I love me some Disney Night on Dancing with the Stars! The performances were magical! However, the judges, at least Carrie Ann Inaba and Len Goodman, were more on the villain side of things.
Rashad Jennings kicked off the night with a Foxtrot and Emma Slater packed it full of content. While I maintain that Rashad needs a little more polish, he is really a joy to watch. I love him and the partnership he has with Emma. Thirty-two and he got the safe call right out the gate!
I loved the costuming and the concept of Nick Viall and Peta Mergatroyd's Jazz to " I Got No Strings" from Pinocchio. Talk about content! Peta's choreography was brilliant. Nick didn't really nail it, but he was definitely the most committed of the season. I was impressed. Perhaps most shocking was that I didn't even recognize Nick because he shaved his beard! He looked like a completely different person! Thirty-four, 9's from girls, 8's from boys, I'm sensing a theme...
For the first time since the season started, I was rooting for Erika Jayne. She had a bit of a breakdown during her rehearsals and it was rather emotional. Gleb Savchenko was super supportive, it was sweet. During her performance, I saw her flash one smile that made me think she finally let her guard down and was putting it all out there, but then didn't deliver. The judges saw a major breakthrough. I just saw the same'ole Erika. Thirty-two, which was fair.
Heather Morris and Alan Bersten crushed their Jazz to "First Time in Forever" from Frozen (which was choreographed by Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who expects to be back next week!). It was supurb! She became Ana. Thank God for Julianne Hough and Bruno Tonioli who saw the dance for what it was, fan-freaking-tastic, because Carrie Ann and Len were miserable. This was a perfect dance for Disney night. Somehow, she got a 34. I just don't know how she didn't get ONE 10! Not one!!!
Bonner Bolton and Sharna Burgess were adorable, as usual, dancing a Tango inspired by Wreck it Ralph. It seemed not that Tango-ish to me, but Len applauded them for how much content they had. I thought it was a lot of fun, but I love watching these two regardless. Thirty, but it looked pretty good technically, so I'm not positive why the judges scored him so low.
Normani Kordei was shot out of a cannon for her Mulan-inspired Paso Doble with Val Chmerkovskiy. I mean, I don't know if I've ever seen such fierceness on the dance floor. I was so concerned that the judges were going to tell her that she came on too strong and wasn't in control, but no! A well-deserved 39 for Normani.
I was totally impressed with David Ross' Jive performance. I was expecting him to fall a half step behind, but he maintained. He never lost a beat or a step. Lindsay Arnold is so adorable and does such a great job with the choreography. The Cars theme and concept was adorbs. This was his best dance, so I was expecting a higher score than 29.
Nancy Kerrigan became Amy Adams with her "Enchanted" Jazz with Artem Chigvintsev. The entire production was about as Disney as it gets. She was so worried about keeping up and she went above and beyond. And Artem did not hold back on the content. Wow! Nancy's best of the season, 36.
Watching Simone Biles do her Contemporary to "How Far I'll Go" From Moana, was like watching animation. I couldn't believe I was watching a human do the things she was doing. She has such strength and control, it was unbelievable. And Simone was flashing a million dollar smile the entire time. Sasha Farber choreographed his heart out for this one. I can't wait to watch this dance again with my girls. Thirty-eight, but should have been a 40.
Erika finally got the boot. She added nothing personality-wise and her dancing was just okay. She's like the female version of Nick on the dance floor. I'm thinking, after two straight weeks of less than stellar scores, Bonner might be the next to go. If he's not, it's definitely one of the guys, because they made up the bottom half of the leader board.
Next week is Boy Band vs. Girl Band. What does that mean? I have no clue. My best guess is team dances and boys vs. girls. Looking forward to it!
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Katie Gallagher is a wife and a mother of three. She is a Beachbody coach, home workout convert and Shakeology addict. Her duties at ABC2 consist of directing the final hour of Good Morning Maryland and blogging about fitness and her favorite TV show, “Dancing with the Stars."
