Nino was born to dance. I love that she attacks the dance and doesn't resort to the usual "girl" role of pretty poses. She dances with heart, aplomb, grace, and terrific technical skill! This couple has musicality, talent, and great charm. Even the judges are charmed and have to suppress their smiles. I hope Austin & Nino will not stop until they get to the top of what seems to me a creaky WDC machine: it's apparently very difficult to break through the ranks who have put in their time, even if what they offer has grown stale.
I don't know if thats true. Many times in the past few years there have been couples who could have made it into the final (after a couple in the final split, or another went pro, etc) but didn't, because another couple jumped ahead of them. Dorin and Marina, Kirill and Polina - two recent examples of couples who started out lower than a number of the pro-latin semi finalists and are now in the final ahead of them. Even in the amateur, Ferdinando and Yulia first entered the final in 2011 and its taken them seven years to get to this point because couples kept on leapfrogging ahead of them despite having been in the final for less time. Anton Nesterko & Dariya Maryuschenko can't even get into the final for the same reason - couples keep jumping ahead of them to take their position despite not having been there as long. I'm not saying the system is perfect, but there are definitely more counter examples to show that "putting in your time" is not enough to win or make the finals in these competitions, unless you mean "time in the studio".
