‘Dance's’ format leaves much to chance

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The weekly styles and guest choreographers also have a big impact on how the dancers are perceived.

A key difference between this show and its "American Idol" parent is that every pair dances a different style each week. That helps make the show more entertaining for the audience.

But at least on "Idol," everyone has to suffer through Broadway Week and Songs Our Grandparents Considered Old-Fashioned When They Were Young Week together. Here, one pair might get a hip and happening Shane Sparks routine to work with, while another couple must struggle with a duller waltz from a more unknown choreographer. Ultimately it all evens out — but only for the dancers who manage to survive into the later stages of the competition.

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Perhaps the two best numbers a week ago were the hip-hop routines from Napoleon and Tabitha D'Umo — both succeeded in making the dancers look good while simultaneously telling an entertaining story that engaged the audience.

Both couples who performed those numbers sailed through. On the other hand, Chelsea Traille and Jasperson got a thoroughly uninspiring quickstep a week ago, which led to Traille's dismissal.

The judges have a strong influence as well, especially with viewers who just don't know a lot about the technical aspects of dance. Fedoke and Jarosz danced a nice African jazz routine that might have been good enough to advance, but the judges wanted it to be more "animalistic." They were in the bottom three, and Jarosz got eliminated.

William Wingfield put his hand on the ground at the end of the disco routine and still performed better than partner Jessica King, but the judges liked it anyway. They were safe.

Had the judges praised another pair and slammed Wingfield and King, the results a week ago might have been very different. But for the eliminated pair, that was just one more variable that was out of their control that proved too costly to overcome.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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