Oh can this happen for real? I have heard there will be some openings next season with Maks not coming back and Jonathan too? I think Pasha would be a great replacement. When J-Lo sang Let's get loud it immediately took me back to Pasha and Melanie LaPatin. I was so hoping they would magically pop up out of nowhere.

Has he competed as a pro on the ballroom dance circuit? Because I think all of the other pros have to a greater or lesser extent.

Pasha dances as a professional with his partner, the wonderful and ultra-talented, Anya Garnis.

And yeah, I want him on the show too. He's an incredible dancer, he's ridiculously likable and he's Pasha! He's awesome.

I love the music on SYTYCD, but the variety of dances usually disappoints me, because we get the same hip-hop routine and the same Broadway routine or the same Wade Robson routine fifty different times per season.


I'm not sure if they'd hire him, because he was so high-profile on SYTYCD. The shows may see each other as rivals. I wouldn't be shocked if Pasha had to sign a contract saying he wouldn't go on that show for a certain period of time.

He has. He and his partner Anya Garnis(she too was on season 3 of SYTYCD). They are good choreographers too, as they choreographed this routine on the tour. I would love to see Anya on the show too, but I can't shake the feeling that Pasha's chances would be better then hers.

This season does seem boring, especially compared to last season with Apolo, Laila, and Joey, as well as the other people. My favorite couple this season is Mel and Maks, and I hope they do well.

I think I've also been spoiled by SYTYCD. I like watching ballroom, and while I prefer it on this show, as one of each couple is a pro, but watching only ballroom can get boring.

Yup, and they actually have placed better than several of the pros on DWTS right now, including Alec and Edyta (I believe). I would love to have Pasha on.

I think the reason the show will never bring Pasha on is because of just the fact that people want to see him on. He is already being treated as the celeb and nobody seems to care who his actual celeb partner will be. I think in terms of the show there is a big difference between bringing an unknown pro on (in terms of unknown to the majority of the tv audience) and having them build a fanbase on the show and having them come on in the celeb position, which is how Pasha would be joining the show.

That said, I like Pasha and think he would be good here, but I just can't see TPTB wanting to give a celeb an unfair advantage by giving them a partner that is already a reality star through another hit reality show. How is that any different that bringing Trista Sutter on as a celeb?

But as we all know, we are comparing apples and oranges here and each show is targeting different audiences.

Pasha has competed on the ballroom dance circuit. But who would they cut to make room for him? I think the existing DWTS pro male dancers have fan bases equivalent to Pasha's already (even the newbies Mark and Derek). I'm not a big fan of Alec based on the way he treated Josie, but I know there are a number of people who really like him and feel like he's gotten tough breaks with his celebs the past two years.

It's sort of a grass is greener. Often on SYTYCD forums, people say the ballroom dances can't compare to what is on DWTS.

Last season, many people were upset every time the judges criticized "Apolianne". They said Laila was getting off easy. They said Joey was a ringer. They said Billy Ray Cyrus needed to go and he was dragging the show down. Now that season is over, so it becomes a golden memory for viewers, even though it had many, many flaws.

If nothing else that season did tell me how important a strong partnership is, because Apolianne became such a huge phenomenon last season. Not happening this season, which is a relief in a way, but also strange because there's a huge vacuum. The couples who come closest to having that spark are Maks/Mel and Jennie/Derek, then Sabrina/Mark.

Pasha was terrific at a lot of styles other than Latin and standard. He had two waltzes -- a "smooth" waltz and a regular waltz -- and did fine, was better at Quickstep than I might've expected, and his West Coast Swing and two really good hip hop routines were very well received. I also liked his jazz (two different styles, but I loved both) and Broadway. He actually only got to do one Latin dance (a cha cha the week his partner got dehydrated and they took her away in an ambulance and he danced with one of the choreographers, Melanie La Patin, who was about twice his age, very curvy, and not even wearing a real costume.) The only thing I didn't really care for that he danced was his Wade solo.

Except for the Wade solo, he choreographed his own solos, but everything else was choreographed by the people they hired, ranging from Benji Schwimmer to Tony Meredith and Shane Sparks.

The biggest stumbling block I see is that he was on a competitor show. Except for Wade doing his Macy's number (and including Travis) and Carrie Ass dating Artem from Season 1, I don't see a lot of overlap. For example, no Louis or Nick choreographing for SYTYCD, and no pros plucked from SYTYCD for DWTS.

