Rick's Question: What Did You Think of Sadie's Rumba Last Week?

Rick: Do you think that Sadie and Mark's rumba was appropriate and how would you score it Janet? Sadie is clearly a revelation. Absolutely one of the most innocently endearing and unforgettable performances I have seen this season. Where did a Duck Commander's daughter get such incredible artistry?  Will you tell me please Janet, the all knowing one?

Janet: Here's the comment I made, along with the video!

Janet's Review: That was a beautiful performance, and lovely choreography and costumes. However, I think the Rumba is such a sensual dance that it's not going to be easy for a young dancer to get right. They won't have the life experience for this. I think that Sadie was very locked-up in her lower torso, and that's where the rumba's heart is. I cannot fault Sadie for being pure and innocent, but this dance is all about the fire and sultry passion of intimacy between two people. Mark cannot teach that to Sadie, and she's not old enough to embrace it. As much as Sadie could "GET" this dance, she did, so I think she did a wonderful job, and Mark did a very nice job to make it easier on Sadie to do her best.

I got a comment from another viewer, who had a lot of good points to make:

MK LaRue: Well, I think Julianne's assessment really summed it up. Just because it's something passionate doesn't mean it has to be all sex and raunchy. There are ways of showing intimacy and passion (even fire) without getting "down and dirty". I disagree in saying that she doesn't have the life experience to get this. She's 17 not 7. She has a boyfriend and while I don't know anything about their physical relationship, she would still have desires and be able to take what she does know of love and intimacy and bring it to her dance. I also was very impressed with Mark for being sensitive to her beliefs and giving her the choreography to perform her best. I think by watching Lea and Artem it was a good contrast to this and how the coaches can boost their dancers confidence levels to get awesome performances. Lea was so worried and uncomfortable and wanting to please him so much it got in her head because he had overdone his choreography and while they had a great dance it just wasn't as connected as they usually are. Had he played to her strengths and not pushed so much I think they would've been better. Mark has always done that with Sadie and I think that's why she has come as far as she has.

Sadie loosened up for this lovely, elegant movement.

Janet: *nods in agreement* You're right. Julianne did nail it in her comment--it doesn't have to be all sex and raunchy. I wouldn't have wanted a performance like that anyway, but I do think she wasn't as flowing with her movement as she could have been. Good call on "She's 17 not 7." I think maybe she just needed to be a bit more comfortable with the whole feel of the dance. Excellent point made regarding Artem and Lea. It was unfortunate and disappointing that Artem pushed too hard for his ideas and it ended up hurting their performance.

Rick Barbera: Great review. This was the perfect routine for Sadie, not raunchy or sexy beyond her years, just a depiction of young love in my opinion. When portraying love and sensuality, I am not sure there is that much difference between 7 and 17. Even at 17, I don't think you have the love and life experiences to resonate with deep sensual love. This was sweet, tender, loving and I think her slight embarrassment made it all the more endearing.

Sadie is wholesome, bright and beautiful.

MK LaRue: I'm pretty sure at 17 you can know deep love and what it is. I, like you and probably most everyone else on here, don't know Sadie personally so I can't comment to what she personally knows, but I can comment to what a 17 year old has the capability of knowing. A 7 year old certainly can't understand deep sensual emotions like the ones they wanted promoted. However, a 17 year old has the capability of knowing that kind of love as much as an 18, 19, 20, 21 year old can. How else do you explain those people that fell in love at a young age (some even younger than 17) and were able to grow into that deep love. They knew what it was...and they knew how it felt to be in love. I don't think age really has all that much to do with it at the 17 year old mark. I mean, people keep pointing at Sadie and how young she is while totally expecting Bethany and Janel to be able to perform up to the standards of an adult. Bethany is only 18 (just a year older than Sadie) so how does that give her THAT much more life experience? Janel is 25...again, pretty young. Whitney (one of the pros) just turned 21 so again, young and dancing all these dances with the passion and sexiness expected by the judges. All that to say, I don't think it matters that Sadie is 17. She isn't so young to not know how to express emotions and bring those emotions into her dancing. It just depends on how open and vulnerable she can allow herself the freedom to be.

Rick: While it's true there may be a minority of 17 year olds who may have the life experiences to understand deep sensual emotions, I think most do not. Certainly not Sadie, who has probably just recently been allowed to date when you consider how she is being raised.  From everything I've seen, she and that boyfriend are almost platonic. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I was 17 but my experience is that the romanticism, sensuality and love feelings developed in the early 20s. I never said that Bethany should be expected to perform a grown up rumba, nor did she in my opinion. Her rumba was a disappointment with very little content.  I think it's reasonable for Janel though, particularly at 25 and she is an actress. That changes the whole dynamic, although at 17 I don't think even she should have been expected to perform that type of rumba.

MK LaRue: You said to "let you have it" so here it is...I promise I won't be too mean ;-) I think, first, I want to just mention that in my first response to your comment, I was speaking in more of a generalization about Bethany and Janel based off other comments I've read online...not that YOU specifically had said those things so sorry for that confusion. I guess, in all honesty, my only response to your response is this: We don't know. We don't know what Sadie's life experiences are, we don't know what Janel's are, we don't know what Bethany's are...we just don't know because we aren't part of their personal lives (at least I don't think we are). LOL. So I think, in all fairness, we can't really say with 100% certainty that they can/can't relate or know what it means to have that deep passionate love in their lives. Just as an example to reinforce the point: Sadie and her boyfriend may seem platonic on the surface or in pictures but if we don't actually hang out with them on a day to day basis, we don't actually know how they interact or what they do...they may just prefer to be more private. Again, not saying that's actually true...just throwing it out there for an example. Also, I know alot of Christian parents that allow their kids to "date" as early as 14-15, so that's why, in my opinion, it is entirely possible that a 17 year old could know what a deep love is like. I think that deep love is based off of a deep connection brought on through a deep friendship...

All that aside, though, I think the real issue here, ultimately, is not Sadie's life experiences or lack of life experiences...I think the more prevalent point was already addressed: Was it age appropriate as well as respectful of her family's faith and their beliefs? I think both of those questions get a yes as a an answer. It was age appropriate, it was sweet and honest and simple (that's what made it beautiful), and it was very respectful of Sadie and her family and their beliefs. I think another thing to consider is that this dance probably got such an emotional response because it WASN'T so sexual. In my opinion, DWTS has really taken a dive toward becoming so raunchy and "dirty" for lack of a better word, that I stopped watching it a while ago until this season when I noticed there were a few dancers (Sadie and Mark being one of the teams) that really weren't focused so much on the sex but on the dance itself and the story behind it. That's what's captivating and refreshing at least for me, this season. Sorry, I know that was WAY too long! LOL.