Dancing with the Stars judges were critical of the competing celebrities who took to the ballroom floor for the first time on the series. Head judge Len Goodman revealed that he wants to see a return of ballroom dancing featured on the show after years of watching professional dancers choreograph routines that are geared more toward playing to the audience and fewer ballroom steps.
Throughout the first live show of the season, the judges maintained the importance of proper ballroom technique. Performances this season include competing celebrities James Van Der Beek, Hannah Brown, Lauren Alaina, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, Karamo Brown, Mary Wilson, Kel Mitchell, Ally Brooke, Kate Flannery, Ray Lewis, Sean Spicer, and Lamar Odom,
It was a dance by Ally Brooke, choreographed by her professional partner Sasha Farber, that apparently upset Goodman. The twosome hit the dance floor for a cha-cha set to Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home,” a great choice as Brooke once performed that song with the singing group. The dance partners faced harsh criticism from the head judge for Brooke’s “gyrating”
Goodman also made it clear that this season, he is in not going to tolerate “Beyonce stuff,” which likely means that booty-shaking and grinding moves will be frowned upon. Rather, there must be a delicate balance between straight ballroom movements and some contemporary moves to in order to win favor from the panel of judges, which includes Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli.
The show’s leader board put Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek at the top of the pack with a score of 21 out of 30. At the bottom was professional basketball player Lamar Odom, who came in with 11 points out of 30. Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer came in just one point ahead of the former husband of Khloe Kardashian.
The overall totals from the first night of Dancing with the Stars ‘ competition are as follows.
James Van Der Beek and Emma Slater – 21
Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten – 20
Lauren Alaina and Gleb Savchenko – 19
Sailor Brinkley-Cook and Val Chmerkovskiy – 18
Karamo Brown and Jenna Johnson – 17
Mary Wilson and Brandon Armstrong – 17
Kel Mitchell and Witney Carson – 16
Ally Brooke and Sasha Farber – 16
Kate Flannery and Pasha Pashkov – 15
Ray Lewis and Cheryl Burke – 15
Sean Spicer and Lindsay Arnold – 12
Lamar Odom and Peta Murgatroyd – 11
The scores that count toward the second week of competition and elimination will be from the judges, reported The Inquisitr , as well as live viewer votes. A new system of scoring will begin the second week of the season. The live votes will occur on the East Coast when the show airs live. Viewers in other time zones will have their votes counted toward next week’s competition.
Although this voting process sounds somewhat confusing, the show believes this will stop the arguably unfair voting tactics that caused the win of Bobby Bones in Season 27 as well as pushing forward fan favorites such as The Bachelor’s Joe Amabile ahead of other, more competent dances in the competition.
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays on ABC.