Dancing With The Stars

Now, I'm not an avid TV watcher and haven't been bit by the reality show bug, but I doubt anyone who knows me would be surprised to hear that I've not missed a single episode of ABC's latest reality show...Dancing With The Stars. And I understand that millions of Americans are right there along with me. Whoda thunk?!! There's even an entire blog dedicated to information about the show...http://dancing-with-the-stars-info.blogspot.com/. I have to take a moment here to brag that my "alma mater" is sponsoring the event. Arthur Murray rocks!!

Ballroom dancing is by far the coolest thing to come my way in a long time. I've been doing this for 8 months now and I know how hard it is to learn these dances. I'm extremely impressed with the level of dancing the stars (John O'Hurley, Rachel Hunter, Joey McIntyre, Kelly Monaco, Evander Holyfield, Trista Sutter) have displayed in the last 3 weeks. Some are doing better than others (2 have already been eliminated), but this week's show will really be telling. The last 3 weeks, the couples have been doing 1 dance per show, but this week they have to do 2. We're talking 2 fully choreographed routines for brand new dances they are learning. When I did my competition in April, I spent 5 weeks (1 hour per day) to prepare a single dance routine that wasn't nearly at the level the stars are performing. Trust me when I say, this is not easy!

I do want to say that I think the judges are fantastic! They get a lot of flack from the audience when they give "harsh" feedback to the dancers, but I haven't disagreed with a single comment. In fact, on occasion, I think their comments were too nice. In my opinion, the only reason Evander made it through the second week was because of the audience vote which counts for 1/2 of the overall score. Trista was a better dancer (technically) than he was, but I think "America" is just sick of her and wanted her off of their televisions.

For me, the big surprises have been John O'Hurley (J. Peterman from Seinfeld) and Rachel Hunter (supermodel). I see them as true dancers. Their technique is good, but more importantly they convey the story of each dance and the feeling behind the music as well. They're definitely my favorites!

Well, if you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend checking it out. It's been so popular that ABC has been re-running the previous week's show the hour before the live show each week. It's on Wednesday nights, re-run at 7pm and live at 8pm. Don't miss it!!

Joey "oh baby baby" Gian

A little over a month ago, I was on a mad search for a song to do a swing routine to in our next Showcase. I had a deadline since we had a session with a choreographer and was panicked because I was running out of time and had found nothing. Then, in a flash of brilliance, I remembered this song...What If Loved You (by Joey Gian) -- you have to have Rhapsody to be able to listen...sorry :(

I came across this artist years ago (some time in the late 80s or early 90s). I saw him in a movie called "Mad About You" and fell in love with his voice. I'm ashamed to say that I kinda forgot about him over the years. I rediscovered him in the David Duchovny/Minnie Driver movie "Return To Me". He plays a band leader in the movie and recorded a couple of songs on the soundtrack (his only recordings available for purchase). It's hard to place him a genre since he sings quite a variety of styles (rock, big band, ballads, etc.). He's got a sexy, gravely voice and of course, he's adorable! If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it...and dont' forget to check out the special features to see his video of this song.