I’ll Be the Judge of That! – Dancing With the Stars, October 12

I’m always glad to be back doing my commentary after a week of subbing for the recap. I’m very impressed with the writers who bring us detailed play-by-plays of the shows week after week. I’m totally excited to see the couples perform the bolero this week. Bolero is a dance I was unfamiliar with until relatively recently. I like it because it has the grace and poise of a waltz, with the sultry sensuality of a rumba. As for the other dances, I hate anything that has to do with country music, and we’ll see how the dancers do with that and the other new dances! Of course, by now you should have already read Sandy’s RNO recap, so let’s get to the judging!

Chuck Liddell & Anna Trebunskaya – Texas Two-Step

I think Chuck lucked out getting the two-step this week. It’s probably the only dance he’d be able to pull off. Of course, I never know how much “luck” has to do with the dance assignments. I’d like to think it’s random, but we’ve never actually been told how they’re chosen.

I thought Chuck looked pretty hot in his sleeveless leather vest and Anna looked cute, if a little bit weird. Their song totally took me back to the high school dances where I did the occasional country line dance. I know very little about Texas two-step, but I didn’t recognize any of the steps that I do know in their routine. Perhaps that doesn’t matter in this case. Chuck looked like he was having a great time and I thought the routine was very cute overall, if not overly-difficult. The lifts were very well-done. I can’t really speak to their technique with this dance. I thought the judges scores was a little low. At least I was entertained.

Melissa Joan Hart & Mark Ballas – Charleston

I thought the black and white effect at the beginning was totally bizarre and I’m glad it didn’t last. As usual, Mark was dressed in a goofy costume. Melissa really got into character, but she was a little over-the-top for my taste. Again, I have nothing much to say about technique. Melissa’s high kicks looked really good. Overall, the dance looked a little hectic, but maybe the Charleston is supposed to look hectic. 28?!? Are you kidding me?? I actually liked Chuck’s dance better.

Natalie Coughlin & Alec Mazo – Bolero

I was interested to hear that Natalie would be doing the bolero after having done the rumba last week. In my mind, those two dances are very similar. Natalie’s performance of the dance this week wasn’t quite as good as it was last week. I could tell she was concentrating very hard in places by the look on her face. Of course, that’s bound to happen when you increase the difficulty of the choreography. I’m still in awe over the control Natalie has over every single muscle in her body. I was so happy to see that she pointed her feet! Her technique is amazing. Wow, that was a really hot routine! I loved it.

Aaron Carter & Karina Smirnoff – Lambada

How cute was it to see Michael Irvin comforting Aaron? That was a freaky gymnastics trick Aaron did at the beginning! I’m glad he made it. For some reason I expected the Lambada to be a slow dance. I don’t even know what to think about that routine. It was… weird. Aaron looked like he was enjoying himself, but some of his movements looked really awkward to me. I have no idea what the moves are supposed to look like, however, so maybe they were just right! It looked to me like they missed their ending pose. If so, they managed to save it pretty well. I suspect there might be more crying backstage after the judges’ comments (and scores), despite Aaron’s assertions to the contrary.

Mark Decascos & Lacey Schwimmer – Texas Two-Step

I do not like Lacey’s haircut. I recognized the basic two-step right off this time. I thought Mark looked very strange doing it, though. I’m not quite sure why. It’s like he was stomping when he should have been shuffling his feet more. If the two-step fit Chuck better than any of the others, the exact opposite is true of Mark. The dance just did not suit his personality and style at all. I hope that doesn’t hurt him too much, because I really like him. I was surprised by the positive comments by the judges. I wondered what Len would think about the kung fu move they slipped in at the end, but he didn’t mention it. I thought 22 was a fair score.

Kelly Osbourne & Louis Van Amstel – Charleston

Wow, Louis should think about becoming a drag queen. He’d make a rather handsome woman! Kelly performed that routine very well. It was a goofy dance, but that’s the Charleston for ya, I guess. Kelly has always had good technique and this week I especially noticed her nice clean footwork. There were times where I think she was a bit too careful and could have thrown herself into it a bit more, but I thought she did a great job overall. The routine made me smile. While I was watching her Charleston step, I thought she should have swiveled her feet a little more, but wasn’t going to mention it because I don’t really know about Charleston technique. Then Len mentioned it for me! Ha!