Mirrorball Champions are…
I have been a fan of this show ever since Season 1 and I have to say this season will be a hard one to top. The entire cast truly came in with a great attitude and really put in the effort. It was hard not to fall in love with the personalities and stories of each of our stars this season. There were so many shining stars.
Just a few quick notes:
- RIP to the wonderful Florence Henderson who sadly passed away on Thanksgiving. She was a contestant on DWTS and a regular smiling face in the audience.
- Congratulations to Mark Ballas & BC Jean who were married on Friday.
- This season also brought the engagement in the ballroom of the very kind Emma Slater and Sasha Farber! They are both such sweethearts and it will be a night we always remember from Season 23
I want to give a huge shout out to the Season 23 Dance Troupe: Brittany Cherry, Alan Bersten, Hayley Erbert, Keo Motsepe, Britt Stewart, and Dennis Jauch. You all worked so hard all season and truly provided us with fantastic quality and creative dance numbers. I think it’s time to have a few of the troupe members from the last several seasons get a chance at Pro. They truly have proved themselves.
- It was announced on the finale that Laurie would be joining the #dwtstour #wecametodance. I am sure she will be a fantastic high energy addition to the show and I look forward to seeing her perform.
- I will be attending a handful of tour shows and will be posting pics to my various pages starting with my Instagram page so please feel free to follow me @lightscmemories.
On to the finale:
I absolutely loved the opening number. Choreographed by the amazing Mandy Moore. She is an absolute creative genius.
Andy Grammer also performed his new single Fresh Eyes tonight. Andy is not only a DWTS alum he is a fabulous live performer. If you get a chance to check him out in concert, do it! Allison and Keo danced along to his performance and did a beautiful job!
It was too fun to watch Maureen McCormick live her huge fan dream of dancing with Babyface, Ryan, Artem, Keo and Dennis tonight. Maureen was one that I truly felt grew a lot this season. It’s always fun when a star is also a fan of the show because it allows us at home to live it through their eyes.
The number that Maks did with a group of the ladies was a lot of fun too. It was so nice to have Maks back this season. I know he has said he won’t be returning next season because we will enjoying his time being a new Daddy. I am so happy for him and Peta and wish them so much happiness!
I loved the friendship that developed between Vanilla Ice and Rick Perry this season. Vanilla’s performance was a fun blast from the past and even though they might not have been the strongest dancers the partnerships between Witney/Vanilla and Emma/Rick were fun to watch all season and both did work hard.
For the first time ever it came down to 3 athletes in the finale!
Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe
#TeamStopandGo
They chose their favorite dance to perform again which was the Foxtrot from Cirque night which was a great pick for them. Full of energy and truly highlighted the skills, fun and fabulous relationship of this team. James and Sharna had that something truly special. Sharna has such a humble, unique, genuine way she builds relationships and performs. She has had several memorable partnerships but, this one truly had that very special magic. James had tremendous growth all season, he has such an amazing survival story and a personality that shines.
The gift that James gave to Sharna of the race suit he wore the first time he raced again after his accident was truly sweet. Sharna truly put together the most amazing piece to close the chapter on James’s survival journey. They performed a fusion dance of Foxtrot & Viennese Waltz. It was absolutely beautiful. James demonstrated all the grace in his movements and it again highlighted the beautiful friendship that developed between them this season. It was stunning.
Calvin & Lindsay
#TeamLindsatron
Calvin and Lindsay chose their Argentine Tango from Latin Week as their favorite dance and it was a fabulous choice for them as well. That dance was filled with passion, absolutely out of this world lifts and it absolutely was a great reminder of the growth that Calvin has had this season. Calvin really had such a glowing personality and it was fun to watch him develop into a dancer this season.
Calvin & Lindsay did a Jive & Quickstep fusion. Calvin and Lindsay almost developed a big brother/little sister relationship this season. Calvin should be so happy with his journey this season. He grew immensely and I think kept his attitude on the fun this entire season. He was a joy to watch! Their fusion dance was a lot of fun, high energy and again showed off all the great dance qualities that Calvin brought to the floor.
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy
#TeamVaLaur
Laurie and Val picked their Trio Dance with Maks for their favorite dance. This Samba was crazy good and it absolutely highlighted Laurie’s amazing skills and the ability to truly get into character of the dances. Plus who wouldn’t want to dance with the Chmerkovskiy brothers. Laurie has been such a bright light this season. She showed a lot of talent, positive energy, poise, courage and maturity beyond her years.
Val and Laurie had a Foxtrot & Argentine Tango Fusion dance. Their package was so adorable. It was sad hearing them talk about this season ending. I think Val was a tremendous positive influence on Laurie. Laurie grew so much before our eyes and is truly a remarkable young lady. Their fusion dance was incredible. Laurie had that fire, pure determination and the look of champion in her eyes when they started that fusion dance. I do disagree with those that felt Laurie had an edge this season because of gymnastics. Laurie was the first gymnast that didn’t use the tricks in the dances this season. I can speak from personal experience at a lower level. I was a cheerleader and when I started taking ballroom & latin dance lessons it is totally different and definitely not easy to learn to dance with a partner.
More on the finale…
The holiday performances of Babyface and Felicia Barton and the beautiful dance numbers performed by Artem & Jenna and Allison and the dance troupe really got you in the holiday spirit!
