Last week, Pamela went home, and this week the final five will take on two individual dances for the first time. This is where the rubber meets the road. People are going to cry! I swear! I saw Nicole crying. Man, they love that shot of Anna and Evan doing a spin. They show it every week. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, tonight there will be drama and double the dancing! (I just made that up - I think I could have a second career writing Tom's voiceovers). And it will be LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
Is Brooke wearing a bandage dress? SHE IS! It's really ugly. It's electric blue and black stripes. Not only is it ugly, but it looks bad on TV. Brooke reminds us that each couple has been assigned an era to influence their dance, and we'll find out who got which era in a little bit. But first, let's watch a clip package hearing what the pros think about the various celebrities. Anna says that Erin has a great body for ballroom, but she doesn't trust Maks enough. Derek admires Evan's grace and ability, but Maks wants him to connect with Anna more. Anna says that Chad has beautiful posture (HUH? He's all hunched over) and Derek thinks Chad has untapped potential. Cheryl says that Nicole is one of the best dancers ever, and Louis points out that she's too worried about being perfect and not enjoying the ride enough. Derek and Maks want Niecy to focus more on her technique and be lighter on her feet. Not a ton of new insights there, but it went by very quickly.
Chad and Cheryl are first to go tonight. In the clip package, Cheryl urges Chad to be serious about winning instead of goofing off all the time. So here they are to do the tango. You all know I love some Ochocinco, but I'm having a hard time pinpointing what I don't like about his dancing. His upper body posture is actually pretty good this week, but there's something off about his lower body. I think it's that he keeps his legs bent all of the time, like in a semi-squat, and never rises up to his full height. And that throws off his hips. Also, he's kind of herky-jerky at times. And I don't feel like he's totally committed to the routine. I like him, but this might be his week to go. And I totally don't get the tongue bath he's been getting from the judges, so let's see if it continues this week.
Len knows that learning two dances in a week will show a dancer's imperfections, because there's not enough time for polish, and that happened with Chad. Bruno adds that Chad went for the emotion of the dance, and lacked a little footwork. Carrie Ann sees great potential in him, and loved his attack, but she noticed weird posture issues. So the judges agreed with me, or I agreed with them. Brooke asks Chad a question and then has a three second awkward pause as he's finished answering and she is probably listening to someone in her earpiece. Scores: Carrie Ann 7, Len 7, and Bruno 7.
Last week, Niecy was told she performed her best dance to date. This week, her clip package shows her day, which starts at 4:30 AM. Then she goes to her job at The Insider for a few hours until rehearsal starts at 11:30 AM. Damn. She's already been up for seven hours when rehearsal begins. That's rough. Anyway, they have the Viennese waltz this week. Oof, instead of placing her arms, Niecy is just kind of flinging them around, and it's not super graceful. She's working really hard at the posture, and mostly doing a good job, but her emotional commitment is suffering. She looks like she's just going through the motions, but I guess that's part of the problem with two dances - the stars are more worried about remembering the steps to each routine. They end with a long spin. It's cute, but it's not as good as their routine last week.
Bruno says it was a good performance but her arms at times looked like she was being attacked by wasps. Carrie Ann thought there was too much push and pull and her transitions weren't great. I don't know what any of that means, really. Len is pleasantly surprised, because her posture was good although her arms looked like she was conducting the band. Niecy asks if he likes how she lifted her carriage, and Len says she lifted it so high, he was surprised that she could hear the band. Niecy loves that, and jumps and claps. Backstage, Brooke just barrels through the questions without even listening to Niecy's answers. She's really bad this week. Scores: Carrie Ann 7, Len 8, and Bruno 8.
Tom reminds us that Erin landed in the bottom two last week, even though she got her best scores yet. In rehearsals, Maks advises Erin to just move past being in the bottom two. They have the Argentine tango, which means they can do lifts. Erin is really scared to do it. This is just like Dirty Dancing. They should go to the lake! And dance on a log. So how does it all turn out? They start out dancing up on the stage, and then Maks goes down and waits for her and she leaps off the stage and lands practically on his head. It's awesome and the crowd goes nuts. He carries her around for a while and then she does a full backbend with her legs on his shoulders. It sounds weird, but it totally fit the character of the dance. The rest of the routine is really great, probably her best so far. My one quibble would be that her butt sticks out at times. However, she really gets into the character of the dance. Once it's over, Maks jumps up and gives her a double thumbs up and it's super cute. The audience leaps to its feet.
