Alana showed up for her first rehearsal wearing a tiara. It’s that attitude that proved beneficial.
As Entertainment Weekly put it: "Artem (Chigvintsev, her mentor) is smart, he doesn't totally rein it in — he embraces it and uses it in their salsa. Sure, she's doing a lot of walking and shaking while standing in place, but she is owning it. She and Tristan look like they're having a blast and the judges and audience really respond to it."
Was her performance good enough to move to the next round?
Alana and Tristan scored 19 out of a possible 30. It sounds low, but after adding the live audience vote, she survived to dance another day.
High scorer last night was Stevie Wonder's son Mandla Morris and his pro teammate, Brightyn Brems. The pair, mentored by Cheryl Burke, scored 24 out of 30.
So, who went home?
The first episode had a double elimination, sending home the two lowest-scoring pairs — Addison Osta Smith and Lev Khmelev, and Tripp Palin (son of Bristol Palin) and Hailey Bills.
“Dancing With the Stars: Juniors” airs 8 p.m. Sundays on WSB-TV Channel 2, the local ABC affiliate.
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