Strictly week one
Sep. 29th, 2015 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessFriday
Although I loved Kelly’s dress – didn’t intuit it was for a tango though – I was less enamoured of the tango than the judges were. Possibly because the song didn’t really make me think ‘tango’ I thought Anthony showed promise – but that shoulder is a problem that he's obviously underestimated. He shouldn’t have said he was in it to win it either, even if he’s a sportsman and thus competitive. Agogo dancing to wake me up before you go go was relatively entertaining, compared with the stuff to come.
They tried so hard to make it seem like Helen’s ballet training was a hindrance (but really, how many viewers are going to notice the footwork when she pulls off such grace?) It explains the Darcey fannishness. Apart from a few sticky moments, I didn’t notice the nerves in her dancing. I think Aljiaz is quite chuffed – also the second he said Disney princess I thought he was bang on because here face does have Disney princess features. Couldn’t disagree with her being the highest marked of the night.
Carol was terrible (although Claudia went overboard in describing the dress as the best ever, it was quite good, but they really were in floundering around to find nice things to say to cheer her up territory). I was most entertained that Pasha’s response to his celeb’s ability was High Camp. Carry on, sir!
But I liked the Oireland stuff much less, and I don’t think trying to do a soulful rendition of the song works. However, Daniel’s waltz could have been much worse – Kristina does tend to go for pleasing Len with the footwork, doesn’t she? And Anita’s cha-cha, while not always dynamic, was exuberant and a good closer.
Otherwise, Craig had the biggest range of marks – of course. Tess’s mike really distracted me and she had cause to apologise twice: to Darcey for nearly missing her after the first dance (it was like Bruce never left) and to Gleb and his wife. I don’t know exactly what she said that was more than the usual lasciviousness, but she seemed to realise she’d gone too far and was apologising profusely. With that and Anthony’s wardrobe malfunction, quite the post-watershed version of Strictly! I.e. not, which is fine; I love that it's genuinely for a range of generations.
Saturday
Nine dances. Hmm. The main thing was that it didn’t clash with the rugby match. I enjoyed the pro dance the more I realised what they were doing – at the start I didn’t get why they were all styled differently.
Here I agreed with the judges, mostly.
The good: Jay’s cha-cha was pretty good although he didn’t project at all. For all the terror, I think he enjoyed the dancing, and I may have a soft spot for him. Aliona is clearly still surprised and happy about what she was given. I rather enjoyed the jives. Georgia looks like she’s had some dance training (musical theatre style?), while Katie turned out to be better than I’d thought, one of those people who transmitted her enjoyment of dancing – I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Please let Anton bring in someone else to do the Latin choreography and (less realistically) stop pretending he’s never had decent dancers ever before. I wonder if he’s been given a good one as a sop because this may be his last year?
Oh, and then Peter had the glory slot and was sharp, but I was howling ‘where are the hips?’ – he’s nowhere near Snakehips!Jake's level.
The not so good: Jamelia was promising, but I lost interest, not that I noticed what the judges had, but because her trail had been all about giggling, I became obsessed with how she was switching from smiling to serious face. Ainsley hammed his way through the tango, and I think he can move, although his posture was terrible.
I’m not sure whether to give Kirsty the benefit of the doubt, Brendan can only go ‘this girl can dance!’ so long if she can’t conquer her nerves to dance on the night.
The bad: Iwan. Obviously, it depends on what everyone does in the opposite style, because some people can dance certain styles better. I didn’t think the dance was as terrible as the judges did, but he is more annoying than dancers who are worse than him, so I think he may be in trouble. Although I’m probably underestimating Ola’s popularity.
Jeremy was dancing badly, it was dad dancing and I cringed through the opening (CAN WE DROP MOST OF THE REFERENCES TO THE CELEBS’ DAY JOBS AS OF NOW? I may be reduced to longing for theme nights.) But he went for it and then some and THAT was joyous. For now. It will get on my nerves soon.
Otherwise, Darcey had Tess’n’Claud beaten on the frock front, and it still annoys me that Tess automatically assumes Darcey will be nice after the Craig Crushing. The judges had quite a few meltdowns on Saturday.
