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I’m ready to see some fantastic dancing tonight! I’m also ready to have a lot less fun now that Chloris Leachman left. Yes, I know she needed to go, but I just love that spirit of hers. Tonight they’re dancing in teams, whatever that is. I assume it means they’re dancing in their standard couple, then doing a few different group dances after.

Warren Sapp and Kym Johnston are up first, working on the fox trot, wanting to make a comeback in the judges’ eyes. Kym brings in a ballroom champion to show Warren how it should look. It only shows him how much more work he needs to do. They’re dancing tonight in a very old Hollywood 40s inspired fox trot to Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby. I think the big guy is looking pretty smooth. I was slow to come around with the rest of everyone being such a fan of his, but better late than never.

Len Goodman is back, mentioning that it’s not a classic fox trot, but Kym always puts an interesting touch on things that brings out personality, yet he still doesn’t think this is Warren’s best. Bruno Tonioli tells Warren and Kym that after the promising beginning, the technique went into a recession, as they missed a lot of things, and Warren was flat-footed. Carrie Ann Inaba asks what was going on, saying it wasn’t a normal Warren Sapp performance. He blames it on his shoes. Sure, just when I’m coming around, then no on else likes him. They gets three 7s for a score, but we’re told the team dances later will add to this score.

Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani are up next, with her saying no one feels safe after no bottom two last week. The pressure is apparently getting to her as she and Tony fight in practice this week. He wants her to get frustrated and angry, as that will help her paso doble this week. She’s got Erica Kane hair circa the 1980s tonight and looks so petite. They do some great spins on the floor, and she kicks it in at one point, bringing the feistiness that we so love from her. This is one time where her stiffness works.

Bruno tells Susan she can ride that bull like a pro with pride and dignity. “Well done.” Carrie Ann points out that Susan has struggled claiming her power before and has Susan say to the camera, “I’m doing good!” Len thinks it’s right up here with all Susan’s best dances, and she is ever so grateful. Susan says it felt so amazing to hear the responses from the jduges and the audience and then thanks Tony. They get three 8s for a score and feel pretty good about it.

Cheryl Burke says the same thing Susan did, about not feeling safe with no bottom two last week. She and Maurice Green are working on the cha cha, and they, too, are fighting a little. She knows the stress of it all is getting to him, as he’s holding back, worried about making a mistake. During the dance rehearsal this week, he hyper-extended his leg, and she doesn’t think he’s been the same since. He certainly seems like he’s putting all that away tonight as they do their cha cha to The Cupid Shuffle. The judges were looking for chemistry from them last week, and it’s better, but they still don’t seem to totally connect.

Carrie Ann tells Maurice that was great, nice to see his A game, and the perfect mix of form and freedom. Len compares it to cheap jewelry, bright and sparkling, dazzling. He thought it was their best dance. Bruno pronounces “Happy days are here again for Maurice.” He wants him to trust his instincts, as then they’ll all have fun with him. They get 8, 9, and 8 for scores, putting them one point above Susan and Tony. Maurice admits it’s challenging to him every week, but he just needs to come out here and have fun with it, which is pretty much what Bruno was trying to tell him.

Cody Linley’s partner, Julianne Hough, is taking a break because of surgery, but Edyta Sliwinska is jumping into her place until she comes back. They are working on the Viennese Waltz, a romantic dance, so they need to really find a connection quick. They visit Julianne at home to see how she’s doing first. Cody vows having a new partner is not going to stop him this week and also dedicates this dance to Julianne. They dance to Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? and you can tell they aren’t totally meshing as a couple that has danced together for the past few months, but they do respectably. I’m guessing 7s and 8s.

Len compares a new partner to a new pair of shoes, saying it takes awhile to get comfortable in them. He thought they were comfortable with each other, but that Cody wasn’t comfortable doing the Viennese Waltz, as it should be lyrical and musical. Bruno compares it to watching a fledgling bird strengthen its wngs, but not being quite able to take off. He found Cody clumsy. Carrie Ann thought it was great, and she thinks Cody is hanging on to make sure everything is right each week. She thinks Julianne would be proud. Their scores are as predicted, 8, 7, and 7.

Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer were on the top of the leaderboard for the first time last week, and this week they’re going to do the rumba barefoot, as Lacey sees it as a very earthy dance. He hurt his toe last week, though, and she calls him negative. They’re the next couple to have an argument, and she leaves him there in the studio alone. She reappears in tears, but they make up the next day. Tonight, they’re indeed barefoot, dancing to Your Body Is a Wonderland, and I think she absolutely called it right with the bare feet. I think these two have finally hit their stride and found their style as a couple. If it were me, I’d give them a 10.

