It Takes Two on Dancing with the Stars
The two performances per show have started on Week 7 of Dancing with the Stars. The dancers performed a ballroom dance first then came back with a Latin dance.
Ladies first with Laila Ali starting off with a brilliant performance. Mama Dada said knock you out, and she did earning scores of 10-9-10 on the quickstep and all 10’s with her shakin’ samba.
Elder-statesman, John Ratzenberger, continues to hold his own and improves where he can with seasoned pro Edyta Sliwinska (I didn’t realize she’s been on every season of DWTS with Evander Holyfield, George Hamilton, and Joey Lawrence). John has that genuine smile that you have to enjoy. He moved and even glided during his foxtrot and rumba. Probably the best I’ve seen him dance. Scores of 8-7-8 for the foxtrot and 7-8-7 for the rumba.
Apolo Anton Ohno and partner Julianne Hough are suffering from early perfection. Their foxtrot was classy and fun with youthful exuberance, but the judges were nitpicking giving scores of 9-8-9. Their mambo was energetic with tough moves choreographed in, but that magic was missing (even with the return of Apolo’s soul patch). Scores of 9-9-10. Their lack of age may be the reason for the lack of soul in their dances (Apolo is 25 and Julianne is an engaged 18-year old).
This was a breakout week for Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke. A week late, but Ian finally “made the connection,” intertwining dance steps, performance, and personality. This made his dances enjoyable to watch, or was it Ian’s facial expressions, or was it seeing the old gang from 90210? Holla to Jason, Jennie, and Tori! Their energetic mambo where he flung Cheryl around like a hussy scored 9-9-9 and got the approvals of the judges. Their smoky mambo also got all 9’s. Ian’s no longer in trouble.
Billy Ray Cyrus is not a dancer but is a great performer. He copped out on the waltz letting partner Karina Smirnoff do all the work and got slammed with scores of 5-6-6. Their samba was better (but still clunky). Two dances a week is simply too hard for this “heel” billy. His strategy is to set a low initial expectation but then perform better than those low expectations, boosting his score. The pair got all 7’s for the samba, still not getting that elusive 8.
Joey Fatone is a goofball but dances like a superfreak. He’s Turbo, Kelly, and Ozone all rolled into one! Him and Kym Johnson showed off that razzle dazzle in their magical foxtrot (10-9-10). In their jive, Joey and Kym were greased lightning showcasing impressive kick sequences that were quick and crisp. Len said they were totally *NSYNC. 10’s across the board.
John’s been in the bottom two two times and will likely be back in Week 7. Billy Ray should be joining John, but may be the one ousted.
Related: Recap of Dancing with the Stars 2007
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