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"Dancing With The Stars" Premiere Recap: Fourteen's A Cha-Cha-Charm

Kelly Hanelt |
March 20, 2012 | 2:39 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Who needs a Mirrorball Trophy when you have Peta Murgatroyd's dress? (Image courtesy of ABC)
Who needs a Mirrorball Trophy when you have Peta Murgatroyd's dress? (Image courtesy of ABC)

Oh, the sequined glory. Season 14 of ABC's “Dancing With The Stars” high-kicked off Monday night to nothing less than stupendous displays of amateur dancing prowess. In the vast numerical spectrum, 14 isn’t really that big a deal, but apparently for "DWTS" it is. The judges were unanimously (yes, even picky, picky Len) in awe of the best premiere ever. It is setting up to be a season rife with dancing, drama, and one Bruno/William Levy love affair.

While I expected golden couple Derek Hough and Maria Menounos to make a clean sweep of the competition with all their charm and smiles and telegenic faces (see video below), as the first cha-cha-cha of the night, they were surprisingly unmemorable. Their dance was good, garnering 7’s across the judges’ board, but what they seemed to lack was personality.

Almost every other contestant seemed to make a statement about who they were in the competition – Sherri Shepherd the super happy one, William Levy the steamy sexy one, Katherine Jenkins the dainty adorable one – but Maria just came off a little generic. She has plenty of personality to go around, watching her proposition Derek to wrestle was one of the funniest moments of the show; she just needs to find a better outlet for it than making her dancing partner wickedly uncomfortable.

Second course was a hearty helping of soap opera star Jack Wagner and his extremely ginger-proud partner Anna Trebunskaya. Their routine was all sorts of darling, resembling a picnic date between Mr. Rogers and Mary Poppins… with fox-trotting.  The judges ate up the feel-good performance, but Lenny criticized Jack’s footwork as “haphazard.” He earned a scrumptious score of 23 out of 30, marking a successful first dance, with appropriate room for improvement. Job well done, Wagner.

Following in their foxtrot footsteps was Green Bay Packer’s wide receiver Donald Driver and his partner Peta Murgatroyd. Peta was the first to go home last season and is coming back for the trophy this time. Let’s hope Donald’s Chicken Little legs can carry her there. While Peta marveled at the leanness of his legs, judge Bruno Tonioli marveled at his masculine energy, jumping up from his chair to passionately declare, “YOU ARE LIKE A ROOSTER CHASING A HEN!!!” while flapping his arms. His chicken dance earned a score of 21 from the judges, though the audience booed such low scores for one of their favorites.

Mad Hatter Gavin Degraw and his lovely lady partner Karina Smirnoff performed a romantic foxtrot next. Flashbacks to rehearsals showed that Gavin couldn’t quite take it seriously enough, which showed to the judges who awarded him the lowest score of the night, 20 out of 30. While he traded sexual innuendos with Bruno, it wasn’t enough to save him from criticism for his stiff body language. Karina however, sported the prettiest costume of the night, so let’s hope Gavin gets his act together for next week so we can see more of this delightfully dressed, if somewhat dance-impaired, couple.

Gavin and his haberdashery were soon forgotten once Disney darling Roshon Fegan and his partner Chelsie Hightower brought a little hip-hop into the ballroom. At only 20 years old, Roshon is by far the youngest competitor, however his background in freestyle hip-hop dance gives him an edge that will be hard to keep up with. Their cha-cha-cha was edgy and well performed, (he even moonwalked!!) however, the routine was Len-pecked by the traditional judge for being too much hip-hop and not enough classical dance. Regardless, Roshon and Chelsie earned themselves a score of 23, solid enough that they will probably live on to moonwalk another day.

But, what are these smooth moves in the wake of the one, the only, Sherri Shepherd and her lovely (and self-proclaimed better looking) Val Chmerkovskiy? Val found his hands full trying to help Sherri find her inner swan, and Sherri found religion in her partner’s fit rear end. This couple won the judges' hearts with their jubilant and well executed routine, and my personal award for best song of the night with Frankie Valli & The Four Season’s “Sherry.” Too cute. Sherri danced her way to a 23 from the judges’ table, setting this personality up for a successful season.

