Shawn Johnson DWTS Profile and Recaps

Posted by Stiletto Jen On April - 20 - 2009 4,284 views

Congratulations to Shawn Johnson for becoming the youngest Dancing with Stars Contestant AND Winner! Shawn beat out sexy Gilles Marini by less than 1% of votes to win the shiny mirror ball trophy! The spunky teen captured the gold in the olympics and the hearts of DWTS fans everywhere!

I became a fan of Shawn’s a few months ago when I was writing my First Annual Stiletto Sports Academy Awards pieces and really learned a lot about her gymnastic career and the US team. I was pretty happy to see that she was going to be on the show. And I’ve really grown to like Mark a lot over the last few seasons. I think the two of them are fantastic together! He was great with Kristi Yamaguchi but I really think she could have danced with a monkey and still won because that’s how good she was.

But with Shawn, I think the two of them really bring out each other’s best qualities and she makes Mark’s choreography really shine!

They say it every week, but Shawn is the youngest star contestant ever to be on the show (minus the kid’s competition!). At 17, she has this amazing elegance and sophistication with the fluidity of her movements all while managing to keep her youthful glow.

Recaps!

The Finals Freestyle
- Scores: 10-10-10
- Watch Shawn & Marks’s Freestyle video on YouTube in the sidebar!

The Finals Paso-Doble Face-Off
- Scores: 9-9-10
- Watch Shawn & Marks’s Paso Doble Face-Off video on YouTube in the sidebar!

Semi-Finals Week 10 Ballroom– Argentine Tango: Two words: HOT DAMN! Okay, one more: WOW. Carrie-Ann said “Precision is your middle name.” Len said it was by far her best performance. Sharp flicks and legword and stunning, really complicated lifts. Okay, I’m gushing again…..
- Scores: 10-10-10 First perfect score! Rock on Catherine Zeta-Shawn!
- Watch Shawn & Marks’s Cha-Cha-Cha video on YouTube in the sidebar!
Semi-Finals Week 10 Latin– Jive: Jolly good fun! Polka-dot explosion of personality, spunk and flash! Youthful and full of fabulousness! I loved it! Mark looked Pissed! Judges came down hard on them.
- Scores: 9-8-9 = 26. I have huge objection to that. I mean, freaking Ty had an 8 and he was pure crap. How can they put Shawn in that league? She was fantastic.
- Total for the night: 56/60

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Week 9 Latin–Paso Doble + indiv. solo: “Gotta Get Through This” It gave me chills all over my body. FANTASTIC! I love my Pasos in red and black! Power, fire, anger, passion, drama, great footwork and technique. She had her Olympic game face on and she worked that dress, the floor and even Mark! Carrie-Ann said that was hard song to Paso to but Mark’s choreography went amazingly with the beat!
- Scores 10-9-10 Best score to date!!!
- Total for the night: 56/60
- watch Shawn’s Paso Doble video on YouTube in our sidebar!

Week 9 Ballroom Quickstep! “(You Ain’t Never Had a) Friend Like me”–Aladdin Soundtrack. My favorite Disney movie set to ballroom! Love it! Fun, vibrant and full of personality. Judges thought it would have been a perfect routine if they didn’t break hold throughout the dance. Carrie Ann said it was her best dance ever! Funny, because there were times when they were not in perfect sync in the beginning but I think their enthusiasm and flair made up for it!
- Scores: 9-9-9 = 27. Would have been a 30 if they didn’t get docked for breaking the rules.
- watch Shawn’s Quickstep video on YouTube in our sidebar!

Week 8 Samba: Coming off of last w “eek’s fabulous “P.Y.T.” Cha-Cha, I have to say that Shawn’s Samba was definitely a let down. It was okay. But that’s it, just okay. I think Len was right when he said that her dress was doing all the work. It felt like dancing for beginners–technically good, but lacking the fire and heat that comes with time
- Scores: 10-8-8
- Team Mambo: Shawn redeemed herself with this sassy performance in the Team/Group dance! There was plenty of shaking, foot flicking and sass!
  - Team Scores: 8-8-9
- Week 7 Cha-cha-cha: “P.Y.T” More like W.O.W!!! It was really, really good! I usually like my cha-chas with really long legged blondes doing them but Shawn may have changed my mind! It was packed with technique and fun! They came out like Michael Jackson and even threw in some typical 70s disco moves. But they were so sharp and crisp that they looked fantastic instead of cheesy. I thought they really nailed this routine and I loved watching it. I’m actually going out there and saying it’s one of my favorite performances of the season!
  - Scores: 9-9-10
  - watch the video on YouTube
Shawn Johnson’s Cha-Cha-Cha to “P.Y.T.”

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- Week 6 Rumba: “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” They were worried about the dance being too sexy worked really hard to make it age appropriate and it paid off. It really was exquisite. She looked so beautiful yet maintained her youthful innocence. It had class, elegance, sophistication and grace. And I really loved the practice videos –seeing how Mark threw Shawn a “Prom” because if she continues on in the competition, she’ll wind up missing her own prom this year.
  - Scores: 8-9-9 = 26
  - Watch the video on YouTube
- Week 5 Viennese Waltz: “Ordinary Day” THIS is the reason I love waltzes so much. It was as pretty as a picture, or as Len said “lyrical.” It really made me want to cry because there was such a story behind the dance and the emotions came through. And anytime someone can get away with doing a lift and not be penalized by Carrie-Ann, well, it must be an amazing dance!
  - Scores: 9-8-9
  - watch the video on YouTube
- Week 4 Lindy Hop: “Ready Teddy” The stars were allowed to do tricks and lifts this week and Shawn’s Lindy Hop was packed with them. The tricks were really badass. But the dancing, eh….. not so great.
  - Scores: 8-8-9
  - watch the video on YouTube
- Week 3 Foxtrot: “More Than This” It was very pretty and she was definitely gliding across the floor effortlessly. But honestly, it didn’t really stand out to me among all the other dances of the season. *Even on retrospect, watching the video a few weeks later I didn’t remember the dance.
  - Scores: 9-9-9 = 27
  - watch the video on YouTube
- Week 2 Salsa: “Las Muchachas” Bruno said it best “you must be one of the cutest little things I’ve ever seen.” And she really is! She’s this little bundle of energy. She hit all the steps but there something missing. The judges said it was missing “the raunch” that Latin dances usually have. But some of the moves and techniques were sick! Especially for a Week 2 dance! Oh, and loved the colorful costume!
  - Scores: 8-8-8
  - watch the video on YouTube
- Week 1 Waltz: “Is it You (I have Loved)” You knew 10 seconds into her first dance of the season that this young lady was going to be the contestant to watch. It was so moving and powerful. The elegance in the way she executed the beautiful choreography and the lines she hit while maintaining the Waltz’s subtle rise and fall was really remarkable.
  - Scores: 8-8-8
  - watch the video on YouTube
Check back after each week, I’ll be adding to Shawn’s profile!

on to Gilles Marini Profile & Recap

on to Lil Kim Profile & Recap

on to Melissa Rycroft Profile & Recap

on to Chuck Wicks Profiles & Recap

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