Week 5 Recap of Daniel Durant’s DWTS competition
***CORRECTION: Daniel Durant will be dancing again tonight (Tuesday October 18) because it is a “special two-night” event this week. There will be an elimination after tonight. Durant and Britt Stewart are slated to dance a cha cha tonight.
Now it is week 5 with the Deaf actor from the Oscar-winning movie CODA, Daniel Durant, as one of the contestants on the Dancing with the Stars TV show. This is the recap of last night’s performance. The theme was “Stars’ Story Week: Most Memorable Year.” The dance is “contemporary” and the song choice was “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell.
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During rehearsal, Daniel said that he has to do better for this week and was thankful that the judges gave him tough feedback so he can take them in order to get better. The Stars’ Story Week theme is about the contestants choosing a specific time in their lives that was most memorable and sharing that story on the dance floor. Daniel chose his story about when he landed on the role with CODA and how his life changed after that. He mentioned that he struggled as an actor for 3 years because there are not many roles out there for deaf actors. When his manager contacted him to let him know that he got the role with CODA, he was beyond thrilled. After the movie, so many more opportunities opened up for him.
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One of the most important parts of the “contemporary” dance is the lifts and Daniel had to lift his dance partner Britt Stewart, so there was some struggle during rehearsal time.
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For the performance, there were no props on the floor. Daniel and his partner Britt Stewart wore mustard yellow outfits. The background had a purple backdrop with a bright yellow arch-shaped design – it could look like the pupil of an eye. While Daniel and Britt danced, Daniel’s interpreter was seen on the dance floor too, behind the duo, and signing the song.
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There were many lifts that Daniel had to do with Britt and he mastered them all. At the very end, Daniel, Britt, and the interpreter closed in together on screen and signed the last line of the song.
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The judges shared that they were very pleased with Daniel’s performance. One of the judges, Carrie Ann, mentioned that she loved seeing the combination of ASL and dance. Another judge, Bruno, mentioned that it is easy to watch Daniel dance. All of the judges reacted positively. The total score that the judges gave was 34 which is the highest that they have had so far. Both of them looked very excited.
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At the very end of the show, usually, there would be eliminations based on the total of judges’ votes and audience/viewers’ votes, but last night there was no elimination. Selma Blair, an actress, is one of the contestants on the show too, but she had to leave the show due to her health concerns related to her multiple sclerosis (MS). She was partnered with a pro, Sasha Farber. Selma said her final goodbyes to everyone and had her final dance as well. When she was saying goodbye, the other contestants and pro dancers also came out, stood behind her, and hugged her goodbye.
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That was the reason why there was no elimination last night so this means Daniel and Britt automatically move forward to the next round, next week. If you want to watch the show, you can see it on Disney+ on Monday nights at 8pm EST.