Hey everyone!
Welcome to week three of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro. Last week, guest judge and mentor Brandon Armstrong helped the hopefuls work on telling personal stories through dance. It was an emotional week for many, as stories of love, loss, and redemption were on full display. And while some pairings rose to the occasion, others were not nearly as successful.
After all the dancing was done, Benji Castro was eliminated from the competition, leaving us with nine performers. Tonight, Britt Stewart is the guest as she helps the dancers with group work. Everyone will be placed into one of two teams and must come together to create a routine that shows how well they can work as a unit and put on a cohesive team number.
One group will perform a Tango and the other, a Paso Doble. At the end of the night, another dancer’s dream of becoming a pro will be dashed as he or she is eliminated from the competition. Robert Irwin is host. Mark Ballas and his mom, ballroom legend Shirley Ballas are our judges.
Nina notes that she feels guilty that Benji is gone. Mark wants them to shine more by showing off less. Shirley wants to witness a star being born. Robert introduces the guest this week, Britt Stewart. Britt arrives and shows off a very fierce group number where she is, of course, the star attraction. The contestants are hooting and hollering as they watch. Britt is just brilliant whether she is dancing alone or in a group setting. Fabulous!
Britt talks about dancing as a group, for example, the opening numbers on Dancing with the Stars. They have to recreate the same choreography that Britt just did when she arrived. Yikes. That was some intense dance steps they have to copy. Britt is happy they don’t have to be so traditional and can break out of that ballroom mold a little. She immediately starts showing everyone the steps. She feels the group work can be difficult for the traditional dancers.
Adele almost falls and notes how hard it is to work with so many people to fast music. Natalie is excited to do group work. Selena takes charge because she has a lot of experience in this world. Nina immediately starts dominating the rehearsal. Similar to with Benji last week, Nina has a real problem listening. Tristen is struggling. Britt notes Nina is struggling with musicality. Stephani feels comfortable dancing with others. Ouch! Stephani accidentally wallops Natalie in the face. Natalie heads to the hospital and Stephani is very emotional and feeling guilty. But it was clearly an accident.
Erik notes how difficult everything is. He doesn’t want to distract from the group. Britt announces a surprise. They have only rehearsed for three hours but that’s all the time they get on the show! So they are going to have to dance now in front of Mark and Shirley. Britt notes how the show moves fast and you don’t have tons of time to rehearse and so, this is a big test. Shirley wants to see exactly what they have so far. AJ feels they aren’t ready to be judged.
Not bad! Some are clearly more ready than others but everyone is doing a respectable job. A bit of timing issues here and there and some need to work on musicality but overall, they all exceeded some expectations. Shirley feels the weakest dancer was Tristen- he was ahead too much. Mark calls out Nina for not being spatially aware of her partner. But Tristen and Nina get a second chance because no one is going home right now. Tristen is crying. He thought he had a better handle on it. Mark, Shirley, and the contestants give him some support.
Back at the house, Erik reveals he has a crush on Britt. Selena mentions the clash and clash with Nina at rehearsal. She doesn’t feel Nina has respect for her. Nina apologizes. She isn’t used to working so quickly and Selena notes it was like she was trying to take over rehearsal. Nina is at a bit of a loss because she feels like she is pulling back a bit but she’s hearing all this again as she did with Benji. She flummoxed.
Britt and Robert surprise everyone at rehearsal. Natalie is still under medical supervision but the show must go on. Britt says they must form two teams. Tristen and Nina are announced as team captains. Nina feels as though she is being rewarded for doing things wrong. Nina picks Allen. Tristen chooses Stephani. Nina follows up with AJ. Tristen calls for Selena. Nina’s final pick is Adele and Tristen gets Erik. Tristen’s team gets the Paso Doble and Nina’s team does the Tango.
