DWTS Season 20, Week 07
REVIEW: Dance-offs
Dance-offs:
The famous and highly anticipated "Dance-offs" concluded
DWTS' Week 07's Eras Night. And, having received the highest judges' score of
that evening, Nastia Liukin and Professional partner Sasha Farber (filling in for an injured Derek Hough) were duly
rewarded with a 3-point bonus, and "immunity" from the Dance-offs. The remaining 6 Couples were then asked to pair off, in turn, resulting
in two Couples per Dance-off.
Once chosen, the opposing Couple was then allowed to select a
style of dance with which to compete. The three style options that were
available to the opposing Couple were as follows: The Salsa, The Cha-Cha, or The Foxtrot (each of the three dance style options came with a pre-selected song, and both Couples performed the selected dance to the same
song track).
The winner of the ensuing Dance-off would then receive 2 more
bonus points to be added to their overall, judges' score ... 2 more precious
points that might have made a crucial difference for that Couple in the
night's following Elimination.
To score the Dance-offs:
Once a Dance-off
was concluded, each judge then stated, in turn, the name of the Couple
they thought did the best ... majority of judges' votes resulting in a win. In the event that the Dance-off was scored as
a Tie, the "deciding vote" rested with Head Judge Len Goodman's choice (i.e., the couple that Len had already stated as doing the dance best, would be named the
Winner).
As soon as one Dance-off was ended and scored, the next would
begin with the next highest scoring Couple on the Leader Board choosing an
opponent and so on.
Riker & Allison, Willow & Mark:
To begin the Dance-offs, Riker
Lynch, and his Professional dancing partner, Allison Holker, chose Willow Shields and Mark
Ballas to compete
against, who in turn chose the Salsa as a dance style, and I must tell you that both of these decisions made me a little
more than uneasy!
First off, what were Riker and Allison doing picking on poor
Willow!? "Pick on someone your own size" is, I believe, how
the expression goes, and the only Couple of the remaining 6 that would ever fit
that directive would be Rumer
& Val, not Willow & Mark!
I thought Val's face expressed his shocked disappointment with
Riker and Allison's decision as well ... "The right thing is always to
choose the strongest one standing." Val had previously instructed Rumer,
"I mean, it's the noble thing to do!". Val rather
enjoys a fair dancing "fight" ... "Fair" being the operative word
here, and Riker's decision left absolutely zero, fair competition for Valentin Chmerkovskiy.
Secondly, I'd hardly had time to process these repulsed thoughts
and emotions when I heard Willow calling out for the Salsa ... "The
Salsa"!? Is she insane!?!
We have all seen both Willow and Riker's Salsa-ing abilities ... ...
I immediately thought, "The poor
thing will be trampled! Oh, well! I guess we'll just have to see
what happens! ... "
Riker & Allison:
Dancing the Salsa to "Temperature", by Sean Paul, Riker and
Allison were the first Couple to hit the dance floor!
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| Riker & Allison's Salsa DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs |
At first, while still being very good, I found Riker's Salsa to appear
slightly cautious (some delayed guilt, perhaps?), and to lack that certain
"zing" that has become the defining character of every Riker dance; but, towards the end of routine, the beat of the song seemed to have finally
gotten the better of Riker, having always been extremely musical, and shaken
him out of his perceived mental funk.
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| Riker & Allison's Salsa DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs |
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Riker & Allison's Salsa
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Riker's dancing took off at last, and the resulting product made
even his "slightly miffed" fans, such as I was, (concerning the matter
of Willow & Mark) hard pressed to conceal an impressed grin!
In the end, it was an excellent showing, and Riker and Allison
retired to the sidelines to watch their opponents, Willow and Mark, perform
next.
Willow & Mark:
Following Riker and Allison's amazing performance, Willow and Mark
casually descended the Ballroom steps, that led down to the dance floor, and
immediately proceeded to blow us all away!
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Willow & Mark's Salsa
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Willow & Mark's Salsa
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Swiveling Hips, Shoulder Shakes, and all of the bad-out Hair Flipping
one could ask for, came together to create one perfectly-spicy Salsa,
delightfully served straight up, with just the right additives!
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Willow & Mark's Salsa
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Willow & Mark's Salsa
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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I mean to say, Willow's Salsa was unbelievably good! As was
duly expressed by Bruno
Tonioli when he addressed
both Couples and said, "Both hot and spicy, but with very, very different
flavors! It's like choosing between chocolate and vanilla, isn't it?
It's so hard! ... "
Carrie Ann Inaba further elaborated on the subject,
saying, "Riker, Allison, you guys came out ... threw in the tricks, made
it hot; made it modern, contemporary ... Mark and Willow, you guys gave us the
understated 'We're going to show we can really dance'! ... ".
