
By Kim | Season 9 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.22.2009
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Kathy is so tall, since she was a model and all, but she's even taller than Tony. In their salsa, she does well when she's in hold, but it kind of falls apart when she's not. Her shoulders are weird. Tony definitely choreographed to her strengths, as there is a lot of instances where Kathy just stands there and poses while Tony dances around her - I like to call this the Julianne Hough school of dancing. I mean, she's not terrible and her footwork was mostly good, but I think she'll do better at ballroom.
Len thinks she has potential, but it lacked energy and was too careful. Bruno doesn't think she sold the salsa enough, and she needs to put more sex into it. Tom notes that Len has a fly buzzing around and jokes that it has to do with the quality of his comments tonight. Carrie Ann thought that was hilarious. Carrie Ann tells Kathy that her posture is great, but she needs to loosen up overall, especially her hips. Yeah, that's it. She needs more hip action. Scores: Carrie Ann 6, Len 5, and Bruno 5 for a total of 16.
Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin is paired with Alec. She looks more like a supermodel than a swimmer, when she's all dolled up. Since she's not a performer, Natalie has a hard time getting her face relaxed and smiling while she's dancing, so Alec works with her on that. She admits that when she swims, she bites her lip and has even drawn blood before. Yikes! Alec wants no blood on the dance floor, and I don't blame him.
Natalie actually has hip action in her salsa, when she remembers, which is better than the dancers who have gone before her tonight. Her arms look great too, but her footwork is not great. I feel like Latin footwork especially needs to be quick and sharp, and hers isn't. She also forgets to smile sometimes; she's definitely not used to performing. But for an athlete, she does really well. She just needs to relax a little more and look like she's having fun. There's a lot of content in the dance, but it's kind of choppy, sort of moving from one stunt to the next without a lot of smooth transitions, but I think that's a choreography issue.
Bruno thinks she could make it in the competition, because she has fantastic shapes, but she sometimes froze in mid-performance and had trouble catching back up. Carrie Ann thinks she is a diamond in the rough, but she needs to work on her musicality. Len babbles about being bewildered, and then says that the salsa is supposed to be sexy and steamy, and this one wasn't. Carrie Ann tells him he's getting old. She does look way cuter just standing there than she did on the dance floor. Scores: Carrie Ann 7, Len 6, and Bruno 6 for a total of 19.