Yahoo Style
Dancing with the Stars Week 4: All the Feels!
Laia GarciaWriter
Updated
Go for the Gold
1 of 10
It was obvious Nastia Liukin was going to pick 2008 as her “most memorable year,” after all, she won the All-Around gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics. Nastia and her partner Derek Hough danced a Tango, and although I failed to see the connection to the Olympics in her performance– other than all the acrobatics she performed in her routine – it was lovely. Nastia was wearing the chicest costume that anyone has ever worn during the competition (well, at least this far), a black lace shift dress with slits at the side, that was very sexy but not at all street-walk-y, accessorized with a red flower in her hair and sensible sandals. Nastia’s splits and aerial tricks won the first “10” of the competition, so the heat is now definitely on for all the other couples.
All Is Full of Love
2 of 10
Michael Sam’s story was inevitably going to be a tearjerker. He described his family growing up, his brother was shot and died, his dad up and left the family. He grew up not having a relationship with his father, trying to get ahead in life and escape the circumstances that claimed his brother’s life. Then, when he got to college, he tried to establish a relationship with his father, who when Michael announced was gay, turned his back on his son again. In an interview with the New York Times, Michael’s father was quoted as saying. “I’m a man-and-a-woman type of guy, I don’t want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment,” which is ironic of course, given Michael’s family history. He does not have a relationship with his father anymore. So this dance was going to be about, well, all of that. In front of a background with a sunset and a silhouette of a dad and a son, Michael danced in khakis and a light blue shirt worn mostly unbuttoned and Peta Murgatroyd danced in a romantic lace dress. It was very emotional, dramatic, and from the first breath Michael took onstage, you knew the judges were going to L-O-V-E it. Which they did. But then he got eliminated! So it didn’t matter.
“Don’t stop believing, hold on to that feeling!”
3 of 10
Riker Lynch took us back all the way to last year, when his band R5, first hit it big. The whole story is very zzzZZZzz. Here’s a kid who is 23 and “struggled” with a band for five years before they hit it big, I mean Jewel lived in a car for god’s sake! Lucky for Riker, his performance made up for the total lack of interest I had for his backstory. On a cool black and white checkered set, Riker and Allison Holker, his partner, wore all red. He, in a red suit with matching shirt and tie, and she, in a long red dress with cutouts that could’ve definitely come from a recent Versace collection. It was totally New Wave, even if the song and the choreography had nothing to do with New Wave (they danced a tango). Riker’s not a horrible dancer so he’ll stay on for a few more episodes.
“You are the wind beneath my wings”
4 of 10
I did not know what Robert Herjavec was going to pick as his most memorable year, would it be when he made his first million? Would there be a sequence where he emerges from a pool of dollar bills, Scrooge McDuck style and do some sort of synchronized swimming in money? There was not. Robert also chose a solemn moment of his life, the year where his mom was diagnosed with cancer. Through tears Robert told us, and partner Kym Johnson during rehearsals, how much his mom loved Dancing with the Stars, and how she and all the other ladies that were in the hospital would get together and watch the show. Now we all know why he chose to be on the show, as unlikely as it seemed in the beginning, it’s a tribute to his mom. Wearing a white tuxedo, Robert danced a waltz with Kym like a dream sequence in an old movie. Kym’s diamond encrusted bodice and chiffon layered ball skirt was not unlike the one Magic Dance Barbie wore in 1989, which immediately made me fall in love with it. Robert and Kym are probably not going to win – there’s definitely better dancers in the competition, but my god, I am falling in love with them! I hope they really are in love.
“I Put a Spell On You, and Now You’re Mine”
5 of 10
Chris Soules also took us all the way back to last year, a year when he finally found love in a hopeless place (The Bachelor). You see in Chris’ Iowa town with a population of 400, it was impossible for him to find love, and although when he got to college he met, fell in love and got engaged with a lovely woman, she apparently called the whole thing off causing him all the heartbreak in the world. That is when his sister wrote a letter to The Bachelor begging them to pick her brother who would “treat a girl like a princess.” So inside some kind of parallelogram lit with candles that resembled a scene from The Craft more than a place where people find love, Chris, in a white shirt and black pants and vest, and his partner Witney Carson, in a floral suit that was pretty and tropical, danced the rumba. The judges told him that he needed to stop thinking about his fiancée Whitney and start caring about his dance partner Witney because their performance lack chemistry and passion. Don’t they know that fiancée Whitney has him in the doghouse over dancer Witney? Do they not read the tabloids? DON’T LET THEM BREAK YOU UP CHRIS.
Patti Can Have It All!
