Dancing with the Stars week 6 power rankings: Scaring up perfection

3. Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe: 29

In some ways, this tango felt more like a paso doblé in the aggressiveness on the part of one of the dancers, and that’s Evanna. Keo didn’t need to come up with an elaborate story, either. Basically, they slapped some cat ears on her and called it a day. But they brought the crowd to their feet together, and it felt like a return to form.

She was smooth, and she kept up. Look, the power of Rihanna is known. Her problem is consistency; as Keo put it, he wants her to keep channeling “cat energy.” We’ll take it.

“Beautiful and deadly!” Bruno cheered. “You are so fierce tonight!” Carrie Ann said.

2. Milo Manheim and Witney Carson: 30

It almost seemed unfair to open with this number. During the pre-dance video, Witney called it one of the “creepiest” dances she’d ever put together, and that was absolutely the tone of it. But even in that creepiness, there were a lot of beautifully jagged shapes and some stellar lifts. Contemporary doesn’t always have to be emotional, and it was nice to see Witney embrace the weird of this “Toxic” cover.

Len even liked it. As he noted, he’s not usually into these kinds of styles. All three praised his acting skills, but Carrie Ann loved his “control.”

Here’s why he didn’t make the top spot. Although contemporary does have some expectations (like going barefoot), there aren’t “required steps” in the same way that a jive has. This isn’t to say that Milo and Witney had it easy, but they had it slightly easier than our top couple this week.

1. Juan Pablo Di Pace and Cheryl Burke: 30

The jive is often an excuse to get wild with tricks, lifts, and the like. This jive did not do that, opting instead to incorporate the Egyptian theme into the choreography and rely on Juan Pablo’s innate suaveness and skills to get them through.

It absolutely paid off. In fact, this writer had to basically write this after watching the dance. It was that good. He is the only-slightly-disputed king of the power rankings again this week. Besides, how many stars on this show actually design their own costumes and look good in those costumes?

“You got the balance right,” Len said, and “perfection” popped up more than once in the judges’ comments.

Dancing with the Stars has Country Night next week. Join us then for more power rankings.