Oh, and he's supposedly 5-10. I'm sure he's taller than Marky, for example.

Exactly. I enjoy SYTYCD, but watching it really makes me appreciate what some of these celebs can pick up. A lot of the trained dancers on SYTYCD are far worse in the ballroom/latin style than some of these celebrity novices. For example, I thought Apollo's paso doble was far better than Travis's on SYTYCD last season.

Also, as far as the different dance styles, well, that isn't the purpose of this show.

I'd love to see Pasha on this show, but he's on tour right now, so it ain't gonna happen this season.

Then again, I have no idea how good a choreographer he is, and that does make a different on this show in a way that it does not when you compete on SYTYCD. He was pretty creative in his solos though, so I'm inclined to believe he has what it takes. And he's downright adorable, so I will add my name to the nomination petition.

Speaking of ballroom and choreography and SYTYCD, I saw Alex DeSilva at the bank today. It took me a sec to realize that I knew him from TV and not real life. Of course, in that second, he totally caught me staring at him, and I totally caught him checking me out in return. The unspoken recognition of this had me chuckling for a while afterward.

It's amazing what a real chemistry-driven power couple can do for a show, isn't it? Last season of both dance shows was so strong, with Benji/Donyelle and Apolo/Juliane. Even though the overall calibur of dancing has been better this year on both shows, this season lacks the spark that last season had for both.

Chemistry-driven power couples can also suffocate a show, although the big difference is Apolianne never broke up, while Benjelle were split up midseason (and then never made much of a spark for the rest of the season, aside from Benji's dances with Heidi). Overall, I prefer this season of DWTS to last season, because Laila's injuries became so painfully obvious, Joey became much too hammy, and I started to get tired of all the speculation about whether Apolianne were doing it and all the anger every time the judges said a negative syllable to them. By the end of last season the show seemed to be on autopilot by the last few weeks, whereas in season two (the best season) I was entertained all the way up to the end. There definitely aren't as many standout dances, although I think that's because there is no huge gap between good and bad this season. I'd say some of what Sabrina, Jennie, and Mel have done has been as good as some of the best in previous seasons. I'm not sure what will happen from now on, because I only see Helio, Cameron, and probably Jane and Marie as getting worse, not better.

I like the idea of this thread.

First of all, regarding Pasha. It is probably just a pipedream as others have mentioned that no other SYTYCD dancer has been picked up by DwTS, and if Carrie is dating Artem and he is not one of the pro's then why would Pasha be? My reasoning is he is a professional ballroom dancer who has competed in competitions with his partner Anya. Another would be that he was labeled the "king of partners" on sytycd. He had chemistry with every woman he danced with, including an older, not so attractive and sort of heavier substitute partner. He could probably dance with a piece of toast and the chemistry would still be through the roof.

I figured Wade and Travis dancing on DwTS last week might have opened some more doors for those two worlds to keep colliding, but im not sure they would collide so much that Pasha becomes a pro dancer on DwTS. It would be so awesome if it could happen though.

As for these two shows, im new to them, but I think I give the edge to SYTYCD. DwTS has grown on me, and I find myself becoming attached to the celebs and seeing anyone leave, but it's more about THEM for me than the dance routines. On SYTYCD I enjoy all the different styles of dance. Imagine watching Maksim or Edyta do a hip hop routine? That's part of the fun of sytycd..we got to watch latin ballroom dancers like Pasha and Anya dance hip hop. Ditto for watching Breakers(like Dom and Sara) do waltz and jazz routines.

I thought it would be kinda fun to compare same song routines from DwTS and SYTYCD.

SYTYCD's Danny and Anya did a contemporary dance to Apologize.

Helio and Julianne Apologize.

I definitely preferred the Danny/Anya version, but at least the band on DwTS sounded decent for once on this song. I think Julianne was way too "smiley" in that routine and found that rather distracting.

Thanks for posting the comparison. It's interesting that I felt that watching Danny and Anya's unbelievably fantastic and way-underrated Apologize routine actually improved Helio and Julianne's for me. Something about the strength of the story in Danya's version. It made Helio's face less distracting for some reason.