Carrie Ann kisses Len on the cheek and says that the routine was so hot, and it was finally a number that showcased Erin's legs. Len calls Erin a "dirty, dirty girl" and yells that he loved it. Bruno says he never knew Erin was so bendy, and her extension was incredible. I think we're looking at a perfect score. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 10, and Bruno 9. Wow, I'm shocked that it wasn't a perfect score. There was zero criticism. WTF?
Last week, Evan and Anna scored the season's first perfect score with their Argentine tango. First, Evan takes Anna ice-skating. Then they start working on the waltz. Evan is psyched to hear that there's no hip action to worry about, but Anna keeps harping on him to feel the emotion because sometimes he comes off as cold in their routines. So does he succeed? They start out lying on the floor, which Len will probably hate. Evan's feet are still a problem. I can't believe he's gotten this far in the competition without correcting that more. And also, he's trying so hard to have good posture that he doesn't seem connected to his partner. Then he botches a couple of the spins. That sounds really critical -- it wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as last week.
Len says he's not sure if he liked it or not. He hated the beginning, but he liked Evan's posture and movements. Bruno loved the romance of it, and thought Evan had exquisite lines. Carrie Ann agrees, but points out that Evan needs to lose himself in the moment more. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 9, and Bruno 9. Overscored.
According to Tom, Nicole is looking to reclaim the top spot this week. They have the foxtrot this week for the ballroom round. We get to see their creative process in rehearsal, where Derek lets Nicole collaborate in many of the creative decisions, but he still has to guide her on the technical aspects. Then Nicole has a breakdown about how not easy this is for her but she claims it's not drama. Whatever. They're not making me feel sorry for her. She should just own it, Yamaguchi-style. Their routine is very cute, and really shows off Derek's talent as a choreographer. It tells a story and fits with the music. I just don't really like Nicole, is the problem. But she does have a talent for slapsticky routines that hasn't been realized on this show.
Bruno calls it a jewel of a routine and loved it. Carrie Ann likes to see Nicole smile and is happy to see Nicole challenging herself every week. Len thought they turned a foxtrot into an enchanting love story, and his only criticism was that there was a lack of body contact in hold at times. I thought Len would hate it because there was a lot of business, but I think they did include a ton of content, so he can't hate. Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 9, and Bruno 10.
As if there wasn't enough content this week, now we're going to see two pro dancers who got disqualified for doing a futuristic dance in competition. I have to see this. While I can see where Derek got his inspiration for his futuristic paso doble last season, this is now kind of lame. Like they're breakdancing. To "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock. You know how you watch movies from the '80s and their version of 2000 is just laughable now because we surpassed it long ago? That's how this is. It should be the '80s dance. And while I'm sure it was shocking to the ballroom dancing community at the time, now it's just boring. Boo.
Now the pros are going to weigh in on each other about their opponents' chances in the Latin dance. Maks thinks Chad's strength is in his smile, and Louis adds that he needs to move his hips and avoid being so stiff. Anna points out that Niecy's bubbly personality is perfect for Latin dancing, but Derek and Cheryl think she needs to put power behind her moves. Derek thinks Evan could be a great Latin dancer with his sharp technique, but Louis and Derek both think Evan can be cold and technical. Louis thinks there will be a lot of chemistry for Erin and Maks, but Anna knows that Erin can be sloppy and lack precision in her movements. Anna knows that Nicole has the body for Latin dancing, but Louis and Anna knows that Nicole puts too much pressure on herself. I normally hate these filler clip packages, but that was actually useful.
First up in the Latin round with a '60s jive is Cheryl and Chad. They have a lot of fun in rehearsals, since Chad's going to dance like a pimp? Which seems more '70s than '60s? I think Cheryl is confused about her eras. When it starts, I'm worried that Cheryl is just going to dance around Chad a lot, but he does get some footwork in about the halfway point. And he is into the character, a lot. I'm actually disappointed in Cheryl's choreography, though. It's boring. I mean, she has a partner who is totally into this dance and it feels like they could have done so much more. They don't cover much of the floor, but the parts that Chad does dance are better than he usually does, I think.
