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Dancing with the Stars recap 10/9
Posted On 11/03/2007 16:28:56 by tippie
L and I were lucky enough to get tickets to go
last night. My mom also came along with her friends and my aunt. It's
always nice to see the behind-the-scenes stuff with the dancers and
celebrities being themselves.

We got there early because we
thought that the Billy Ray and Miley fans would be lining up the night
before. In the morning, though, we reasoned that she mostly appeals to
the tweens and young teenagers, who not only are in school, but who are
also too young to even enter the taping. We realized this only after L
had gotten there at like 10, I think it was.

We decided that we
would sit in the balcony for its optimal view of the whole dance floor.
As more spectators were filing in, we were just people watching, and
again, I spotted him. I nudged L, and she commented on how well-tuned
my Maks radar was. It's so weird because I'm not actively looking for
him, as there's no guarantee that he'll even be out there that early.
Yet my eyes naturally seem to find him. However, he's one of those
people that you would very easily pick out in a crowd.

He was
wearing a white t-shirt, sweats, and sneakers. We also noted the elbow
brace on his right arm and the young woman on his other arm. They
passed in front of the judges' table and away from the stage. He had
her wait at the edge of the dance floor while he accosted one of the
crew people. He put his arm around the guy, and it was easy to see that
he was having him seat his friend.

She took her seat in the area
under our balcony, and Maks stood to the side of the seating which is
opposite the stage. At that point, Derek, Mark Ballas, and Tony walked
in from one of the side entrances, passing Maks. Tony was holding a
football, and they were all dressed, like Maks, in somewhat sporty gear
-- shorts, t-shirts, sneakers, etc. We thought they were in costume for
a pro dance that had not been revealed, and we sadly thought that it
meant Maks and Karina wouldn't be dancing.

It turned out that
they had all come in to watch Seal peform his new track, which was
taped first but broadcast second. Derek had his video camera, and Mark
Ballas had his digital camera and were taking pictures/footage. We
still thought they were supposed to be dancing at some point and were
waiting for their grand entrance. Obviously, that didn't happen. We
figured that they had been tossing the football around and didn't have
time to set it down somewhere before Seal's performance. We weren't
sure if Maks had been playing with them, but we hoped that it didn't
aggravate his arm.

The pros left, but Mark, Sabrina, and Mel
returned in time for the taping of "Kiss from a Rose." Maks left after
the first number and didn't return till his dance. It was so cool to
see the pros and celebrities lead each other by the hand to look for a
seat, rushing a little bit before Seal started singing. You could
really see how well they get along, and in a way, seeing them sing
along to Seal and watching him on stage brought them to a non-celebrity
level with us. I was reminded of the fact that even though this is a
competition, it is one where there is a great deal of support for and
admiration of one's competitors that is not readily seen in other
events.

I really enjoy watching all of them act naturally and
normally. It was cute when he would bump Mel with his hip or applaud by
clapping his left hand with her right. I also noticed that before his
dance with Karina, he gave his bottled water to an older man in the
front row to hold for him. The dancers don't dance throughout the whole
song, and Maks positioned his water in a strategic location so that he
could have a drink during one of the breaks in the dance.

While
they were cuing Billy Ray, Maks looked over at the man and sort of
mouthed, "You have my water?" The man held up the bottle, and Maks gave
him a thumbs up and a nod, as if to say, "Cool!" It was so cute! Right
after that, he looked over at Karina on the opposite corner of the
dance floor and made eye contact. He also jokingly crouched down like
an offensive lineman ready to sack the quarterback. With the stretching
and shaking his legs out to get loose, I was having a hard time
containing myself from the high level of cuteness.

I especially
love not only watching Maks' reactions, but also noticing what elicited
those reactions. For example, Corey, the MC, asked the crowd who they
were cheering for, and after a few people shouted a few names, Corey
asked, "Okay, who said, 'Sanjaya?'" I looked over at Maks, and he was
laughing with all of us. I really didn't think he knew who Sanjaya was,
and I was so tickled that he was up to date with the most recent
"American Idol" happenings.

After the Seal tapings, it was on to
Billy Ray and Miley and Maks and Karina, of course. When I saw him at
the corner of the stage, I was a little disappointed at the
loose-fitting top. I mostly like him in the body-hugging things, but it
served a few purposes, one of which was to hide the elbow brace that he
was wearing. As they ran toward each other, I began to appreciate the
loose top. It flowed like a sail just like her dress did and came
nicely to rest on his upper body. Even though his top wasn't tightly
fitting his body, it was very thin and almost see-through, and you
could still appreciate his musculature. I really felt like I was
watching a bedroom scene with her in a sexy, albeit very sequined,
lingerie and him in comfortable pajamas. It was dripping sensuality,
yet was not overtly sexual. From the way their bodies moved together to
the way he teasingly lifted his shirt as he moved his arms, they very
much captured our attention and tantalized us with every step. As I
watched the visually spectacular scene, I could feel my heart beating
faster, my mouth getting drier, and goosebumps raising on my flesh. It
was magnificent.

Unfortunately, one of my favorite parts of the
dance was not captured well on camera. At the end of the dance, Karina
runs her hand along Maks' face and into his hair. He was moving his
head and grinning with a look of sheer pleasure and ecstasy after the
climax of the dance. It capped the whole routine beautifully, and I
wish they had gotten it on tape.

Last night, Maks didn't reach
us on a personal level like he had before. We didn't get a personal
wave and smile like last time. However, he reached us on an emotional
level in a way that he has touched so many in his young lifetime:
through his dancing.

It was one of the best birthdays ever. Wink

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