Although I loved Kelly’s dress – didn’t intuit it was for a tango though – I was less enamoured of the tango than the judges were. Possibly because the song didn’t really make me think ‘tango’ I thought Anthony showed promise – but that shoulder is a problem that he's obviously underestimated. He shouldn’t have said he was in it to win it either, even if he’s a sportsman and thus competitive. Agogo dancing to wake me up before you go go was relatively entertaining, compared with the stuff to come.
They tried so hard to make it seem like Helen’s ballet training was a hindrance (but really, how many viewers are going to notice the footwork when she pulls off such grace?) It explains the Darcey fannishness. Apart from a few sticky moments, I didn’t notice the nerves in her dancing. I think Aljiaz is quite chuffed – also the second he said Disney princess I thought he was bang on because here face does have Disney princess features. Couldn’t disagree with her being the highest marked of the night.
Carol was terrible (although Claudia went overboard in describing the dress as the best ever, it was quite good, but they really were in floundering around to find nice things to say to cheer her up territory). I was most entertained that Pasha’s response to his celeb’s ability was High Camp. Carry on, sir!
But I liked the Oireland stuff much less, and I don’t think trying to do a soulful rendition of the song works. However, Daniel’s waltz could have been much worse – Kristina does tend to go for pleasing Len with the footwork, doesn’t she? And Anita’s cha-cha, while not always dynamic, was exuberant and a good closer.
Otherwise, Craig had the biggest range of marks – of course. Tess’s mike really distracted me and she had cause to apologise twice: to Darcey for nearly missing her after the first dance (it was like Bruce never left) and to Gleb and his wife. I don’t know exactly what she said that was more than the usual lasciviousness, but she seemed to realise she’d gone too far and was apologising profusely. With that and Anthony’s wardrobe malfunction, quite the post-watershed version of Strictly! I.e. not, which is fine; I love that it's genuinely for a range of generations.
Saturday
Nine dances. Hmm. The main thing was that it didn’t clash with the rugby match. I enjoyed the pro dance the more I realised what they were doing – at the start I didn’t get why they were all styled differently.
Here I agreed with the judges, mostly.
The good: Jay’s cha-cha was pretty good although he didn’t project at all. For all the terror, I think he enjoyed the dancing, and I may have a soft spot for him. Aliona is clearly still surprised and happy about what she was given. I rather enjoyed the jives. Georgia looks like she’s had some dance training (musical theatre style?), while Katie turned out to be better than I’d thought, one of those people who transmitted her enjoyment of dancing – I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Please let Anton bring in someone else to do the Latin choreography and (less realistically) stop pretending he’s never had decent dancers ever before. I wonder if he’s been given a good one as a sop because this may be his last year?
Oh, and then Peter had the glory slot and was sharp, but I was howling ‘where are the hips?’ – he’s nowhere near Snakehips!Jake's level.
The not so good: Jamelia was promising, but I lost interest, not that I noticed what the judges had, but because her trail had been all about giggling, I became obsessed with how she was switching from smiling to serious face. Ainsley hammed his way through the tango, and I think he can move, although his posture was terrible.
I’m not sure whether to give Kirsty the benefit of the doubt, Brendan can only go ‘this girl can dance!’ so long if she can’t conquer her nerves to dance on the night.
The bad: Iwan. Obviously, it depends on what everyone does in the opposite style, because some people can dance certain styles better. I didn’t think the dance was as terrible as the judges did, but he is more annoying than dancers who are worse than him, so I think he may be in trouble. Although I’m probably underestimating Ola’s popularity.
Jeremy was dancing badly, it was dad dancing and I cringed through the opening (CAN WE DROP MOST OF THE REFERENCES TO THE CELEBS’ DAY JOBS AS OF NOW? I may be reduced to longing for theme nights.) But he went for it and then some and THAT was joyous. For now. It will get on my nerves soon.
Otherwise, Darcey had Tess’n’Claud beaten on the frock front, and it still annoys me that Tess automatically assumes Darcey will be nice after the Craig Crushing. The judges had quite a few meltdowns on Saturday.
