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Dancing with the Stars – Jive and Tango

If there was any doubt that the women are a force to be reckoned with, this week erased that for me.  The top five spots went to women, and the top five spots are only 1 point apart.  If that’s not close, I don’t know what is.

This week, we get the Jive and the Tango.  Normally, I don’t enjoy the Tango as much as some of the others, but I really enjoyed several of them tonight.  The Jive is the one dance I would love to learn, so of course I loved watching those.

Sabrina Bryan & Mark Ballas – Jive – There’s a reason she’s at the top of the women.  This is a start to set the standard for the night.  That was fast and fun.  Len didn’t care for a couple steps, yet still said it was their best dance to date.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 9 Bruno – 9 Total – 27  Their best score to date.  Of course, it is only an increase of one.  Hard to improve when you are so near the top.  Still, a great score to start out the competition.  And a score to be proud of.

Cameron Mathison & Edyta Sliwinska – Tango – I’m not normally a fan of the Tango, but I really enjoyed that one.  It was fun and something different.  I would agree with Carrie Ann it was G rated.  Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 8 Len – 7 Bruno – 8 Total – 23  He’s definitely improved this week, getting two better then his first two scores.  Unfortunately, most of the pack last him behind and he was near the bottom.

Mark Cuban & Kym Johnson – Jive – With how fun his routines have been in the past, I was looking for something fun.  Of course, I hadn’t counted on his hip problems.  And maybe the hip was the problem, but that was his first routine to leave me cold.  It seemed to me that Kym was doing more of the dancing than Mark, and that may have been part of it.  The comments definitely seem accurate to me.  In fact, the judges were talking about improvement when I thought the opposite.  Once again, shows all I know.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 6 Len – 7 Bruno – 7 Total – 20  Right between their first two scores.  I think that’s higher then I would score it.  Have I completely gotten over my love of Mark?  Possibly.  I guess we’ll see next week if he sticks around.

Jennie Garth & Derek Hough – Tango – So, they are going for redemption after the fall last week.  While I enjoyed Cameron’s Tango, I loved Jennie’s.  That had drama and was sharp with some wonderful steps I had never seen before.  I especially loved that spin near the end.  Len had some technical suggestions, but the other two loved it as well.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 8 Bruno – 9 Total – 26  That’s the biggest climb of anyone this week so far and a great score.  Well deserved.

Mel B. & Maksim Chmerkovshiy – Jive – That was fun with lots of energy, but it seemed a little more freestyle there in the middle.  Yet the judges liked it better then I did.  You’d think I’d forget trying to predict the judges.  Either that, or I don’t really know what the requirements of the judges are and just go by what I like or don’t like.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 9 Bruno – 9 Total – 27  Again, the best score of the three weeks for her.  I must admit, that’s higher then I would have given it.  Frankly, I think some of the other dancers were better.

Wayne Newton & Cheryl Burke – Tango – After being at the bottom of the judges ranking and in the bottom two, Wayne’s really going to have to step up.  Especially with everyone else’s great scores this week.  That was better then last week, but only a little.  Cheryl was still doing the majority of the dancing.  I agree with the judges that the character was great, but the dance was still lacking.  And that fan was more a distraction then a prop.  I’d say Wayne is definitely the weakest dancer this season.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 6 Len – 6 Bruno – 6 Total – 18  Improvement is the name of the game this week, but it wasn’t that big an improvement.  Not that I felt he deserved a bigger score.

Floyd Mayweather & Karina Smirnoff – Jive – Having him jumping rope while they announced them was an interesting idea.  Personally, I would have preferred to see more upbeat Jiving, but then again, Len would probably complain about it being too upbeat like he did with the Quickstep last week.  However, the judges are picking on technique things like toes pointing.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 7 Len – 7 Bruno – 7 Total – 21  The first 21 of the night, which is funny since that has been the score everyone was tying with the last two weeks.  And this week, they are the only one to get it.

Jane Seymour & Tony Dovolani – Tango – That was a moving tribute to her mother during the interview portion.  Unfortunately, the events of the last week do seem to have affected Jane.  That was her weakest dance so far in my eyes.  However, I’d have been surprised if she hadn’t been affected.  But that much be my lack of love of the Tango because the judges all praised it.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 9 Bruno – 9 Total – 27  Once again just goes to show I just don’t know what I am talking about.  I’m not surprised considering how much the judges loved it.  But I can’t complain too much.  Jane has been a great dancer all season, so it is nice to see her continue strong.

Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough – Jive – I was really hoping this was good since Helio is the strongest male dancer this season.  It started out strong but it lost a little something as they went along.  I’m surprised that no one has torned their pants before doing those slides like he did at the end.  It was lots of fun again, but I definitely agree with the judges that this wasn’t quite as good as last week.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 8 Len – 8 Bruno – 8 Total – 24  A step down from last week, but their dance wasn’t at last week’s level.  What’s amazing is this puts him in the middle of the pack.

Marie Osmond & Jonathan Roberts – Tango – Everything about that routine was fun, from the music to the way they danced to that music.  Watching Jonathan trying to steal a kiss the entire time was so much fun.  I agree with the judges that it didn’t go too far over the top, either.
Scores: Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 8 Bruno – 9 Total – 26  I think that’s the first time I’ve heard the crowd boo an 8.  Obviously, the crowd loved it as much as I did.

The judges’ standings this week are:
1. Sabrina (tie)
1. Mel B. (tie)
1. Jane (tie)
4. Jennie (tie)
4. Marie (tie)
6. Helio
7. Cameron
8. Floyd
9. Mark
10 Wayne

Want proof this is the lady’s season?  Look at those rankings.  The women are all at the top, and the men are all at the bottom.  So I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that a man goes home again this week.

So, predictions?  The obvious bottom runners are once again Mark and Wayne.  But Floyd and Cameron are very close.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the four of them in the bottom two.  But I’m going to stick with my pick from last week, it will be Mark and Wayne in the bottom two with Wayne going home.  (If I say that often enough, it will have to be right eventually, right?)

The encore dance is almost impossible to pick this week.  I would love to see it be Marie or Jennie.  And they have gone with the second highest score of the night before if it was an obvious crowd pleaser.  However, with three tied at 27, I bet it will be one of them.  I’m going to guess Sabrina, but I could easily be wrong.  There is really no clear front runner.

I don’t remember this many dancers scoring this highly this early.  I think we are in for some amazing dancing before the season is over.