Dancing With The Stars – Season 12 – Quarterfinals

So, this is the Quarterfinals…the week that the stars fight to get in the final four for that one last shot at the finale and the oh so important Freestyle!!! Tonight was Instant Dance night, where the stars know what dance they’ll do but they don’t know what song they’ll dance to until just minutes before they perform it live. Last season we saw Kyle Massey break out on this night and really shine, so what did we see tonight?

First up, however, were the traditional prepared dances and Chelsea/Mark were the first to perform. They danced the Waltz and I thought it incredibly sweet. Mark was quite upset last week after the judges remarks and even had a bleep out (he swore). Chelsea had to pull him aside during rehearsals and remind him that how he behaves reflects on her. She doesn’t want people thinking she expects an automatic 10 or perfection every time either. But their waltz was pretty cool I thought, I’ve always been a fan of Mark’s choreography. The judges were split on this, with Len saying there was too much emphasis on the story and not enough on the dance itself. Bruno and Carrie Ann both loved the dance, thought it was fantastic. They ended up scoring a 29!

Next up, Hines and Kym with the Foxtrot. First, girly moment time…I loved Kym’s outfit, it was really cool! I’m no dance judge, never pretended to be and yes, am biased towards Kirstie somewhat but Hines can dance, that’s for sure. He gets the technical steps down but my deal is that I haven’t always connected with their dance, at times there’s no connection to it for me. Doesn’t matter because aside from a few small criticisms the judges loved it and rewarded them with a total score of 28.

Romeo and Chelsie danced the Tango next, with Romeo wanting to come back from last week’s lackluster Samba. I thought technically they did really good, but he seemed really nervous to me. That being said, one could mistake that for the intensity required for this dance as well. All the judges agreed that he upped his game this week, and that he did a really good job. They earned a score of 27.

After that, Ralph and Karina had their turn to dance. During this past week Ralph was suffering from massive pain in his hamstring. There was a lot of footage on this, as Karina took him to the doctor where they did an MRI on his leg. In fact, they didn’t even know up until right before this show aired if he could dance. Back to the doctor, who told Ralph he’d ruptured a Baker’s Cyst, which meant there was no rupture or tearing to the knee. Hard to explain, but it was still obviously painful to him. I was seriously impressed by this first performance because if he was hurting, you couldn’t tell during the performance. Afterwards you could see him limping though. It was a great dance and the judges commended him on that and his ability to fight through the pain, giving him a 25.

Kirstie and Maks had the Argentine Tango, and hold the weight jokes because it was, in my opinion, their best dance of the season. Two lifts, both done fantastic with no problems whatsoever. Every element of the dance was there and I didn’t see any true missteps either. Plus, Kirstie’s footwork really picked up in this dance, there wasn’t a disconnect between her and Maks. The judges loved it as well, they got their first 10 of the season! They got a total of 28 on that dance.

Now, for the Instant Dance round. Last season I thought the couples did better in this round than their first, but this year was different. None of them did truly bad without extenuating circumstances, but it wasn’t on the same level as the first round either. To give allowances, they did only get their music right before the dance.

Chelsea and Mark were up first with the Salsa, sucked for them that the music started a tick too early. They recovered nicely from it though and I thought they did really well. However, Carrie Ann felt as though while they did technically okay, they weren’t connected to the music and that brought the dance down. Bruno and Len disagreed with her, so it was a mixed review. They ended up getting a total of 26 out of 30, for an overall total of 55 out of 60 for the night.

Hines and Kym danced the Jive next and one thing I can say about him is that he puts everything into his dances, even if I don’t get as into him as others. The effort and drive to do his best is apparent, and it was on this dance too. I did think the timing to their music was off, but then again they’d only gotten their music a half hour previous. I do remember from seasons past that the Jive has to have what’s called kicks and flicks, and his were a bit off but the judges raved about the dance overall and gave him a total of 26, for an overall total of 54 out of 60.

Romeo and Chelsie did their Salsa next and I wasn’t very impressed by it, to be honest. Chelsie was shaking when and where she was supposed to (did I really just type that?) but it seemed like he was barely moving in spots. They did give it, as the judges said, a nice club like vibe which is the point of the Salsa, but I agreed with Carrie Ann and Bruno in that they were out of synch as well. Len disagreed with this and seemed to like it a lot. They got a score of 25, for an overall total of 52 out of 60.

Ralph braved his way through the Cha Cha Cha with Karina next, but it was definitely not his best dance. It was hard to downplay the dance, with his injury and all, however the judges have to score on the dance itself. Ralph has pretty much literally had no time to practice this dance due to that injury, and they’re essentially winging it. They started off the dance in a really clever way, with Karina doing the Mr. Miyagi move on his leg. As soon as the music stopped, you could tell how bad it was, as he immediately limped towards the judges table. They admired his dedication and perseverance, but as was said before, had to judge on the dancing and thusly gave him a score of 21 out of 30, for an overall total of 46 out of 60.

Finally, Kirstie and Maks did their Instant Dance Salsa. The rehearsal looked extremely frustrating for both of them, at one point Maks ripped off his mike pack and threw it across the floor. Definitely not on par with their earlier dance, but seriously not bad at all either. The judges were mixed on this again, with Bruno saying he loved how they slowed it down to a traditional Salsa but felt like they weren’t always in sync. Then Kirstie said a naughty word that got her bleeped and sent Bruno into hysterics. Carrie Ann thought they were totally in sync, and though they made a mistake were immediately back in sync. Len thought it was fabulous. They ended up getting a total of 25 out of 30, for an overall total of 53.

So, the leaderboard for the night:

Chelsea/Mark – 55

Hines/Kym – 54

Kirstie/Maks – 53

Romeo/Chelsie – 52

Ralph/Karina – 46

By the logic of those scores one would think Ralph would be leaving tomorrow night, however the audience loves rooting for the underdog too, especially with a story like this so while I think he’ll be in the bottom group tomorrow night, he may not go. In fact, I have no clue who will go. But if you do, join us in our forums (link at the top of the page!) and tell us all about it!