Gracious =/= graceful
Nov. 17th, 2014 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessStrictly
I don’t know if I’d have started Blackpool week off with a dance to ‘A Town Called Malice’, but I do know that I’d have cut most of the ‘comedy VTs’. Bigger floor, overexcited show and a lot of overmarking, I thought – starting with Frankie and Kevin. It was good, because it’s them, but it set the tone for the judges. Even Craig got out the nines on a regular basis! And the extravagance of tens! Now, I was pretty accurate in guessing what the judges were going to vote, but that doesn’t mean I agreed with them. Judy has improved, but that still makes her much worse than everyone else (during the first week). Sunetra has got better at selling the Latin, but isn’t as good as the rest of the women at it. I liked Caroline’s jive a lot, and it suited her, but Pixie’s paso was easily my favourite number of the night. I thought Bruno was right about the balance between concept (oh Strictly) and substance. Pixie and Trent keep surprising me in good ways. If they hadn’t been (joint) top, I’d have voted for them.
I wasn’t sure about Simon being joint top, although his legwork was amazing, I thought the judges were slightly too generous, but then again, isn’t the Argentine tango a more demanding dance than most, so shouldn’t they be comparing like with like? (Basically I want them to push it back to the quarters or whenever and give it to everyone to do.) Jake’s American smooth was very dramatic, very much tailored to his strengths, although not quite as amazing as it was sold as being. But Janette’s dress was. Meanwhile, after all the hype of the response to ‘most every other dance, the reaction to Steve’s AS was ‘that was nice dear, and we’re so glad the lifts didn’t seem to be endangering Ola’, which was about right, although I’d have added that I preferred his waltz. It was nowhere near as bad as his Charleston, but it was nothing to get excited about. I think they’ll sail through because of all the Twitter/tabloid drama, which has reached even me. I thought Mark was also overpraised, especially watching him side by side with Karen.
Oh, I tried to scrub it out of my memory, but that little girl singing was ‘oh dear’ territory. Overmiked too. I know the singers get a lot of stick, but most of the listening public must have been glad when they took over. I’m going to take a purist view and say that the whole idea of Iveta dreaming...she’d become a giant in Blackpool? Well, it got in the way of lovely dancing.
Results
Big opening number, although involving the celebs showed up a few of them (Steve and Mark on the table behind Caroline, I’m looking at you, since the camera avoided Judy when ‘dancing’).
While McBusted were amusing, Shirley Bassey was IMPERIOUS. That’s how you perform on Strictly, young and old. The dancing complemented it well.
I can’t quibble overmuch with who was in the dance-off, or the order the couples were called, and I was really chuffed that Caroline, Pixie and Jake were safe in the first round. I’m glad the judges have decided on variations of ‘just go for it’ when asked to give advice. I mean, even if Sunetra had tottered, forgotten her moves and elbowed Brendan, they’d have got rid of Judy and we all knew it, (plus if it’s ballroom next week, Sunetra might score highly enough to be safe) so it simply meant that everyone could enjoy Judy and Anton’s final dance. Judy’s surely won a lot of goodwill for her attitude throughout the show.
I don’t know if I’d have started Blackpool week off with a dance to ‘A Town Called Malice’, but I do know that I’d have cut most of the ‘comedy VTs’. Bigger floor, overexcited show and a lot of overmarking, I thought – starting with Frankie and Kevin. It was good, because it’s them, but it set the tone for the judges. Even Craig got out the nines on a regular basis! And the extravagance of tens! Now, I was pretty accurate in guessing what the judges were going to vote, but that doesn’t mean I agreed with them. Judy has improved, but that still makes her much worse than everyone else (during the first week). Sunetra has got better at selling the Latin, but isn’t as good as the rest of the women at it. I liked Caroline’s jive a lot, and it suited her, but Pixie’s paso was easily my favourite number of the night. I thought Bruno was right about the balance between concept (oh Strictly) and substance. Pixie and Trent keep surprising me in good ways. If they hadn’t been (joint) top, I’d have voted for them.
I wasn’t sure about Simon being joint top, although his legwork was amazing, I thought the judges were slightly too generous, but then again, isn’t the Argentine tango a more demanding dance than most, so shouldn’t they be comparing like with like? (Basically I want them to push it back to the quarters or whenever and give it to everyone to do.) Jake’s American smooth was very dramatic, very much tailored to his strengths, although not quite as amazing as it was sold as being. But Janette’s dress was. Meanwhile, after all the hype of the response to ‘most every other dance, the reaction to Steve’s AS was ‘that was nice dear, and we’re so glad the lifts didn’t seem to be endangering Ola’, which was about right, although I’d have added that I preferred his waltz. It was nowhere near as bad as his Charleston, but it was nothing to get excited about. I think they’ll sail through because of all the Twitter/tabloid drama, which has reached even me. I thought Mark was also overpraised, especially watching him side by side with Karen.
Oh, I tried to scrub it out of my memory, but that little girl singing was ‘oh dear’ territory. Overmiked too. I know the singers get a lot of stick, but most of the listening public must have been glad when they took over. I’m going to take a purist view and say that the whole idea of Iveta dreaming...she’d become a giant in Blackpool? Well, it got in the way of lovely dancing.
Results
Big opening number, although involving the celebs showed up a few of them (Steve and Mark on the table behind Caroline, I’m looking at you, since the camera avoided Judy when ‘dancing’).
While McBusted were amusing, Shirley Bassey was IMPERIOUS. That’s how you perform on Strictly, young and old. The dancing complemented it well.
I can’t quibble overmuch with who was in the dance-off, or the order the couples were called, and I was really chuffed that Caroline, Pixie and Jake were safe in the first round. I’m glad the judges have decided on variations of ‘just go for it’ when asked to give advice. I mean, even if Sunetra had tottered, forgotten her moves and elbowed Brendan, they’d have got rid of Judy and we all knew it, (plus if it’s ballroom next week, Sunetra might score highly enough to be safe) so it simply meant that everyone could enjoy Judy and Anton’s final dance. Judy’s surely won a lot of goodwill for her attitude throughout the show.
