Sugar Ray Leonard: Parting is sweet sorrow

Sugar Ray Leonard was fun to watch and he had a great attitude. He was light on his feet and sparkled on stage. Yet tonight on “Dancing with the Stars: The Results” Sugar Ray Leonard was eliminated.

Here are Sugar Ray Leonard’s four weeks of dances.

• Week 1
• Foxtrot
• “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis & the News
• Score: 17 (6, 5, 6)

• Week 2
• Jive
• “Sweet Soul Music” by Sam & Dave
• Score: (17 (6, 5, 6)

• Week 3
• Viennese Waltz
• “Waltz of the Flowers” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Score: 21 (7, 7, 7)

DWTS 12: Compare Viennese waltz

Viennese waltz

• Best Viennese waltz
  

Hines Ward and Kym Johnson: 27 (9, 9, 9) Week 6 (Guilty Pleasure Week)

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 27 (9, 9, 9) + 27 (9, 9, 9) = 54

• Viennese waltz to “One and Only” — Adele
• Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)

Chelsea Kane  and Mark Ballas: 26 (9, 8, 9) to the 2001 “Hedwig’s Theme” — John Williams from “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (week 4 classical week)

Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke: 26 (9, 8, 9) to “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates (week 5 America week)

Ralph Macchio & Karina Smirnof: 25 (8,8,9) to”Maybe I, Maybe You” by The Scorpions

Sugar Ray Leonard  and Anna Trebunskaya: 21(7, 7, 7) to the 1892  “Waltz of the Flowers” by  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (week 4 classic week)

Kendra Wilkinson  and Louis van Amstel: 18 (6, 6, 6) to the 1995 “Con te Partirò” by Andrea Bocelli (week 4 classic week)

DWTS 12: Compare paso doble (VIDEO)

• Best paso doble
  

Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas:34 (8,9,8,9) week 7 to “Ghosts ‘N Stuff” by Deadmau5

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy:

• Paso doble to “White Room” — Cream
• Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)

Hines Ward  and Kym Johnson: 25 (9, 8, 8) to the 2004 “Explosive” by Bond (week 4 classics night)

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff : 24 (8, 8, 8) to “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C + C Music Factory (Week 6 Guilty Pleasures Week)

Petra Nemcova  and Dmitry Chaplin: 23 (8, 7, 8) to the 1875 “Les Voici! Voici La Quadrille!” by  Georges Bizet (week 4 classics night)

Romeo Miller  and Chelsie Hightower: 23 (7, 8, 8) to the 1996 “Palladio, First Movement” by Karl Jenkins (week 4 classics night)

Chris Jericho  and Cheryl Burke: 23 (8, 7, 8) to the 1876 “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg (week 4 classics night).

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya:  20 to “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown during week 3 (story telling night).

DWTS 12: Compare jive routines

Jive

• Best of past performances
  

Hines Ward & Kym Johnson: 26 (9,9,8) to “Chantilly Lace” by Jerry Lee Lewis

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy to “La Bamba” by Richie Valens. Score: 30 (9,7,6,8) or 21 adjusted.

1. Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff: 21

1. Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas: 18/

1. Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin: 18

1. Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya

1. Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer: 17

DWTS 12: Compare foxtrot routines

Hines Ward and Kym Johnson: 28 (9,9,10) to “This Will Be” by Natalie Cole

Romeo Miller  and Chelsie Hightower: 26 (9, 8, 9) to “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra (Week 5 American week)

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff: 24 (8, 8, 8)  to “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head” by Dean Martin.

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 23 (8, 7, 8) to “American Woman” by The Guess Who (Week 5 American week)

Kendra Wilkinson  and Louis van Amstel: 22 (8, 7, 7) to “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (Week 5 American week)

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas: 21 (7, 7, 7) to “King of Anything” by Sara Bareilles

Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin: 18 (6, 6, 6) to “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya: 17 (6, 5, 6) to “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News

Wendy Williams and Tony Dovolani: 15 (5, 5, 5) to “Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life” by  Michael Cleveland (week 3)

Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer: 13 (5, 4, 4) to “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner

Dancing with the Stars 2011: Men’s rehearsals

Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer

Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff:

Romeo Miller and Chelsea Hightower

Hines Ward and Kym Johnson

Dancing with the Stars 2011: full cast

This season (12) there are 11 celebrity contestants–five women and six men:

1. Kirstie Alley: Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress
2. Chelsea Kane (Staub): Disney actress
3. Petra Nemcova: Supermodel and humanitarian
4. Kendra Wilkinson: Playboy model and reality star
5. Wendy Williams: Talk show host

1. Mike Catherwood: Radio talk show host
2. Chris Jericho: WWE Wrestler
3. Sugar Ray Leonard: Boxer
4. Ralph Macchio: Actor
5. (Lil) Romeo Miller: Rapper and actor
6. Hines Ward: Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver

From watching the videos, we know that Lil Romeo has timing and great abs, and that might help for the Latin dances, but what about the other ballroom dances that require smooth elegance? Ralph Macchio did some swing moves and that rhythm will help him some, but ballroom is more disciplined than the loose action of swing dancing and that was quite a few years ago.

We expect Hines Ward to do well enough–at least with the fan base voting. Football players have always had a healthy fan base on “Dancing with the Stars,” even when their dancing was bad (Remember Michael Irvin during season 9?).

Leonard at 54 is the oldest male contestant while Alley at 60 is the oldest female contestant. Jennifer Grey was 50, but despite her injury she was in great physical shape. The same can’t be said for Alley. Last season’s oldest female contestant, Florence Henderson, had been performing choreography on stage and was a fierce competitor and even outscored some of the younger contestants. Henderson was 76 during season 11 and just turned 77.  Leonard has made many comebacks, so he seems to be dedicated to staying in shape, but that might make him light on his feet and give him stamina, but does he have grace?

Nemcova can pose and look beautiful in clothes, but can she dance? Models have not done well on this show. Coming through the Disney studio system, Kane does know how to dance to pop/rock style choreography so it will be up to her to translate that into ballroom. Videos of Wilkinson indicate that she has good muscle control, but she also has a family living in the Midwest and the morality police might turn against her, particularly with the recent revelations made in her autiobiography.

Williams is tall and talkative and she’ll need to work those legs and arms to her advantage. Catherwood can also talk, but what about dancing? These two radio personalities should make this a lively season at the very least.

Currently, the advantage should be with Kane, Wilkinson and Miller (Lil Romeo).  If they start with the cha cha cha, it will be all about hip movement and that’s usually been a bigger problem for the men.