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We’ve got four new dances tonight on Dancing With the Stars, and one of them is the hustle, which I don’t think I’ve seen since my last 8th grade dance. I have to admit I’m a little excited about that, as well as West Coast Swing, but only because I want to see if Lacey Schwimmer and Lance Bass get it and what they do with it because of her familial connection to that dance style.

Ending my curiosity I’ve had for the past week Lance and Lacey are up first. He talks first about when they first formed ‘n Sync, the record label didn’t want him to be part of the group, because of his dancing skills, leading to his success here giving him some needed confidence. As luck will have it, they do indeed give Lacey the style which made her a champion. She goes to the “king of swing,” her dad, the guy who taught her, and he helps Lance with this so that he feels the confidence he needs. They dance tonight to Breakin’ Dishes. She shows exactly why her entire family is champions of this style, and Lance is no slouch either. He even gets into it and totally lets go!

Len Goodman tells Lance he proved last week he can dance, but he wants Lacey to know she needs to slow up a little bit on her talent and let her partner shine a little bit more. I get what he’s saying. Bruno Tonioli feels despite a very promising beginning, it looked like Lance was window dressing for Lacey. “It’s Dancing With the Stars, not Dancing Around the Stars.” Carrie Ann Inaba feels for the first time of having West Coast Swing on the show, Lacey did a good job showcasing it. Yet, they know she’s a champion, but she’s on the show to make Lance look good, and she doesn’t feel Lacey paid enough attention to him. They get scores of 7, 7, and 7, and I think the dance was much better, but I think they’re grading Lacey’s attempts to show off here.

We get another West Coast Swing dance, with Toni Braxton and Alec Mazo. She thinks she started the competition out well, but feels she’s going downhill. She wants to gets 9s this week. Alec knows Toni has to work on that posture, knowing that their West Coast Swing will be shown up against Lacey, a champion in this dance style. They swing to The Way You Make Me Feel, and they do pretty well, but it doesn’t seem swingish to me. He also swings her completely off the floor, and I’m wondering if that will be included as a lift.

Bruno tells Toni that when she wants to, she can actually deliver, as there were some parts that were actually West Coast Swing, but he can’t figure out why she did the moonwalk. She pleads it was Michael Jackson, but it doesn’t matter to him. Carrie Ann points out these dances are foreign to the pros as well, but what’s great about the dance is that it’s difficult is to make it look easy. She felt they were over-dancing it. It’s not so presentational. She is sure her breakthrough is coming, meaning she’s not there yet. Len wants her to sit down and regroup to get a bit more excitement, as he knows she’s got potential. They get one point better than Lance and Lacey, getting 7, 7, and 8.

The next new style of dance we’re seeing is The Hustle. Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani will be taking it on first. They’ll be dancing again Warren Sapp and Kym Johnson, and Susan thinks she has a natural feeling for this, having been around in the 70s. Her ankle’s starting to bother her, leading to her trip to Cedars-Sinai, where they discovered two broken bones in her foot. The doctor tells her the only issue is if she can dance throughout the pain. And here she is on the floor, determined to do it. They dance to Upside Down, and she seems to have that problem she had the last time she did a more modern fast dance. Apparently lifts are acceptable tonight. It’s not to obad; there just isn’t much excitement to it.

Carrie Ann tells Susan and Tony they represented disco well with some fun lifts. She also admires her for dancing on without showing any pain in her body. However, she’d like her to not seem like she’s dancing inside the walls so much. Len acknowledges the injury and Tony being a gentleman, but he thinks he’s treating her like a china doll. He wants them to get out there and “get your bloody knickers off and spin around.” Bruno feels it looked more like an Uptown Girl Hustle, a bit precious, yet still a hustle. They get the same numbers as the last couple, two 7s and an 8. Susan promises to get her knickers out next time for Len, and I’m sure he hasn’t heard that in awhile.

It’s time to see how Warren and Kym do. Warren admits he’s dragging a little bit, but Kym promises him this week will be worth it. She made the choreography more challenging for him. He knows he won’t be perfection like Derek Hough, but he’s going to make damn sure he gives it all he’s got. He promises Susan she “ain’t ever done the hustle like this.” They dance to Funkytown and do a move that begins a lot of the Latin dances they do on the show. It doesn’t look much different than many of the other dances I’ve seen, however they do manage to bring the excitement Susan and Tony were missing.

Len tells Warren and Kym that’s what he was talking about it. He saw the hustle moves in it, and it was really well done. Bruno tells Warren he’s a guy that really knows how to funk. He eases his way in, builds up the rhythm, and then delivers a huge climax in the end. Carrie Ann points out what was great about this was that it brought out the nostalgia as they took us all with them. Their scores don’t really back up the excitement, as they get two 8s and a 9, which is three points better, but the way the judges were acting, it seemed like they’d get much more.

