There has been a lot of momentum happening with the partnership of The Wonder Years alum Danica McKellar and pro-dancer Valentin (Val) Chmerkovskiy prior to the Dancing With The Stars‘ premiere this past Monday on ABC. The couple even picked out a mashed-up name for the competition, branding themselves as Team Vanica. This helped the Twitterverse get excited about their first dance on the Dancing With The Stars floor, the Foxtrot.

On Monday, McKellar and Chmerkovskiy danced a Foxtrot to Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away”–a beat-driven song, which I thought suited a Cha Cha better than a Foxtrot. McKellar’s outfit was very modest and formal. During the dance, in my opinion, McKellar held great posture throughout the song, maintained good footwork (especially during her promenade walks), and the synchronized turns toward the end of the routine were perfect.

All three judges praised McKellar on her first dance of the season, but they did find various things to critique the couple on.

• Carrie-Ann: Be careful a tad with your shoulders. You and Val have great energy together!
• Len: You’re holding a little tight with your left hand on Val’s shoulder, and that adjusts by lifting your shoulder a little.
• Bruno: They’re right. Watch your shoulders, and at times, you get so involved, you throw away your move a little bit. So, control that.

All three judges also gave “Team Vanica” 8’s across the panel, which totaled to 24 for their first week of dancing together.

In a recent interview with FOX News, McKellar was asked “You’re already making a splash in glossy mags for your rehearsal outfits. Are you going to dare to bare some serious skin with your costumes?” McKellar offered the following response:

“I think a given with this show. I’m really glad that all the rehearsing is getting my body extra tone for the outfits.”

Next week, since the stars had the chance of picking the style of dance they would like to dance to, McKellar chose Samba–the Brazilian party dance.

Thank you to everyone who watched and voted for me & @iamvalc tonight on #DWTS! Ready for sleep and to learn a whole new dance tmrw – Samba!

— Danica McKellar (@danicamckellar) March 18, 2014

Image via YouTube (0:47)