Episode I

No, not Star Wars. Last night was the first installment of Dancing with the Stars. (see previous post here) We saw six competitors, three men and three women. The men did the "Cha cha cha." (Is it just me, or does that seem like one "cha" too many? The USABDA calls it the "Cha-cha," and they should know. Even the show's own website calls it the Cha Cha. And why stop at three? If it's a long dance, why not call it the "Cha cha cha cha cha"? But I digress.) The women did the Waltz. The men actually outshone the women, which leads me to believe that the Cha-cha is easier to make look good than the Waltz. That makes sense; most of what the men did in the Cha-cha was posing and moving their partners around, while the women were required to be graceful and controlled. By the way, it's amazing what you can tell about a dancer just by looking at their shoulders. After a second viewing I decided that Rachel Hunter actually did quite a good job. She and Jonathan Roberts are well matched; both have classic lines. I thought John O'Hurley gave the best performance, followed closely by Rachel Hunter, and then Joey McIntyre. I'm somewhat surprised to find that I'm in agreement with the judge's rankings. The professionals all looked great, although I was unimpressed when Alec Mazo introduced himself as "a living legend among ballroom dancers." His routine with Kelly Monaco was also not very true to the waltz style; it was more about posing than movement. I found the segments showing the rehearsals of the individual teams to be the most interesting part of the show, and the most revealing. I'll definitely be watching next week!