That all male dance number was totally off the hook. Hmmm wondering if we might get to see that on the DWTS Tour this year like we did the Magic Mike number from last year’s finale. I know they are going to switch up the format a bit this year. 
What a treat to get to see Jana & Gleb’s hot Argentine Tango again. That dance will absolutely go down in the DWTS history as being one of the hottest numbers of all time. I am really excited that Gleb will be joining the tour this winter. It will be nice to meet him and see him perform live!
Terra and Marilu’s special highlight number was also a lot of fun to watch. Many people were asking where Derek was, he was at rehearsals for Hairspray Live!
The Macy’s Stars of Dan
ce number was also choreographed by the amazing Mandy Moore. This was truly remarkable. It was creative, it was a technical and visual delight the way she was able to bring the story into motion using the special screen to make the young girl’s dream a reality. It truly was an absolute Masterpiece!
I loved the tour preview dance we had tonight. I highly recommend the tours, if you are able to go you will not be disappointed. It’s always a fantastic entertaining time and the cast this year is fantastic!
Jana’s performance of her hit song Circles as we watched the video of the final 3 couples was just perfect.
The Results:
Lindsay and Calvin came in 3rd place.
Sharna & James and Val & Laurie were the final two couples and truly they were both so good it could have been a tie this season. Each partnership just had that special something. The talent, the creativity of Val & Sharna with their respective partners was just unstoppable this year. I would have been absolutely thrilled if their partnership had won.
Sharna & James came in 2nd place.
Dancing with the Stars Season 23 Winners are:
Laurie & Val!
Bravo & congratulations to Laurie & Val. What a season it was and your partnership was just incredible. It was great to see Val relaxed and so happy and Laurie grew and improved as a dancer and just proved she was the total package with dynamic ability. Laurie you absolutely do inspire as does Val! Keep it up!
Please feel free to follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook: @lightscmemories
Finally meet & greet VIP Packages and general tickets are on sale for the DWTS Tour so don’t miss out! www.dwtstour.com
Until next time,
XOXO
Heather
Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe (Argentine Tango)
nce experience you have to trust and just be able to feel everything. I LOVED their Argentine Tango it was sexy, intense, filled with fun content and that hand stand at the end was just so good.
Terra Jole’ & Sasha Farber (Rumba)
ek. Loved Carrie Ann’s quote: “Quality of the movement was like the quality of you, it was untouchable”. Well-deserved PERFECT score…BRAVO!
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko (Quickstep)
Calvin & Lindsay (Tango)
ink Calvin improved a lot as the season went on but, I am not as engaged in them as a partnership.
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy (Foxtrot)
Elimination Time: It was so sad to see Terra and Sasha eliminated. They truly have been amazing all season, Terra showed the world nothing should ever hold you back from trying something you want to do. Sasha and Terra seem like they will be forever friends. It was one of those amazing partnerships you see develop on DWTS that you will always remember as truly special and Terra should be very proud of herself for a tremendous job on DWTS!
Marilu & Derek
Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe (Jenna filling in for Sharna)
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy
James/Sharna & Calvin/Lindsay: Paso Doble
Marilu/Derek & Terra/Sasha: Jazz
Jana/Gleb & Laurie & Val: Contemporary
Eliminated tonight was Marilu & Derek. Marilu should be proud of her journey on show this season. She made a lot of strides from the first few weeks and I am glad on the night she was eliminated she had one of her best, most relaxed performances.
Terra Jole’ & Sasha Farber
Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko
Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe (Jenna filling in for Sharna)
Jana & Gleb
I thought both dances were ok. Jana’s seemed to be a bit more refined and had more typical jive in it and I think she is way more comfortable of the two on the dance floor. Babyface just seems like he needs to relax and have fun with the dance. He is good and he has the presence just needs to relax. The jive just seemed stiff hopefully he will have a break out week so where he just let’s go and has a lot of fun. Jana and Gleb won the face off.
Holy super sexy Cha Cha to James and Sharna! James is really good and keeping right up with Sharna’s great creativity in their dances. I will be absolutely shocked if we don’t see them in the final 2 this season. I do see improvement in Ryan each week. I think similar to Babyface he just needs to let it all go one of these weeks and really have fun with it. James and Sharna won the face off.
incredibly graceful. They edged out Sasha and Terra and won the face off.
I had read beforehand people wondering how Laurie would do because the Tango is a sexy dance. I take dance lessons and I don’t totally agree with that. I think it doesn’t have to be sexy if you bring the intensity and get into the character of the dance. It was nice to see that side to Laurie. Laurie is just on the mark every week and continues to grow. I think Marilu is also good but, still needs to do what I was saying with Babyface and Ryan, just relax into it, and remember she is there to have fun too. Val and Laurie won the face off.
e the dance with Cheryl, Derek & Maks since they returned to the show and all three had been on the show for a long time so they deserve the extra recognition. However, I think they should have been paired up to dance with the 3 other returning pro’s Emma, Allison & Gleb just to give them some credit and recognition as well.
Artem Chigvintsev and Maureen McCormick
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko
Rick Perry & Emma Slater
Lindsay Arnold & Calvin Johnson Jr
Amber Rose & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Jake T Austin & Jenna Johnson
Vanilla Ice & Witney Carson
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds & Allison Holker
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy
Sharna Burgess & James Hinchcliffe
Derek Hough & Marilu Henner 
Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke
