The second installment of Dancing with the Stars aired Tuesday night, and it was Latin Night.
The stars and their partners danced Latin styles, such as Tango, Cha-Cha, Samba and Salsa, and the temperature in the ballroom was burning hot.
It was a solid second episode for the show with some of the highlights being Charity Lawson, Xochitl Gomez, and Jason Mraz.
Xochitl and Val danced the Salsa to “Don’t Go Yet” by Camilla Cabello, which was definitely a good dance for their second week and deserved their scores of 8’s. Val is one of the most likable pros, but the choreography was the only thing that was lacking slightly. It was good, but not amazing or showstopping. Despite this, they are the frontrunners of the competition right now, and Xochitl’s energy on stage is contagious.
Charity danced with Ezra Sosa, as her partner Artem Chigvintsev was out for the week with COVID. She had great technique and even last week, showed poise. Compared to her previous week’s dance, this one should’ve gotten a higher score than it did (7, 7, 8), and the judge’s comments about not being connected to her partner, whom she met a few days before, were unfair.
Jason Mraz is the biggest surprise of this year and, to many viewers, the best male dancer of the season. His partner Daniella is a strong dancer, and her choreography stands out every time. Not only does she have great style and super interesting dances, but she also highlights Jason’s strengths so well, something other choreographers lack. She also choreographed the opening number with her husband Pasha, and it was a great one.
There were a few people whose dances really fell flat in this episode.
One was Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov. Ariana is still one of the better stars of the season. However, her first-week “revenge” dance hit it out of the park, and this one just didn’t match up to that level. It felt a little bit awkward and stilted, and it didn’t have the same smoothness of movement that her first dance had. Additionally, it was lacking the energy and emotional connection that she brought to her first tango.
Many viewers had really, really high hopes for the popular duo Harry and Rylee, and they definitely did improve. But he is still very much a beginner, something Judge Carrie-Ann Inaba pointed out. The popularity of their partnership is what’s keeping him in the competition.
They are going viral on TikTok posting together, and their week 1 dance has become a TikTok sensation, with people recreating their moves. Many of their TikToks showcase their friendship, with many suspecting or hoping for a budding romance between the two. Some people are suspect of their age gap, with Rylee being 18 and Harry being 26, however, it’s relatively clear that it’s marketing for their partnership. The stars that do the best are often those with a really strong fan base, really strong friendships, or both. For instance, Meryl Davis and Maks Chmerkovskiy won a few years back, and many fans suspected they were dating the entire season. If you look them up now, one of the first things to come up is the question of whether or not they dated. The pair never actually got together, at least that’s what they say, but it gave their dances and partnership this intrigue, and drama that boosted their votes.
Rylee and Harry have a locked-in fan base, and even though their dancing skills need some work, the people love to see them dancing together.
The hype around Barry Williams and Peta is unsupported by Barry’s dancing skills. Many people were in love with his week one dance, and for his age of 69, he’s definitely doing very well. However, his technical skills or technique are below or at the same level of other dances, leaving his dances lacking both weeks. He danced a very strong Cha Cha, but to he isn’t a fierce, intense guy, so the style didn’t translate well. It begs the question, is he lacking the versatility required for the show?
Those were the main highlights of the night. Other stars had good showings as well. Lele Pons had another great performance that landed her tied second on the leaderboard, Mira Sorvino and Alyson Hannigan were both solid, but not superb, Mauricio Umansky stayed strong despite a trip up in the middle, and Tyson Beckford did a whole lot of nothing in his dance.
The bottom two this week were Adrian Peterson and Jamie Lynn Spears.
The two were close to the bottom of the leaderboard but were not the bottom two if looking solely at dancing. Although their scores were lower, (Jamie Lynn had a 16/30 while Adrian had a 15/30) Jamie Lynn had good energy on stage and some rhythm, and Adrian was able to do some intricate lifts. However, these two have been the controversial picks of the season, getting the most negative attention from the show’s fan base.
The results do show the checks and balances of the show in terms of the role voting plays, especially with the show changing its style of elimination. In previous seasons, the votes and scores determined the bottom two, and then the judges would vote on who they wanted to save.
This season, the judges don’t get to give anyone a lifeline, leaving it up to their original performance and the votes they received. Based on dancing alone, Jamie Lynn was not on the chopping block, but the fact that she went home proves that fans have some power on the show.
