Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Kristi Yamaguchi on DWTS - Once Again, Is It Fair?

Kristi Yamaguchi, as LayDdee predicted was incredible last night on Dancing With the Stars. She was exceptionally graceful and moved like a pro. Oh, I'm sorry - that's right she already is a pro. This is my problem this season is seeing dancers and/or professional ice skaters up against the likes of Monica Seles. It just doesn't seem like fair competition.

What do you think? I mean even the beefy magician guy is TrYiNg and he doesn't even compare to Mario's slick dance moves, lets be honest. I think they should split the show up where all athletes compete against each other, actors/actresses compete and celebrities with a little experience go head to head. Now that would be fair in my opinion. What do you think?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kristi is a professional figure skater - not dancer! It's very different dancing on the ice versus dancing on the floor. Try doing the versus - have a professional dancer perform on the ice wearing less than 1/2 inch blades on their feet. Good skating requires incredible balance and skill. I's similar in terms of experience in performing but that's about it. Being comfortable on skates does not mean it would translate well onto the dance floor. I mean, imagine a hockey player trying to the foxtrot!? Please don't count Kristi out! Although I have to say that your idea of athletes competing against each other is intriguing!

LayDdee said...

yeah my thing is that she took dance and grace lessons to be the best figure skater. So...that beats out most of the other competitors like I mentioned before - Monica Seles. A lot of the judges comments stem from the fact that the other celebs don't have enough grace or style and most importantly excellent footwork to gain good scores. Kristi has all three and therefore has an edge.

Anonymous said...

It's true that Kristi has an advantage based on what you said. Yes she did take ballet classes when she was 4 years of age but not all figure skaters are alike. Try comparing the style of Kristi to say, Tonya Harding. I doubt Tonya would've been able to pull off a great foxtrot or would've had similar grace performing. I think most professional athletes will have an edge because they are used to training for long hours and are very aware of how their body works. But then again so does Mario or even Priscilla Presley(!) since she had taken ballet classes when she was young. Should anyone with ANY dance training in their background be labeled a ringer or be deemed unfair to the competition? I don't know why Mario isn't receiving more criticism...or maybe I just haven't seen any yet.

LayDdee said...

I'm just going by who is on the show now. Tonya Harding isn't so to comment on that would get us off track. Kristi got almost a perfect score and that is why I mentioned her and yeah I think she ranks up there with Mario and they could compete against each other - remember what I said, put them in categories to compete? I did mention him prior, you should check it out, stating the same thing.

LoungeLizzie said...

It completely UNFAIR. Kristi is basically a professional dancer on skates - it IS easier to dance on a floor than on ice with skates. It may be difficult for a dancer to be a ice skater, but it is NOT difficult for an ice skater to be a dancer. An ice skater must have grace, balance, and good dancing skills to be a professional ice skater. No one wants to see a bad dancer on ice skates (like Tonya Harding). Would Stars on Ice have hired Tonya? Of course not. Tonya Harding is an exception to ice skating and had little or no grace - this is a dumb comparison. I really can't imagine what they were thinking putting Kristi on DWTS and why more people are not upset about it. Maybe there should always be one Olympic skater (think Sasha Cohen, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Katarina Witt) on the show so the other contestants don't have a chance. Does anyone think these performers would not be good dancers?

KJP said...

I like Kristie but I think this season is unfair. Kristie also skated pairs with Rudy Galindo winning the 1988 world junior pairs competition and if you think they don't take dance classes besides ballet think again

Anonymous said...

I liked watching dancing with the stars until this season. I think it's very unfair that ABC selected Kristi Yamaguchi to be on the show. Maybe the TV producers wanted to make sure that a woman will win this season's title. Why else would they select a professional ice-skater who has years of dancing experience. No matter how hard the other contestants try, they will not dance as well as Kristi Yamaguchi, at least not within a short 10 week learning period. Every contestant started at ground 0 but Kristi Yamaguchi was already on the top. That is so unfair. I don't think I want to watch the show anymore.

Anonymous said...

Used to do some figure skating myself... Although they might not take "dance lessons" per se, at the level at which Yamaguchi skates, skaters have professional dancers advising them on how to move their hands, arms, neck... IMHO, she is a dancer- just does it on ice. I agree with kyoumans... "It may be difficult for a dancer to be a ice skater, but it is NOT difficult for an ice skater to be a dancer." From the moment I found out Yamaguchi was on DWTS, I thought it was rigged this season so that a female would win. ~M

Unknown said...

Yeah,
You don't win Olympic gold without having a well rounded background in off ice dance training...plus, she's was doing pro competions and ice shows pretty much non stop before she started a family. And as a professional costumer myself who has worked on televised ice shows, I've seen how pro/celeb skaters learn choreography in a matter of days before a live show. As a big fan of DWTS and figure skating, I really felt that this was just unfair and less interesting than the other seasons...I would love to see a season of only male and female pro skaters! that would be a level playing field!

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