8Asians.com - Latest Comments in Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

Phil — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:22:03 -0000

>something the Apolo Ohno as a speed skater didn’t have.

Nother thing was personality.

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

Judy Woodruff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:32:47 -0000

Ok - I'm new to this reality show voting thing but I'm not extremely stupid...or am I?

I can't seem to be able to actually vote! My daughters are both Chinese Americans and are thrilled to see Kristi and I am thrilled too. I've tried the numbers above...last night I got the "the voting in your area is closed!" message and I can't get the "vote online" interface to load on the ABC site. Can someone please help me, a well meaning voting dim bulb?

thank you!

Judy

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

jeffat8asians — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:16:21 -0000

Jen, if you had a hard time going from dance to ice, perhaps it was easier for her going the other way! In any case, I think that her experience of working with a partner is a very useful one in this competition. When I started learning salsa, one of the hardest things to get used to is working with a partner and having to lead. Kristi was already used to working with a partner to music - something the Apolo Ohno as a speed skater didn't have.

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

John — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:16:21 -0000

I think it is a no-brainer for Kristi to win - I mean, an Olympic Gold medalist has the physical coordination and skills that I assume match the skills needs to win a dance competition?

I always liked Kristi - great ice skater and quite cute, IMHO!

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

Jen — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:02:11 -0000

I learned to figure skate after 15+ years of dance training and found it VERY difficult and surprisingly little in common (figure skating requires much more brute strength and no turnout in skates). Body awareness, posture, position of arms, etc, (and discipline) are of course, related to dance training....but those are skills you can learn in tennis, football, and definitely, performing on a Broadway stage.

I struggled PLENTY while learning how to figure skate, it certainly wasn't an easy thing for me to learn, even with my dance training. I do hope people realize how difficult Kristi is working, it gives credit to her work ethic she is doing well in the competition.

I have no doubt Kristi did not receive as many endorsement commercials as Nancy Kerrigan, but I think that's a topic for another post ;)

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

jeffat8asians — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:49:08 -0000

Penn Jilette joked that she was a cheater because she had danced all her life, only on ice to make it harder. There is some truth to that - she was a pairs junior champion along with Rudy Galindo - IMHO a huge advantage.

I like to root for Kristi because she is from Fremont, California like myself. I also appreciate that she gives back to where she came from with a foundation (http://www.alwaysdream.org/) that has donated to some Asian American causes, has Asian American board members, and is improving Fremont Central park, a place where I have put in a lot of mileage running.

I also remember that she used to do commercials for Union bank during the Japanese times on channel 26. There was some discussion in the past that she did not receive as many commercial endorsements as Nancy Kerrigan, even though she was the Olympic champion, because of her ethnicity.

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

jennifer — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:29:43 -0000

i give kristi a little more credit because she's only been dancing ballroom for 2 months, and mark has been dancing all his life :)

Re: Kristi Yamaguchi: Dancing with the Stars

THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:57:43 -0000

The teacher out-shines Kristi in the dance.