I don't think I even noticed Helio's face because I was so distracted by Julianne's smiling. It didn't seem appropriate to smile through that particular song. I realize it was not a contemporary, nor do they do contemporary on DwTS, but she still could have toned it down. MHO.

For some people who watch DwTS and are not familiar with Wade Robson(the circus show choreographer and dancer), not only does he choreograph, he also creates music. He did the music for this group number on SYTYCD.

I gotta admit when I heard he was going to be on DwTS I was hoping it would have been a routine with the dancers(pros and celebs) on the show. Maybe next time.

This is what really took me out of the piece!

I guess no dance competition is complete without a dance routine to Mr. Bojangles.

Bojangles SYTYCD style

Bojangles DwTS style

I guess I am missing the point of this comparison. If you are saying that two young broadway dancers are more impressive than a former ballroom professional and a billionaire with an artifical hip, then I get your point.

Im not saying one is better than the other, just that I thought it was interesting that there were two dances on two similar(borerline competing) shows to that song. Which routine people prefer is up to them.

The first two dancers are not broadway dancers, one is a hip hop dancer and the other a contemporary.

As a fan of both shows, I did think of Jamie/Hok's routine when Mark dances to Mr. Bojangles. Not a real fan of either routine. One thing though that DWTS does that I hope SYTYCD picks up is Len's explanation of the dances. They never really explain it and thus we go by whatever commentary Nigel provides.

I think Nigel is going into Simon Cowell mode, especially since SYTYCD has gotten so big in the past couple years. At this point I would say he is more about playing the role of the "mean/controversial" judge rather than go into detail ala Len.

I have grown to quite like the judges on DwTS. Again, this show is new to me, and I don't like it the same way I do SYTYCD because this one(to me) is more mindless fun, but I really appreciate the judges.

The judges on SYTYCD are a hit or miss with me. I find them a little too biased. Mia Michaels seems to favor the contemporary dancers and is really rough on latin ballroom dancers, Mary Murphy tends to be more biased toward the ballroom dancers, and then Nigel is just a whole other animal. Again, I think he tries to sway votes a certain way for ratings/controversy.

Both shows are interesting in their own ways, but I find that I prefer DWtS because of the 'mindless fun' aspect. The judging on SYTYCD seems at least as inconsistent and skewed as on DWtS and I find that irritating because SYCYCD (to me) seems to take itself so much more seriously as a contest.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's Mister Pinstripe Suit:

SYTYCD Sabra and Pasha

DWTS Apolo and Julianne

Love the leaps in the DWTS routine. Apolo looked pro-sharp and executed Julianne's choreography very well.

See now that quickstep is one exception for me as I really like the Ohno/Hough version better. Generally speaking the actual dancing on SYTYCD is better, which is to be expected given that you should have two real trained dancers rather than one helping a student along.

Thanks for posting those. I missed the whole Apolo thing, but I wish I could have witnessed the whole Apolo spectacle. I am not sensing anything like it this season, especially now with Sabrina gone.

Pasha is by far my fave dancer from the show but that Quickstep with Sabra never seemed to be a big hit with his fans(I personally far preferred their Broadway rotuine from that same night). It's personally my least favorite and annoys me too because I felt like he dragged Sabra all around the dance floor and yet the judges slobbered all over her.

Someone named "Gabby" was voted off the British version of dwts, "Strictly Come Dancing," last week, and Len and the other judges were furious at the fans for voting stupidly (one of the judges said the fans fell for the "cheap celebrity smile".) Len said he didn't like the new system where the judges have to make the final choice (apparently both celebs who in the bottom two were good dancers -- Len even named the two who were awful who should have been in the bottom two instead.) Here's the article:

http://strictlycomeblogging.spaces.live.co...%26ayear%3d2007

Somehow, this makes me feel better about my Marky and Sabrina. That and the fact that delightful Mel B has been in the bottom 2, even when her scores were good that week. Oh well, nobody ever said dwts was strictly a "dancing" competition. It's a popularity contest and Sabrina and Mel just aren't very popular, alas, despite being good dancers. Them's the breaks I guess. And maybe the show wouldn't be as entertaining if it were otherwise.

A random question for anyone who watches other countries' versions of DWTS:

How do our pros (as a whole) compare to the others? Choreography, looks, likeability, etc. I think it would be awesome to see a big ol' dance-off between all the pros to see who comes out on top (kind of like what they did with World Idol but just the pros).

