The Dancing with the Stars season 21 Semifinals are here, but not quite as anyone expected. Due to the withdrawal of Tamar Braxton because of health concerns, there are only four couples remaining. They were originally supposed to dance twice each, but now they’ve all been given a new Dance-Off routine. For the first time ever, the couples will be performing three dances in the Semifinals.
The first round is for individual dances where we’ll see a One Direction Contemporary routine and a Waltz to “America the Beautiful” (if you can’t figure out who’s doing that one, you’re not paying attention).
In the second round, each couple will pair up with another professional for a Trio Dance. It should be fun as we’ll see Peta coming back from an injury, Mark teaming up with Derek and the return of Alek’s steamy chemistry with Emma from the Switch-Up.
In the final Dance-Off round, Bindi and Nick will both perform Sambas while Carlos and Alek will go head-to-head with Cha-Cha-Chas, and the winner of each will earn three extra points. In other words, Carlos gets three extra points. It’s also a tad unfair since Bindi has never done an individual Samba routine while Alek has never done a Cha-Cha-Cha, but Nick and Carlos have done those styles.
Perhaps more unfortunate is that Derek Hough has somehow made it through another season without having to do a Paso Doble. Last season he was injured when Nastia Liukin did her Paso with Sasha Farber. Derek performed a Paso Doble with Bethany Mota on Halloween Night 2014, but didn’t do one in season 18 with Amy Purdy. So in the past four seasons and two years, Derek has made it to the Final 4 every season, but has only done one Paso Doble.
It’s also worth noting that ABC’s official press release for the episode made no mention of an elimination, so I fully expect that no one will go home and all four will return the following week for the finale.
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Individual Routines
Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough: “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” by Sia (Salsa)
Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson: “Drag Me Down” by One Direction (Contemporary)
Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess: “Scars” by Alesso featuring Ryan Tedder (Tango)
Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold: “America the Beautiful” by Ray Chew Live (Waltz)
Trio Dances
Bindi and Derek with Mark Ballas: Jazz
Carlos and Witney with Karina Smirnoff: Samba
Nick and Sharna with Peta Murgatroyd: Rumba, Waltz or Salsa
Alek and Lindsay with Emma Slater: Argentine Tango
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
