Dancing with the Stars Season 29, Week 9 – LIVE BLOG

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of a “Who’s Dancing What?” post this week, but I am absolutely swamped at work, to the point I’ve worked the last several weekends. Big deadline coming soon and then hopefully all will be back to relative normal.

So, I have no clue who’s dancing to what tonight!! Should be interesting to go in with no advance knowledge. I will also warn you that I am exhausted, so it is unlikely that I will jump through the hoops to give you actual numbers tonight…not that it will matter, possibly. Nelly’s never been in the bottom two and he was low scorer by alot last week….so that’s very interesting. Could be anybody’s game!!

T-minus 48 minutes. 🙂

This Icon skit is fun. Bizarrely, this cast can act better than any cast in recent memory.

Tyrant for the second week in a row is wearing something it at is reasonably flattering.

Justina is up first with her icon, Madonna. She was obsessed with Madonna, apparently. She’s dancing a rumba to Crazy for You.

She starts out a bit slow, but she’s doing very well. Spins were nice. Kept those feet on the ground. Man, she’s doing great and she looks like she’s having fun.

Derek is David Bowie, I think, based on the guy liner. I got distracted, he says it needs more…something. Says it’s wonderful. Bruno says it’s the gentle side of Madonna. She did everything exactly. He agrees with Derek and says you have to really engage the hips, don’t hold back. Push it a bit further. CAI says she looks amazing. Some of her moves need to be extended out father.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a 24 out of 30.

Nelly is up next! His icon is tupac – who was much more handsome than I remember. Nelly is going to cover the song and dance to that – a Jazz to California Love.

Whoa, backflip. He’s having a bit of trouble with this, but it is jazz, so there are no rules. About midway through he seems to find his groove. That was kind of a weird routine, although I love him.

Bruno says jazz nelly style makes him smile. He had an ease about him. Says he missed a couple steps, and Nelly agrees. CAI says great job. Says it was fun and entertaining, she likes watching his journey. Derek loved the backflip, the charleston and everything. The joy, the fun was great.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. Hm. That wasn’t nearly as good as Justina’s yet gets the same score. What’s going on here?

AJ and Cheryl up next, dancing to Queen…V. Waltz. Somebody to Love…love that song.

Dig the outfit. Freddie would approve. He’s doing great…oops missed a step and he’s still moving a bit small. The ending was very, very strange. Can’t figure out that move at all

CAI says that was a tough one, started out strong and then lost something in the turns (yep, saw it). Watch the arms. Derek says his heart bleeds for him, but it happens, says his frame was better. Then talks a lot about his face and tension. Bruno says the first image was amazing. So pumped up you got yourself into a jumble. Needs to soften the arms a bit.

Scores: 7, 8, 8 for a total of 23. So a dance with noticeable mistakes gets the same scores from Derek and Bruno as Justina with no mistakes and Nelly’s jazz which seems off at times?

Ha! This Bruno bit is hilarious.

Kaitlyn is up next dancing to Brittany Spears – Toxic. Argentine Tango…Hmmm…I think this has been done before. Team Tango or some such?

Nice start. Love the outfit. Nice lift down the stairs. She’s doing really well, mostly sharper than normal. Softened up a bit in the middle. Great job, although she lost some of the attack halfway through.

Derek loved it, he’s clapping. Lacked impact before, but she got it tonight. It met all his criteria. Bruno says hit me one more time. Great lines. Focus and intensity better than before. CAI gives her a standing O as well. Making excuses from previous bitchiness. Everything was in that routine.

Scores: 10, 10, 10 for a total of 30. I would probably have given her two 10’s and a 9 just because she got a bit soft toward the end. She didn’t miss a step though.

Johnny is up next with Amy Winehouse. I love Johnny, he’s so full of joy. And I knew who his icon was as soon as I saw him 🙂 Quickstep!!

Great start, great run. Be careful dude and don’t get ahead of the music. He seems to rein it in a bit, as he was on the verge of getting out of control. But man, he’s killing it. Oh, broke hold. Not supposed to do that in the middle, but it might have been worth the risk. That was fast!! Loved it.

Bruno says Amy would have loved it. Did it very, very well. Actual quickstep was excellent, light of touch, precise, well done. CAI says they’ve never seen a quickstep like that, great performer. Passion power and precision. Used the whole floor. Derek says he’s a perfect representation. Being who you are is great. Footwork was clean, great job.

Scores: 10, 10, 10 for a total of 30. I would agree with that one! I didn’t see anything other that greatness.