Tristen’s team is doing well with meshing ideas with one another. They seem to be working well together. Erik is the only non commercial dancer on the team so he is listening intently. Nina passes on responsibility to AJ. He is putting things together and says NO one is better than him. Well, ok then. He says it is his wheelhouse. Back with team Paso, Tristen is struggling as a leader and is sort of shut down. The others want him to step up more. Meanwhile, Allen feels Nina picked the perfect team because they will help her stay safe in the competition. Nina is clearly stepping back and letting AJ take the lead completely. He is happy to take all the risks and he wants to showcase what he can do as a dancer and choreographer.
Show night is here. Robert says Natalie is not here. It is time for the team dancers. First up is team Paso. Tristen says rehearsals were challenging. Shirley asks who took lead and everyone agrees it was a group effort.
Team Paso Doble – Wow. That was nice. I am impressed. Tristen was much stronger and more assertive here. Erik also shined. The girls, as usual, were pretty great with what they were tasked to do. Occasionally, I saw some timing issues as they tried to stay in-sync. But it wasn’t anything glaring. They stepped up to the challenge nicely. Britt called the beginning dynamic. But she felt they were out there more as individuals as opposed to a group. She feels Tristen looked a little lost. Mark felt Selena’s spacial awareness was lacking. Shirley mentions some things were off but compliments both Stephani and Erik. She feels it is better to have one leader who is really taking charge. Yikes. I did not see that dance as negatively as the judges. From what they said, you would think it was a complete mess and it really wasn’t.
Team Tango steps up. Nina loved rehearsal and felt all egos were checked at the door. They all agree AJ took the lead but feel they all added to the choreography. Time to dance.
Team Tango – Very nice work. A shame Allen fell in the beginning. That did not look good. But the positive was that it happened early and he was able to recover for the rest of the routine. Everyone else was quite on point and came to really lock down a strong Tango. I loved the serious and oh so dramatic facial expressions. Some of the choreography was very fresh looking and that’s nice to see. Sometimes in ballroom, the steps can become repetitive so you need to find a balance by adding in things not usually seen. The team definitely excelled there. Mark notes Allen’s fall but says he got up quick and moved on. He compliments Nina on her improvement. He cautions that she needs to continue working on timing. Shirley agrees and says Nina was in safe hands with AJ but what happens when she is with a celebrity partner. Mark and Shirley argue a bit. Shirley says Adele did phenomenal. But the star for her was AJ. She tells him this isn’t about you and you have to have humility. Britt is impressed. She says boundaries were pushed today.
Two really solid routines but the judges clearly favored team Tango. And while I agree they were the better dancers tonight, I do think team Paso was treated rather harshly. It looks like someone from team Paso may get the boot and we still need an update on Natalie’s condition. After the break……
Britt wishes all of them the best. Shirley announces the safe team is team Tango. Of course. Team Paso remains in jeopardy. Shirley says the first dancer in jeopardy is Selena. Next up in jeopardy, via Mark, is Tristen. Damn. That sucks. Selena has been a superstar since week one and Tristen is the little underdog who has improved. But compared to the rest of team Paso, they were the two obvious picks tonight to face possible elimination based on the team dance.
Shirley is happy to announce that tonight was the last dance for… NEITHER. Unfortunately for Natalie, she was not cleared to compete and therefore, is eliminated. Selena finds it hard to believe she was in the bottom doing group work which she excels at. Tristen feels bad for Natalie. OH. Natalie is here. She comes out and is given applause. She is sad and disappointed but she knows she has to take care of her body so she can dance again. And that brings an end to week three as everyone comes in to hug Natalie and show support.
Next week is all about chemistry. Jenna Johnson joins us as special guest and it looks like some feelings are going to be hurt as the girls have to choose a partner. Tristen doesn’t get picked straight away and seems pissed. Also, is a romance brewing with two other dancers? Shirley notes she needs a fan so one pair definitely raises the temperature on that dance floor. Find out how it all goes down Monday night. Thanks to watching with me folks. :)