The second week of "Dancing with the Stars" season 21 is almost as dramatic as the first as celebrities and pro dancers visit their hometowns and face possible elimination two nights in a row.

It's a tough week for the cast of DWTS as each couple was required to prepare two routines for back-to-back performances. Although there were heart-warming scenes of the stars going back home, the highlight of the show was the array of performances that dazzled (or disappointed) judges Julianne Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.

The star of the night was the one competitor who is not a celebrity: Alek Skarlatos. The real-life hero and National Guard had the judges raving about his jazz performance with partner Lindsey Arnold set to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." The top performer of the night proved he is a strong contender with an impressive lift-heavy routine.

"You have range, you really can do so many different things," Tonioli told him after his performance. "You combine power with grace and a great honesty as a performer."

Early favorite Bindi Irwin showed off with her partner Derek Hough in a tango routine set to ACDC's "You Shook Me All Night," a song that the cheerful and wholesome Irwin picked and surprised even her partner. The Australian was strong and confident during her performance, earning universal praise from the judges.

Later, the perennial frontrunner Irwin spoke to Fox411 about her experience saying, "When you're in that moment and that bubble, you're having so much fun that everything else is a blur."

Married couple Carlos and Alexa PenaVega continued their neck-and-neck battle to the top, both delivering show-stopping dance numbers with their partners Witney Carson and Mark Ballas. Tamar Braxton also continued her smooth way to the front of the pack with Val Chmerkovskiy.

Although Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess wowed the crowd in their first performance last week, the pair failed to duplicate their fantastic score this time. Other competitors who received positive feedback from the judges include Hayes Grier and Emma Slater as well as Andy Grammer and Allison Holker.

Generally, most of the couples showed an improvement from last week's first dances, even low-scoring pairs such as Garey Busey and Anna Trebunskaya, Paula Deen and Louis Van Amstel, Victor Espinoza and Karina Smirnoff, and the notoriously low-scoring Kim Zolciak-Biermann and Tony Dovolani.

Unfortunately, one couple will not get the chance to stage a better performance on the "Dancing with the Stars" stage. Legendary diva Chaka Khan was sent packing after two straight performances that were not up to par for the judges or the audience.

Despite the early exit, Khan's partner Keo Motsepe was grateful for the opportunity to work with the singer, taking to Twitter to reach out.

"It has been a privilege and an honor to dance with you @chakakhan," Motsepe wrote on Twitter.

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