Last night was Personal Story Night on Dancing with the Stars, and the celebrities got to dance to a song of their choosing that was particularly special to them. Most of the dances were boring, and it was highly unfortunate that the most exciting part of the night came when one of the contestants fell to the floor. Read on to see who took the tumble.
Hines Ward dedicated his Samba to his mother, who worked three or four jobs so he could go to college. He danced the Samba to an Earth Wind and Fire song and he called her “the heart and soul of who I really am.” Hines is definitely one of the more talented male dancers in this competition, and has very little trouble completing the technical moves that are known to bog other men down. The judges gave them 25 points.
Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy danced the Rumba to Over the Rainbow, which was inspired by how her mother and father were driving and a drunk driver hit their car. Shortly after her mother died and her father was dying, she learned that she got a part on Star Trek 2. So the song she danced to was symbolic of the ability to feel hopeful after such a disaster. They looked great in rehearsals, but when it was time to do the dance, Maks dropped Kirstie a few seconds into their routine. After they both got up, Kirstie immediately seemed ready to get back to the dance but Maks needed a few more seconds to shake out his leg. Eventually they were dancing again, and it turned out to be quite beautiful. The judges commended them on their ability to pick themselves up after the mishap and hinted that it was an accident that corresponded to the drunk driving accident that killed her parents. They also rewarded Kirstie’s plights with 21 points.
Chris Jericho chose to dance Let It Be, because it reminded him of the time he almost put his wrestling career on hold to care for his mother after she’d been in an accident. The beginning had lots of twirls from Cheryl and required little more from Chris than to just stand there and hold her hand above her head. In fact, their bodies never moved together around the floor together. They mostly just stayed in the top half of the stage, and so it was pretty disappointing in terms of showmanship. The judges gave them 21 points.
Romeo and Chelsie Hightower dedicated their Rumba to Romeo’s cousins, one of whom died in a car accident and the other who was beat up. In rehearsals, Romeo got a bit moody and complained about the heels on his dance shoes, but Chelsie was smart enough to see that he was just mourning the loss of his cousins. They danced to I’ll Be There and it was very graceful. Although I do not see how it was a Rumba, at all. The judges gave them 20 points.
Kendra and her partner Louis van Amstel also danced the Rumba, and their dance was in honor of Kendra and her husband Hank’s efforts to overcome the adversity they faced when they first announced they were dating (because Kendra used to be a stripper and Hank was his hometown’s hero). Their dance was more like a Rumba than a lot of other couples’ dances, but it was pretty boring. The judges gave them 23 points.
Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas danced the Cha Cha Cha to a song called Chelsea, which was written for her by her first boyfriend. During practice, Chelsea said she was having trouble moving her hips and her butt because she didn’t think of herself as sexy, which is what a career dependant on the Jonas brothers will get you. The dance was much more exciting than any of the other dances we’d seen up until that point in the show, but there wasn’t a lot of actual dancing, as Chelsea and Mark spent most of their time on the floor apart. The judges gave them 23 points.
Petra Nemcova told her partner Dmitri that she wanted to dance to You Raise Me Up, which is what inspired her to form a foundation that rebuilds schools around the world and helps children who have been victimized by natural disasters. Their dance was the first one that actually looked like a dance, where the two of them moved together in utilized all of their space on the dance floor. The judges gave them 25 points.
Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff danced the Rumba to the theme song from The Outsiders, Stay Gold. He dedicated the dance to his wife. Again, it was very pretty, but I don’t see how it was supposed to be a Rumba. The judges remarked that Ralph still needed to refine his moves and make them more pristine and less like a spatula. They gave him a curiously low 21 points.
Sugar Ray explained to his partner Anna that he reclaimed his career by listening to the song, My Perogative, and it was the song that got him hyped up enough that it helped him prove to everyone that his career as a professional boxer was going to be a successful one. Anna created a Paso Doble routine to go with the song and during rehearsals, Anna told Sugar Ray to be a man and be intimidating and to not keep his legs together like a little girl. Once again, his movements were very minimal, and Sugar Ray seemed much more interested in how this song related back to his boxing career as opposed to how it was the song he was dancing to. The judges gave them 20 points.
Wendy Williams told her partner Tony of how earlier in her career, she slept in her car at truck stops between radio gigs so she wouldn’t have to go home and explain to her parents why her dream career was in radio. So they danced to Last Night the DJ Saved My Life. Wendy didn’t look very comfortable on the dance floor, and there was even a point in their dance where Tony simply walked around Wendy in a circle. The judges were disappointed also and gave them 15 points.
