The Sexy Standout: Gilles Marini & Cheryl BurkeBest Dance Week 4’s Argentine tango scored a perfect 30.
Worst Dance His cha-cha took home 24 points in Week 1.
Obstacle to Overcome “The pressure is a problem,” says judge Bruno Tonioli. “The public will say, ‘What is he going to do next?’”
Len Goodman’s Advice “Work more on your technique.”
In a bare-bones Hollywood dance studio, actor Gilles Marini tangos solo. Glamorous even in old sweatpants and a T-shirt, he turns, glides and lunges with dramatic intensity. His partner watches approvingly from the wings. “It’s very important that he be able to do the routine on his own,” says two-time champ Cheryl Burke.
And when the two of them get together, stand back. “Dancing with Cheryl on Monday nights, I become her man,” Marini says. “Whatever she needs me to be.”
“Our chemistry is that he gets it,” says Burke, who describes Marini as “the best performer” she’s ever danced with. And the most competitive. “I can feel it in his body,” she says. “When the music comes on in rehearsal, he brings it up 50 percent. But then in the live show, the audience feeds him even more energy and I change the way I dance. His adrenaline is off the charts.”
These two are remarkably similar: quiet, intense, passionate—and given to self-doubt. “Every week I say, ‘I can’t do this,’” says Marini, who took home this season’s first perfect score. “And Cheryl’s like, ‘What do you want to do? Walk around the stage and get eliminated?’”
Burke, too, criticizes herself and her choreography more than the judges ever could. “I go through my ups and downs of insecurity,” she says. “My coach was the same way: You’re never good enough.”
That doesn’t fly with Marini, who is grateful to Burke for giving him what he calls “a new passion in life.” “She’s too brilliant to be like that,” he says. “I’ll say, ‘Just look at yourself in the mirror. You are one in a billion.’”