I'd say the biggest thing I've noticed is that on a lot of the European versions, the pros are good at Latin AND Standard so you get great routines on both sides. The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Germany are especially good at this. It kind of saddens me when I read people say that Standard is boring based on what they've seen on our show. I'm always tempted to link to a great routine from another version to show how good it can be, but I don't want to clutter up the board.

As for personalities and looks, there are some standouts all over. I have to say that the current crop of male pros over on the Italian DWTS is pretty drool-worthy. The male pro half of the last winners of the German version is probably one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen. As in male supermodel gorgeous with the dance and choreographic talent to match. Louis Van Amstel's ex partner Julie Fryer is one of the pros on the Dutch version and the woman is pure fire. Imagine someone who dances at the level of Karina but has the warmth, personality, teaching and choreographic skills of a Kym or a Cheryl or a Julianne. And I think legaleagle would tell you that I'm not exaggerating. The Belgian version has Wim Gavaert who is hands down one of the best pros overall. He is elegant in Standard, funky in Latin, and a terrific teacher and choreographer. Then there is Natalie over in Australia, who gives Edyta a run for her money in terms of the hot body thing. Not to mention she too can choreograph the heck out of a routine.

If you're going to tantalize us with these descriptions, skylighter -



You've got to provide links so we can judge for ourselves ... ;o). I omitted Julie Fryer because I've seen some clips and she is good - I can see how she and Louis would have set fire to the dance floor.

WORD to your entire post, skylighter (BTW, are the clips from Week 6 of the Italian version up yet?)

However, you forgot to mention the UK's Karen Hardy, Darren Gough, and Anton du Beke (or Tony Beak, as he called himself before he became a pro.) Those three are also ones whom I would put on my world "dream team." I also feel that Oliver Seefeld from Germany, Samanta Togni--Maks's ex-partner and ex-girlfrend--from Italy (even though she's not on that country's version this year), and Vicky from the current Italian season belong there as well.

And for sheer personality, how can anyone possibly omit the UK's Brendan Cole? If y'all think that our Tony and Maks are the "bad boys of the ballroom," believe me--they've got nothing on Brendan, who is notorious for deliberately breaking the rules on a whim, mouthing off to the judges, and even storming off the set when he's especially pissed at the way the competition is going (and he's a notorious womanizer, to boot!) Talk about your divos!

Thanks, skylighter and legaleagle! The other versions sound great. I'm going to have to go searching for some clips to see all this goodness for myself. :)

legaleagle I haven't had a chance to look for Italy yet but I'll pm you as soon as I do.

Ask and ye shall receive ByTheWay :)

See Christian Polanc from German DWTS: Rumba, Samba

Clips of Wim and his celeb partner Dina from the Belgian show:Foxtrot, Cha Cha Cha, Samba,
and Waltz, paso doble.

Natalie from Australia with her celeb Tim:Jive and Rumba.

Julie from The Netherlands with her celeb Jim: samba and waltz.

And some just plain fun dances: Godfather Paso Doble, another creative paso, Golden Eye Rumba, a lovely Foxtrot.

I just have to add in Klaus, season 2 winner in Austria who was just fantastic every week. I don't know why we rarely get older celebs that can throw down like this: Cha Cha Cha and Quickstep

So did Wim have a real showmance with the the woman he won the show with, or did fans just wish he did? There are enough music videos of Wim and Dina on youtube that it leads me to believe it's one or the other. I wonder how big the phenomenon of the the pros and celebrities hooking up or at least potentially hooking up is in the US as compared to the other countries.

Holy crap. That Christian Polanc guy is STUNNING. Just stunning. Wow.

Wim and Dina have continued to do exhibitions since they won two years ago, (à la Cheryl and Drew), and the gossip on the official Belgian DWtS boards (and in the media) was, in fact, that they had hooked up, but what that gossip ignores is the fact that Wim is very happily married to Inge Gevaert, who is also his dance partner and another pro on the Belgian version. Therefore, I always considered it to be nothing more than very wishful thinking on the part of the shippers.

Of course, that Paso Doble didn't help dispel any of the rumors, mind you. ;) I still consider it to be the Gold Standard of the Paso Doble, and a true representation of what the dance is really all about (and, in my opinion, that clip shows that it's not, as someone in the Best and Worst thread posited, merely an archaic, sexist "wife-beater" dance.) Wim and Dina would be most insulted by that characterization.