Len says it was high energy, and fun, but Chad's kicks were terrible. Bruno loves to see Chad smile and have a good time, and it improves the whole routine. Carrie Ann liked the energy, even if it got a bit wild. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 8, and Bruno 8. Chad admits that he's disappointed because he worked so hard, but he hopes people will vote for him.
Niecy and Louis have a '90s paso doble. Too bad Maks and Mel already did the "Free Your Mind" paso because that would be perfect. Niecy has a little trouble with the paso attitude, because she has to be dramatic. Niecy wants to be intense, fierce, powerful, and pretty. Niecy has kind of a blank look on her face as the routine begins, and she takes a few bars to get on the beat. Overall, I'm kind of disappointed. I thought if anyone could do fierce, it would be Niecy. But it's not much of a paso and it's not really '90s enough. There are moments that are great, but not enough.
Bruno says that she threw herself into it but didn't have enough control and looked unsteady. Carrie Ann gives her credit for trying a more difficult routine, but the balance of power was out of whack. Len tells her just getting through it isn't good enough, and he doesn't think this routine suited her personality. Scores: Carrie Ann 7, Len 6, and Bruno 7.
Erin and Maks have an '80s rumba. She's going to wear a Flashdance sweater and Maks is going to be all Miami Vice. Maks says that their rumba isn't going to have '80s moves, because the rumba is timeless. Erin is insecure about her long, skinny arms and Maks tells her that she needs to get confident. Their rumba starts out with Erin solo and boy, Maks has some high-waisted pants on. I guess it's era-appropriate but my goodness. He's all Mike Seaver up on this piece. Their dance is cute, but I think it should be sexy. Maks does a good job of showing off Erin's long arms and legs, with splits and other moves. It's good but it's not as good as their first routine.
Carrie Ann agrees that Erin should be up with Evan and Nicole, but she's not because she doubts herself. Len thought the mix of steps was great, but she needs to be more flowing and less jerky. Bruno liked it a lot, and thinks Erin is getting better and better and should make it to the finals. Scores: 8, Len 8, and Bruno 9.
Evan and Anna have the futuristic cha cha. Evan immediately starts talking like Wall-E, which is kind of creepy. Anna has trouble, in fact, getting Evan to not act like a robot. He's a little too into it. The thing about dancing like robots is that it's tough to get the audience emotionally into the dance. It seems pretty flawless, but it's kind of mechanical and hard to get into it. There's no story to the routine, either, which is one of Nicole and Derek's strengths. Anna looks incredible, though.
Len thinks Evan lucked out with his chosen era, and Len wanted to see fluidity so he's confused. Bruno calls it "Mr. Spock meets Barbarella in Cha Cha Trek 3D." Carrie Ann liked how Evan committed to his character, and his stiff movements worked well. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 8, and Bruno 9.
Derek and Nicole find out that they have a '50s paso doble, and Derek can't figure out how to merge the two. They should do something with a Cuban flavor. As Derek tries to work it out, he adds in a little Elvis and Nicole doesn't know what to make of it. That's pretty much what their routine is -- a traditional paso with a little Elvis thrown in. Derek incorporates it seamlessly. He really is a genius choreographer. If he weren't so darned good looking, he could have a great career behind-the-scenes. His routines are just head and shoulders above the others, although it doesn't hurt that he has a partner who can execute his moves flawlessly.
Bruno yells out something about "the flavor of Spain." Carrie Ann can't stop laughing and can't believe Derek pulled that off, and it was brilliant. Len says that it's not in his nature to be nice about two routines in one night, but he could see nothing to criticize about her dance. Derek is thrilled. It's really hard to root for these guys. I think that might translate to fewer phone calls, though. People don't love a frontrunner. Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 10, and Bruno 10. The crowd goes nuts.
Well, it's probably between Chad and Niecy to go home, and I think Niecy has the smaller fanbase, unfortunately. Then again, it wouldn't be fair for her to stay longer than any of the others at this point, so it's time. We'll find out if I'm right tomorrow night.
Nicole and Derek: 29 + 30 = 59
Erin and Maks: 28 + 25 = 53
Evan and Anna: 27 + 26 = 53
Chad and Cheryl: 21 + 24 = 45
Niecy and Louis: 23 + 20 = 43
Watch all of the dances. Derek and Nicole's '50s Paso really is something you want to see.
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