By: Mary Cavaliere

This week’s guest judge was Toni Basil.  I personally have never heard of her before but I’m sure her name is well known in the dance world.  I figured if she choreographs for Bette Midler she’s got to be good, you know what I mean?

This week the couples once again pulled their partners names out of a hat.  Here are this week’s dance teams and how they scored with their two performances:

Courtney & Will performed a SAMBA routine first.  Oh My God!  They were on the hot tamale train, plane, and bus!!!  The chemistry was fantastic and so was the dancing!  Their second routine was a HIP-HOP number.  These are two of my favorite dancers but unfortunately I didn’t see what the judges saw.  There were times, especially in the beginning, where they were not in sync.  I didn’t feel the choreography reflected “loss” like it was supposed to, I felt it portrayed “anger” and it didn’t move me the way it did everyone else.

Katee & Twitch performed a Mia Michaels CONTEMPORARY routine.  It was yet another piece of brilliant work by the choreographer as well as the dancers.  I enjoyed Katee in this more than anything else I’ve seen her in, and Twitch is……well…….Twitch!  He’s phenomenal!  Their second routine was a Tyce Dioro BROADWAY number.  I thought the same thing as Nigel.  I can see these two dancing on Broadway no problem!  They were just adorable and danced the heck out of this routine, which wasn’t easy.  I loved the choreography as well as the dancing.  Nicely done all the way around!

Comfort & Mark performed a HIP-HOP number first.  This is not the first time I haven’t liked choreography by Napolean and Tabitha.  This routine did very little for me, although I thought the summersault was pretty cool.  Their second routine was a FOXTROT.  Mark was the one to really watch in this number.  Chelsie is a tomboy but when she’s on stage dancing you don’t see that, you see an elegant and feminine dancer.  Comfort is a tomboy as well but she hasn’t learned how to make that same transition.  I really didn’t enjoy watching this routine and I felt sorry for Mark.

Chelsie & Joshua performed an ARGENTINE TANGO first.  I could not take my eyes off of this couple.  They were absolutely mesmerizing!  I wish Nigel would stop picking on Josh’s bum.  It may be the “biggest” in the competition, but it’s also the “sexiest”!  As Ellen DeGeneres would say “Isn’t that right ladies?”  Their second routine was a DISCO number.  Tell me, could a couple look any more beautiful than these two perfect tens?  This was one of the best disco dances I’ve seen on this show.  They totally rocked it!

I found I couldn’t choose only three top dances because there were five out of eight that I just absolutely loved:

Courtney & Will (Samba)
Katee & Twitch (Contemporary)
Katee & Twitch (Broadway)
Chelsie & Joshua (Tango)
Chelsie & Joshua (Disco)

Each of the contestants did a short solo routine, although I would hate to be judging them on this alone.  I don’t think you can decide who stays and who goes with a 30-second routine.  It’s the coupled dancing they do with dance styles they are unfamiliar with that shows their strengths and weaknesses.  However, these were my favorite solos of the night:

Will – Joshua – Courtney - Twitch

Going home?  Comfort & Mark were my hunch for last week and it didn’t happen.  But I don’t see how it could be any other way for this week.

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

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