“This is all about creating a world within the dance. You have to make sure you’re becoming the character,” said “Dancing with the Stars” pro Mark Ballas about the sci-fi Argentine tango he choreographed for his celebrity partner Lindsey Stirling on “Movie Night,” which celebrated classic cinema genres. “Mark is playing a mad scientist this week,” Stirling explained, “and to be honest it’s not much of a stretch for him.” Even he admitted that he’s “obsessive” when it comes to building dances. Well, he definitely built the hell out of this dance, in more ways than one. He turned Stirling into a robot and choreographed a routine that received perfect scores across the board, placing her atop the leaderboard for the third time this season.
Judge Len Goodman said, “I know it’s science-fiction, but let me tell you a fact. I thought the choreography was phenomenal. I thought the dancing was brilliant. I gave you a 10 last week because you deserved it, and I’m not going to lie, you deserve another 10.” Bruno Tonioli added, “Professor Ballas, you’ve created another work of genius … At times it reminded me of Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis,’ and then it was a bit of ‘Ex Machina,’ but at the same time it was an absolutely superb Argentine tango. At no time at all was there any doubt. It is the best dance of the season.” And Carrie Ann Inaba concluded, “Everybody upped their game tonight, but you upped your game to something phenomenal. This is a side of you that I’ve never seen, so grounded, so strong, so deep in a different artistic way. You slayed.”
The usual panel of judges were joined this week by special guest Shania Twain, who echoed the praise of the other three by noting, “It was so graphic and intense. I’ve never seen such sharp edges look so elegant, so graceful.” Twain joined her fellow panelists in giving Stirling a 10 for a total of 40 out of 40, which made it the second perfect score of the season following Jordan Fisher‘s “Moana” foxtrot last week and the highest score of the night.
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