Six couples danced tonight in a frightfully fun Halloween themed festival of dance. In the couples’ competition Ricki Lake and Derek Hough finished at the top of the leader board with an amazing paso doble. The fun to watch but lowest scoring jive by Nancy Grace and Tristan MacManus received the lowest combined judges’ scores. Tonight was the first team dance competition of the season. The team dances were both fun to watch but team Paso was more riveting and earned the higher judges’ scores.
In the order that they appeared on this episode of the show, I tend to list the dancers, type of dance, my comments, judges’ most interesting comments, and then the judges’ scores. Before the judges give their scores I rate each dancer myself and when my score is not equal to at least one of the judges’ scores I note that too. Hope you enjoy my personal opinions.
David Arquette and Kym Johnson: Cha Cha to Abracadabra
David showed a bit more improvement and as always I found his personality uplifting. The performance was fun but I think he’s capable of better. Len Goodman: “Lots of tricks and lots of treats… Abracadabra, you’ve turned yourself into a dancer.” Bruno Tonioli: “You’re a natural at turning tricks.” Carrie Ann Inaba: “Your improvement is phenomenal.” Judges’ Scores: 8-8-8 (I adore David but I’d have given him a 7 for this dance).
J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff: Tango to Ghostbusters
Karina’s skeletal ghost costume was amazing. The dance was fun and J.R. is doubtlessly still the best of the male stars dancing on the show but, to me, this dance didn’t seem to have the magic seen in his last couple of dances. Bruno: “Bewitched, conquered and swept away… another very solid performance.” Carrie Ann: “You captured the tone of this piece perfectly.” Len: “This performance was substandard [to] what I expect [from] you.” Judges’ Scores: 9-8-8.
Nancy Grace and Tristan MacManus: Jive to Devil Went Down to Georgia
At points I thought Nancy was doing great and other points it seemed Tristan was carrying her in this performance. Overall, she is definitely improving and she looked fantastic in her devilish costume (and of course Tristan looked great in his too). Carrie Ann: “Last week was a good day and this week was not so good.” Len: “Certain dances suit you and certain dances don’t… For me this wasn’t a good dance for you.” Bruno: “Either the devil got you or your shoes are too small… the spirit was right; you were suitably devilish.” Judges’ Scores: 7-7-7 (lowest score of the night).
Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke: Tango to theme from The Adams Family
Appropriately for Halloween, Rob wanted to “scare the living 10’s out of the judges.” Rob and Cheryl’s costumes were fantastic and very evocative of the Adams Family . I thought the dance was Rob’s best yet and he kept up with Cheryl and even maintained a manly tango face throughout. Len: “Well done! I thought you did a terrific job.” Bruno: “You’ve never been so manly and in control… You looked like a man.” Carrie Ann: “Rob, Your best dance so far.” Judges’ Scores: 9-8-8 (tying with J.R. and Karina).
Ricki Lake and Derek Hough: Paso Doble to Beautiful Nightmare
Fantastic performance and captivating ending. Rickie worked through her rib injury amazingly well. Bruno: “It was like a blizzard of passion and fear…another incredible [performance].” Carrie Ann: “Beautiful.” Len: “Those shapes that you make are fantastic… Lovely!” Judges’ Scores: 9-9-9 (highest score of the night).
Hope Solo and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Samba to Werewolves of London
This week Maks had an injury so Hope trained with Teddy (although she still performed with Maks on the show). It seemed to me that Hope and Teddy had a lot more chemistry than Hope and Maks. Overall I thought this was a fun performance with a great ending. Carrie Ann: “Beautiful to see. Good job.” Len: “You coped well with a very difficult dance.” Bruno: “You were running away from the big bad wolf and you were dancing as if your life depended upon it… You should be proud.” Judges’ Scores: 8-8-8.
Team Tango: J.R. & Karina, David & Kym and Tristan & Nancy
Straight jackets never looked so good. The consensus of the judges was that when the group was together they did great but when separated into couples they didn’t do as well. Carrie Ann: “Overall it was very nice.” Judges’ Scores: 8-7-8.
Team Paso: Ricki & Derek, Rob & Cheryl and Hope & Maks
This performance kept me riveted. They all did a great job. Just fantastic. Bruno: “Powerful, moving… building to a fantastic ending… Well done.” Carrie Ann: “Amazing! Poetic, powerful, dramatic.” Judges’ Scores: 9-8-9.
Sources:
Dancing with the Stars week 7 dance show airing on 10/31/11.
http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/bios
Personal experience.