Damian and Tina Arena Dancing Samba

Entering what was looking like the week from hell with a 5 day turn around, 4 dances to choreograph, teach, train and install all the elements to be ready for the two shows again this week, WOW! With that said, this would normally be hard enough for most pros to produce, let alone someone who has never Ballroom danced before! It was an unbelievable achievement by all the remaining celebrities to produce what they did on the night and keep the shows at such a high standard. Thankfully the tight schedule worked well for us this week, although stressful we got through it with some great comments and scores.

First up Samba, defiantly one of the hardest Latin dances for the stars to learn and in a short time frame well where do you start??, Bounce action!! As in my past experiences this is where the stars struggle the most, as it’s a totally different feeling we are asking of them compared to the other Latin dances where you can build off of a Rumba walk. Bounce over rules everything. So to receive the comments from Helen Richie saying that she thought that was the best samba action she has seen in all 13 season by a celebrity was awesome, the nagging and hard work we spent on that payed off.

Damian and Tina in the Group Dance

The Team Dances

With the six remaining couples we were split into two teams which is always a bit of fun as you get to finally work with others in the competition and collaborate ideas for the first time. We were assigned to team Madonna dancing a cha cha to Vouge with Cosentino & Jess and Libby Trickett & Camello, but unfortunately we were pipped on the night by team Beyonce dancing samba to Single Ladies largely to the boy’s efforts from Aric, Steve Hooker & Zac Stenmarks rendition of the famous Beyonce dance in the leotards nice work fellas.

Check out Team Madonna here…

So The judges scores for the night,

Todd McKenny – 9

Kym Johnson – 9

Helen Richey – 9

Adam Garcia – 9

Total for the night – 36

Heres the dance in case you missed it.

Looking forward to next week. Happy Dancing and see you on Tuesday…

Professional Dancer

Damian Whitewood