Jennifer Lopez completely exceeded expectations by singing not only live but well. As in ''Do It Well.'' Since when do we get an ambitious aerial shot of the musical guest and her army of backup dancers in the middle of the ballroom? ''Let's Get Loud'' was maybe my favorite pro-dancer-and-popular-singer combo yet — and definitely the best this season. J. Lo got soooo into her signature now-let's-really-belt-it-out crouch and connected heavily with the audience. When she screamed, '' 'Cause I'm gonna live my life!'' into the mike, she was basically challenging everyone around her to do the same. One might interpret her unbridled enthusiasm as ''Dudes, you're in the audience of a televised ballroom-dancing competition — you're halfway there!'' The pros, sheathed in black fringe and featuring one mystery man who partnered Karina, had a ball with this one. I loved the standing O they and everyone else gave Jen, and how she totally flounced off the stage, all God's-gift and divalicious, as soon as she had finished. Fab!
The audience-reaction bit gets lamer every week. Do we really want to hear Heather Mills say she thought Marie had faked it, or some dimwit pronounce it ''Heel-io,'' or Carol Brady exclaiming, ''There she is, bright as a penny''? Okay, maybe that last one's a yes, just because I don't think anyone had said that yet during the 21st century.
This week's It's Hard Out There for a Choreographer segment fared much better, especially with gems from Derek like ''The key to choreographing a good routine is you gotta be a good choreographer.'' Huh! It was cool to see the different pros' approaches to coming up with routines. Each of them made sense, considering the type of routine they usually pull off. Kym is type A and comes super-prepared, Edyta dreamily feels out the music on 50 repeats before committing to steps, and Maks basically just shows up and starts directing what's going on in his head. (It's a wonder that all his dances aren't composed of two simulated Maksims staring into a mirror.) Maks' timing while he explained his out-of-the-box choreographic method was the best: There's no ''run, jump, split, kick — we dance.'' He could seriously have his own show titled I Call Bulls--- With Maksim Chmerkovskiy. I'd watch! Or at least DVR it on Bravo at like 3:30 a.m.
What do you think? Which ill-conceived backstage slang came off more aggressively: Sabrina's ''So rad!'' or Julianne's ''Oh, snap!''? How on earth could DANCMSTR be mistaken that M&Ms are fruity? And which couple can best handle the pressure of double dances next week?
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