*DWTS Season 9: Spoilers and Speculation*

[Andiemywestie]

Melissa Joan Hart had formal ballet training for years. Found out by googling.

I find that very difficult to believe. All the reports are that she had some dance choreographed for her wedding, but no other experiences. I saw one google that was worded like she went to the National Ballet in Canada, but when I read it, it was actually pertaining to Neve Campbell, (from Party of 5) who I know is a very strong ballet dancer.

[cousin_oliver]

I found information about Melissa's dance background as well. In another article, she said she stopped dancing because she had to focus on acting. Apparently she danced from like 6-12, which is about the same amount as Joanna. Looks like a lot of celebs this year have some dance experience. Mark never danced but with martial arts, he has learned choreography and knows about body control. That helps. He's got the edge athletes often have on the show along with grace.

[Andiemywestie]

Okay, well I haven't seen any article on her dancing, and she didn't look very graceful to me in rehearsal, but whatever. 6 years of Ballet is fairly substantial for this competition. On the rehearsal tape Joanna looks like she's had ballet training for sure. It's too bad all these people won't even come on the show without training in a dance style anymore.

I liked it better when they were raw, like Apolo or Emmit or Gilles or Helio, even Mark Dascascos...not dancers but it's interesting how they will use their training to become dancers.

I'm not really interested in how a ballet dancer is going to cha cha. I know what it's going to look like. Dainty, not earthy, but there's perfect position and rhythm. Kind of boring.

[Reggie24]

Ballet training may keep these girls from winning. The judges seemed to be all over Mel last season because they felt her dances were too balletic. Although they will certainly appear more graceful on the dance floor, the judges may be far more critical of them.

[n4692u]

Ballet training may keep these girls from winning. The judges seemed to be all over Mel last season because they felt her dances were too balletic. Although they will certainly appear more graceful on the dance floor, the judges may be far more critical of them.

The judges expected more from Melissa than from any of the others. CA was always saying she needed to challenge herself. I don't recall her telling Gilles or Shawn that. Also, Bruno said Melissa's ballet training was a "blessing and a curse" because she tended to always go off her toes instead of her heels.

[cousin_oliver]

I did not get that at all. Didn't Shawn have some type of ballet training from gymnastics too? CA was too nice to Shawn because she danced the same for the entire show but they kept applauding her technique. She had heel leads and only Mel got called out for it.

[Living]

Shawn and Gilles started with nothing and improved. Shawn' first few weeks were awful. Melissa started strong. after just a short training, she was able to do very well on her first night. That showed potential. The judges wanted to see more, because they believed she was capable of spectacular things after her first performance. Unfortunately she did not deliver. she was always good bvut never improved. They tried to push her to get the best out of her, nbut it remained the same from first to last dance. The others always improved so there was no need to call them out;.

[Andiemywestie]

I will agree that Gilles, while goofin' around with friends has a natural ability to dance but no training. I KNEW as soon as I saw Shawn's first rehearsal tape that she was going to win. WHY? Because people are lulled into the idea that she has no dance training, but in fact gymnastics is riddled with Ballet terminology for all of their dance moves. You merely have to check a Gymnastics website to find out. Further, FEMALE Gymnasts must DANCE to music on their floor routines. A pirouette in Ballet is the same thing in gymnastics. Anyone who has that sort of experience in a competitive level on the world stage is going to win.

Shawn also had a 60% fan support before she even started. The machine was in place for a long time, and all the little girls in every gym across the country voted. The story is Gilles had virtually no numbers coming into the competition and almost beat her.

The reason Shawn was scored critically by the judges is because from the very beginning she had a HUGE advantage, both in numbers, and in DANCE experience. I agreed with the judges that she needed to be outstanding. She wasn't. She was an ordinary dancer. She reverted to using gymnastics, gymnastics arms, and gymnastics movement, NOT dance to win. To me she learned very little dance, because when she danced she was extremely boring.

[karalott]

So far, here are our dances for the first week of competition. 8 couples dance one night, 8 the next, and 2 get the boot Wednesday. One thing I'm confused about is this relay dance idea. Joanna said she's doing the relay foxtrot, and I believe Mya said she's doing the relay cha cha. I googled to see if anything came up about what those are but didn't find anything Hopefully they're not as corny as they sound I don't always trust the producers. Anyway, so far, here are some of who's dancing what:

Aaron/Karina: Cha-Cha
Mark/Lacey: Cha-Cha (reportedly to "Kung Fu Fighting")
Joanna/Derek: Salsa and relay foxtrot
Mya/Dmitry: VW and relay cha-cha
Melissa/Mark: VW and relay cha cha
Kellie/Louis: VW
Louie/Chelsie: Foxtrot ("It's My Life")
Ashley/Edyta: Foxtrot and relay salsa
Tom/Cheryl: VW

I'm not exactly sure what is up with the variety of dances, either, considering it's one or the other. That may be interesting.

[CocoaB]

I believe the relay dances are done in the same manner as the face off dances. The judges are better able to compare the couples seeing them dance one right after the other.