BWW Recap: DANCING WITH THE STARS Busts a Spooky Move for Halloween

By: Oct. 27, 2014
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Halloween came a little early this week on DANCING WITH THE STARS. On this seventh week of the reality competition show, ABC claimed viewers could expect a "thrilling spooktacular night filled with scary and chilling performances." Usually scary things freak me out, but was entertained. With the Halloween special, it is only fitting that DANCING's scariest judge returned...and in fashion during the show's spooky "Heads Will Roll" opening number. I thought that was very clever and cute.

This was the first week the stars were split into teams. Team Itsy Bitsy (composed of Janel & Val, Lea & Artem, Bethany & Derek and Michael & Emma) danced to the Iggy Azalea smash hit "Black Widow". Team Creepy (made of Alfonso & Witney, Tommy & Peta, Sadie & Mark and Antonio & Cheryl) get to dance to ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW's "Time Warp". I'll let you know my thoughts on those numbers a little later.

Before I delve into the night's dances, I wanted to let fans of DANCING WITH THE STARS know that by going to the ABC website, you can choose which dances and songs your favorite contestants dance to in two weeks! Next week is based around Dynamic Duos (which I am actually really curious and excited about), but that following week is America's Choice where your votes will have determined who performs what dance and to which song. But hurry-you only have 24 hours!

Without further ado, here are tonight's performances!

TOMMY & PETA
Style of Dance: Quickstep
Song: "That Old Black Magic"
My 5 second review: I absolutely adore Tommy. Great performance!
Judges' score: 28/40

I feel like Tommy's huge personality is a major reason he is still in the competition. Do I think he's the greatest of dancers? No, however, he seems to be having boat loads of fun, which looks like fun to the audience and they want to see more of him. Myself included. Plus, he really has come a long way dance-wise. I'd love to see that improvement continue.

LEA & ARTEM
Style of Dance: Argentine Tango
Song: "Necessary Evil" performed live by Nikki Yanofsky
My 5 second review: These two always bring their A game...this dance is no exception.
Judges' score: 34/40

Lea is a gorgeous dancer. She and Artem are such a great couple, in my opinion, because they are both such perfectionists, and that is definitely prominent when they are dancing. Though I think if they let themselves go just a tad, even just in the rehearsal studio, they'll score 40/40 left and right.

BETHANY & DEREK
Style of Dance: Paso Doble
Song: "Run Boy Run"
My 5 second review: Beautifully eerie. Fantastic!
Judges' score: 39/40 (Len, I'm giving you the stink eye right now...)

Derek Hough is a genius. That is literally all I have to say about this dance. Also, I'm still giving Len the stink eye two hours later.

ANTONIO & CHERYL
Style of Dance: Viennese Waltz
Song: "I Put a Spell on You"
My 5 second review: I think the production of the number was better than the actual dance.
Judges' score: 27/40

I thought the storytelling and the set itself were well done and worked, but there was something about the dance that didn't look right to me. As I've said in pretty much every single recap before, I am not a dance expert. I'm just going by my opinion.

MICHAEL & EMMA
Style of Dance: Jive
Song: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
My 5 second review: Definitely was not expecting country vibe...I'm just not sure if that was a Jive.
Judges' score:20/40

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how Michael has survived the competition for as long as he has. I feel like every week the judges tell him to work on the same things. Much like Tommy I think he has great charisma, but when it all boils down, this is a dance show. He really needs to step up his game big time.

JANEL & VAL
Style of Dance: Viennese Waltz
Song: "Secret"
My 5 second review: Another amAzing performance from Janel and Val. Yes. I did have to throw that PLL pun in there.
Judges' score: 31/40

I may sound biased when I say this due to my anticipation of this performance, but that was FANTASTIC! Bringing Janel's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS persona into this waltz was a very smart thing to do and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

ALFONSO & WITNEY
Style of Dance: Rumba
Song: "Ghost" performed live by Ella Henderson
My 5 second review: You can't even tell they're injured! Once again, wonderfully done.
Judges' score: 36/40

There isn't much to say about the two of them that hasn't been said to death. I do have to point out how unbelievably dedicated the two of them are to push through injury after injury and still pull off a stellar Rumba. Kudos to this couple.

Really quick tangent: Congratulations to Alfonso and his wife on their beautiful one year old son and his sibling who is on their way!

SADIE & MARK
Style of Dance:Paso Doble
Song: "Come With Me Now"
My 5 second review: That was so interesting to watch! Mark's choreography is always so inventive.
Judges' score: 30/40

The production of this number was so well done: the make-up, the costumes, the set...it was all really spooky which is great, because when the theme is Halloween you want that. I just thought that the grandness of everything had me more invested than the dance itself. It was still great, nonetheless!

TEAM ITSY BITSY
Style of Dance: Freestyle
Song: "Black Widow"
My 5 second review: That was INCREDIBLE.
Judges' score: 36/40

TEAM CREEPY
Style of Dance: Freestyle
Song: "Time Warp"
My 5 second review: SO much fun!
Judges' score: 32/40

If you don't mind, I'd like to give my commentary on the team dances together rather than seperately. ITSY BITSY was incredibly clever with the spider web at the end tying into their team name...very, very creative. The choreography screamed Derek Hough, which is never a bad thing considering all that Hough has accomplished. I was blown away by this performance. CREEPY on the other hand, was much more focused on the individuals in the group, which I adore. Seeing everyone on that stage having such a blast made me want to be right up on that stage with them.

Unfortunately, that fun had to come to an end when it came time to eliminate another couple from the show. The bottom two were Tommy & Peta and Antonio & Cheryl. It was determined that the couple with the lowest amount of audience votes (combined with the judges' scores) was Antonio and he was sent home.

What did you think of tonight's episode? Let me know in the comments section down below! Be sure to tune in to DANCING WITH THE STARS next Monday at 8/7c on ABC!


Play Broadway Games

The Broadway Match-UpTest and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia? The Broadway ScramblePlay the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
Tony Awards TriviaHow well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends. Broadway World GameCan you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!

 



Videos