by Gina Scarpa

 

Tonight on Dancing With The Stars, Latin ballroom champion Donnie Burns joins the panel as a guest judge. It's also ballroom greats week and each pair will be visited by a ballroom legend to offer advice and critique. Of course, the pairs will perform tonight but there will also be two group performances. Since Chelsea and Hines scored the highest last week, they are the team captains. Once everyone is divvied up, it's time to get things underway.

 

Team: The Black Team (Chelsea, Ralph, Romeo)
Style: Cha-cha-cha
Scores: 8 + 8 + 7 + 7 = 30
Chelsea's team performed to Gaga's "Born This Way" and had a ton of energy. Ralph was worried that he'd stick out, given that he's the oldest and had never done the cha cha before but he fit quite well!. The girls were downright fierce in this number! Bruno wasn't too happy that they often lost their timing but there's no denying that they were entertaining. Still, the scores felt a little harsh...

 

Team: The Pink Team (Hines, Kendra, Kirstie)
Style: Cha-cha-cha

Scores: 7 + 7 + 8 + 8 = 30
From the minute this dance got underway, it felt clunkier than the one before it. Kendra has certainly improved but needs to work on more seamless transitions from step and step. The pace of Maks and Kirstie's dance took the excitement down - but thank goodness for Hines and Kym! They did what they could to save this number with their chemistry and charisma. Donnie got on the group's case because their spacing was off but Len had nothing but positive comments. I know... Len! Right?

 

Couple: Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas
Style: Paso Doble
Scores: 8 + 9 + 8 + 9 = 34
It's tough to imagine Chelsea pulling off the paso doble because she's always silly and having a good time. As the routine gets underway, I'm worried that it's too modern and takes too many liberties for the judges' tastes but they quickly get into choreography and things smooth out. I will say I'm not a fan of the song or some choreography choices - but I AM a fan of them! The judges were left split. Len thought it was too aggressive while Carrie Ann loved that they pushed boundaries.

 

Couple: Kendra Wilkinson and Louis Van Amstel
Style: Tango
Scores: 8 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 31
Now, when it comes to song choice, Louis knows what he's doing. He stuck to a traditional style for this performance and brought out Kendra's performance skills. While there's been an improvement, she seems to be starting to plateau. Could it be because she has a hard time taking the critiques and applying them? Donnie and Len pointed out how difficult their choreography was and commended Kendra for the great job that she did.

 

Couple: Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Style: Jive
Scores: 9 + 7 + 6 + 8 = 30
Kirstie puts a lot of pressure on herself and tends to break down in rehearsals at times but she always pulls it together come performance time. It's great to see Kirstie in a high energy, fast paced dance and you gotta love her for stealing a kiss from Maks any chance she gets! However, technically, it was all wrong. Carrie Ann came down on the pair, feeling that there wasn't enough jive in it for her. Bruno agreed that it wasn't great technically but he enjoyed every minute of it.

 

Couple: Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff
Style: Quickstep
Scores: 10 + 9 + 8 + 9 = 36
Karina said it best. For a 49-year-old, Ralph is in excellent shape. However, the quickstep is an extremely difficult dance and taxing on the body. It didn't show on Ralph as he and Karina tore up the dance floor. I think the quickstep is his style! Len loved that their choreography and footwork were clean but said he could loosen up a bit in his upper body. Carrie Ann summed it up with, "Booyah! You're back!"

 

Couple: Hines Ward and Kym Johnson
Style: Tango
Scores: 9 + 9 + 8 + 10 = 36
One thing I really love and respect about Hines is that he tries to embody every character and style that he takes on. It's even more impressive, given that his background is sports and not acting. Perhaps he missed his calling? Len felt that it changed back and forth too much between being strong and being dainty. Dainty? Hines Ward? Donnie felt he has a winning mentality and that should carry him far in this competition.

 

Couple: Romeo and Chelsie Hightower
Style: Samba
Scores: 7 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 30
Chelsie and Romeo are usually a force to be reckoned with but it seems that they took a step backwards this week. In this routine, Chelsie did a lot more of the dancing than Romeo did. He walked, shook his booty, and spotted for turns more than he showed off his knowledge of the samba.

 

 

Don't miss the live elimination on Dancing With The Stars, Tuesday at 9/8c on ABC.

 

(Image courtesy of ABC)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa