Archive for "Dancing With the Stars"

Whitney To Dance with the Stars

Published by Michael Arceneaux on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 12:20 am.

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Although she’s not necessarily the best dancer, Whitney Houston has plenty of songs you can jig to (jig is my word, by the way).

There’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” for the people old enough to consume liquor in the 80s. We have “My Name Is Not Susan” for the old souls – well, I dance to it. I’ve seen plenty an aunty jig, get it big to “I’m Every Woman” (respect to Chaka Khan). And now chirren young and old go off to “Million Dollar Bill.”

That’s probably why ABC has tapped Ms. Nippy if ya nasty to perform on the season finale of Dancing with the Stars.

I’m going to go with a hunch that she’s going to perform “Million Dollar Bill” that night. Or she might go with an oldie, but that could definitely go either way with respect to one of the best vocalists of all-time.

Hopefully her trademark two-step will also represent on the show.

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Mya Sets Off Dancing With the Stars

Published by Starr Rhett on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 11:00 am.

Mya delivered on Dancing With The Stars last night, despite injuring her hand a couple of nights ago. She made her debut with partner Dmitry Chaplin, doing the Viennese Waltz. They danced beautifully to “Vision of Love,” and got one of the highest marks from the judges that night. Mya had been featured in recent interviews saying that her dance experience adds more pressure to do well, and that she was nervous because she had never done ballroom dancing before but she was really good.

She got hate from one judge, Lenwho did a bad impression of the grumpy old men from The Muppetsbut the other two gave her glowing reviews. They said her lines were really good and that her presence was good. She set the bar for the rest of the night and the competition. See for yourself:

If Mya doesn’t win the competition, she will definitely go very far. That dance training she’s had has paid off.

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Mya Talks About Prepping for Dancing With The Stars

Published by Starr Rhett on Monday, August 24, 2009 at 11:00 am.

By now we know that Mya has joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars season 9, but are we taking her skills for granted? Mya is a pop “singer” but she’s a trained dancer first. Let’s face it she’s probably the best dancer out of all the new wave pop divas to hit the stage post ‘95. You would think she wasn’t nervous and that she had this Dancing With the Stars gig in the bag (she trained with Savion Glover at the Dance Theater of Harlem for goodness sake) however, Mya isn’t getting ahead of herself. In a recent interview with TV Guide, she talked about how her dance experience doesn’t make things better because she’s learning new forms of dance—ie. Ballroom dancing—which places her under more pressure.

She told TG:

It’s kind of intimidating. I don’t know what I’m doing right now. [Laughs] In music videos, they make it look right and there’s editing, but this is going to be live. I’m scared of messing up because of the high expectations. For any gymnast or ice skater or person in music — like Lance Bass or Mel B. — everyone is going to be overly critical of us first. We want to get it right, but if we don’t, we’re, like, letting everyone down.

Mya is right but I think she’s being modest. The girl can move plus, even though her previous dance training may have been different from what she’s learning now (and sans a partner), she has good experience (especially from doing Ballet). I think she’ll place highly even if she doesn’t win. One thing we can count on is that she won’t be stiff like Master P. or Kim Kardashian. Speaking of past contestants, she mentioned that she’ll reach out to “Lady Marmalade” accomplice, Lil’ Kim, for advice. Lil’ Kim was good as a dancer but I think the best advice she can give Mya is about costumes (how to be flashy and over-the-top) and charm. Mya’s on her own with the Cha Chas and Waltzes. One question that still remains is will she pay homage to the Cell Block Tango in a nod to her Chicago days (she did the movie and Broadway). The details are still up in the air but that would be cool to see. Either way, Mya’s going to be fine.

The new season airs September 21.

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Mya, Macy, & Michael Ready To Dance

Published by Michael Arceneaux on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 12:00 am.

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I feel for Mya.

She’s by far one of the best dancers to come out within the last two decades (that’s not named Janet Jackson). She’s not just a twirker or a p-popper – she’s a trained dancer.

Yet, she’s never reached the level of mainstream stardom as other R&B singers currently hailed for their dancing (or something).

Though some may look at this as a step down, I look to her joining the cast of Dancing With The Stars as an opportunity. The show did wonders for Lil’ Kim and gave Mario some much needed exposure. Here’s to hoping the same will happen for Mya.

The singer is just one of the 15 new contestants announced for the new season.