Julianne Hough also took a moment to give Mark and
Allison their propers when she exclaimed,"Oh my gosh, it was so tight! Literally, both of you guys were so tight with your choreography, it felt
like you guys were doing that as your number this week! ... "
In conclusion of the Riker and Willow Dance-off, Willow won by
unanimous decision in her favor, which I was really glad to see ... I really like Willow and Mark and maybe their victory will give back the
votes Riker surely lost when choosing Willow.
Noah & Sharna, Robert & Kym:
Up next in the pairing-off process was Noah Galloway and Sharna
Burgess. Following in the prerequisite first laid out by Val,
Noah very sportingly chose as his opposing Couple, Robert Herjavec and partner Kym Johnson, so as not to choose Chris & Witney,
against whom he would have, almost surely, won. Although, this action did leave a
very-good-humored Chris to await his Dance-off against, none other than, Rumor & Val ... Uh-oh! ...
Robert and Kym then chose the Cha-Cha as their dancing style, an
action that I found to be incredibly stupid ... I don't know if Robert has
checked out any rehearsal studio mirrors recently, but the Latin style of dance
is not exactly his forte!
And anyway, who challenges a one-armed, one-legged man to dance a Cha-Cha? It just
seemed a little thoughtless to me. ... ...
Noah & Sharna:
First up, was Noah and Sharna, dancing the Cha-Cha to "Dance With Me" by Kelly
Clarkson.
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Noah & Sharna's Cha-Cha
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Noah's dancing was so incredibly good: cool and
flowing movements, combined with some excellent rhythm and steps would prove to
be just what the Doctor (or Sharna!) ordered to make for a truly terrific
Cha-Cha!
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Noah & Sharna's Cha-Cha
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Noah & Sharna's Cha-Cha
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Very well Done!
Robert & Kym:
Worst fears confirmed: That was a truly awful Cha-Cha!
Robert's footwork was straying all over the place, there was never
a time during the performance where he didn't appear to be at complete loss for
where he was, and he kept losing the beat!
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Robert & Kym's Cha-Cha
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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| Uh ... seriously, ...what are they doing? |
Carrie Ann may just have best expressed the state of things when
she said, "Okay, one was super tight and clean, didn't have a lot of
content [Clearly referring to Noah's ... Whatevs!], one had a lot of content, had a lot of fun, but
there were a lot of mistakes [ <coughing>
Robert!]!"
Astonishingly enough, the two Couples' scores came down to a Tie,
with Carrie Ann and Bruno voting for Robert, and with Julianne and Len Goodman voting for Noah.
As Head Judge, Len's vote was counted as the deciding one, Noah and Sharna won the Dance-off. ... Yesssss!!
Rumer & Val, Chris & Witney:
<Popping lips awkwardly> Well, this should be interesting!
Rumer & Val:
First up in this Dance-off-turned-comedy-skit was Rumer Willis and her Professional partner, Valentin Chmerkovskiy,
dancing the Foxtrot to "Orange Colored Sky" by Nat King Cole.
Oh, YES!
Rumer is back!!
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Rumer & Val's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Rumer & Val's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Rumer & Val's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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That Foxtrot stands as a beautiful, exquisite example of what a
Ballroom style dance should look and feel like; and, if I were a Chef and that
dance was a Souffle, I'd kiss my fingers and exclaim, "Magnifique!".
Chris & Witney:
" ... Chris, I uh, you know, if you didn't have bad luck,
you'd have no luck at all!", a sympathetic Len Goodman would later
observe; but nonetheless, and with no small amount of pluck, Chris Soules and his partner, Witney Carson, stepped
onto the dance floor to present their Foxtrot before the judges ...
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Chris & Witney's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Wow-wee!! Chris just completely shocked and dazzled us all
with the dancing of a real wing-dinger of a Foxtrot!
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Chris & Witney's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Great frame, grace, and footwork came together to make a very
admirable showing and a surprisingly close race!
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Chris & Witney's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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Some of the judges thought so too, as a very pleased Julianne
expressed, "I gotta be honest, I was really impressed with you Chris; I
felt like you really kept up with Rumer and Val; and like, it was tighter than
I thought it was gonna be!".
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Chris & Witney's Foxtrot
DWTS Season 20, Week 07 - Dance-offs
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But, however praise-worthy Chris' efforts might have been, in the
end, " ... there was one, hands down, that stole the show! ...
", as Carrie Ann voiced it, and Rumer & Val were named the winners by
unanimous decision!
See all three videos (below) of the "Dance-offs " from Week 07 on Dancing With The Stars, all from ABC's great DWTS YouTube channel!
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