March 26, 2007: Second Chances
Last night our stars had a sort of second chance to make a first impression. Initially, I was against not having an elimination last week, but the judges commented that they were grateful for the chance to see everyone do both Latin and ballroom dances, and that is a good point - some people are simply better at one style than the other. OK, so they won me over with this new wait-a-week system.
So who benefited from this extra week? First and foremost,
Billy Ray Cyrus. Wow, did he step it up. The judges crowned him "most improved" performer and it was a well deserved title. I enjoyed watching his performance; he was actually doing the quick step, and moving at a fast pace. Taking into account this turnaround and adding in his huge
Hannah fanbase, I don't think this cowboy will be exiting the dance floor just yet.
In addition to Billy Ray,
Heather Mills also gained a lot from this part-two performance. Love her or hate her (she seems to inspire impassioned responses like no one else this season), I don't think you can deny she gave a hell of a performance last night. That wasn't simply a good dance for someone with an artificial leg, that was a good dance, period. First, there was the "back walkover" move where she did a sort of backward cartwheel over her partner - you really had to see it to get the full picture. But her routine wasn't simply stunts - she had a lot of energetic hip movements throughout, and really let loose and got into the spirit of the mambo. And the flowing pants ensemble was kind of fun (it was an improvement over last's week outfit).
As good as Heather's mambo was, it was no match for
Laila Ali's. She truly seems like a natural out on that dance floor. She had the technique down and she brought out her sultry side. Simply put, Laila was great last week and she was great this week. With her consistent performances and top judges' score, she seems to have emerged as the front-runner of this competition.
Nevertheless, this won't be an easy knockout for Laila. http:/
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Joey Fatone are close on her tail. Apolo took the constructive criticism the judges gave him from last week's good performance and managed to deliver a great performance last night. With smooth moves, he glided across the dance floor and held his frame. Joey also proved to be dependable in delivering a strong performance.
Bruno did advise him to eliminate the "George Michael moves" as he calls them, and I do think it would be wise for Joey to play with his clownish side but not overindulge in it, as he risks becoming too much of a ham.
Meanwhile,
Ian Ziering is at risk for becoming too much like a rabbit. The judges liked his performance for the most part, but found it a bit too "hoppy" and "skippy." I agree with
Carrie Ann's assessment that Ian seems to have a lot of untapped potential that we have yet to see. I think the same is true of
Clyde Drexler. He made the most of the judges' advice to expand his moves and use all of the dance floor. Perhaps now that he's more comfortable dancing with his tall frame, he'll be able to give an even looser performance next week.
Also slowly breaking out of her shell is
Paulina Porizkova. She was working her hips in the mambo and had a playful sexiness out on the dance floor. If she gains more confidence perhaps she will be able to heed the judges' advice to "let it go even more." She had the confidence to attempt the death drop after all.
More cautious than Paulina were
Leeza Gibbons and
Shandi Finnessey (but unlike the male celebrities, these women have to dance in heels, so the caution is understandable). Birthday girl Leeza did seem to be having more fun out on the floor than she did last week, but something about the hesitation in her performance reminds me a lot of Tony's partner from last season,
Sara Evans. While she improved from last week, Shandi regressed a little in a difficult routine. The judges used phrases like "out of sorts" and "uncertainty" to describe her dancing. The best compliment she got was that she "looks great" - earning a top compliment for something other than dancing is not a good thing on this show. Similarly,
John Ratzenberger was praised most for "selling" the performance. They seem to be pigeonholing him into the
Jerry Springer category where style is valued over substance. I think he danced better last week, but I wouldn't count him out just yet. That said, when you compute the highly difficult mathematical
Dancing with the Stars formula of so-so dancing plus smaller fanbase, it appears you come up with the result of either Leeza or Shandi going home first. But who knows, I've been wrong with my calculations before.