Oh, and BTW, kudos to skylighter for finding that Paso clip. I'd been looking all over for it in order to prove my point about the Paso to its critics, but it seemed to have disappeared from the official website.

I really like this Paso Doble.

Thank you so much for those clips skylighter.

I can't come to a decision about Christian Polanc based on the grainy clips. I think he needs to come over to the US so I get a much clearer look before I can come to a conclusion :).

Wim and Dina obviously enjoyed dancing with each other. The paso was beautiful and benefited from having the classical paso music to enhance the choreography.

Does Natalie want to follow Kym to the US? Although Edyta has a beautiful body, I'm not a fan of her choreography (2.5 splits per routine) and Edyta is one of the weaker instructors (IMO).

The Godfather paso was excellent and kudos to whoever reorchestrated the music because it had the right cadence to support the paso.

The foxtrot was beautiful and I loved the ending. Both of them did such a beautiful job so I couldn't pick out who was the celebrity and I usually can.

Klaus was having so much fun, it was contagious and can he move. I found it interesting that he did well with both latin and standard style dances. John O'Hurley (season 1) was the closest we've had but his latin was weaker than his standard performances.

“Rebel Yell”


US version vs. UK version


US pros ROCK :)

It's insane isn't it? I added in his and his celeb's freestyle and jive.



I wish we could get Natalie. Her partner the season before was a horrific dancer but she still managed to make him look good and they ended up winning the whole thing.



The female half was the celeb. The pro is Oliver Seefeld, who is fantastic (legaleagle mentioned him in his post).

Another fav performance from The Netherlands: Argentine Tango

Actually, I thought the poster in question was referring to the Belgian Foxtrot, in whch case the pro was our beloved Wim Gevaert.

On the other hand, the comment could easily apply just as well to Oliver, who is another pro whom I'd love to steal away to our version (and he can bring head German judge Joachim Llambi--the one who got the cactus instead of a rose at the end of that Foxtrot--with him; our pros and celebs would have major meltdowns when Joachim started handing out the smackdowns and the 3s, 4s, and 5s for even the "good" routines!)

Thanks for all the clips - I haven't watched all of them yet, but just wanted to note that the camera work seems to blow all over the world.

I'm dizzy as hell.

Very intresting comparisson for me I loved the US Costumes and Choreography, but on dancing far better Jive in the UK one

I agree with you, bendymixer. The US seems to prefer taking a much darker approach to its pro exhibitions, and that group Jive was a good example of our predilection for the dark side (see also the group Paso Dobles to "Eye of the Tiger" and "O Fortuna.") The UK, on the other hand, likes to keep things on a much lighter note; their group Jive, like the group Jitterbug from this past weekend, actually looked more fun and entertaining, while the US group Jive just felt labored and heavy to me.

I'd have to disagree. I think even the weakest of the us pros held their own in this. The overall dancing was far superior in the US group. That missed connection in the first solo bit of the UK dance was a giant Ouchie for me.

One missed connection but the quality of the Jive dancing overall was superior the routines were more authentic Jive as I know it and with a few exceptions performed better too

I think the US version fairly obviously wasn't a pure jive. It mixed some other Latin styles in as well, as I'm pretty sure I saw some Samba moves, etc. However, I think the US version was a considerably better performance than the UK one. Of course, I'm not a ballroom expert, but I thought it captured the tone of the song better, the dancers showed more chemistry with each other, it had better outfits/hair/make-up, etc.

I think the UK version probably does tend to stick more to one style per pro dance, and their standard dances with the celebs are much more by the rulebook than the US version. For instance, my STRONG hunch is that the "Viennese" waltz that Edyta put together last week for Cameron would have been slated for not enough time in hold or traditional steps. However, I have no complaints since I enjoy the overall dancing more in the US version. I like the additional flash and tricks.

I've always heard Strictly Come Dancing has superior quality (from the dancing to the voting results) to DWTS, yet this season, don't they still have two awful dancers (I think their names are Kate and Kenny) even though five or six celebrities have been eliminated?

Was Heather, the woman who helped Helio last night, a choreographer on SYTYCD in season two or three?