Cloris Leachman and Corky Ballas are up next, but before they get started, she gets out there to touch base with her fans, and she seems to have a lot of them. This week they’re moving to the salsa, and Corky wants her to pull off the character with the seduction of the whole thing. Maurice Green and Cheryl Burke are also doing the salsa, and Cloris knows she might not be as flashy as Maurice, but she’s giving everything her 82 year old body can bring. She acknowledges she doesn’t want to go home, as this dancing has given her a new lease on life. She’s able to bring quite a character out of it, without getting too silly, which I think is the key to it for her. Funny is watching Corky put his hands directly on her boobs.

Bruno mentions first that the old girl can still turn a trick, and on the plus side, she actually did a salsa, but on the minor side, she looked like she had a pitcher of margueritas. Carrie Ann tells Cloris she loves her and says everyone always loves what she brings to the dance floor, as she makes everyone forget it’s a dance competition. Len loves her as well, as she’s the first person on the show that’s older than him. She asks his age, and hearing 64, she tells him he’s a baby. He continues, saying she was hotter than a chili pepper. Their scores match the champion of West Coast Spring, as they get three 7s. She lets on that the character Corky had her working on this week was a “skanky ho.”

Maurice Green and Cheryl Burke are taking on the salsa now, and he’s quite upset about the low score from the judges last week. This is the toughest week for her as she teaches ballroom, not salsa, and it’s hard to teach something she’s not comfortable with. She calls him lazy, saying she doesn’t think he cares. She knows he really does care, but wants him to show that to her. They do an under-the-leg thing that doesn’t seem to work out quite right, yet the next one does, Technically it all seems sound, but it doesn’t have near the fun of the last few dances.

Carrie Ann calls Maurice in close, then gives him a celebratory hug, telling him she knew it was in him. Len points out if Warren thinks the judges are tough, they’re pussycats compared to Cheryl. If there were a mark for energy, he’d be giving them a 10. Whatever Cheryl did to him, Bruno thinks she should do it again. He came out like a master of theatre tonight, with hips going all over the place, as well as a backbend. Maurice wants everyone to know he’s serious about this competition Their scores are tops of the night so far, getting three 9s.

Brooke Burke and Derek Hough want to make sure that every dance they do is a first place dance every time, and they take on the jitterbug this week. Like Cheryl, he’s feeling vulnerable since he’s never done the dance himself. He resorts to research on the internet. The one thing he does know, that he didn’t need to look up, is that the dance is supposed to resemble a cartoon. Looking at the outfits, they have that much correct. They’re completely animated as well as they dance, and I think this one will be another of their top scorers.

Len mentions that in 1959, he had the same hair style as Derek tonight. Back to the dance, no matter what style she is given, Len says Brooke comes out consistently on the top. Bruno calls this so vigorous and so upbeat, an unbelievably stylish rendition of American Graffiti. Carrie Ann asks if she can nitpick, but given full clearance by Brooke and Derek, she replies she can’t. It was perfect. And all that from learning the the style online. See? The internet is good! They get the highest score of the season so far with 29. Cloris comes in and tries to catlick Derek’s hair into place.

It’s sister vs. brother as the other couple taking on the jitterbug is Cody Linley and Julianne Hough. He wants to keep the momentum from last week and bring it in here. Just as with Derek, this is new for Julianne as well, and they go in and spy on Brooke and Derek. They really struggle with the lifts as he lets out big grunts each time. They play this as an old married couple in the 50s, and it’s absolutely adorable. I think they deserve a higher score than Brooke and Derek, meaning they need a perfect score.

Bruno calls this not a jitterbug, but a firebug, saying the frantic energy was incredible. What they did that he really liked was the slapstick allowing Cody to let his acting skills show. Carrie Ann feels if three was ever a dance more suited for Cody, it can’t exist. This was the perfect one, with his limbs moving all of the place, and he’s giving “someone else” a run for her money. Len makes this sort and sweet saying it was fun, entertaining, and had energy. He liked it. They get one point less than Brooke and Derek, with two 9s and a 10, prompting boos from the audience.

In a midway through the season commentary I contributed to over at Celebrity Today , I said I think they next three to leave the competition would be Toni, Cloris, and Maurice, with the only question being in which order. I think Maurice saved himself this week, but Susan seems to be back in that group after seeming to be somewhat safe the past few weeks. I think it’ll be one of her, Toni, and Cloris, but I tend to think Toni’s popularity isn’t as much as the other two, so I think she might be heading home this week.

Photos courtesy of abc.om

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