'Dancing With the Stars': Classical Week Emerged New Leader, Chelsea Kane, with Harry Potter Waltz

At first I wasn't sure if "Dancing with the Stars" was going to pull off an entire evening of classical music, but they did it Monday night (April 11). This was by far one of the best episodes in the show's history. The music, arias from opera singer Katherine Jenkins, violin solos from David Garrett, the costumes and dances all came together beautifully. I enjoyed hearing an entire genre of music performed by Harold Wheeler's band, along with a 46-piece orchestra. The stage of course had to be re-arranged, so the couples made their opening entrances without the lovely staircase. Find out who shined the brightest and who fell short.

Belles and Gents of the Night

Petra Nemcova - Their paso doble's music came from the famous opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. The music is recognizable from various TV commercials, films and other media sources. It is a very popular piece of music. Petra is simply getting better and better with each performance. No doubt she will become the first supermodel to hopefully rank near the top five. The music was perfectly matched to their gorgeous dance. I loved the end when Dmitry took her caped skirt by unraveling it to reveal her two-piece outfit. (23)

Hines Ward - This was my favorite performance of the entire evening. I was livid they did not get a higher score. Hines and Cheryl deserved all "9's", maybe a "10." You could hear the audience booing after they received their scores. The music they danced the paso doble to was incredible. David Garrett provided his rock violin style to it.

"Explosive" was the title of their contemporary classical music piece by the string quartet, "Bond." Hines is also getting better and better with every performance too. When he was talking to Brooke after their dance he stated he had never heard of classical music before. Yes Hines, you hear it everyday in TV and radio commercials, TV shows, films, the list goes on. Hines Ward needs to go and hear the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall one evening. (25)

Ralph Macchio - Here was another contemporary classical music piece from the film "Romeo and Juliet" that was from the late 1960s. Ralph and Karina danced a beautiful story from this timeless tale. It was breathtaking to watch Ralph act out his part as Romeo without the over-the-top melodrama. Their waltz was the perfect dance for such a story. (25)

Chris Jericho - He was back to his WWE character dancing the paso doble. What an excellent classical music piece to dance to. This music titled "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Griegis currently used in a television commercial for an iPhone. This was another one of my favorite performances of the night. (23)

Other Great Classical Moments

Romeo - The music used for their paso doble has been heard in many commercials. It reminded me a lot of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." It was so impressive to see the paso dobles and varied waltzes performed to classical music. Romeo came back from his dismal storied dance last week to open the show this week. (23)

Sugar Ray Leonard - My favorite classical music composer is Tchaikovsky. They danced the Viennese Waltz to "Nutcracker Suite's Waltz of the Flowers." This is the famous musical play that is performed every year during the Christmas holidays. All of the judges thoroughly enjoyed Sugar Ray's performance. During his pre-performance film I was impressed to see him take on ballet lessons. He was a real trooper about it. (21)

Chelsea Kane - Of all the classical music featured this was my least favorite. They danced to music from the film "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." One thing I will say about this couple is they are geniuses when it comes to acting out their dance routine, complete with costume and music. This is the second time I felt they took liberty in doing this. Their routine would have been more appropriate for "Movie Week."

Len Goodman was not happy they did not do enough traditional Viennese Waltz moves. We got a history lesson from the head judge it is the oldest ballroom dance at 300 years old. I must say I agreed with Len. Chelsea is an excellent dancer, but this routine and music did not inspire me like the others. They were the new leaders at the end of the show. It seems each week there are new leaders emerging. (26)

Kirstie Alley - Featured in their dance was the opera singer, Katherine Jenkins along with one of the DWTS vocalists. They were able to partially recover from their disastrous fall last week that was shown on continuous loop for several days. Unfortunately Kirstie lost her shoe and was actually putting it back on during her quiet moment on the floor Monday night. One thing that is becoming quite annoying is how Kirstie and Maks are always laughing, like they don't take this whole competition seriously. (22)

The Weakest Couple

Kendra Wilkinson - One thing that infuriated me about Kendra was how she dissed opera, classical music week and ballroom dancing in one breath during her pre-performance film. Of course she tried to save face afterwards when talking to Brooke Burke. Out of all the couples this was the worst dance of all. She was complete stiff in her arms movements throughout their Viennese Waltz. Katherine Jenkins sang a beautiful aria during their performance, which was the only good thing about it. (18)

Overall, this was another great episode of "Dancing with the Stars." I love how the show enjoys experimenting. Hopefully Classical Week will be brought back in subsequent seasons. Please let it be Kendra Wilkinson as the one to go home. She is not very good in the ballroom dances. Her attitude is very negative and not good for everyone else. Jennifer Hudson and David Garrett will be the musical guests. The Macy's Stars of Dance will be back too.

SOURCES:

Dancing with the Stars, ABC.com

The Free Encyclopedia, Wikipedia

Kelley L. Carter, "'Dancing with the Stars' recap: Chelsea Kane Waltzes To The Top", MTV.com