Trav's Thoughts

...let's have some 'cause it's live from Hollywood!



I've got four encore performances for you this evening.

First up, we have Lil Kim with partner Derek Hough, dancing an unexpectedly classy and elegant Quickstep. Click here.

Next it's Shawn Johnson with partner Mark Ballas, dancing a delightfully sassy and sexy-enough-for-a-17-year-old-who's-parents-are-probably-watching Salsa. Click here.

Now we thought that the next two dances were equal in quality, but the decider for which was better in our opinion came down to music.

Mr Sexy...Pam's nickname, not mine...Gilles Marini and partner Cheryl Burke overcame a truly wonky musical selection to dance a sophisticated and refined Quickstep. Click here.

Dance of the night honors go to Melissa Rycroft and partner Tony Dovolani. They danced a sexy and scintillating classic Salsa. Click here.

So, Vinny from The Couch pointed out that I left LT & Edyta off the leader board in yesterday's post. Ooops! Sorry about that. I think that might have been a subliminal protest against Len for throwing a 6.

Here's the corrected leader board:

51 Gilles & Cheryl
49 Melissa & Tony
47 Shawn & Mark
44 Lil Kim & Derek
40 Chuck & Julianne
39 Denise & Maks
36 Holly & Dmitry
36 LT & Edyta
36 David & Kym
35 Belinda & Jonathan
34 Ty & Chelsie
31 Steve & Lacey
30 Steve & Karina

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is in the ballroom. Cheryl, Chelsie, Lacey, Mark, Tony, and Derek are jiving! Woooooooooooooooooooo! That rocked!

Steve-O is backstage. He doesn't have any fractures and will be able to continue dancing...and more importantly, he'll have the good sense listen to Lacey when she tells him that backflips are a bad idea. And if they make it through, she should go back to the drawing board and make a dance that emphasizes the basics of whatever style they get.

Now we're right to some results. These are the first four couples who are safe, in no particular order.

LT & Edyta
Shawn & Mark
Chuck & Julianne
David & Kym

And here are four more advancing to next week.

Denise & Maks
Melissa & Tony
Lil Kim & Derek
Gilles & Cheryl

I don't think there are any surprises there.

We have our cheesy video, this time from former contestant Cameron Mathison.

Michael Rooney, son of legendary actor Mickey Rooney, has choreographed a special dance for the Macy's Stars of Dance feature. The dance is inspired by the old Busby Birkley musicals from the glamor days of Hollywood. Fantastic! And the elder Rooney was in the audience tonight. And YAY! The video clip is up at youtube. Click here.

Now Jewel gimps into the ballroom. Sorry...bad joke. She sings Over the Rainbow, accompanied by Dmitry and Chelsie in a beautiful Rumba. Really gang, that dance was amazing. And there are very few vocals I'll accept with this song. I enjoyed Jewell's version. That was really special.

Here we go with the rest of the results.

Holly & Dmitry are safe
Ty & Chelsie are safe
Steve & Lacey are safe

That means Belinda & Jonathan and Steve & Karina must dance to stay in the competition. Each pair has selected one of the two dances they've done. The vote totals will carry over, but not the judges' scores. Each dance will get new scores from the judges, soley based on the performance in front of them.

Belinda and Jonathan are up first, and they have elected to perform Salsa. She just needs to fix her hip action and try to be a bit lighter on her feet. Unfortunately, the dance wasn't all that much better than it was on Monday. She had several mistakes on her choreography. That's a shame and she's so disappointed. Judges say 5,6,6 for a total of 17.

Steve and Karina have elected to perform Quickstep. He didn't seem to enjoy that as much as he did on Monday. He danced it well enough though, and he's just so enjoyable to watch. But that exhuberance he had was missing. And there were still some footwork stumbles. Maybe he was a bit nervous. Judges say 6,5,6 for a total of 17.

You had to figure the judges would do the best they could to leave the decision to the fans.

And the result is...Steve and Karina are safe.

So that means Belinda and Jonathan are the first couple eliminated. Dangit.


Tune in next week when the remaining couples dance either Foxtrot or Samba.

I'll be catching up on rounds in the next few days. Later babies!