With only five contestants left to vie for the Dancing with the Stars season 13 Mirror Ball, it’s time to up the stakes. Each of the remaining celebrities will need to perform two dances in week 8 in order to stay in the competition. Will it be too much? Will the dancing suffer? Will we have to take solace in the many, many musical guests this week?

Instant Dancing
Week 8 of Dancing with the Stars season 13 marks the first time that each pair will need to choreograph and perform two full, independent dances. The first performance for each pair will be in the standard format and will be in any not-yet-danced style. For the second performance, each pair will do a jive — but it’s a jive with a twist.

Although they work out the basic choreography in advance, the competitors will need to dance their jives to music selected only minutes before the performance.

Past results in this dance have been mixed, to say the least.

Musical Guests
While the Monday night Performance Show is sticking to competition in week 8, Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars: The Results Show will more than make up for that lack.

Andrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, will perform “More” with Chris Botti, while the DWTS Troupe provides the dancing. The female pros of season 13 will give a dance performance to Jordin Sparks‘ “I Am Woman.” Rapper Flo Rida will be on hand for a medley of two singles (“Club Can’t Handle Me” and “Good Feeling”). And the “Macy’s Stars of Dance” performance of the week will be the television premiere of the Cirque du Soleil show “Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour.”

Also, there will be results.

The Standings
Going into week 8, the DWTS standings have altered slightly. After an exceptional week 7, Ricki and Derek have grabbed the lead away from J.R. and Karina. Meanwhile, Rob and Cheryl have inched ahead of Hope and Maks in the overall standings.

1. Ricki Lake and Derek Hough: 205 points overall
2. J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff: 201 points
3. Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke: 183 points
4. Hope Solo and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 182 points
5. Nancy Grace and Tristan MacManus: 169 points

Will this all change again after week 8? Anything is possible!

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Which stars will succeed and which will fail in the Instant Dances? Do you enjoy the musical guests on Dancing with the Stars? Who of the remaining five celebrities will make it to the finals? Share your thoughts and comments below!

(Image courtesy of ABC)

Laurel Brown

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include ChuckModern FamilySupernaturalMad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.