Bruno tells them Barefoot in the Park has never been more seductive and romantic. It was an inspired and refreshing take on the rumba with a contemporary spin. Carrie Ann admits she didn’t know where the bare feet were coming from, and thought Lacey was rebelling again, but everyone once in awhile you have to take a risk and it’s a great payoff. She calls it their best so far. Len didn’t get it. He didn’t feel the bare feet enhanced the performance at all, saying the shoes are to get the right pitch of your feet. He thinks the two of them have been working so hard, they don’t need all the nonsense. Tom Bergeron reminds Len he needs some fiber. Their scores are 9, 7, and 9.

Looking to regain their spot on the leaderboard, Brooke Burke and Derek Hough decide to regroup. They’re doing the fox trot, while she is still working around her foot injury. Derek thinks the elegance of the fox trot really suits her, and tells her there are moments where he feels like he’s dancing with a professional. They are the epitome of class and elegance tonight as they dance to Lullabye of Birdland. It was indeed beautiful, but I didn’t think it was better than Lance and Lacey.

Carrie Ann just says, “Wow.” She tells Brooke her lines are ridiculous, and she agrees with Derek that she is getting as good as a professional. Len found so many great elements in the dance, saying it became better than the sum of its parts. Bruno calls this a beautiful, thrilling performance from start to finish. They get a perfect score of 30, three 10s, and oddly Derek begins stripping in front of the camera, as he’s getting ready to change for the team dance.

Susan and Warren were named team captains and each got to pick their own team of three couples. Susan’s team will be dancing the cha cha, and include Lance and Lacey, along with Cody and Edyta, while Warren’s team will be doing the paso doble with Brooke and Derek, along with Maurice and Cheryl. This score will be added to the individual score, and each will count as half, to then be added to the audience votes.

The cha cha team is up first, as Cody says he’s excited, as their strength compared to the other team is being able to bring the performance side to this, as the others are all great athletes, but the performers know how to entertain. They will each do a small solo within the dance, and check up on each other on their cell phone videos. Susan feels behind after losing time to being in New York this week.

They do quite well tonight, but the limitations are showing more here than individually. Cody and Edyta do better here than on their other dance tonight. Susan is beginning to lose the inhibitions she’s had for when she dances the fanster dances. She’s beginning to lose the stifness. Lance and Lacey of course steal the show with their solo bit. Len will be happy that they have shoes on.

Len tells the dancers it’s one thing to learn a routine, and another whole thing thing to do it in a formation. It puts much more pressure on everyone. He thought they did well, and as far as the solos, Lance and Lacey saved the day. Bruno thought this was cha cha teetering on the brink of disaster, but was then rescued by a brilliant perfromance by Lance and Lacey. Carrie Ann brings up that the unison was terrible, and that’s part of doing a group number. She calls it brutal, but also calls out Lance and Lacey as doing particuarly well. For scores, they receive 6, 7, and 7, along with boos from the audience.

Warren’s team is up next with their paso doble. Maruice thinks they’ll have it made, since they have a Super Bowl champion, a Super Model (I know Brooke has modeled, but is she a super model?), and a Super gold medalist. Brooke notes their natural instinct is to compete against each other, but to work together is a nice change of pace. They, too, work on a solo for each of the couples. Warren even offers them a team pep talk at the end.

The paso doble group dances to Rocks, and they seem to do much longer solos, without as much group. Brooke and Derek do one awesome spin that is just … beyond words even. However, the fact remains they didn’t do as much dancing together as a team, so it’s hard to judge them on the same criteria of being together or not, as the first team was.

Bruno feels this paso doble looked invincible, the men all blazing guns, and the girls with their own weapons. He thinks they always looked like a team, but they didn’t really do anything together! Carrie Ann agrees with Bruno as far as the teamwork and the solos, with a mishmosh paso doble. Len agrees, but notes it’s easier to keep a formation in a marching dance than a Latin dance. He enjoyed it and thought it was stronger and better than the cha cha, but also thinks their teamwork was much easier than the cha cha cha. Thanks Len. They get scores of 10, 9, and 10, which I think is overdoing it. It also means all three of these couples are staying this week most likely.

It’s hard to say with this teamwork thing what’s going to happen. The lowest score is Cody and Edyta, with Susan and Tony just above them. Popularity will come into play here as it depends now on who gets more votes from the audience. I’m predicting people are going to feel sorry for Cody losing his regular partner, and I think Susan, for all her great breakthroughs this week, will be back in Pine Valley permanently. Don’t forget the results show is on Wednesday night due to Tuesday night being election night.

Photos courtesy of abc.om

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