Whether viewers were tuning in to watch Olympic gold medalist and gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, swimsuit model Brooks Nader or super bowl champion Danny Amendola, over 7 million fans have watched the premiere of “Dancing With The Stars” [DWTS] season 33. The first episode debuted Sept. 17 and was an immediate hit.
“Dancing With The Stars” features 13 guest celebrities, ranging from actors to athletes to reality TV show stars. These 13 performers are each assigned a professional dancer to work with throughout their time on the show. Every Tuesday, each duet performs a dance in line with that night’s theme. After each group’s performance judges score their dance out of ten, fans can also vote online and at the end of the night the pairs with the lowest scores is eliminated.
Because the first episode was the season premiere there was no elimination, but the participants’ scores from their first dances carried over to the next week. Tuesday, Sept. 24’s theme was “Oscars Night,” and featured a variety of dances all to honor an award that was designed to fuel and reward creativity, the Oscars.” At the end of the night, two couples were sent home and the other 11 dancers had two weeks to prepare for the double feature on Oct. 7 and 8, which occurred due to the Vice Presidential Debate on Oct.1.
The first episode of the double feature was “Soul Train Night.” Soul Train Night featured guest judge Rosie Perez, an Oscar-nominated actress who got her start as a dancer on the TV show “Soul Train.” The next episode was titled “Hair Metal Night,” and featured special guest judge Gene Simmons, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and “Kiss” legend. At the end of the night, two more couples were eliminated, leaving only nine remaining.
My personal favorite, American actress and singer Chandler Kinney, has consistently wowed the judges with her past dancing experience and has placed first or second in every round. Football player Danny Amendola and Bachelor Joey Graziadei have also been two of my favorite contestants, and both did backflips on Soul Train Night. Guest Judge Gene Simmons also caused a lot of commotion on Hair Metal Night, giving the first ten of the season, which many fans speculate was purely awarded due to the attractiveness of the dancer. Simmons made many inappropriate comments about women’s appearances and his scores often did not match his fellow judges’.
In addition to getting to watch celebrities dance on live television, “Dancing With The Stars” allows its viewers to learn more about the history of different types of dance. For example, at the beginning of Soul Train Night, the show explains that Soul Train was a TV show started in 1971 by DJ Don Cornelious. The show was created as a platform for black artists to showcase their music and culture and was often used to promote civil rights. Soul Train ended up having a significant influence over fashion and dance trends and even featured some prominent black artists, including a young Michael Jackson.
The show also teaches viewers about different styles of dancing. During Soul Train, DWTS judge Derek Hough explained the different rhythms and tempos of the five international Latin styles. Hough explained that by changing the tempo of a song, you can dance a Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive all to that one song.
During Hair Metal Night Hough talked to the audience about how a lift can be exactly what you need when trying to create an explosive performance. Hough went through several different lifts, how they are each done, and how important it is to make them look effortless.
So far season 33 has been full of amazing performances, and some slightly questionable guest Judges. In the future, I look forward to more fun performances with lifts, flips and more emotion. The next episode is Disney Night which should be full of fun sing-along songs and entertaining dances. Season 33 of Dancing With The Stars has been full of fun, with hopefully much more to come.
