‘Dancing with the Stars 22’ review: Nyle DiMarco, Paige VanZant, Von Miller take on iconic dances
Tonight, “Dancing with the Stars” stepped almost into a time machine in order to perform some of the most iconic routines of all time. In the early going, it was pretty clear that we were going to get some shakeups on the leaderboard. Also, the injury bug was striking more potentially than we’ve really seen it over the course of the entire season.
We’ll have some more updates across the night, and a separate piece about results is coming at the end. Stay tuned!
Kim Fields & Sasha Farber – Jive – “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from “Hairspray.” Was this every bit as fantastic as we hoped? Despite some injury concerns Kim still brought the excitement. We didn’t get the comment about energy, since she really seemed to have that and the personality from this production down. Score: 24.
Von Miller & Witney Carson – Jazz – “Bad” from Michael Jackson music video. For Von, it just so turns out that he needed get a little “bad” to have his best performance of the season. This was fun, exciting, and well-choreographed. Von really seemed into it! Score: 24.
Jodie Sweetin & Keo Motsepe – Contemporary – “Try” from P!nk’s music video. How fantastic was this? It really was this wonderful expression of raw power and emotion, as she was able to channel some of her frustrations from this past week, including her recent injury, into what was a very strong technical performance. Score: 25.
Paige VanZant & Mark Ballas – Jazz – “Soul Bossa Nova” from “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.” Was this a boss performance? We’d say so, and we’d also say that “cranky” Len Goodman (a.k.a. the birthday boy) was in a rather great mood! It’s hard to say anything otherwise after this. Score: 28.
Nyle DiMarco & Peta Murgatroyd – Quickstep – “Hey Pachuco” from “The Mask.” Was the costume a distraction? We don’t think that is the case, but there were some technical missteps in this. Also, it was a little bit of a weird package from Nyle this week. Isn’t Val a pro? Why name him as competition? Score: 25.
Ginger Zee & Valentin Chmerkovskiy – Jazz – “Nasty” from Janet Jackson music video. How was the second Jackson-inspired dance tonight? We know that some of this was about capturing the spirit of the original, but there really wasn’t that much for her to do in most of this. Score: 24.
Doug Flutie & Karina Smirnoff – Bollywood – “Jai Ho!” from “Slumdog Millionaire.” What did Doug and Karina bring as a tribute to this film? Well, they brought good effort to what is an incredibly difficult style of dance, especially when you think for a minute about how different this is from what anyone else in the competition is doing. Score: 21.
Wanyá Morris & Lindsay Arnold – Jazz – “Bye Bye Bye” from NSYNC’s “Video Music Awards” performance. Was this performance a great tribute to the popular band? We do think that this was a huge comeback for the singer, who brought everything and the kitchen sink out for this. Great choreography, and tons of entertainment. Score: 29.
Antonio Brown & Sharna Burgess – Jive – “Footloose” from “Footloose.” Was this footloose and fancy-free? It had the energy and the spirit that it needed, and we actually think Sharna motivated him when she didn’t mention him last week as a contender to win. Score: 27.
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