Dancing with the Stars rolled into the quarterfinals this week with all the teams doing two dances–a ballroom and a Latin. And for some reason ABC jumped the show back to two hours this week so we got a lot of filler too. Here is the rundown on this weeks competition:
Shawn & Mark: (Ballroom: Quickstep) It sucks that they broke the hold here because would’ve probably been triple 10s instead of triple 9s. Shawn did great–so quick, so precise, so fun. And a great death spin flourish too. (Latin: Paso Doble): Impressive! Technically this was quite awesome. Unfortunately there was a little something missing… yes I’m agreeing with Len. I didn’t get goosebumps with this and with this technical excellence, I should’ve. Something was off in the emotional performance.
Ty & Chelsie: (Ballroom: Argentine Tango): He pulled this off so well. Yes, there were some missteps in a couple spots, but on the whole he nailed most of these intricate steps and he performed it right too. The stalker look at the beginning was particularly good. (Latin: Rumba) And here’s where it fell apart. I truly believe he did the best he could, but the hips made his solo a bit difficult, although it was cute that he ended up with Jewel. It was very rude of Bruno to compare him to Kenny Mane though. Ty has always been better than that.
Lil’ Kim & Derek: (Ballroom: Waltz) Derek slowed her down and smoothed her out great and this waltz turned out quite good. There was a small stumble in the beginning, but this was a wonderfully graceful dance. (Latin: Salsa). Whoo-hoo! This was awesome. I loved that Derek took the chance to put the solo in the middle. The tricks worked great, especially the second one where he twirled her with his leg. It’s too bad about the mis-steps. I missed them and I’m sad it cost them a better score.
Gilles & Cheryl: (Ballroom: Foxtrot) Cheryl did great choreography here, but it seemed like Gilles was more in the mindset of a tango because it seemed too aggressive rather than fully romantic. That said, it was the dance of the ballroom section. (Latin: Rumba) I didn’t like the solo, especially the weird moonwalk part. I’m glad the judges called that out because it was the first thing I wrote in my notes after watching. Plus, Gilles looked way to arrogant in this. I did like the ending though, that had great flair.
Melissa & Tony: (Ballroom: Viennese Waltz) This wasn’t as fluid as it needed to be. Too much ballet again. It’s too bad because Tony did some nice choreography. I wish she’d get her feet problem fixed (the judges have certainly called it out enough). (Latin: Samba) Did I watch the same dance everyone else did? Three 10s, really? Best dance of the night? I re-watched and still didn’t see what the fuss was about. The samba rolls were barely there and the one that was seemed week. It was decent, but a 30? I’m confused.
Elimination prediction: I’m afraid unless the fans speak loudly, it’ll be Ty…and if Ty stays, it’ll be an upset of some kind.
Results update: And the fans spoke loud, and Ty stayed. The upset is the Lil’ Kim is gone. Ouch! I’m surprised that her fan base didn’t pull her through which likely would’ve landed the axe on Shawn.
The rest of the show was medicore. I’d never heard of the musical guest. The Stars of Dance number was a bizzare one. I did like the pro competition. They all did a great job with their celebrities. I wish they’d have leveled the playing field with the celebs. Cody and Lisa are much more accomplished than Maurice so I don’t think it was a fair gauge across the board. I haven’t decided who I’m voting for yet, but I’ll figure that out before online voting ends tomorrow morning.
Next week it’s two dances for everyone again as four becomes three in the longest season DWTS has ever had (this usually only goes 10 weeks and this time it’s 11).