The others are as follows:

Chuck Liddell: The Ultimate Fighting Championship member.

Louie Vito: Professional snowboarder.

Natalie Coughlin: Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer.

Michael Irvin: Hall of Fame winning former wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.

Kelly Osbourne: Singer/actress/reality star.

Macy Gray: Singer.

Debi Mazar: Entourage co-star and Madonna’s homegirl.

Ashley Hamilton: The son of George Hamilton and Alana Stewart (and stepson of Rod Stewart).

Kathy Ireland: Former Sports Illustrated model.

Joanna Krupa: Swimsuit model.

Aaron Carter: Pop singer and younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter.

Donny Osmond: Former teen idol and actor.

Melissa Joan Hart: Star of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clarissa Explains It All.

Tom DeLay: A former Republican House Majority Leader who resigned after being indicted on campaign finance violations.

Mark Dacascos: The chairman of Kitchen Stadium on Iron Chef America since 2005.

So I’m definitely curious to see how well Macy Gray can shake a tail feather, but outside of her, Clarissa The Witch (I like that better than Sabrina), and Tom DeLay’s alleged crooked self, I’m not sure I’m excited about this line up.

I’ve read bills more entertaining.

I guess we’ll have to wait next year for LaToya Jackson to join.

The ninth season of Dancing With The Stars premiers on Sept. 21.

You ready?

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Lil’ Kim Dances Jailhouse Rock

Published by Starr Rhett on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 10:33 am.

Dancing With the Stars is still pretty boring. I thought Lil’ Kim’s presence would add more excitement to the show overall, but I still just watch it only for her. I find myself flipping channels back and forth between DWTS and Heroes just to make sure that I catch Kim’s performance so that I can watch and keep it moving. But I digress.

Last night, Queen B and her partner Derek Hough did a sassy jive to “Jailhouse Rock.” Of course, it was a nod to Lil’ Kim’s past, and she danced her heart out. The dance didn’t look easy but the pair executed it well, scoring a 28 out of 30. While judges Carrie Ann and Bruno gave the couple 10s, Len dished an eight claiming that it lacked substance.

I don’t agree that it lacked substance, but the 10s were a little inflated. If I were a judge, I would have given them a nine. The pair did a really good job, but Lil’ Kim did miss a step or two.

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Nielsen Releases Top African-American Ratings

Published by Starr Rhett on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 2:34 am.

Nielsen released the top African-American TV ratings last week but ironically,  there are no Black shows listed. As you can see, American Idol is number one but only one Black person (a woman) is left on the show. Basketball is understandable. OK, that was a stereotypical thing to write but let’s face it, we know “folks” be lovin’ some b’ball. Now that that’s out of my system, it’s cool to see 60 Minutes on the list because with all the garbage on TV 95% of the time, at least there’s one hour to make amends. Plus, maybe the ladies are checking for Byron Pitts—if he’s your type.  I don’t watch, nor am I that familiar with CSI Miami and The Mentalist, but we all know that you’re watching Dancing With the Stars for Lil’ Kim (not even David Alan Grier).

Gone are the days of The Cosby Show, A Different World, and Living Single, but of course African-Americans watch TV. I wonder how they’re figuring these stats out. What do you think it is about this particular programming that’s popular with the Black audience?

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Usher Trips Up On “Dancing”

Published by Tanu Henry on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 6:38 am.

If you tuned in to the ”Dancing With the Stars” finale last night just to see Usher’s performance, wait til’ ya hear what happened behind the scenes of his pre-taped, edited performance. Apparently, Mr. Usher’s quite the diva, even when he missteps.

Reports PEOPLE: First, the 29-year-old singer arrived late, throwing the entire production behind schedule. Then, while appearing to lip-synch two songs—”Yeah!” and “Love in This Club”—he fell out of step with his choreography, turning the wrong way once and losing his mic a second time. With each mistake he walked offstage. The performance then went further off-course when the singer took a long break to get a drink. “He was ridiculous,” a source tells PEOPLE. “Such a diva.” Following Usher’s act, the DWTS cast and crew had only 15 minutes to prepare for the live show (rather than the standard 45-minute post-taping buffer.)

The May 13 taping left host Tom Bergeron and company scratching their heads–and scrambling to set up. “There was a lot of holdup. We almost didn’t [make it],” said one source.

Well, just who does Usher think he is!

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