by Kristal Bailey

This week on Dancing With the Stars, it’s my favorite kind of music this week – TV Theme Week! It’s the halfway point of the competition so it’s going to take something special for the celebrities to stand out from the pack.

Before the celebrities take the dance floor, the judges did a quick recap on each celebrity and their progress so far.

Len thinks Audrina could come out and win this. She’s shown marked improvement week after week and worked on her posture and stance. However, he wants Tony to push her and give her harder choreography to push her to her limits.  Her best dance was her waltz and she just needs to strive to stay at that level of footwork and technique and then improve on the little things like toes and facial expressions.

Bruno thinks Kyle is a star entertainer. His enthusiasm is great, but he needs to control his frame and footwork. His favorite of Kyle’s routines was the Cha Cha – it fit his cheeky personality.

Carrie Ann thinks Brandy has what it takes to win this competition. She’s smoothed out her movements to make it all flow better and beautiful arms and knows how to use them. But, she needs show more confidence. Her best routine was the Rumba from last week where she finally had the movements flow together.

Kurt is a man’s man, a family man, and has shown that dancing can be macho. He had no musicality, grace, and elegance in week one. He’s come back week after week and improved on his hand placement and rhythm. His best routine was his Jive – a fun number with improved footwork.

Bristol has already exceeded all their expectations. She moves very well with great musicality, she just has no performance skill. She needs to work on her facial expressions and confidence throughout her routines. Bruno wants to see that “little minx” burst out.

Florence Henderson is 76 years old and she’s still got it. While she can’t dance as well as the younger contestants, she is a great entertainer. She has solid footwork, but has to up the ante within the constraints of her own level of skills. Her Rumba was the best blend of her skills, humor, and performance.

Rick embraces the character in every routine. Despite his height, he can move! However, he does need to work on moving faster. Due to old basketball injuries, he doesn’t have as much mobility as is sometimes needed. His best routine was the Samba, when they used his height to their advantage and he didn’t slouch.

Jennifer Grey is pushing herself to the edge with incredibly difficult choreography every week. She does a great job of embodying the emotions of the routine, but that also bleeds over into rehearsals. She needs to get her emotions under control or it could start negatively impacting her routines. Her best routine was the Argentine Tango where she exhibited beauty, strength and grace.

Celebrity: Brandy
Professional Partner: Maksim

Dance: Quick Step

Breakdown: Dancing to the theme song from Friends, they definitely started more like friends instead of just dance partners. Len was so impressed with their routine! They had great form, it was full of energy and personality. Bruno broke his pen in excitement! Carrie Ann sees a new bond between the partners, which takes their routine up a notch. Plus, Brandy is finally exhibiting self confidence in her movements.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 9 Bruno: 9

Total: 27/30

Celebrity: Florence Henderson
Professional Partner: Corky Ballas

Dance: Tango

Breakdown: Of course she had to dance to the theme song everyone associates with her – The Brady Bunch. Barry Williams also stopped by to support his old crush/TV mom. Bruno loved the beginning when they played it straight, but they brought it down a notch by doing the jerky head movements. Carrie Ann liked it and thought it showed off her elegance.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 7 Len: 7 Bruno: 7

Total: 21/30

Celebrity: Kurt Warner
Professional Partner: Anna

Dance: Quick Step

Breakdown: Coming off of last week’s routine, where he got his lowest scores yet, he’s ready to brush him self off and try again. Dancing to the theme song from Bewitched, they had a cute storyline where Kurt couldn’t dance well until Anna wiggled her nose to cast a dancing spell on him. Carrie Ann compared Kurt to Gene Kelly, making it look so easy and graceful. Len noticed a vast improvement as well. Bruno thinks the magic is back! It seems Anna’s spell worked and Kurt should be sticking around for another week.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 8

Total: 24/30

Celebrity: Audrina Patridge
Professional Partner: Tony

Dance: Rumba

Breakdown: Dancing to the theme song from the show that made her famous, she’s going to need to get comfortable with the intimacy of the dance fast. Tony suggests she eat garlic and onions to lessen the intensity and make it a bit more fun. Len liked her hip action, but could see that she looked intimidated by her partner and the sensual moves. Bruno wants her to “be fantastic, not plastic” and needs her to exude some passion!

Scores: Carrie Ann: 7 Len: 8 Bruno: 7

Total: 23/30

Celebrity: Kyle Massey
Professional Partner: Lacey Schwimmer

Dance: Foxtrot

Breakdown: Kyle has his 3 angels to help his technique this week. Bruno enjoys watching Kyle, but thought it was too much of a disco and not enough foxtrot. Luckily, Carrie Ann completely disagreed! She noticed he was more focused on the technique and leading Lacey. Len however thought it got worse and worse as it progressed. He thought it was terrible and couldn’t stand it.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 5 Bruno: 7

Total: 20/30

Celebrity: Rick Fox
Professional Partner: Cheryl Burke

Dance: Rumba

Breakdown: Carrie Ann thinks it’s a crime that he should do that so well and look so good! Len didn’t get the feeling of romance or passion, it was “like a couple staying together for the sake of the children.” He loves the musicality and grace in his arms. Bruno was amazed that in a week he went from “Megatron” to “mega-suave.”

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 8

Total: 24/30

Celebrity: Bristol Palin
Professional Partner: Mark Ballas

Dance: Jive

Breakdown: Coming out in monkey suits while dancing to the theme songs from The Monkees, it started out really fun. However, it seemed that Bristol got a little lost. But even with that, it was a better performance than weeks past. She lost some of the technique for the sake of performance though. She was slower in her movements and not as clean with her legs. 

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 6 Bruno: 6

Total: 18/30

Celebrity: Jennifer Grey
Professional Partner: Derek Hough

Dance: Foxtrot

Breakdown: Bruno thought it was like watching the perfect housewife – pristine, elegant, and beautifully danced. Carrie Ann didn’t think it was her best, she saw her eyes go blank and go out of sync at times. Len thought it was too theatrical – they wasted time with the opening scene when she’s such a beautiful dancer they should have just gone straight into it.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 9

Total: 25/30

This week we walked down memory lane thanks to the wonderful TV Theme Song selections from classic TV shows like The Brady Bunch, Bewitched, and The Monkees. Next week is Rock & Roll week and the remaining celebrities will be doing two routines.  Tune in to the live elimination show tomorrow night at 9pm EST/PST on ABC.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

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