Week 2 of Dancing with the Stars commenced with two of the show's most difficult styles, the rumba and the paso doble. This is the first time on Dancing with the Stars that these two styles have been featured so early on in the competition, challenging the contestants like never before.

There were some excellent performances – two teams are tied for first place, with a third team only one point behind – and there were some pretty bad performances too. You can probably guess which teams ended up at the bottom of the judges' leaderboard. However, it was another entertaining night of Dancing with the Stars.

Brooke Burke and Derek Hough – 24

Paso doble, scores: 8+8+8=24. Controlled aggression was the name of the game tonight for Brooke and Derek. Derek took Brooke to a karate dojo to practice her fierceness this week, and it paid off with praise form the judges.


Warren Sapp and Kym Johnson – 24

Paso doble, scores: 8+8+8=24. Warren continues to surprise everyone with how good he is on the dance floor. He and Kym pulled off a wonderfully dark and intense paso doble tonight. This big guy is really light on his feet and moves extremely well, and he really got into the character of a fearsome matador tonight.


Toni Braxton and Alec Mazo – 23

Rumba, scores: 7+8+8=23. Despite two illegal lifts, Toni and Alec made their rumba super smoldering and sexy. The judges commented a little bit about how their transitions can be smoother, but overall, Toni and Alec were rewarded with high scores and high praise. Not too shabby for the first performers of the night.


Cody Linley and Julianne Hough – 21

Rumba, scores: 7+7+7=21. Dancing what Carrie Ann Inaba called "an age-appropriate rumba," Cody and Julianne were really impressive with this romantic style. Although Cody still has to learn how to focus and reign in his tremendous youthful energy, I think he surprised everyone with how maturely he danced tonight.


Misty May-Treanor and Maksim Chmerkovskiy – 21

Paso doble, scores: 7+7+7=21. Dressed in biker-chic leather outfits, Misty and Maks were hot, hot, hot tonight. Their performance was super aggressive and powerful, which worked well with the paso doble style. Misty still needs to work on being more feminine and soft, especially if she'll have a more elegant style next week, but her determination is definitely a thing to behold.


Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani – 21

Rumba, scores 7+7+7=21. Susan had a big week juggling between rehearsing for Dancing with the Stars in Los Angeles and filming All My Children in New York, but that didn't affect her scores too much this week. The judges thought she achieved a fine performance, although they still wish her to be stronger and more assertive in her motions.


Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer – 20

Paso doble, scores: 7+6+7=20. Dancing to "I Kissed a Girl," Lacey choreographed another nontraditional number that got Len Goodman's panties in a bunch. Lacey added enough traditional paso doble moves, but the whole was altogether far too hip hop to get high scores from judges. However, this routine was one of the highlights of my evening.


Maurice Greene and Cheryl Burke – 19

Rumba, scores: 7+6+6=19. Every week, Maurice Greene disappoints me. I thought that he would be such a good dancer, but he was too stiff and awkward in this rumba tonight. He had absolutely no hip action and not enough finesse. He's got to step it up if he wants to stay in the competition.


Kim Kardashian and Mark Ballas – 17

Rumba, scores: 6+6+5=17. Kim tried to amp up her sexiness by enlisting Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin's help, but her rumba still turned out to be cold and soulless.


Rocco DiSpirito and Karina Smirnoff – 16

Rumba, scores: 5+6+5=16. Maybe Rocco should have spent more time in the rehearsal studio this week and less time in the kitchen. He let Karina do all the heavy lifting in their rumba. She danced as excellently as always, but he kind of lumbered about and didn't contribute very much to the rumba.


Cloris Leachman and Corky Ballas – 15

Paso doble, scores: 5+5+5=15. Cloris toned down her irreverent humor this week and got down to business, dancing a traditional paso doble with Corky. Len Goodman was happy with the traditional choreography and traditional musical choice (although his scores show that he wasn't too happy with it), and Carrie Ann was disappointed that Cloris didn't put on a funny show as she did last week. This may be Cloris and Corky's last week on the show.





-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)