This week on Dancing with the Stars, the couples were asked to perform two dances: one regular dance and one “instant dance.” The “instant dance” is when the couples have to choreograph a routine without knowing the song they’ll be performing it to until moments before they’re going to dance it. This change made rehearsals very difficult for everyone involved because not only did the celebrities have trouble timing their movements (since they usually time their steps to the words and the beats of a song), but the professional dancers also couldn’t offer them as much guidance as they usually do.
During rehearsals, Chelsea Kane told Mark Ballas that when he gets so angry about not receiving a perfect score, she gets upset because she doesn’t want the audience at home to think they owe her their votes, and that she’d really like Mark to try and appreciate the scores they’ve earned instead of focusing on the scores they want. He agreed, and then explained how their Waltz was going to show people their romantic sides while also proving to them that they deserve to be in the final four. Their dance was pretty good, although I’m much happier watching them when they do funkier and more exciting routines. The judges recognized Chelsea’s maturity and said she had earned a perfect score. They gave them 29 points.
Then Mark and Chelsea danced their “instant dance” which was the Salsa. During rehearsals, Mark noticed Chelsea was particulary nervous so he brought in her Disney friend, Kyle Massey (who was on last season of Dancing with the Stars and did particularly well with his “instant dance.” Kyle explained that the most important thing about performing a routine is how you sell it to the audience, and he told Chelsea that she needed to do each move MORE. When they danced their Salsa to “Get Busy” for the judges, and it was good but there really wasn’t a lot of dancing. Len and Bruno loved it, but Carrie Ann thought their dance did not mesh well with the song. The judges gave them 26 points, which meant they earned 55 points out of 60 for the night.
Hines Ward and Kym Johnson first danced the Foxtrot and during rehearsals, they analyzed Ralph Macchio’s last few dances because Kym said Hines needed to enjoy himself more on the dance floor. Their dance was a little cheesier than usual, but the judges enjoyed how much Hines’ personality shined through in the dance. The judges gave them 28 points.
For their “instant dance,” Hines and Kym had problems during rehearsals. Hines didn’t seem to be understanding the choreography as much as he usually does and Kym started to freak out a little bit. It was definitely better than their Foxtrot but I still feel Hines is too stiff. The judges gave them 26 points, which gave them a total of 55 points.
Ralph Macchio first performed the Viennese Waltz, and Katrina explained to him that instead of making it romantic they were going to make it dark and twisted. But as they were practicing, Ralph felt some pain in his hamstring and called the doctor. The doctor gave him an MRI and it was revealed that he ruptured a disk behind his knee. After that, they went back to dancing but Ralph’s injury flared up again and sent him down on the floor. Katrina started to think they weren’t going to be able to perform this week because instead of putting in 40 hours of practice like they usually do, by Saturday they had only put in 9 hours of rehearsals. But they showed up last night with the intention to dance, and it was pretty incredible how much they managed to pull off. Len told them he liked their dance, but that it lacked polish (which he understood). The other judges were tremendously impressed and awarded them 25 points.
Ralph and Karina’s “instant dance” was the Cha Cha Cha and while they were rehearsing for that, Karina told Ralph he was just going to have to go out on the dance floor without having prepared at all for it. Karina suggested they could just re-do the Cha Cha Cha they performed during the group dance last week. And luckily for them, producers gave them a song in a relatively slow-tempo. But unluckily, the judges didn’t like it. Their Cha Cha Cha got 24 points, which gave them 46 points out of 60.
Romeo and Chelsie Hightower’s first dance was the tango, and Chelsie worked really hard to convince Romeo to dance it with more intensity than he did during last week’s Samba. She stressed that they would be dancing in front of 20 million people and that now was the time for him to really insert himself in the top spot on the leader board. The dance was not particularly impressive, but the judges enjoyed it for its intensity. They gave them 27 points.
Romeo and Chelsie’s “instant dance” was the Salsa, so to inspire him Chelsie took him to a Salsa club. She insisted that as a test, he find a girl in the club and he lead her through an entire song. Initially, the girl he picked didn’t want to touch him, but once she acknowledged the cameras she obliged. During their official dance however, there were a couple of times Romeo looked lost and Carrie Ann pointed out that the two of them got out of sync towards the end. The judges gave them 25 points, which gave them 52 points for the night.
During Kirstie Alley and Maks’s rehearsal of the Argentine Tango, Kirstie took several nasty falls and Maks ended up cutting their practice session short and told her that she needed to eat more than she was eating. Their final dance was actually quite enjoyable – Kirstie finally seems more comfortable on the floor and there didn’t appear to be any missteps. They got 28 points.
Then they performed their “instant dance,” which was the Salsa. They chose to dance it at a tempo much slower than it could have been, and a couple of their moves seemed pretty sloppy. The judges gave them 25 points, which gave them a total of 53 points for the night.
