Balls to the Wall

An interesting phrase was used by one of the DWTS judges last night to encourage a dancer to "man up" by leaving his "balls" on the dance floor, as it were; however, it seems that manning up has little to do with either balls or dancing success this season as the most effusive praise goes to Carson Cressley and Chaz Bono, neither of whom can DANCE.

I get it: we're breaking boundaries. It's okay with me to go where no man has ever gone before, but THIS IS A DANCING COMPETITION. The couples who absolutely kick ass with their performances are brushed to the side so the judges can gush over the contestants that are marginal at best, but represent social demographics that want to make a statement about sexuality. Can they make a statement but also DANCE?

It's awkward, uncomfortable, and embarrassing to have the performers who are DANCING well have to find a way to say, "Ah, come on, man" when their visibly more competent performances are scored less enthusiastically than the WORST DANCERS in the competition. If I were one of the top performers, I'd be tempted to tell them to shove it: why work your ass off to do the best dance and earn the highest score of the week if it doesn't matter?

This show has become a popularity contest that detracts from the goal of the show to take well-known personalities out of their comfort zones and teach them how to DANCE well enough to win a ridiculous mirror ball trophy. It used to be fun, a little bit campy, and I looked forward to cheering for those stars who went from two left feet to a passable paso doble. This season no one seems to care about what the feet are doing as much as what goes on behind closed doors.

If this is what DWTS is going to be, a popularity contest that ignores the performance indicators, I'll move on. If, however, DWTS is going to be a DANCING competition, the show has to find another way to decide who stays and who goes, rather than allowing the popular vote to sustain contestants WHO CANNOT DANCE!