Week 9 DWTS Recap: Daniel Durant and results of semi-finals
Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: This is Week 9 for Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) with the Deaf actor from the Oscar-winning movie CODA, Daniel Durant, as one of the contestants. We have been giving weekly recaps of his progress, so this is a recap of what happened last night with Daniel. Last night was the semi-finals. There were two rounds in the semi-finals. The first round was the Viennese waltz with the song “Surprise Yourself” by Jack Garrat. The second round was the samba with the song “Light it Up” (remix) by Major Lazer.
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For the first round rehearsal time, Britt Steward, Daniel’s dance partner, mentioned that the waltz has a lot of gliding around which she has to teach Daniel to do. Daniel mentioned that his weakness was his frame and he had to work on that.
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There was a moment that Daniel shared that many parents of Deaf children reached out to Daniel saying that they wanted to learn sign language. So, he was thrilled by the impact he is making. Britt said that Daniel is a Deaf role model.
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For the first-round performance, Daniel and Britt both wore white outfits with sparkles. The background was different outbursts of colors. The dance itself is slow and both of them looked very graceful and poised.
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There were a few familiar faces in the crowd that was rooting Daniel on. Deaf actress Shaylee Mansfield and her mother Sheena McFeely were spotted. The judges applauded both of them for doing a good job and were very impressed with how smoothly Daniel moved across the floor. The judges complimented the great connection that Daniel and Britt have together on the floor. The total that the judges gave was 35 out of 40.
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Before transitioning to the second round, a major announcement was made about one of the head judges Len who has been with the show since the beginning would be retiring from DWTS. He has been with DWTS since it started in 2005 and he said he wants to focus on his grandchildren. There was a standing ovation for Len.
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Entering the second round, during rehearsal time, Britt said the samba is one of the hardest dances to do. She said that they have to ace this one in order to get into the finale. Britt said that the song that they are dancing to is also Gabe’s (Daniel’s interpreter) favorite. Gabe mentioned that Daniel and he have gone out dancing together to that song before. Britt asked Daniel to explain how she met Gabe. Daniel said that the first time he met Gabe was when he showed up on the panel for CODA. After all the interviews, people came up to Daniel to tell him that Gabe really sounds like Daniel. He said it was the first time in his life that he had been told there was a “voice that sounded like me.” Daniel says that Gabe takes care of him and he takes care of Gabe. Britt pulled the both of them with her for a three-way hug.
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Britt said the hardest part about doing the samba is that you have to have a continuous bounce throughout the whole dance. Daniel said that this dance was new to him and he really has to learn it and wants to be there for the finals.
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For the performance, both Daniel and Britt wore neon colors of pink, blue, and green outfits. There was no background art or décor except for stage lights flashing as both of them dancing on the floor. The floor had many different colors. The dance itself was intense, passionate, and intimate. There were a lot of hip movements and arm movements.
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When they finished their performance, the judges mentioned that the samba was a difficult dance to pull off, and they thought Daniel pulled it well enough. They mentioned that they could see Daniel was having fun with the dance. The total score that Daniel and Britt got was 34 out of 40. That was one point lower than the first round.
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At the end of the show, two dancing couples had to be eliminated based on the judges’ score and the audience/viewers' vote. The first dancing couple that was eliminated was Trevor Donovan and Emma Slater. The second one was between Shangela and Gleb or Daniel and Britt. The judges had to make a decision about who to save. All of them made a decision to save Shangela and Gleb, not Daniel and Britt. This means Daniel and Britt will not advance to the finale because they have been eliminated.
This recap concludes Daniel’s 9 weeks journey with DWTS. It was still a good turnout for him. He did make it as far as the semi-finals and always made sure he represented the Deaf community along the way. There are 4 dancing couples left that will compete for the mirror ball for next week's Monday's finale. If you are interested in watching that, you can see it on Disney+ at 8pm EST.