Dancing With the Stars Celebrates Taylor Swift Night: Who’s Heading Into Their Semifinals Era?
Dancing With the Stars‘ top prize is the coveted Mirrorball trophy. Taylor Swift has had a song called “mirrorball” since 2020. So really, we just can’t believe it took so long for the two things to cross over.
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The ABC competition series cracked open Swift’s substantial songbook for Tuesday’s quarterfinals episode, celebrating many of the same musical eras that Swift herself represents on her current headline-making tour. Plus, as a nice palate cleanser to some of this season’s enthusiastic-but-undereducated guest judges, Emmy-winning choreographer Mandy Moore — who created the moves for Swift’s Eras Tour — sat at the dais this week, armed with refreshingly knowledgeable and constructive feedback for the six remaining pairs.
Meanwhile, the quarterfinalists couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop groovin’ during the dance relay round, in which two pairs performed to the same Swift song, one couple passing off the routine to the other couple halfway through the performance. Xochitl and Val bested Ariana and Pasha in a Viennese waltz set to “Lover,” Alyson and Sasha bested Harry and Rylee in a jive set to “Shake It Off” and Jason and Daniella bested Charity and Artem in a cha-cha set to “Lavender Haze,” with each winner adding three bonus points to their leaderboard score.
Keep scrolling to see who made it through to next week’s semifinals, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the episode!
SAFE: Alyson Hannigan and Sasha Farber
DANCE STYLE: Cha-Cha (to “You Belong With Me”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 29 out of 40
Sadly, this was a bit of a regression for Alyson — a shame, too, since she was so looking forward to Taylor Swift Night. Maybe that level of enthusiasm worked against her here, bringing on jitters that messed up her timing quite a bit. Also, with only two more weeks left in the season after this one, I can’t help feeling that Sasha ought to ramp up the choreography; impressive as Alyson’s handstand was, it took up several seconds of the routine that could have been spent on more authentic cha-cha content.
SAFE: Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov
DANCE STYLE: Rumba (to “Cruel Summer”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 37 out of 40
I’ll be honest: I spent much of this performance hoping Taylor Swift puts out a full-length piano version of that slowed-down “Cruel Summer” cover. So pretty! On the dance front, Ariana looked more nervous here than she has for most of the season, which created some awkward shapes with her arms in the first half of the performance. That second half, though? Incredibly elegant, with a dip underneath Pasha’s legs that was — to quote another T-Swift tune — so gorgeous.
SAFE: Jason Mraz and Daniella Karagach
DANCE STYLE: Argentine Tango (to “Don’t Blame Me”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 40 out of 40
The quarterfinals are the perfect time for a breakout moment, wouldn’t you say? It’s been disappointing to see Jason plateau after some really strong opening weeks, making his comeback with this Argentine tango all the more satisfying. Daniella did not skimp on the kick-and-flick content here, and Jason met every step with a fabulous intensity and precision.
SAFE: Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev
DANCE STYLE: Argentine Tango (to “Look What You Made Me Do”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 38 out of 40
Shout-out to the Dancing With the Stars costumers for rightly putting Charity in a dress for this Argentine tango that showed off her fabulous legs, giving us an even better glimpse at her stunning lines. Unfortunately, the electricity in Charity’s movements and facial expressions — which she briefly found during the “Gangnam Style” group dance a few weeks back — was lacking once again here, and she’s running out of time to make that crucial emotional connection with the audience.
SAFE: Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy
DANCE STYLE: Quickstep (to “Paper Rings”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 38 out of 40
I don’t want to speak too soon, but for my money, Xochitl ought to be our Season 32 Mirrorball winner. It’s just such a consistent delight to watch her perform, from her animated facial expressions to her divine dancing. This quickstep radiated the joy and giddiness that Taylor’s “Paper Rings” conveys, and Xochitl delivered that densely packed content with remarkable ease.
ELIMINATED: Harry Jowsey and Rylee Arnold
DANCE STYLE: Rumba (to “August”)
JUDGES’ SCORE: 30 out of 40 (hey, Harry’s first time cracking the 30s!)
I’m sure the main headline of this routine will ultimately be the small kiss that Harry and Rylee (accidentally?) shared during a particularly close move midway through the rumba. (Who else was pleasantly surprised that Julianne Hough didn’t ask about it more in the Skybox? Leave ’em be!) But this was also undoubtedly Harry’s strongest dance thus far, filled with more legitimate content and challenging responsibility for him than Rylee has previously asked. He hasn’t gotten much love in our comments section this season, but Harry really did make a solid attempt here, and it’s too bad he couldn’t have improved a little more quickly.
How do you feel about Harry’s elimination, and Taylor Swift Night overall? Tell us below!
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