(S09E11) Last night signaled the halfway point on Dancing with the Stars. In last night's recap, we got to see Joanna's stumble at a different angle, her heel got caught in Mak's pant leg. The trip followed.

Behind the scenes we found out that Kelly hurt her foot and her father was by her side supporting her. Ozzy is such a cool father. Her foot's sprained, but she should be fine.

After all the Norah Jones performances and a repetition of the words "jeopardy" and "Michael Jackson," a doozy of an elimination surprisingly eliminates a strong competitor. Find out who went home after the jump.

Encore - Donny & Kym - Argentine Tango - I'm still not sure if the performance really deemed the high scores it received. It's possibly because Kym did a lot of the work splitting between Donny as he stood there. I really disliked his "serious face" and it was the biggest factor to why I was turned off by it.

Reflecting on Michael Jackson - Several professionals discussed Michael Jackson's influence. Louis ("ABC" Season 3) explains that Michael Jackson opened the doors for dancers. Mark Ballas ("P.Y.T." Season 8 Cha-Cha) loved doing all the classic moves. Kym ("Blame it on the Boogie" Season 7 - Group Samba) thinks that his music will live on forever.

Musical Performance - "It's Gonna Be" - Norah Jones is on the new "musical guest stage." I don't understand why they even built the stage, the performance would have looked the same on the original stage. I don't care for the Art Deco screens. The new song is catchy but the dancing made my mouth water for So You Think You Can Dance to start. I miss Lyrical Jazz pieces. I laughed hysterically as the cameramen got caught in not only one, but two shots.

The contestants talk about their fears of elimination. Lacey is nervous about Aaron and Mya; the rest hope that America will save them. The eliminations begin with the top three scorers. All three (Mark & Lacey, Donny & Kym, Mya & Dmitry) are safe.

Monday Morning - We get an interesting but fake sequence. Louie starts the walking, explaining time. Melissa talks about hair and makeup. Aaron walks us over to craft services and stuffs his face with food. Mark walks over to the stage to prepare mentally, he bumps into Natalie who walks us over to Tom Bergeron. We return to the trailers where Kelly schmoozes with Michael and Mya. Mya goes and has a final costume fitting. Donny waits backstage. It ends with an incongruous shot: Joanna walking down the stairs with Maks first.

The next three scoring teams are up and the only couple safe is Kelly & Louis. Joanna & Derek and Aaron & Karina are in jeopardy. After a commercial break, the lowest scoring male and female are up. Michael & Anna are safe and Natalie & Alec are in jeopardy.

Musical Performance - "Come Away with Me" - Norah Jones strips the song down to two guitars. I was excited to see Jonathan and Anna performing. The stripped version worked really well for the two to float around the dance floor. There is great maturity from Jonathan when he dances anything smooth. It's a shame he never gets partnered with a good celebrity.

The last two couples are up. Louie & Chelsie are safe, but Melissa & Mark are still in jeopardy. She stomps her foot in disappointment.

Macy's Stars of Dance - Michael Jackson Tribute - Jermaine Jackson and the DWTS family talk about how inspiring Michael Jackson was. LaToya explains that Michael Jackson was a big fan of DWTS. They mention energy, pop, and attack in Michael's movements. Mark shows an embarrassing photo of him during Halloween. I disagree with Karina because she called Michael Jackson "The father of dance." He may be the father of modern choreographed pop, but not dance in general.

Latoya Jackson introduces the performance via weak prompter skills. The dance begins with Mark moon-walking with Karina to "I Want You Back" Derek joins in and the three a Wiz-like march. Something from Karina's outfit rockets into the audience. In the second section, "Man in the Mirror," Tony and Dmitry work with the lightness of Chelsie. Lacey follows with back flips and does the whole section without shoes. Edyta and Maks join in. The performance looked better clustered together, except for when Lacey lightly pushed Edyta into place.

The end sequence was "Thriller." Louis and Cheryl dance while several try to be intimidating. Anna D. looked really pedestrian. They all end with the trademark Zombie routine. I could swear there was something wrong with Chelsie's dress, she checked her bra for a second. The camera never really zoomed in. In the end, I thought the whole thing was above average but nowhere near Michael Jackson caliber.

We finally reach eliminations. Two couples are safe: Melissa & Mark and Joanna & Derek. Natalie & Alec and Aaron & Karina were the bottom two. Bruno is shocked because he thought Aaron was one of the best competitors. Carrie Ann is disappointed that there weren't enough votes for Natalie because she is strong and flexible. Len is heartbroken; the two couples don't deserve to be in the bottom two. He thinks that neither should be there. The couple with the lowest combined total is Natalie & Alec.The judges and audiences stand and applaud them as they dance off.

I'm convinced that Natalie got the bad double whammy: the first performance and a bad use of costume. Everyone forgot Natalie during the voting and assumed she would be safe. I sadly predicted that she would narrowly beat Donny Osmond, but I guess everyone is wrong once in a while. Can we just get rid of the smug Aaron or the weak Michael soon?

Next week, a dance marathon Mambo and according to Kelly the Jitterbug may also show up. Also, the dreaded dance-off returns next Wednesday. How did you think the elimination went? Leave comments below.

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