From one Chmerkovskiy to the other, perennial troublemaker Maksim and his partner Laura Ingalls Melissa Gilbert are all about the competition. After 12 seasons of DWTS, Maksim has placed in the final round four times but, has yet to claim the Mirrorball Trophy for his own. Melissa has come off from a few tough years and is ready to prove herself on the ballroom floor. They performed a cha-cha-cha, that while praised for its complexity by the judges, tied Gavin Degraw for lowest score of the night with 20 points. Maybe Len is still mad at Maks for his outburst last season? Either way, M & M have their work cut out for them.

Next up was William Levy, best recognized from your dreams. This telanovela star and his partner Cheryl Burke made cha-cha-chaing look effortless, despite his complaints that the dancing shoes look like something his Abuela would wear. For Bruno it was love at first sight. Literally. The judge was visibly salivating over Mr. Levy, and could barely contain himself from jumping over the table and into his arms. It was all quite impassioned. The other judges shared Bruno’s enthusiasm, though maybe not his infatuation, and Senor Levy walked away with the second highest score of the night, 24.

Quite a hard act to follow, though tennis legend Martina Navratilova and partner Tony Dovolani did their darndest. These two are quite an easy couple to get behind, between Tony’s proclamations of being the gentleman of ballroom, and Martina’s inspiring tale of surviving breast cancer, what is not to like? Just so classy. Even their foxtrot was classy, though this wasn’t quite enough for the judges who thought the dance was almost too careful, and gave the couple 21 points. Maybe it is time to take a page out of the Chmerkovskiy book, huh Tony?

They were followed by Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins and her partner Mark Ballas. Katherine was 40 different types of nervous, though she really needn’t have been. Ballas has consistently proven to be one of the best choreographers on the show. His moves worked their magic once more as the twosome foxtrotted on a dance floor of daisies to a simply adorable Lenka song and took the judges' hearts by timid tender storm. Judge Carrie-Ann Inaba called it, “the best dance on the first episode ever,” and they took home a score of 26, the highest of the night. See, Katherine, nothing to be nervous about!

From the opera to R&B, the Empress of Soul Gladys Knight and her partner Tristan MacManus brought the fire on next. Despite being the oldest of the competition, at 67 years old, Gladys brought the sizzle! Her bright red outfit was just a highlight of a dance that judges praised as natural. Earning a score of 23 points for her first dance, this 8 time Grammy winner might just be on her way to a Mirrorball Trophy too.

The last dance of the night was compliments of Jaleel White and partner Kym Johnson. Jaleel, who will probably always be remembered for his incarnation of the legendary dork Steve Urkel, came onto DWTS for his mom (awww) and to prove that he isn’t as clumsy and geeky as everyone seems to think he is. Wow. Just wow. What a good job he did. He has got some moves like Jagger up in the ballroom, with partner Kym raving that he is a natural. The judges agreed, and he earned 26 points, tying him with Katherine for first place. Atta boy, Urkel!!

These stars will don their dancing shoes once more next week before one hopeful will be sent packing on the 27th. Elimination is a combination of the judges’ scores, which decide who will be in the bottom three, and audience votes. So, get voting people!! Forget the upcoming election, I know all you really care about is “Dancing With The Stars.”

The current scores are as follows:

Gavin Degraw and Karina Smirnoff: 20

Melissa Gilbert and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 20

Donald Driver and Peta Mugratroyd: 21

Maria Menounos and Derek Hough: 21

Martina Navritilova and Tony Dovolani: 21

Roshon Fegan and Chelsie Hightower: 23

Gladys Knight and Tristan MacManus: 23

Sherri Shepherd and Val Chmerkovskiy: 23

Jack Wagner and Anna Trebunskaya: 23

William Levy and Cheryl Burke: 24

Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas: 26

Jaleel White and Kym Johnson: 26

If you missed out on all the shimmies and shakes, catch up by watching the premiere here.

Reach writer Kelly Hanelt here

Check back every week for Kelly's performance recaps of "Dancing With The Stars." 



 

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