Last Monday was the final washout in the first season of “Dancing with the Stars” on “Rainbow 12” before the grand finale. According to the judges and the audience at home with a record of over half a million votes – Alex and Nina and Maayan and Artium took both places in the “Dancing with the Stars” final. Adi and Haim took third and last place after escaping relegation. With that, Yael Bar Zohar’s path in the competition came to an end.
Many of Bar Zohar’s fans were disappointed with her dismissal and claimed that she was not justified, and the continuance placed on her was higher than that placed on others. We decided to check with Mano Hogoven, an international judge, president of the Dutch Dance Association, one of the key figures in the field of ballroom dancing in the Netherlands, who did not know Israeli celebrities, with Rosanna Odikadze, head coach of the Israeli Latin Latin dance team, under the Eilat Association, Crescenti and Noa Mizrahi, why Bar Zohar really parted ways with “Dancing with the Stars” for a moment before the finals.
“The biggest compliment I can give is for the musical performance of Yael Bar Zohar and Anton Lapidus, and I really gave it this: I ask who in this partnership is the celebrity and who is the well-trained professional dancer? (I really asked my Israeli friend),” says Hogoven. “I’m not saying this in any way to make a professional look bad, on the contrary, it’s a big compliment to both of them – to her and her coach, ‘took the lead’ is perhaps the best way to describe her performance. With her incredible charisma and interpretation of music and choreography she makes the audience “Being a part of the show. Not just looking at it but experiencing it and wondering will be later. ‘Seeing is believing’ means everything. I often do not believe dancers in their performance. But in this case …. there is no such problem at all.”
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“When music and movement come together there is a good job,” the international judge added. “The sound you hear and the image you see must match and in this performance this aspect was very clear. Of course the music is very suitable for choreography full of highlights and clear poses that make it interesting and attractive to watch, but still both choreographer and dancer have to complete the work and Bar Zohar certainly managed to do it “.
“One of the aspects that is not paid enough attention to in dance is the end of the movements. Especially hands-arms, legs-feet and spine to the head. This is also done in a ‘not of amateurs’ form. Even more, Bar Zohar can easily compete with well-trained dancers,” concludes Hogoven. “Of course as judges we can always give points for improvement, but given the fact that this is a woman whose daily work is not dance and she has not trained for years in a dance studio it is hard to be critical. I can only admire a man who has the ability and urge to make such a show at such short notice.”
“The number for the song ‘Beggin’ was less good, the leg movements were sloppy, she did not use the weight properly. What I said about ‘seeing is believing’, is not valid here,” Hogoven concludes. Why did the judges send her home after the great performance she performed? I really do not know except that judges can make an overall rating in the head and calculate the scores accordingly. “It also depends on the votes of the spectators from home, who sometimes vote according to the character they like without understanding the movement qualities of dance.”
“Anton and Yael’s choreography was interesting, but they did not use a lot of basic steps, which should have been in their choreography and the judges saw it,” Odikadze notes. “Apart from the New York movement, there was not a generation that had anything to do with ballroom and Latin American dances. I think that was the only reason for the dismissal, because the speed was there, the music was there, the lifts were really good. Technically, they did everything right, Just use a lot of options of ‘cha, cha, cha’ steps.
“Yael and Anton did a very nice ‘show’,” notes Odikadze. “Only their competitors Artium and Maayan danced Jabe at a very high level. Anton and Yael did not use the ballroom movements of ballroom and Latin American dances, only the New York movement. They danced very well but it was not enough to compete with the strong couples they faced. “.
Mimicry and femininity
“Throughout the season, you can be impressed by the wonderful skills that Yael Bar Zohar brings with her – the accuracy, strength, posture and length of movements,” says Miri Avraham, a ballroom dance enthusiast who has been a devout observer of “Dancing with the Stars” for generations, VP of PR Limor Crescenti. “She dances all her life and the expectation from her accordingly. Of course with hard work she has intensified the mimicry, expression of femininity and emotion alongside the technique. Undoubtedly she has a unique and captivating imprint.”
“At the same time, the big surprise came from those people who have nothing to do with the dance – Adi Ashkenazi, Alex Shtilov and Maayan Adam,” Crescenti adds. “The expectations from them were lower while it turned out that they surprised the audience hugely, showed continuous improvement in the process and swept the viewers. It can be said that their choreography was very complex and challenging at this stage of the show, expressing impressive virtuoso ability – the power of Alex’s Argentine tango “And Nina, the level of difficulty of the pseudobla (partly with closed eyes) of Adi and Haim and the energetic and dizzying jab of Maayan and Artium – these gave them an advantage and entry into the coveted final.”
From Zohar Bar Zohar expected more
“Bar Zohar was not dismissed in my opinion due to professional nonsense. In my eyes she danced better than Adi Ashkenazi, she is more precise and her movements reach the end of the movement and if you asked me she would have deserved to go to the finals. Adi Ashkenazi was more awkward in the last dance. “The expectation from her was lower. Miel Bar Zohar expected more after years of appearing at festivals.”
“Adi Ashkenazi surprised the audience and was also more diverse in the characters she provided through the dance and the audience liked that a stand-up comedian who is not her field at all and does not come from sports or dance and does not have a dancer’s body manages to provide high-level dances relative to the average person. “Give her the place in the final because, from the professional judges’ point of view, she was in last place,” Crescenti concludes.