Dancing With The Stars Carrie Ann Inaba’s New Blog Jammed Packed

Don’t miss reading Dancing With The Stars Carrie Ann Inaba’s new blog. It’s jammed packed this week with her thoughts on the dances for “Most Memorable Year”, the best choreographed dance, and the under-rated. She also makes an announcement on the new man of her life Robb Derringer. Lots more at Access Hollywood. Below is a take…

Week 3 and so much to talk about. Most Memorable year is always such a beautiful night at Dancing With the Stars and last night was no exception. Tears flowed and there were stories of inspiration, heartache, redemption and triumphant victories. It was a night that reminded us all of our own humanity. By sharing their life stories, this season’s contestants displayed large amounts of courage and vulnerability which is always such an honor to bear witness to. It is however, a bit more challenging to judge this night than others because of all the emotions, but I do believe that part of what this night is about is story telling and healing and last night I saw a lot of healing. I love this night especially because the contestants really use the dance not just as entertainment, but also as art and storytelling. They share their story, relive their life’s most poignant moments, and use dance to turn pain, or tragedy into art. This is the what dance can be at its finest. It’s a special night and one that I love being a part of. (…Even if Len Goodman yells at me — but we will get to that later.)

One of my all time favorite dances in the history of DWTS was a dance performed by Amy Purdy on the Most Memorable year night on Season 18. She danced one of the most compelling and inspiring Contemporary performances to “Human,” by Christina Perri, which told her own personal story through dance. I still can recall the ending where she was walking on air… and I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. It still inspires me. When I have a rough day, I will think of Amy Purdy and that performance and her incredible perseverance. But Amy Purdy is not the only contestant in our history who has deeply inspired me. Noah Galloway, J.R. Martinez, Heather Mills, Marlee Matlin, Chaz Bono, Jack Osbourne, and of course Nyle DiMarco, last night’s highest scoring performer, all inspire me to be a better person by living so beautifully and courageously. This is yet another gift of DWTS.