Enough ‘Idol’ worship, it’s time to ‘Dance’

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Talent in Times Square
While the truly bad will hopefully soon be forgotten, New York also offered a host of talented performers.

Anya Garnis and Pasha Kovalev were the first to draw the whoops and standing ovations that are the universal sign of judicial approval.

Mary Murphy called them "the best ballroom dancers we have ever had on the show," and they were no-brainers to move on.

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Dance teacher Katie Watts first saw student Ashley Keegan easily advance to the Vegas round, and then earned her own passage as well.

The two were as happy for each other as they were for themselves, which in this genre may mean that they wind up turning on each other in the next round.

And Stanislav Savich came back, escorting his sister Farina. Stanislav made the final 20 last season, and then was the first male eliminated.

His sister wowed the judges, with Mary saying "You are the epitome of what we look for in a Latin dancer," and Nigel adding "You could go a long way in this competition."

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Then, there was the saga of Jamal Weaver. Weaver's first crack at auditioning was more frenetic than impressive, and the judges decided to send him off to try and prove he could do a swing dance. Usually, that's a sign that they're looking for the unlucky contestant to come back, stink again, and endure another round of mocking.

Not this time. Weaver got crewmate Earnest "E-Knock" Phillips to perform with him, and after a tremendously slow start worked up a routine that had the judges roaring. It wasn't exactly swing, but it did the trick.

"We sit here all day … and sometimes we put up with a load of rubbish, and other times we put up with a lot of abuse, and every now and them a star gets on that stage," Nigel said. "You, sir, are that star. Whether you stay that way later, I don't know, but right now you're a star."

Weaver stayed that way long enough to make it out of the choreography round and get one of the 59 tickets to Vegas that came out of Manhattan. His chances of going further are relatively slim, but for one shining moment at least, he was the star of the New York dance world.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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