‘Dancing with the Stars’ review: Zendaya, Kellie Pickler, Aly Raisman keep battling

“Dancing with the Stars” this week was all about variety, and all of the stars managing to really showcase just how far they have come since the beginning of the competition. This means handling all of the silliness of the competition, while also delivering great performances in unusual ways.

There were a pair of separate dances this time. First, there was a dance in a style that is new to the contestant as a solo; then, they had another one of those “group dances” with another pro that has already been eliminated from the competition.

Zendaya & Val Chmerkovskiy

Foxtrot – Of course, this was a pretty great, albeit slightly corny dance. Val has done a great job all season of finding routines that he can do with a teenager girl without making it feel awkward, and he managed to so yet again here. Score: 28

Group dance – Flanked by Val and Gleb Savchenko, Zendaya drew something that had yet to be achieved on the show thus far: Pure perfection on the dance floor. All of these Latin moves were perfect, there was energy, and the crowd loved it. Score: 30

Sean Lowe & Peta Murgatroyd

Tango – Oh boy. Sean’s no-good, horrible night kicked off with a very bad attempt at a runaway groom theme, which doesn’t really work well when you remember just how many “Bachelor” engagements have ended early. Zing! Score: 21

Group dance – This was not much better, mostly because Sharna Burgess and Peta are so much better than him there’s no escaping it. Sean seems like a very cool dude, but you just can’t get around that dancing is not his forte at all. Score: 21

Jacoby Jones & Karina Smirnoff

Viennese waltz – Jacoby can really dance, and the further along he gets this season the better he gets, especially with some of his ballroom routines. He’s really the only threat really that the ladies have. Score: 27

Group dance – This may be the most underscored routine of the night. We had a blast with this routine, and Cheryl Burke did a great job adding to the overall feeling of the dance. Score: 25

Ingo Rademacher & Kym Johnson

Foxtrot – A pretty good dance, but the whole road to get here was a little bit annoying. Ingo probably complains more in rehearsals than anyone left in the competition, and we almost wonder why if you are so annoyed, why you stay over someone in Andy Dick who may have been awful, but at least had fun. Score: 24

Group dance – This was much like Ingo’s first dance: Solid, but not really spectacular. Lindsay Arnold came and at least helped to make it more exciting. Score: 27

Kellie Pickler & Derek Hough

Viennese waltz – Kellie has been our favorite to win this whole competition for several weeks now, and she has really given no reason for that to change anytime soon. Perhaps the only thing more impressive than her consistency is how bright her personality shines through to us at home. Score: 28

Group dance – Well, don’t make Len Goodman angry. After getting so much praise, Kellie, Derek, and Tristan MacManus were bashed by Len over having a lack of choreography in this routine. Our take? That it was awesome. Score: 27

Aly Raisman & Mark Ballas

Argentine tango – Another great dance from Aly, but is it enough to make her stand out? Our major worry when it comes to her as a performer is that with some other strong women in the competition, she has to have a performance that really pops off the stage. We hope that she is figuring this out. Score: 29

Group dance – We’re not quite sure that this is what Aly needed to cap off the night. Rather than it being exciting, it instead came across as awkward as Aly seemed to be forcing a few moves here and there. Score: 27

So for now, Zendaya is firmly in the lead, but who knows? Things can change rather quickly on this show when you add in viewer votes.

Who is your favorite on “Dancing with the Stars” this week? If you want to read our latest edition of our show contestant rankings, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: ABC