Ward celebrates mom on DWTS
Tonight was Round 2 of Hines Ward on Dancing with the Stars. The focus of the evening was for each dancer to take something personal that they have a strong emotional attachment to, put it to a song that also has emotional value and wrap it all into a dance. As Len said at the beginning of the evening, taking something that is emotional and being able to translate that into a dance we can all connect to can be a difficult matter. Not so for our newly donned Hines ‘Twinkle Toes’ Ward.
The Lead in
Ward decided to honor his mother and chose the song “Fantasy” by Earth Wind & Fire. The dance would be the Samba. The video leading up to the dance gave us insight to why Hines chose his mother. It’s a story that we, The Nation, are very familiar with. Ward’s mother wanted him to fully experience the American Dream. She worked very hard to continue making money so that she could retain custody of her son. When Ward made it to the NFL it was time for him to be able to support her. This dance was a way to give thanks, a celebration, for all her sacrifices. Ward said, “My mom is the heart and soul of who I am, so… whoop whoop!”
The Dance
The song and dance started out cool and easy, but then the music kicked in and Ward and Kym broke it down. Ward looks so comfortable out there. I know I said this last week, but his smile and charisma on the dance floor captures the audience and judges. The moves were clean even though there seemed to be a missed step due to being ahead of the beat, but they both recovered very quickly. There was plenty of energy to go around, and it seemed like Ward delivered with this Samba. They both wore black and gold outfits and Ward had a gold handkerchief hanging from his belt a la Terrible Towel. He even waved it around like he just scored a TD in Heinz Field at the end of the dance. The camera cut over to where his mom was sitting in the audience, and her and about a half dozen others were standing and waving Terrible Towels.
The Judges
Carrie Ann (9) – ‘Boo ya!’, It’s like you’ve been dancing the Samba your whole life
Len (8) – the story was upbeat, your mom is proud of you, Carrie Ann is proud of you, I’m proud of you
Bruno (8) – dance was an expression of happiness, bouncing and shaking, two for the price of one – happy hour!
Total: 25
My Take
That score of 25 was good enough to tie model Petra Nemcova and partner Dmitry Chaplin. Ward is clearly rooting himself into the dance floor as one of the best in the group. The faster and groovier dances seem to suit him very well. It will be interesting to see how he does with some slower dances where technique might be a little more under the microscope. I’m not a huge fan of this show, but it is fun to see Ward out there having a good time and showing a different side. Hell, it’s nice to just see a Steeler these days. Ward was in second place last week and made it through. With 50% of the results determined by the judges, I don’t see him having any issues making it through to next week being tied at the top this week.
Results show tomorrow. How far will Ward go in this thing? I think he will make it to the top 3 as long as he has The Nation supporting him with the voting. Whoop whoop.