Episode Report Card 0 USERS: N/A YOU GRADE IT Season 4 Performance #8
By Kim | Season 4 | Episode 14 | Aired on May 6, 2007
Anyway, let's move on. Laila and Maksim are dancing and dedicating their performance to Laila's mother and father, Muhammad Ali. Oh. We all know that Mr. Ali is suffering from pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome, and he doesn't look great. But he gets a standing ovation from the audience, which is nice. During rehearsal, Laila and Maksim have a very staged conversation about how their waltz needs to be elegant, because Laila's dad is not comfortable with the "nasty, spicy stuff." Laila explains that her father said he was proud of her from Week One. Laila talks about how proud she is of both her parents. Maksim says that he wants to tell Laila's dad that she can dance. Laila dedicates the dance to her father and hopes it makes him smile.
Laila has a beautiful red dress on; it's a great color for her. They do sort of a Sleeping Beauty thing, where Laila starts out "sleeping," and then Maksim dances over to her and they start waltzing. At one point, Laila blows a kiss to her father in the audience. It's very graceful, and they execute a spin that seems very difficult before Laila ends up sleeping back on the pillow. They get a standing ovation. Tom decides that every season has a moment, and he thinks that was "the moment" for this season. I guess I'm made of stone, because I wasn't THAT moved.
Len thought it was beautiful, but that Laila needs to work on her posture. Bruno pretty much agrees. Carrie Ann loved the emotion Laila brought to the dance. Backstage, Laila says that her mother has been there every week, but that it was really special to have her father there. The judges give them a 9, a 9, and a 9 for a total of 27 out of 30. Laila is happy with that.