Former “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Anna Trebunskaya weighed in on season 30, week 3 and it is incredibly insightful, including that the judges were too hard on Jimmie Allen and that she was blown away by the level at which Melora Hardin is dancing already.
Here is what Trebunskaya had to say about each dance, which is a fascinating insight into the show. In case you missed it, here are her critiques of week two.
Note: It got too late for Trebunskaya to finish because the start time was pushed back due to football, so she did not offer commentary on Matt James and Lindsay Arnold’s tango and The Miz and Witney Carson’s salsa.
Amanda Kloots & Alan Bersten, Cha Cha
Trebunskaya loved Amanda Kloots, but also said it might be more interesting if she wasn’t so perfect all the time.
“Oooh, girl, girl! She’s good. Yeah, I mean, it’s clear that Amanda had all this training. Amazing splits. … You know what I like that Alan is giving her lots of content because he’s like this girl can do it. Thrills and all that good stuff, but it’s not overly produced. It has fun lighting …. but it’s not overly produced and I actually really like that,” said Trebunskaya.
She added, “She’s so clean and pristine and technical that — sometimes there’s a certain level of excitement when people make mistakes, does that make sense or is it weird?”
Iman Shumpert & Daniella Karagach, Tango
Trebunskaya praised how well Daniella is “coaching” Iman, who has impressed her so far.
“Oh, he’s good! Actually, with ballroom dancing, Iman is good. That frame! Whenever he bends his knees, though, he like squats into the movement,” said Trebunskaya, adding, “Beautiful, good job, Daniella. Good posture. It sometimes is a challenge for tall people. I thought he was smooth.”
Christine Chiu & Pasha Pashkov, Paso Doble
“This is a really good dance for Christine … it’s a little more linear, more lines, more direction, more powerful … this is a really clean dance for her,” said Trebunskaya.
JoJo Siwa & Jenna Johnson, Argentine Tango
Trebunskaya thinks that they really missed an opportunity here to be more “intricate.”
“Basically, [JoJo’s] leading and Jenna is following, which is fine. For certain dances I think it’s good, I think it works. But for Aregentine tango, it could be such a unisex blend — I’m lifting you and then you taking my leg and then I am back-bending you and then you back-bending me, it could be this real synergy between two bodies. I actually have seen it done with two men dancing Argentine tango … I feel like this was a bit of missed opportunity. I think choreographically it could have been so much more intricate if that opportunity would’ve been taken,” said Trebunskaya.
Kenya Moore & Brandon Armstrong, Tango
Trebunskaya says Moore’s legs are great, but she really needs to work on her upper body.
“I wish she had a bit more pizzazz in her frame … I need that extension, guys … Kenya in my opinion needs to work on her frame and her upper body,” said Trebunskaya, adding that the dance “fell a little flat” for her.
“Not crazy about this tango, sorry y’all. … fell a little flat for me … I thought she was a bit monotone in tango to me, it wasn’t very dynamic. … She has the potential to be dynamic and I didn’t she brought it in her tango. She did in her cha cha [last week], but not in her tango,” said the former pro.
Brian Austin Green & Sharna Burgess, Tango
“I liked it better than the rumba actually,” said Trebunskaya, but added that “Brian needs to move more.”
Melora Hardin & Artem Chigvintsev, Cha Cha
Trebunskaya was incredibly impressed by the way Melora performed this dance, which was full of content.
” Ooh, hot, girl! Melora is AHHH! I’m loving this cha cha, she’s better today than a week ago. Oh my god, stop it! She does the right technique! Good swivels … this was as picture-perfect as it can be for a ‘Dancing With the Stars’ celebrity. She’s gorgeous. Melora is gorgeous,” said Trebunskaya. She also took umbrage with Len Goodman’s score.
“Oh, Len, c’mon, you could’ve given her an 8. She deserved it. She was so good, guys, you don’t understand. Let me tell you what Melora just did,” said Trebunskaya. “She took the choreography that Artem gave her and she broke it apart technically, dynamically, emotionally. She broke it all apart, she dissected that routine like a scientist and then she put it back together and she didn’t just put it back together like slap-slap-slap-slap, she dissected the frog … and then she put the frog back together and the frog jumped and everything was functioning. I don’t know if that makes sense. I am so impressed. Melora is dancing on a championship level pro-am dancer. … She is dancing like Nicole Scherzinger.”
Melanie C. & Gleb Savchenko, Tango
“Better connection to the floor, way more grounded than it was last week. Nice extension. She did mess up a bit, I saw it, we all saw and the only reason we saw it was because she let it slip, she allowed it to show. The choreography was challenging,” said Trebunskaya.
Jimmie Allen & Emma Slater, Salsa
Trebunskaya thought judges Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba were too hard on this dance.
“Oh, he’s good! Look at his salsa! Oh, he’s a good dancer. … I liked this routine, it was pretty good. Smooth, really smooth. … good content, great lifts,” said Trebunskaya.
After the judges’ comments, she added, “The fact that Len and Carrie Ann were so tough on him, — they were like picking on him. They were like let me find something [to pick on] … he’s an amateur, I think he was good. I feel like it was a direction to the judges to be like you know what, be a little bit tougher on him this week. We want people to rally for him a little bit more, which I hope it works because he’s good. People should rally for him.”
Olivia Jade & Val Chmerkovskiy, Tango
Trebunskaya was very complimentary of Olivia Jade, saying, “She’s good, dance-wise … but also Val is very good. She’s beautiful. She was a little bit thrown around a bit today, in my opinion, she wasn’t quite as powerful as last week. She was controlled, led by Val, which is good. It was a proper tango.”
Cody Rigsby & Cheryl Burke, Jazz
Trebunskaya thought that under the circumstances, in these “turbulent times,” this was a really good number.
“Oh my gosh, I love it. This guy. I don’t know who to watch, him or Cheryl. He’s so good,” said Trebunskaya. “Oh, snap! Good job! Oh my gosh, I mean, I gotta give them props. This was slaying. It was slaying.”
Suni Lee & Sasha Farber, Foxtrot
Trebunskaya agreed with Goodman that it wasn’t much of a foxtrot, saying, “So it’s meant to be a foxtrot, girl needs to bend her knees … not very foxtrot-y. Technically it wasn’t very foxtrot-y … She needs to learn technique. I want to see this girl improving and embracing the ballroom technique because otherwise I feel like it’s not gonna go as well as we’re all hoping. There are some fierce women and men that are just slaying, that don’t have any reservations.”
“Dancing With the Stars” season 30 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on ABC.
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