6 of 10
Patti LaBelle picked the year her son was born, 1973 as her most memorable year. Patti can’t really do most of the moves everyone else in the competition can, so she always has the most elaborate sets and hoardes of back-up dancers. This time she was in some sort of New Orleans-type club, despite the fact her son was conceived in Japan after “too much sake.” Wearing a blue flapper dress and a crystal headband, she did the little “Patti Shuffle” she does with her feet and then at some point, she and her partner Artem Chigvintsev played pattycake. Pattycake!
“Breathe out, Breathe in, American Oxygen”
7 of 10
They saved Noah Galloway for the end because they knew everyone would be in tears and would not be able to dance. Noah chose 2005, the year that he was involved in a horrible accident in Iraq, which left him without his left arm and lef. He recounted how he struggled with alcohol and went down a dark path before realizing he needed to live for himself and his 4 children, saying “this dance is the journey of acceptance from the man I was, to the man I’ve become.” And the man he’s become has a crazy six-pack that the Dancing with the Stars people will NEVER cover up, so shirtless Noah danced to “American Soldier” with Sharna Burgess who was wearing a strange short sheer pink dress thing, why didn’t she also wear some military-inspired garb? It was a “contemporary” piece, so Noah mostly did a lot of marching and posing and holding Sharna up by the leg – dude is hella strong! – but there was no dancing. All the judges cried, and they all talked about what an inspiration he is, which they are of course right, but at some point, they’re gonna have to start judging the dancing! (Not this week though, not this week).
“I am beautiful no matter what they say, words can’t bring me down!”
8 of 10
Queen of my world Rumer Willis also picked 2014 as her most memorable year, because it was the year her sister Tallulah went to rehab, and Rumer was inspired by how she had accepted her flaws and had figured out a way to live happy. Rumer’s constant attack from the media, who called her ugly and a “potato face,” had gotten to be too much for her, but the first time she danced on the show, she felt beautiful, so that also got in the mix. She and Val Chmerkovsky danced a waltz, which opened with Rumer spinning on a wheel, waiting a grey and blue steel wrap dress whose color palette was pure Marc Jacobs Fall 2014. They danced beautifully, because they are the best team, but the judges were not impressed. They did not get any 10s, even though their dance was better than Nastia Liukin AND Willow Shields. Something that I am planning to avenge pretty soon.
“We’ve Been Waiting for You…”
9 of 10
And here’s where it gets embarrassing! Suzanne Somers obviously picked the year she got cast in Three’s Company because it changed her life, but by the end of her little interview she was in tears over John Ritter, saying “this is the dance that Chrissy and John never got to have,” which was definitely weird.They turned the stage into the set from Three’s Company, and I’m pretty sure that they put a weird filter on the camera so that it looked like 1970s television. Suzanne, dressed in a purple satin romper with an attached skirt, reminiscent of all the pastel satin moments she wore in the show, and Tony Dovolani in a brown suit like the ones John Ritter wore in the show opened their performance with a skit about “eating brains” and Suzanne responding “brains? I’ve never had any brains!” which came straight from a line in the first episode of the show because in the 70s women were dumb, lol! Then they danced the foxtrot to the theme song from the show, but honestly I was still cringing so hard from the skit, and Suzanne’s pigtails which she should have definitely NOT been wearing that it was hard to even watch the rest of the performance. They’ll go home soon, surely.
“I volunteer as tribute!”
10 of 10
Willow Shields picked the year she got cast on Hunger Games which makes sense! It was really cute to see pictures of her when she was 10 years old, on set with Jennifer Lawrence. Then things got reeeal eye-rolly, as Willow began talking about all the obstacles she faces as a young person on the competition, and how she wants to battle the “stereotypes of not being able to do as well as the adults,” like what? Does she even know how bodies work? She’s young and her body is flexible and her partner Mark Ballas can just train her to do whatever. Shut up about your age, Willow! If Doogie Howser was a doctor, you can do a three minute choreography. So she and Mark danced some weird Hunger Games dance, dressed like ninjas but wearing a leaf skirt over it. There were spears and a bunch of backup dancers which Willow killed off one by one, until she killed Mark at the very end. It was weird considering that the whole point of Hunger Games is that her sister Katniss goes to the Games so Primrose doesn’t have to, but whatever. The judges went nuts and gave them THREE 10s which I don’t have to tell you made my blood boil.
You don’t know this about me, but I will tell you. I LOVE interpretive dancing. It’s ridiculous and amazing and I am 100% for it. So you can imagine my excitement upon hearing that the night’s dances would be inspired by “the most memorable year” of the dancer’s lives. It honestly made me wish that Charlotte McKinney had not been eliminated last week, because god knows she would’ve had an amazing story to tell. But, there were still plenty of tears, and laughs (mostly tears) during this inspiring night. On to the dancing!
More from Yahoo Style:
Dancing with the Stars Week 3: Fruit Hats, Tears, and Budding Love
Dancing with the Stars Week 2: Crabs, Human Emojis & Patti LaBelle Takes All
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