DanceWar Episode 2
After watching the first number, I had a feeling that I’d end watching this and feel as though there were two hours of my life that I’d never get back again…the dancing was bland, uninspired,and frankly, boring. Even the more impressive dance moves tended to be half-hearted or uncertain, such as the vertical split/twirl.
I don’t know if it was just me, but sounded to me like Carrie Ann was kind of prepping by making excuses for the entire group – “singing live on tv is really hard!” Well, yes, it is, of course, but the fact that they brought it up so quickly just kind of said to me “it’s been a rough week in DanceWar land…”
In light of my previous post, you can imagine how I felt about the pseudo-military costumes for the opening number – if they were doing a number from Miss Saigon or South Pacific, sure, but just as decoration? Again, felt like pandering.
The singing wasn’t bad, but the dance was half-hearted – I saw several instances where the moves were perfunctory, kind of walked-through and not committed to. They made the cardinal mistake, over and over, of letting the move end at the end of their bodies, instead of pushing the energy out beyond. The choppy editing of the individual montage began to really grate on me…with all the “zoom…whoosh!” transitions, it just felt too MTV.
And I think that’s my worry. We’re not looking for good singers and dancers, we’re looking for the next MTV set. And having a boy band number next kind of clinches it. I will say this – if they are actually singing and doing those dance moves, and the choruses aren’t actually voiced over…they’re doing pretty good. Bruno’s “difficult harmonies” comment, though, was ridiculous. That is not a difficult bit of harmony, folks, sorry.
The harmonies in the next group were much more impressive – but the dance suffered a bit. Who is it that choreographs these things?
And the choosing begins…again, lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Going over every persons name again? Ridiculous. Lachey’s reading of the question sounded so forced…if this is reality tv, why can’t they be real?
Wow, this is turning into a very whiny post. May have something to do with the fact that my back spasmed earlier today. Of course, last time I had a much nicer review than most other people, so this makes up for it.
The girls performance (why is it that all the girls had to perform together?) seemed to be a bunch of waving arms – again, not a lot of artistry here, just a lot of bump-grind-pump to go with the waving arms. I also found myself wondering how many of them had done this kind of dance in heels.
The process really seems tremendously padded to just enable more commercials. I really didn’t agree with Bruno’s evaluation of the vocal talents – especially the second group. I was amazed at how many wrong notes there were. The exception was Mariel, who I think is going to be my favorite. I keep hearing people complain about her dancing , but I don’t see it being any worse than anyone else’s, and her singing goes so far over everyone else, male or female – this is the person that I could easily see going on to a deal in the future.
Of course, the process of picking has to be totally hyped, with all the women compared to all sorts of celebrities- Beyonce, Shakira, Madonna, on and on…I think the process of hearing Mr. Lachey keep on repeating all the names each time is tied for the annoyance of “You’re….NOT the one that we want.” I was shocked that Mariel wasn’t chosen first by Bruno – I have to say that I think, in the realm of “competing”, he’s going to pay for that one.
They have one chance to perform again, and unfortunately the pressure showed almost right away – in the nervous twitching at the beginning, and the third singer who really dropped a note. And when the boys performed, it was obvious they had backups provided by the soundtrack, which leads me to suspect that the bigger group numbers really only have the soloists mic’d.
And let’s see…I think (this is being typed before they pick) that Alyssa and Philip are going home. Let’s see what really happens…Nope, Bruno proved me wrong right away, picking Philip. Again, I don’t think he’s really making the best decision there. I think Maxx will stay, though- Carrie-Ann is a dancer, primarily, and she’ll want to keep his talent.
…wow. I am obviously no judge of talent. Alyssa and Qis were picked, and Maxx and Corinna are going home. Maybe it was the hair…
I’d like to see, sometime, a loser say “Fuck this! You all have NO idea what you’re missing out on! And your accent isn’t cute, it’s TACKY!!!”
Just because it might feel, you know…real.
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