Strictly week 5
Oct. 26th, 2014 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessHot off the press!
Saturday
The important stuff: Tess’s dress was better than Claudia’s. My favourite outfit was probably Ola’s, the colour was lovely and the use of pattern and floaty bits from the arms (I forget whatever Vicki Gill called it on Thursday) had the virtue of being a bit different for the show. I also liked the black, silver and gold metallic effect of Iveta’s outfit. All the celeb outfits had a ‘but’ to them – I could have done without Frankie’s hairband, I liked Alison’s skirt more than the top and disliked the middle of Caroline’s top and that frill around the waist...
But let’s get on to the dancing, of which Scott and Judy are the worst exponents, even as they were given the Charleston, which you can mug through, even if you can’t dance it, although I found him more unwatchable than her, partly because of Scott’s attempts at lifting Joanne. Alison had ballroom and it was weak, but Sunetra had ballroom and Brendan who understands the Viennese Waltz to give better and more traditional choreography that Kristina gave Simon. Also, the Cilla hair as Scouser Sunetra danced to a Cilla song was as subtle as this show usually manages. Sunetra doesn’t deserve to be discussed with the weakest dancers, although she would have been if she was doing a Latin, like Thom’s. I may have squawked ‘Hips?’ a lot, as they seemed to be missing.
Frankie was as good as you’d expect, although I don’t love it when the song and choreography are pastel and sickly sweet (it may be why I didn’t love Caroline and Pasha’s quickstep last week), and Kevin often falls into this territory. Also about where you’d expect it to be: Jake’s quickstep. I thought it took a little too long to get started, but enjoyed the meat of it.
I still think he’s the best man, overall, but I really enjoyed Mark’s samba. I thought Karen’s choreography beautifully balanced how much it was about him presenting her as the lady and him dancing, and he gave exactly the performance he needed to after the dance-off last week. I’m not sure if it deserved a nine, but Karen’s reaction was so priceless that it was worth it. Also improving and making a surprisingly good account of himself was Steve in the waltz. He talks too much, though.
BUT Caroline’s paso was ace, so dramatic as you’d expect. I found myself wishing she’d learned to dance earlier in life so that she could have been a pro. She is proving herself to be a strong contender, because she’s a better all-rounder than the younger girls. (And has quite possibly had training of some sort.)
BUT THEN Pixie surprised me in a brilliant way. This was a step up like Frankie’s paso, perhaps even a bit more because isn’t the samba more difficult technically? It was crazy fun, exhilarating because she utterly went for it to a point that I wasn’t expecting. (Gauntlet thrown right back at you, Frankie and Jake.)
Alison admitted on ITT that she has flat feet, which I’ve half-suspected and will probably stop her from improving and be what drops her when she’s stopped coasting on her and Aljiaz’s charm.
And finally, Claudia was Claudia (although her line about ‘and where do you come from?’ to Simon fell completely flat with him; I don’t know if she felt he was being insincere or copying Sunetra or what. First time she’s misread a room on the show this year), but her business about Halloween did the impossible and made me not dread next week’s episode.
Results
If you’re going to do Cotton-Eyed Joe, you should put that level of commitment into it, definitely. Janette seems to be Miss Tricks this year. I just hope she never injures herself and stops dancing with Jake. I felt so sorry for the special guest lassoer when we saw his exit on Len’s Lens, he’d done so well, lassoing and dancing along up till then.
Based on their Karma Chameleon dance, Kevin and Karen aremuch bigger hams bigger showmen than Aliona and Tristan.
Evil producers making Karen and Mark wait. Well, they got tears out of it.
People who are not related to Judy and Scott and who voted for them should take a good look at themselves in the mirror. I did think Simon might be in trouble having weighed everything up, but Thom had a showmance going for him and is rather charming, while Iveta is brilliant, so I never thought that he was in danger. It certainly was close. I thought they’d both improved in the dance-off, so I couldn’t call it.
Saturday
The important stuff: Tess’s dress was better than Claudia’s. My favourite outfit was probably Ola’s, the colour was lovely and the use of pattern and floaty bits from the arms (I forget whatever Vicki Gill called it on Thursday) had the virtue of being a bit different for the show. I also liked the black, silver and gold metallic effect of Iveta’s outfit. All the celeb outfits had a ‘but’ to them – I could have done without Frankie’s hairband, I liked Alison’s skirt more than the top and disliked the middle of Caroline’s top and that frill around the waist...
But let’s get on to the dancing, of which Scott and Judy are the worst exponents, even as they were given the Charleston, which you can mug through, even if you can’t dance it, although I found him more unwatchable than her, partly because of Scott’s attempts at lifting Joanne. Alison had ballroom and it was weak, but Sunetra had ballroom and Brendan who understands the Viennese Waltz to give better and more traditional choreography that Kristina gave Simon. Also, the Cilla hair as Scouser Sunetra danced to a Cilla song was as subtle as this show usually manages. Sunetra doesn’t deserve to be discussed with the weakest dancers, although she would have been if she was doing a Latin, like Thom’s. I may have squawked ‘Hips?’ a lot, as they seemed to be missing.
Frankie was as good as you’d expect, although I don’t love it when the song and choreography are pastel and sickly sweet (it may be why I didn’t love Caroline and Pasha’s quickstep last week), and Kevin often falls into this territory. Also about where you’d expect it to be: Jake’s quickstep. I thought it took a little too long to get started, but enjoyed the meat of it.
I still think he’s the best man, overall, but I really enjoyed Mark’s samba. I thought Karen’s choreography beautifully balanced how much it was about him presenting her as the lady and him dancing, and he gave exactly the performance he needed to after the dance-off last week. I’m not sure if it deserved a nine, but Karen’s reaction was so priceless that it was worth it. Also improving and making a surprisingly good account of himself was Steve in the waltz. He talks too much, though.
BUT Caroline’s paso was ace, so dramatic as you’d expect. I found myself wishing she’d learned to dance earlier in life so that she could have been a pro. She is proving herself to be a strong contender, because she’s a better all-rounder than the younger girls. (And has quite possibly had training of some sort.)
BUT THEN Pixie surprised me in a brilliant way. This was a step up like Frankie’s paso, perhaps even a bit more because isn’t the samba more difficult technically? It was crazy fun, exhilarating because she utterly went for it to a point that I wasn’t expecting. (Gauntlet thrown right back at you, Frankie and Jake.)
Alison admitted on ITT that she has flat feet, which I’ve half-suspected and will probably stop her from improving and be what drops her when she’s stopped coasting on her and Aljiaz’s charm.
And finally, Claudia was Claudia (although her line about ‘and where do you come from?’ to Simon fell completely flat with him; I don’t know if she felt he was being insincere or copying Sunetra or what. First time she’s misread a room on the show this year), but her business about Halloween did the impossible and made me not dread next week’s episode.
Results
If you’re going to do Cotton-Eyed Joe, you should put that level of commitment into it, definitely. Janette seems to be Miss Tricks this year. I just hope she never injures herself and stops dancing with Jake. I felt so sorry for the special guest lassoer when we saw his exit on Len’s Lens, he’d done so well, lassoing and dancing along up till then.
Based on their Karma Chameleon dance, Kevin and Karen are
Evil producers making Karen and Mark wait. Well, they got tears out of it.
People who are not related to Judy and Scott and who voted for them should take a good look at themselves in the mirror. I did think Simon might be in trouble having weighed everything up, but Thom had a showmance going for him and is rather charming, while Iveta is brilliant, so I never thought that he was in danger. It certainly was close. I thought they’d both improved in the dance-off, so I couldn’t call it.
