Showing posts with label Karina Smirnoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karina Smirnoff. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Dancing With The Stars: The Final Four dance

LOS ANGELES -- Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward was perfect during the "Dancing With the Stars" semifinals, but actress Chelsea Kane boosted her score with bonus points.
Kane and professional partner Mark Ballas topped the judges' leaderboard on the hit ABC show Monday with 73 points after winning the show's first "winner-take-all cha-cha."
The victory added 15 points to the 58 the couple earned for the two other dances they performed: an Argentine tango that judges called clean and precise, and a flawless rumba that collected a perfect score of 30.

Ward and partner Kym Johnson earned a perfect 60 points for their spunky salsa and emotional Argentine tango, which Johnson performed despite suffering a neck injury during rehearsals on Friday. The couple was attempting a tricky lift when Johnson fell on her neck and Ward fell on top of her. Paramedics responded and Johnson was taken to the hospital, but she later posted on Twitter that she was "a little shaken up, sore but I will be fine."
The dancer, the football star and judge Carrie Ann Inaba were moved to tears by their tango Monday.
"Praise to God that she's still walking," Ward said after the performance.
"It could have been really bad," Johnson said. "I feel so blessed and lucky to be OK. I didn't really want to dance tonight."
Kirstie Alley landed in third place with 54 points out of 60. She and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy collected 27 points each for their Viennese waltz and a paso doble that inspired Inaba to deem the actress "the queen" of the dramatic Latin dance.
Ralph Macchio and partner Karina Smirnoff finished last with 48 points. They earned 25 points for their Argentine tango, which judge Len Goodman criticized for lacking emotion.
"It didn't really smolder," he said.
The couple's 1970s-themed salsa -- during which the "Karate Kid" star wore "booty pads" to improve his rump-shaking -- also failed to wow the judges. It was the night's lowest-scored dance with 23 points.
One contestant will be ousted during Tuesday's results show. Judges' scores are combined with viewer votes to determine which celebrity is eliminated from the competition each week.
The three remaining celebrity dancers will compete for the cheesy-but-coveted mirrorball trophy during the show's season finale next week.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Ralph Macchio Dances Through an Injury on 'Dancing with the Stars'

The top five couples took to the stage on 'Dancing with the Stars' this week, but one of the celebrities didn't get the practice time he was used to.
"At this point in a normal week, Ralph and I would have at least put in 40 hours of rehearsal already," said Ralph Macchio's partner Karina Smirnoff. "We've only done nine because of Ralph's leg injury."
Macchio had a cyst rupture behind his knee, but he wasn't going to let that stop him on the dance floor. He limped to and from the judges, but there was little evidence of his injury during either of his dances, though he did struggle a bit in the judges' remarks

He also wound up with the overall lowest marks of the night, with a combined total of 46 points for his two dances combined.
Did Macchio do enough to stave off elimination? Will his fans rally to his aid?

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

DWTS Chris Jericho sent packing, all who's left to cheer? Ralph Macchio

Chris Jericho was sent home this week on "Dancing with the Stars."
Despite Karina Smirnoff falling with Ralph Macchio, the wrestler took a beating from judge Bruno Tonioli, who compared his moves to a “lump of granite”.
The WWE wrestler told reporters after Tuesday’s elimination show that the judges "were harsh" and expressed frustration that he and pro partner Cheryl Burke only earned 22 out of 30 points.
So we have Kirstie Alley, Kendra Wilkinson, Chelsea Kane, Hines Ward, Ralph Macchio and Romeo.
So far we are pulling for Ralph. Who is the next dancer to take the fall? 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

'DWTS': Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff on that fall, and those 'Karate Kid' moves!

Beware of The Coat! No, a mysterious, cloaked villain didn’t hit the dance floor of Dancing with the Stars on Monday, but Ralph Macchio’s cumbrous attire was responsible for a surprise “attack” on Karina Smirnoff during their Paso Doble. Performing, appropriately enough, to C&C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat,” the couple fumbled early when Macchio’s coat got in Smirnoff’s way and she tumbled to the ground.
“I let out a few tears back there from embarrassment. But I’m okay,” Smirnoff told reporters afterwards. “I think that good things come from accidents.”

They did, actually: The couple earned 24 out of 30 points and high praise from the judges, who commended Smirnoff for recovering so quickly. “It was only maybe five seconds all together, but at that point the only thing going through my mind was that oh, gosh, I fell down and I need to get back up,” said Smirnoff. “I’m not supposed to mess up, I’m supposed to be there for Ralph 100 percent. I didn’t even think about the judges. When the judges gave us a great score and said that he was there the whole time and he picked me up, he was the perfect partner. That says a lot about [Ralph] as a man and as a dancer.”
“It’s a love fest,” Macchio continued. “We care about each other.”
As for Macchio’s decision to perform his iconic wax on/wax off from The Karate Kid, the 49-year-old actor said he gave it a lot of thought before bringing Mr. Miyagi’s moves to the dance floor. “I’m so protective of the Karate Kid stuff. I’ve been asked do the [movie ending] crane kick since day one!” said Macchio. “For me, that’s a move for the climax. This is a move for the training process. I’m at week six. I wanted to frame it in a dance that made sense. If I put this in a waltz…how about the rumba? It doesn’t work. This was the dance for it.”

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ralph Macchio on 'Dancing with the Stars': 'I have these orangutan arms'

Kirstie Alley may have had the best quips — and “Psycho” Mike Catherwood, those awesome facial expressions — but Ralph Macchio was the highlight of the Dancing with the Stars premiere on Monday with his Foxtrot to “Kick in the Head.” He earned the highest score of the night – 24 out of a possible 30 — with partner Karina Smirnoff.
“I have these orangutan arms, I call them, and the first thing Karina said was, `when they are done right, they are done fantastic, and when they are not, they will stick out,” Macchio told reporters after the show. “One of the judges said early on said that you need to extend the moves through your fingers. So I said to myself, every time I hit, I have to just go and reach … and I did it.”
“I told him to go downtown, all the way downtown,” Smirnoff added. “Extend it!”
Though the 49-year-old actor from The Karate Kid was definitely showing the fatigue from his debut under the mirror ball, he was still pumped about Smirnoff’s decision to have him play ”this Dean Martin, this Frank Sinatra” character. “It took a while to learn. It was frustrating at times but when I started seeing the steps, I knew I could somehow get there,” Macchio said. “It was a lot of diligent work and ridiculous hours, which I still complain about. We went for that era, that Brat Pack era, and it was a nice marriage. It was a good way to come out of the gate.”
In contrast, Wendy Williams said she was thrown off by the video package that preceded her cha-cha so she wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood. She and partner Tony Dovolani earned the second lowest score of the night (14/30) behind Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer. “I didn’t know we were going to see it and the first thing that makes me cry is when I see myself cry,” she said. ”But you know, they say a champ doesn’t make excuses so I listened to what the judges said, and hopefully 14 will be the lowest score we ever get. I did the best that I could under the circumstances.”
And the night’s other big surprise? Young Chelsea Kane, who opened the night with an impressive 21 out of 30 points with partner Mark Ballas. But it wasn’t her Foxtrot that was the jaw dropper; it was her reaction to Hugh Hefner sitting in the audience. “I met him, it was awesome!” she said afterwards. ”I was so excited. I told him, `I know it’s a huge jump from Disney but Hef … can I just give you a hug?’ It was really cool. Kendra was like, `wait. Am I taking you under my wing?’ It was pretty funny.”