DWTS Week 4: Acoustic Week

My initial thoughts when Acoustic Week was introduced were that DWTS would feature better music and a slightly more intimate setting.  But I didn’t realize DWTS had a masochism streak. Not only did they have their dancers perform on a substantially smaller round stage as opposed to their lengthy rectangular one, but the judges gave two scores this week.  That’s right – dancers were given separate scores on technique and performance for the rumba or the Argentine tango, two very complicated ballroom dances.  And just to make things extra fun, lifts were also allowed.

The smaller stage gave me pause for several reasons, most of them involving safety.  The small space gave the dancers absolutely no room for error when executing their lifts and it was a very real concern that an errant lift would pitch a dancer into the audience as they were now seated right around the stage.  It was also a very real concern that a dancer could accidentally step off the stage as Rick Fox almost did during his Argentine Tango with partner Cheryl Burke.   I’m not sure why they chose the smaller floor for these two dances, especially because the tango is a dance that travels.  But both dances are sensual and cater to the more intimate environment and they are not going to be able to hide their mistakes.

Music-wise – eh.  I think Kurt Warner had it rough trying to dance the sultry

rumba to “Drops of Jupiter” (although their performance was still pretty good) and while the band is very talented, they tend to sound like elevator music.  If you close your eyes and just listened to the music Brandy and Maksim were dancing to you were in danger of falling asleep as all the passion that was happening on the dance floor was not happening in the music.

But the real news of the night was that Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough earned the first 10s of the season – and deservedly so.  And there was also  The Situation storming off after receiving the lowest scores of the night.  My fingers are crossed that tonight The Situation will be exiting the dance floor for the final time.

Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough: Argentine Tango

Performance Score: 29
Technique Score: 27
Total: 56

Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Rumba

Performance Score: 26
Technique Score: 22
Total: 48

Audrina Patridge and Tony Dovolani: Argentine Tango

Performance Score: 22
Technique Score: 24
Total: 46

Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer: Rumba

Performance Score: 22
Technique Score: 18
Total: 40

Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke: Argentine Tango

Performance Score: 20
Technique Score: 19
Total: 39

Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas: Rumba

Performance Score: 18
Technique Score: 17
Total: 35

Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya: Rumba

Performance Score: 18
Technique Score: 15
Total: 33

Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas: Rumba

Performance Score: 14
Technique Score: 18
Total: 32

Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and Karina Smirnoff: Argentine Tango

Performance Score: 16
Technique Score: 12
Total: 28