FINALLY got around to seeing this; kept meaning to but also kept forgetting it was on. The main reason I wanted to watch was I was hoping to get more of a knowlege of the basic ballroom dances so as to enhance my understanding of the compulsuries used in Ice Dance, and that I have gotten already, especially in the Quickstep.
What is bothering me about the show, however, is the use of inappropriate music for some of the dances. I'm sorry, but I do not feel the rhumba lends itself to being done to a really bad version of "Endless Love" (which to me is redundant since I hate that song anyway), and with inappropriate music it's hard to get a feel for what the dances are actually supposed to look like. Some of the dances that have been performed remind me of skating programs that seem to have been choreographed before the music was selected.
As to the competitiors:
I think Rachel is over-rated and Kelly is under-rated. I feel that they're basically on the same level, but they rave and rave about Rachel and complain constantly about Kelly. Evander was just horrible, but I do cut him slack based on the fact that he's quite a large guy and his center of gravity is just too high to perform certain types of dances especially well. Plus carrying around that extra weight didn't exactly help either. Joey and John are definitely the best of the bunch; both seem to be quite adept at footwork and show a lot of expression (tho some of John's facial expressions, while amusing, are a bit MUCH.). I'm not surprised about John -- he's always given me the impression of being the type of urbane guy who would have a natural affinity for this type of thing.
