Dance.  Ballroom dance.  Ice dance.  Ballet.  I love it all.  I know how to tango, rumba - tango and rumba on skates so I have an idea of what I'm looking at.  I was thrilled when Dancing With The Stars first began because ANYTHING that brings ballroom to television is great in my eyes.  My thinking has always been that more people would love it if they were given the opportunity to see it.  This show is pretty straight forward.  "Stars" (television, broadway, music) are paired with champion ballroom dancers and each week they perform a unique dance.  There are three judges that guide the audience on technical things but viewers ultimately call in or log on to vote for their favorites.  Tonight there were nine couples performing two styles of dance, either a paso doble or a waltz.
Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy kicked things off with a solid paso.  I have loved these two every week but something was missing for me tonight.  I think I expected it to be fiery and it just wasn't even close.  I know she is capable of intensity so it was a shame to find it lacking here.

Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough were up next with a very smooth waltz.  They are the youngest duo competing here and usually are a lot of fun to watch. They seem to have a brother sister thing going on that makes them adorable together. Tonight they seemed to step up their game and proved that they are dancing to win.
Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovolani were nearly eliminated last week so this time around they had something to prove. Unfortunately their Paso was really stiff and the whole thing looked awkward.  She looks amazing for fifty, I have to give her that but I suspect this is her last week here.
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Ian Ziering comes across as a real jokester so I wondered how he'd do with a waltz.  Cheryl Burke seems to bring out the best in him and they pulled off a very refined waltz. Still, he seemed a bit unsure of his own abilities and you just knew that if he could let go the scores would have been higher.
John Ratzenberger has done really well the past few weeks.  It's pretty obvious that his approach to dancing is to get into the character of the dance and go from there.  Unfortunately, he was just lost this week.  Even his partner,  Edyta Sliwinska couldn't mask his muddled paso.
I didn't think it could get much worse but then came Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko.  While Clyde seems like the nicest guy on the planet he seems less than committed to actually practicing and excelling in the ballroom.  The judges claimed he wasn't even trying, something I'm guessing a lot of viewers at home also thought.
In contrast there is Billy Ray Cyrus.  He isn't very good but boy is he making a huge effort to do whatever  Karina Smirnoff throws his way.  I adore her, have watched her for a long time and if anyone could make this guy do a paso, it's her.

Heather Mills and Jonathan Roberts were up next and I might be the only person on the planet not in awe of her.  She can get the fast dances but what became very obvious tonight for even an untrained eye is that she cannot emote at all.  Slower dances like the waltz are about conveying feeling and even if she had every step perfect this would have felt cold because there is nothing coming out of her stoney expression.
Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson were last to dance and dance they did.  I expect these two to give a solid performance every time out and their classic paso was great.  It earned the first perfect mark of the season and might have even deserved it.
One of the stars will be sent packing tomorrow night, who do you think has had their last dance?  I'm going to say Leeza is out this week.