“America’s Favorite Ballroom”
Each of the couples will be preforming two dance routines. In the first ballroom round the couples will be performing a dance selected for them by the judges. The second round tonight is the freestyle round where all of the ballroom rules get thrown out the window. I know they are all looking forward to this round. Each of the couples will also perform a final judged dance tomorrow night during the Grand Finale.

Round 1: Judges Choice

Laila Ali & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Paso Doble
This was a good routine full of passion, but Laila just doesn’t have the grace and elegance to pull it off. Len and Carrie Ann loved it. Bruno thought it was, “A tidal wave of passion.” He even thought this was their best performance to date. I certainly wouldn’t go that far, it was very good.
Carrie Ann Inaba: 10
Len Goodman: 9 (Guess he didn’t love it that much)
Bruno Tonioli: 10
Total: 29

Apolo Ohno & Julianne Hough
Dance: Rumba
This performance was excellent and Julianne looked awesome as always but this was definitely not their best performance. Bruno liked it while Carrie Ann thought it was over done. Len thought it lacked romance. I can see Len’s point it had passion but not romance.
Carrie Ann Inaba: 9
Len Goodman: 9
Bruno Tonioli: 10
Total: 28

Joey Fatone & Kym Johnson
Dance: Cha Cha
The choreography was fantastic but, it seemed a little sloppy to me. Carrie Ann thought there wasn’t enough Cha Cha. Len agreed saying it was far too theatrical. Even Bruno agreed with them. I think that Joey and Kym didn’t really have time to learn three new dances. The other couples may have suffered from this as well.
Carrie Ann Inaba: 9
Len Goodman: 8
Bruno Tonioli: 9
Total: 26

Round 2: Freestyle

Laila Ali & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Freestyle
This performance was like disco night gone bad. I know I just don’t enjoy watching Laila dance that much. All of judges agreed that while this was a good and fun performance they would have liked to have seen something a little more sophisticated and elegant.
Carrie Ann Inaba: 9
Len Goodman: 8
Bruno Tonioli: 9
Total: 26

Apolo Ohno & Julianne Hough
Dance: Freestyle
The crowd loved this routine. I thought it was fun but not what I was looking for from them. They danced to Rapper’s Delight and included some break dancing. As with Laila & Maks I was looking for something a little less over the top. With the flips and break dancing etc. this seemed like more of a Joey Fatone performance than a Apolo Ohno performance. The judges loved it. They thought it was creative and original; Everything a freestyle should be. I guess it was just me.
Carrie Ann Inaba: 10
Len Goodman: 10
Bruno Tonioli: 10
Total: 30em>