Skai looks very beautiful, although I think either the hair color or makeup is aging her a bit. She’s gorgeous though. And she seems wise for someone so young. She’s dancing Paso Doble to Janet Jackson.

Was there supposed to be a commercial there?? And now Tyra has gone from classy to…ridiculous.

Skai…Great start. She had the same minor issue as Kaitlyn, that is losing the attack at times. Then she gets it back. Doing great, but looks a bit nervous in the middle right before the floor spin. And she threw that leg away. All in all great job though.

CAI thanks her for sharing her story, but more proud of the fierce Paso. Amazing. Derek says she’s strong, powerful, confident. Still a few moments where she’s tight. Too much tension in the arms at times. Overall great routine. Bruno says respect. Most grown up dance she’s had. Purpose, strength and beauty. Agrees with Derek on the arms.

Scores: 9, 9, 9 for a total of 27. I would agree with that one as well, but considering who’s below her on the leaderboard, she might be in trouble. Nelly stayed out of the bottom two with a far lower score than others, AJ is a boy bander (too tired and too old to remember which one)

Nev is up next with his Elton John jive.

Starts off great. He’s a great dancer, but he’s not my favorite anymore. He seems to be fading into the woodwork for me. Not allowed to do a lift in a jive and I think that was one. Once again, I hate all the running up and down the stairs. It seems like cheating for time.

Derek says he’s seen growth through out the season. Lots of content, would like a bit more pump in the motion. Bruno loved the theatricality. Says the kicks and flicks retraction needs to be sharper (I think). CAI says it’s a pleasure to watch someone having fun. Feet need to be a bit more pointed.

Jenna looks amazing tonight. Scores after the break. Tyra is not even good at that “after the break” thing.

Scores: 9, 9, 9 for a total of 27

Nev is exempt from the dance off due to his high cumulative score.

Dance off is for two bonus points. Kaitlyn versus Justina is up first. They’re doing cha cha to Lady Gaga/Beyonce?? Talk about opposites in terms of style.

From the start kaitlyn has ore technique while Justina has more flavor. Justina catches up on content. Kaitlyn is so precise and the cha cha seems more loose like Justina is. Close call for me on this one.

Derek says he loves this. Really important to stand out and he feels like one of them was. Bruno plenty of latin fire from one couple, the other one was precision and elegance. CAI says it’s like sugar and spice. It is a tough call, but I think I would give it to Justina. She needs it more for sure.

CAI: Kaitlyn
Derek: Justina
Bruno: Justina

Justina gets two points that she needs in a big way. I hope the judges don’t approach all the dances as an equalizer no matter how well they do.

Skai and Nelly are doing Salsa to Ricki Martin. This is a similar matchup to Kaitlyn/Justina – swag versus precision, although Justina is a better dancer than Nelly and Kaitlyn is more consistent than Skai.

Damn, that one is a tough call. I think I would give it to Nelly. Both had great content and fun.

Bruno was distracted by Nelly’s shiftlessness. Says skai kept up with the rhythm. Both styles were effective. CAI both were non-stop action. New school versus old school, both did great. Derek says it was like a boxing match – both were on fire. Could go either way.

CAI: Skai
Derek: Nelly
Bruno: Skai

Don’t think I agree with that one too much, although I think Skai needs it more than Nelly does.

Gee, I wonder if we’ll magically end up with Nelly at the bottom of the leader board again. I’m sure it’s totally coincidental. Not. Watch this next dance off very carefully and see what you think. But if AJ wins over the better dancer in Johnny, I will once again wonder just how rigged this thing is.

Johnny and AJ getting ready to jive to Wham, Wake me up Before you Go Go.

Johnny started off much stronger with immediate content. they are perfectly in sync while AJ is sloppier. Johnny is doing amazing at this – should beat AJ by a mile but we’ll see.

CAI: Johnny
Derek: AJ
Bruno: AJ

Sorry, that is utter bullshit and I’m so disappointed in Derek in being involved in this bullshit.

I would love to see AJ and…someone in the bottom two. I suspect it might finally be Nelly, but I would love to see him called safe again early. If it is AJ and someone it may well be Skai, would make me sad.

Here we go!
SAFE: Kaitlyn and Artem
SAFE: Skai and Alan
SAFE: Nev and Jenna
SAFE: Justina and Sasha
SAFE: Nelly and Daniella (whoa)

If they don’t save Johnny Imma….

Bruno: Johnny
Derek: AJ
CAI: Johnny

Derek is dead to me…for at least a week. Playing the corporate game. There is no way on god’s green earth that DEREK would truly pick AJ over Johnny. No way.