‘Dancing With The Stars’: Nyle DiMarco Is ‘Better Than Superman’

After a debut performance on Dancing with the Stars that blew everyone away and raised expectations, Nyle DiMarco’s Rumba last week was met with mixed reviews. Admittedly unfair considering he can’t hear a note or even a vibration, fans hoped for another dance that would leave everyone amazed. Last night, Nyle DiMarco gave viewers just that and showed us that he does indeed have a talent for dance, regardless of the fact that he can not hear the music.

If you haven’t seen Nyle’s performance in Week 1 of Dancing with the Stars, check it out here. Even if you have, watch it again. It’s simply amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LW0Cwwtom8

Dancing with the Stars judges and viewers alike were in awe.

Now here’s Week 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EO5mwgQPK8

Most viewers enjoyed this performance, but the judges had quite a bit of criticism for it. Many viewers felt that the criticism from the Dancing with the Stars judges was more about Peta’s choreography and teaching than about Nyle’s performance.

As People reported, Len Goodman said, “You’ve got to calm it down. Less is more.”

And Carrie Ann Inaba said that what he “lacked was a connection to the musicality.”

DiMarco’s Dancing with the Stars dance pro Peta Murgatroyd objected to Carrie Ann’s comment, given that Nyle can’t hear the music. Still, as a Rumba goes, there were flaws, which again led viewers to express a belief that the problem with the performance wasn’t DiMarco but rather was Murgatroyd’s failure to sufficiently communicate the nuances of the Rumba, again an admittedly daunting task given Nyle’s deafness.

Fans tuned in this week to see if Nyle and Peta would give everyone another jaw-dropping performance or if it would be another mixed-reviews kind of performance. Before fans got to watch them Tango, DiMarco talked about his most memorable year, the theme of this week’s broadcast. He chose 2012.

Nyle told Dancing with the Stars viewers about growing up in a deaf family. He believes that he has achieved many of the things he has achieved because he has always been deaf and grew up in a family and community who were also deaf. So it was never something he saw as a disability. It has just always been part of who he is.

DiMarco shared, however, that in 2012, he felt a need to get away from all he knew in order to understand himself and figure out what he wanted. He decided to travel the world and did it without an interpreter. It was a life-changing experience. Check out the introductory video and Nyle DiMarco’s Tango in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a5feK1w2ng

Yes, Nyle was back to rave reviews from the DWTS judges. They received the night’s highest score of 25 out of 30.

As reported by People, Carrie Ann Inaba said, “You were with the music tonight. I love Superman, but you’re like better than Superman.”

Even Len Goodman was complimentary.

“You’re proof that anyone could do anything if they wanted to.”

https://www.facebook.com/dancingwiththestars/photos/a.10150296096321740.354128.8214706739/10154066812926740/?type=3&theater

Nyle DiMarco is 26-years-old. His website indicates that he graduated from Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf. Prior to appearing on Dancing with the Stars, Nyle was best known as the winner of Season 22 of America’s Next Top Model. He has also done some acting. DiMarco played the lead role in an independent film titled In the Can and also played Garrett in the ABC Family film Switched at Birth. Nyle is also part of the team that developed the ASL App, and application created by native deaf signers to teach conversational American Sign Language (ASL). DiMarco is the first completely deaf contestant on DWTS and is unable to even feel vibrations of the music.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]