Good dancing plus Cirque du Soleil makes for an excellent show, including the first perfect score of the season.
This week’s presidential debate is a Tuesday one, so we’re back to two hours tonight. Good thing, too. It’s Cirque du Soleil night, so each couple is dancing to music from a different Cirque show, and the routines end up being longer than usual. They’ll also have performers from the show helping them out.
There is one judge less, though, because Len is back home doing Strictly Come Dancing, without replacement. Also, while said presidential debate is cutting tomorrow’s results show in half, Tom drops an unpleasant surprise: there’s going to be a double elimination!
Calvin Johnson, Jr. & Lindsay Arnold
Charleston; “Bella Donna Twist” Kurios: Cabinet of Curiousities. The week’s theme combined with her partner makes Lindsay feel the need for “pretty insane” lifts. We see him lift her all the way to the ceiling of the practice room. (Carrie-Ann notes while commenting on this dance the lift police are off this week.) Their dance does indeed have some pretty insane lifts. It also has Calvin being wonderfully light on his feet and nailing all the quick moves. It also features a guy on a bike floating around in the background, but he doesn’t do much. Really, Calvin & Lindsay make themselves far more worth watching. “Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen!” exclaims Julianne when they’re done. But she thinks they lost energy near the end, which keeps her score to a 7. 8s from the other two leave them with 23.
Maureen McCormick & Artem Cingvintsev
Argentine Tango; “High Bar” Mystere. We get one of those unpleasant fluffs entirely of them arguing, although they likely weren’t doing so the entire week. Fortunately, they respond to it by coming out and owning a well-crafted dance with a strong mood. They prove good enough to hold their own against the big red bird who comes to the front at the beginning and end, and perfectly make use of the beats from the live drummer. Bruno calls her a “1920s movie queen.” The judges love her posture, but think her footwork could’ve been more intense. They give her straight 8s for 24.
Jana Kremer & Gleb Savchenko
Foxtrot; “Here Comes the Sun” The Beatles: LOVE. They’re another couple who had a stressful week. She did some traveling and singing, and the sleep deprivation apparently gets to her in the fluff. Their dance has little bells and whistles; there’s only a fancy lit thing in the background. Otherwise it’s the two of them in 60s-inspired ballroom clothes dancing a very sweet dance. The choreography is so well done Carrie Ann makes a point of specifically complimenting it. They do, however, have to address the dance’s split seconds of awkwardness, which they give her advice for dealing with. It keeps Julianne’s score down to 7, but the other two give 8s, for 23.
Marilu Henner & Derek Hough
Paso Doble; “Battlefield” Ka. The fluff focuses on how her unusually good memory might paradoxically make it harder for her to get the steps down. Derek is the first of the pros to come up with a dance that makes good use of the performers. Everyone is very much a part of this battle of good versus evil, and Marilu does the moves pretty well. But she doesn’t express it to the judges’ satisfaction. “Think less, feel more,’ Julianne advises her, and they all make suggestions about her needing to get out of her head. Poor Marilu talked last week about wanting 8s, but she’s still only getting straight 7s, for 21.
Amber Rose & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Argentine Tango; “Tickle Tango” Zumanity. The on going story this week was Amber’s feeling Julianne body-shamed her. The fluff is all about it, with Amber revealed she held herself back last week from being sexier. Maks concludes from the whole saga that this was a mistake. Since Zumanity is all about the sex anyway, they take that hint and this week they really go all out. It’s good, and so is the Argentine Tangoing. You feel like dance and sexy moving could’ve been more of a combined whole, but they’re both well done. Before comments, Amber & Julianne exchange apologies. Then she and the other two judges say they like that Amber went all out and really personified what she’s really all about. It pleases them enough they break out the straight 8s again.
Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke
Viennese Waltz; “Jeux d’Eau” O. They gave Ryan a show about water, because of course they did. It gives him a chance to do a little synchronized swimming in the fluff. For the dance itself, there’s indoor rain, dancers with umbrellas, and water mist. The mist obscures his feet a bit, but his frame has definitely gotten better. In fact, the judges note how much he’s improved technically. But while Cheryl becomes the second pro tonight to have her choreography specifically complimented, you feel like Ryan could’ve expressed it more. Julianne says he’s on the right track. Bruno says it’s his best yet. He also breaks out the 8. 7s from the other two leave him with 22.
Babyface & Allison Holker
Tango; “Come Together” The Beatles: LOVE. They decide to use only spotlights to light up themselves and their background dancers. During the fluff, they worry about their ability to hit all their pots to make sure the lights are on them. Unfortunately, they don’t manage it during the early part of the dance, and often have to run to get into the light. This of course prevents him from doing the dance itself very well. They moments it does happen are really, but everything is wrecked when it doesn’t. The judges lament his failure to pull it off. “At least it was edge of your seat,” sighs Bruno. They give them straight 6s for 18.
Terra Jolé & Sasha Farber
Samba; “Simcha” O. The fluff features Terra going from super excited for the week’s theme to super stressed. The samba is the hardest, she declares. Part of this is because Sasha choreographs for her what Carrie Ann calls one of the hardest routines ever attempted on the show. Terra actually doesn’t hit every one of the steps. But she does hit a lot of them, and also shakes her booty like nobody’s business. With a little aid from a guy with a fire baton, she and Sasha completely rock it out on the floor. It ends with the audience on their feet. The judges are impressed with both their ambition and what they managed. Carrie Ann even breaks out a 9. Eights from the other two give them 25.
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovksiy
Jazz; “The Way You Make Me Feel,” Micheal Jackson: One. These two should’ve also had a stressful week. After all, he was off in Vegas while she was in the White House. But he streams the dance they’re doing to her over Skype and she learns it from his videos, and one gets no feeling from this fluff they’ll have any trouble. Sure enough, she absolutely nails it. This is a number well put together, with complex block and the kind of background dancing it’s not easy to outdance, but it’s no problem for Laurie. For the second number in a row, the audience is on their feet. “A star is born!” cries Carrie Ann, while Julianne just gapes. We start anticipating the first 10s of the season, and all three judges break them out!
Vanilla Ice & Witney Carson
Viennese Waltz; “La Nouba” La Nouba. Vanilla Ice too is doing a bunch of concerts this week, all while trying to learn a dance he compares to calculus. It’s especially worrisome since they miss the Sunday dress rehearsal, and when they’ve got a couple of very fancy acrobats involved. But then again, they don’t really interact with them; they just hover above. This ends up being one dance where they do kind of end up stealing the show from the dancers, at least when they’re on camera. But Vanilla Ice does pull the dance itself off well enough, at least as a goofier version of a normal waltz. Len wouldn’t have liked it, but the judges there compliment his shoulders and generally technical improvement. He gets a 7 from Julianne and 8s from the other two for 23.
James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess
Quickstep; “The Hollywood Wiz” Paramour. Dancing to Cirque du Soleil’s first ever Broadway show, in the fluff they go see it. James likes the quickstep, but frets about being able to keep up with the acrobats. But he doesn’t have to do acrobatics. He just has to quickstep and to portray a Hollywood director diva. He proves excellent as doing both of these things, and doing the latter means he’s the center of the dance no problem. There is a tiny error at one point, which both the women lament. Bruno declares he didn’t notice it, and breaks out the 10 again. The other two lower their scores to 9s for it, so he takes 28.
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Carrie Ann also says it’s been the most magical night of the season. And yet tomorrow we still have to lose two couples within one hour. We’ll find out which two at 8.