Dancing With The Stars, Season 11 Commentary

Week Eight

By Natasha Oreshkina, award winning ballroom dancer

This week, the celebrities had to perform two dances: one ballroom dance and one "Insta-Dance" where they didn't know what song they were dancing to until the very last minute. It was interesting to see how the couples improvised, with such short notice.

Kyle Massey's first dance was a Viennese Waltz. Lacey was hard on Kyle during the rehearsals, trying to improve his footwork, and his performance was great and very clean. For the first time, he didn't look just like a comical kid. He danced the Jive for the Insta-Dance and it was full of energy and fun to watch. His total score was a 56 out of 60.

Brandy performed a Waltz first. It was a perfect performance. She looked emotional during the dance. Her Insta Dance was a Cha-Cha. She received a 57 out of 60. Maks didn't agree with the judges scores.

Kurt Warner's Waltz looked polished and graceful. He did a good job. I could tell he really improved. Kurt and his partner, Anna, looked beautiful together. Their Cha-Cha was also a lot of fun. His final score was a 48 out of 60. They were, sadly, eliminated this week.

Jennifer Grey's Quick Step was dynamic and had great character. It was nice to hear the judges tell Jennifer and her partner, Derek, that they looked like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers! Their second dance was a Rumba, which was beautiful, very lyrical, romantic, and with nice motion. They tied with Brandy for first place with a score of 57 out of 60.

Bristol Palin danced an Argentine Tango at first. It was the lowest score of the night. Her performance was OK. She still needs to work more on the character of the dance. Her second dance, a Samba, was all over the place. She was inconsistent during the dance. One moment she looked to be in the mood of the dance and then the next minute, she looked like she forget her steps and was really confused. Her score was a 47 out of 60.

On to the semi-finals next week!