SAN DIEGO, April 2, 2012 – When the stars get personal with their dances on “Dancing With The Stars,” they get emotional. They also step up their performances. It was no different in week 3 of Season 14 during the first theme week. Each routine reflected “The Most Memorable Year of My Life” for each competitor.
Read the results from Tuesday night here: Jack Wagner goes home in Week 3 of Dancing With The Stars 2012
The tears flowed for many celebrities as they told of family hardships, sacrifices, and inspirations for their lives and careers. And as predicted here on Communities Sunday (that’s why you need to be reading!), we saw our first perfect scores of 10 this week. Let’s remind ourselves that it’s only week 3, and it took until week 7 to notch any perfect scores last season.
Katherine Jenkins is the week’s leader with a 29 (one 9 from Len Goodman, 10s from Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli) for her magical waltz. The graceful ballroom styles suit her, and it was a good match for the story of her father’s death due to lung cancer in 1996, when she was 15.
William Levy provided quite the contrast, choosing a hotter than Hades salsa to tell the story of his arrival in America from his native Cuba after being granted political asylum in 1995, and his dreams for the future. Hip shaking? Oh yes. Sexy? You bet. Open shirt? Do you have to ask? The judges used their paddles to give him a 28, two 9s and a 10 from Bruno, who also used his to cool off from the heat.
William Levy posted this photo on Twitter a few hours after his sexy salsa performance on Dancing With The Stars, refueling with a generous helping of oysters. Photo: ABC.
Maria Menounos told another immigrant story from 1988 as she recalled watching her Greek immigrant parents working as nightclub janitors in Boston. She was taken along so they didn’t have to pay a babysitter. Partner Derek Hough showed why he’s the best and most creative choreographer on the show with this sensuous rumba to a slow tempo version of the Madonna hit “Material Girl.” It was Maria’s best performance by far, which earned her three 9s and a 27.
Donald Driver dedicated his dance to his best friend, who died in 2010 in his arms. He carried partner Peta Murgatroyd out in his arms and it was sheer rumba drama all the way. Driver is a dancer who’s skilled and portrays his roles well, yet still has room to grow which makes him a threat to peak at the right time and win it all. Driver received two 9s and an 8 from Len Goodman for 26 points.
Jaleel White earned a score of 25 for his rumba in week 3. Photo: ABC.
The next pair of competitors both received scores of 25. Jaleel White reached back to his days on the hit series “Family Matters,” when he played his character Urkel’s suave alter ego Urquelle. Despite reports his rehearsals had been rough all week, he danced a decent rumba, but this year decent doesn’t cut it. The tears seemed to be catching, and he broke down abut his love for entertaining people after he was done. He received a 9 from Inaba and two 8s.
Roshon Fegan channeled his inner Michael Jackson, no surprise since he seems like the son Jackson never had. Decked out in a fly Afro wig, his wicked samba brought the audience to its feet. Judges called it fun but criticized his timing, hence the 25.
The remaining couples all scored three 8s from each judge for totals of 24.
Melissa Gilbert achieved her best performance by far with a happy jive in a surprisingly daring purple costume, telling the story of the year she broke her back. Gladys Knight reached all the way back to 1957 (before all of the other competitors were even born!) to dance a foxtrot honoring one of her mentors, singer Sam Cook. Knight is graceful and lovely to watch, but she isn’t dancing at the same level of difficulty as the other dancers.
Sherri Shepherd danced for her son Jeffrey, born premature ad weighing less than two pounds in 2005. The upbeat Shepherd took this rumba seriously. Jack Wagner also dedicated his dance to a child, the daughter he met as a 22-year-old adult last year for the first time. He danced a sunny samba to one of his own songs, and it was by far his best performance. Wagner’s charm is growing on me.
Gavin DeGraw was shown without a hat! But only briefly during rehearsals. His rumba depicted his early lean years in New York City as a struggling singer in 1998, inspired by his idol Billy Joel. DeGraw also showed significant improvement from last week to this week.
The scores: (this week’s score first, plus the season total so far)
Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas: 29 (81 season total)
William Levy and Cheryl Burke: 28 (77 season total)
Maria Menounos and Derek Hough: 27 (73 season total)
Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd: 26 (71 season total)
Roshon Fegan and Chelsie Hightower: 25 (74 season total)
Jaleel White and Kym Johnson: 25 (73 season total)
Sherri Shepherd and Val Chmerkovskiy: 24 (70 season total)
Jack Wagner and Anna Trebunskaya: 24 (68 season total)\
Gladys Knight and Tristan McManus: 24 (66 season total)
Gavin McGraw and Karina Smirnoff: 24 (65 season total)
Melissa Gilbert and Maks Chmerkovskiy: 24 (64 season total)
Katherine Jenkins earned the first perfect scores of 10 for her waltz in week 3. Photo: ABC.
Who will be next to go home? Martina Navratilova had the lowest scores after the first two weeks and left, so it’s only fair that Melissa Gilbert and Gavin McGraw are the candidates to go home. Gilbert showed the most improvement, and it’s hard to imagine that Maks Chmerkovskiy’s many fans will let him down. My prediction: we never get to see Gavin McGraw dance without a hat on as he goes home Tuesday night.
We find out the result of the voting which are added in a 50/50 percentage weight to the judges’ scores on Tuesday night.
On the results show Tuesday, singer Seal will perform “Lean On Me” from his latest album “Soul 2,” accompanied by four of the DWTS Troupe dancers. We also hear from best-selling country vocal group, Rascal Flatts, with a network TV debut performance of “Changed,” the title of their new album, accompanied by Tony Dovolani and Troupe member Sharna Burgess.
Tuesday’s show offers the season’s first “Macy’s Stars of Dance,” featuring some talented male dancers from film and TV, including Kenny Wormald, Twitch, and Travis Wall. Finally, pros Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya perform a tribute to their friend Julia Ivleva, a professional ballroom dancer who has recently been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
“Dancing With the Stars” returns with the results show on Tuesday night, April 3, at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, on the ABC Television Network.
Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, is President/Owner of the Falcon Valley Group in San Diego, California. Read more Media Migraine in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Gayle on Facebook and on Twitter @PRProSanDiego.
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