DWTS: keeping up with Rob Kardashian
No, of course I don’t watch the Kardashian reality show or follow much about them. But I do follow the mindless entertainment of “Dancing With the Stars,” and the Kardashian known as Rob has impressed me with his progress as a ballroom dancer, and the heaps of fun he seems to be having out there.
So mock me; what do I care? Last night I had fun, too, watching Rob in the finals. He was a surprising first-place finisher with the judges, and this free-style was one of the reasons. If you think it’s easy for a non-dancer to take a woman and spin around this fast, holding her horizontally behind his head (starting at 1:24), you’ve got another think coming (not to mention the bravery his partner showed by choreographing the move in the first place):
Just to show you the sort of progress he’s made in ten weeks, here’s Kardashian’s first performance on DWTS, a Viennese waltz. He already had the grin, but his awkward, stiff dance skills left an awful lot to be desired, and his partner wisely kept the choreography very simple:
[NOTE: This seems to be my day for writing about 24-year-old male scions of well-known celebrity families. Rob, like Ronan Farrow, is 24.]
[ADDENDUM: Looking again at the clip of Rob’s first performance, I’m struck by the fact that there’s one ability he had from the first (besides the grin): a natural and attentive connection and eye contact with his partner. That’s important in any sort of couples dancing, and it’s hard to teach and harder to achieve unless it’s a given, as it is with Rob.]
Count me among Robs fans after last nights show. At the start of the season I was rolling my eyes and bemoaning ‘not ANOTHER Kardashian”. And after the first couple of weeks showings and the most horrid ones were gone I was wondering at the start of each show why is he still there. But then, wonder of wonders, I found myself really watching him and there has hardly been a week since that I have not made the comment that he is the epitome of what the show is supposed to be about. Absolutely zero dance experience (as his first few attempts clearly showed) but improving every week. He seems to carefully listen to the judges comments and works to correct the faults they bring up. Beyond that he comes across as a genuine young man, quite likeable in fact. What! How can that be, he is a Kardashian I often thought. But thinking back over this strange season he is indeed the most improved, the one who seems delighted by it and I gave all my votes to him last night! Based either way you’d like, either by his steady progress throughout or especially just on last nights performance…..he deserves to win it and I hope he does!
In these shows, a dancer’s/celebrity’s likability is often just as important as their dancing skill, and I’m afraid I find it really hard to warm to anyone who’s disfigured their body so horribly with tattoos – I think it says a lot about their character, and not good things. I’m not sure he’s won me over yet.