Dancing With The Stars – Week 5 – The Paso Doble and the Viennese Waltz

The ballroom had a decidedly different feeling this week as couples faced the Paso Dobles and the Viennese Waltz.  The ten barrier was broken in stride, with Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough receiving the first ten. Later, Melissa Rykroff and Tony Dovalani scoring the first pair of tens. Then to cap the evening off last Monday night, Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke score the first perfect score of the season.  The bar has been raised.

Tonight the couples attempted the romantic, lyrical Viennese Waltz and the tense passion of the Paso Doble. How did they do?

Chuck Wicks and JulieAnn Hough  opened the night with the Viennese Waltz. It offered nice, tight footwork – not spectacular, but nice.  He’s finishing his moves more but needs to tuck in his thumb. And for a couple in real life he doesn’t offer a lot of emotional connection with JulieAnn.  The judges scored them 7 – 8 – 8 for 23 points on the night.

Lawrence Taylor and Edyta Sliwinskia danced the first Paso of the night.  His stance is all worng, no emotional connection, no emotion. He lacks connection with the dance.  The judges scored them 6 – 7 – 7 for 20 on the night.

Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas performed the Viennese Waltz, it was very elegant, wonderful hold, close tight footwork, with wonderful musicality. Lovely dance.  The judges scored them 9 – 8 – 9 for 26 points.

Melissa Rykroff and Tony Dovalani offered up the Paso Doble. Nice footwork, she lost her body attitude a few times and needed a bit more tension in her stance and pose, plus a little less smile.  The performance was entertaining.  The judges scored them 8 – 8 – 9 for 25 points.

David Alan Grier and Kym Johnson danced a Viennese Waltz; Grier was wearing the face of the bullfighter in the Paso – all wrong.  He was wooden, the face was highly distracting, there was no connection.  It just didn’t work for me.  The judges scored them  7- 8 – 7 for 22 points.

Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke danced a hot Paso Doble. Fabulous, the tension and passion were so thick you could cut it with a knife.  The choreography offered up great passion, emotion, footwork and Gilles did most of the dancing. Great body attitude. Bravo! The judges liked it, but not as well as last week’s tango awarding the duo 10 – 9 – 10 for 29 points and the leader board for the night.

Steve O and Lacey Schwimmer were the sole surviving couple from last week’s bottom three, this week they danced a Viennese Waltz. I loved the French storyline, but his hold was wrong, his posture was forward, his body language was down. The choreography was nice. The judges scored them straight 6’s for an 18 and the bottom of the leader board for the week.

Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower offered up the final Paso Dobles of the week. He is so stiff, but the dance was enjoyable (maybe because he is winning me over) I didn’t care for the musical choice.  His stance as fine (stiff, but fine) but then he had to move and it got lost.  The judges scored them straight 7s for 21 on the night.

Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough closed the night with the Viennese Waltz. Lovely, but he did most of the dancing. Nice connection, lovely footwork and emotion.  The judges scored them 9 – 8 – 9 for the night.

Who will go home? I’m thinking David Alan Grier and Steve O are in the bottom two, their fans will determine who goes. Tomorrow’s musical guest are Etta James and Demi Lovato. We will also see the return of Macy’s Stars of Dance. Until tomorrow night.

Sith,

Tanglefoot