It’s Joey Lawrence night on ‘Dancing’

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Creating sparks?
Among the women, the highest scores went to Monique Coleman, who resolved last week’s lack of “chemistry” with partner Louis by accompanying him on the world’s most awkward gondola ride. The ride looked like a real bust, but during the dance, Monique was speedy and sexy, and she sure was covered with glitter. She lost the beat from time to time, but the judges found her work so hot that they gave her an 8 and two 9s.

Vivica Fox had a strong week as well. Her mambo may not have been as fast as Monique’s, but she and her partner Nick have a certain easy, slightly more mature presentation that compensates for the lack of speed. The beginning of their dance seemed to lack energy, but as it went on, she seemed to be having more and more fun.

The technique did lag a little — Judge Len used Vivica’s performance as his opportunity for one of his unseemly and insulting metaphors. This time, he claimed that the dance was like a pizza, with a hot top half and a “doughy” bottom half. Ouch. It is that kind of comment that makes one wish Len had to deliver his comments while standing up and wearing tights

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Moakler most likely to go home
Country singer Sara Evans scored low last week but was saved by her fans, and they may need to rally for her again. Though her energy improved from last week, Len nailed it when he said, “You dance too carefully.” She seems to be forever counting in her head, and in a dance that benefits from speed and the appearance of sexy spontaneity, Sara’s every hair-flip and hand flourish seemed to be planned, mapped, and labeled. “Wiggle fingers here.” “Touch hair now.” It was not an effective approach.

At the other end of the spectrum was the eager-to-please Willa Ford, who was Evans’ opposite in that she scored well last week with the judges but was dumped near the bottom by the fan voting. It’s hard to overdo a mambo, but Ford seemed to be mugging and hair-shaking and making out with nothing in particular during most of the dance. She seemed to be trying to sell herself as an entertainer, but she overshot and wound up exhausting.

But the leading candidate for the exit this week is probably Shanna Moakler, who scored a point higher than Sara but seemed sluggish and distracted. It didn’t help that she repeatedly interrupted the dance to clear strands of hair out of her mouth, probably casting light on one reason that a lot of dancers wear their hair tied back. Shanna is trying hard, and she seems to be a nice person with a lot of an appeal, but there was something about her performance that seemed unlikely to inspire fans. Ford outscored her by a single point, but one of the two of them would seem to be the most likely to go.

Anything can happen, it turns out, on Joey Lawrence Night.

Linda Holmes is a writer in Bloomington, Minn.

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