Strictly Come Dancing
Oct. 26th, 2015 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe big show
We had a better fitting hot-pink dress from Tess, a dress that looked like a business suit crossed with a nighty from Claudia. I liked the patterned skirts - Natalie’s even more than Karen’s (the yellow in the skirt was fine, but too much in the back detail). Carol looked gorgeous, as ever, especially when I was assured the top bit was the same colour as the skirt, Kirsty was rocking the Irene Adler do, what they did to Jamelia’s bosom was a bit of a disaster, and I liked the turquoises. Aljiaz carried off the pro men’s outfits, and I was going to say something about Jay but maybe the dancing made the outfit.
Bruno was cranked up to 11.
To the dances: Georgia still hasn’t won me over. I thought there was too much disco and not enough, well, grinding. The main problem was that she was overthinking the lifts. I wondered if she was overmarked, although she was trailing the top dancers. Maybe I’m prejudiced against her, mind.
Double chandeliers for Carol’s Viennese Waltz, and I basically wondered why Pasha let her get out of hold so much. Yes, she’s improved since the beginning, but she’s the weakest lady in terms of ability, and was the weakest on the night. (This in a week when much has been made on ITT of the culling of the men.)
I have to admit I lost the beginning of Anita and Gleb’s dance because I went to get some dessert and ended up having a crockery-shattering accident. I was gutted because I understood that I missed Star Trek tango goodness and vowed to rewatch. On the other hand, this meant I felt I couldn’t repeat the phoning in of last week. I think Anita has definitely deserved the praise she gets for being able to take on each dance and make it her own.
Peter’s rumba was good (and I feel sorry for Ainsley and Jeremy if they’re still on for long enough to have to do it), although I agreed that there were not quite rumba-ey moments in it.
Kirsty is still twinned with Carol in terms of the dance she's given, but here, Brendan outdid Pasha by keeping her in hold (once the dance started – I didn’t think the opening on the platform justified the long descent. Yeah, I agreed with Len.) I thought there was at least one wobble they judges didn’t go on about, but it was nice to see her get a breakthrough moment.
Ainsley’s Ready Steady Cook referencing jive was FUN. It did get slouchy, but the entertainment value was high for me.
Jamelia, of course, had had her breakthrough moment last week, which still puts her and Kirsty a while behind the people who are looking for 9s. I also agreed with Len that she’s half-defeating herself by her mindset with the ballroom. It started off quite nicely and then descended into less good territory.
I thought Katie seemed confident and was doing more than in the cha-cha, but the lifts got progressively worse, and then there were the comments. I am going to put some of this down to Anton, not so much his choreography, but his ability to teach her Latin (there are plenty of free female pros, could he get them into the studio?) It may not cost her yet, but the other good lady dancers are much more consistent.
That may have been one of the eleven billion times Craig gave someone a four and Darcy gave him the self same look of outrage. Eventually she elbowed him.
I spent most of Jeremy’s dance thinking it was a shame he didn’t have a taller partner. I have to commend his, Carol and Katie’s attitudes to the show, especially, though.
HELEN’S QUICKSTEP. My favourite dance of the night. Light, airy, together, top-drawer quality. Again, happy Aljiaz (which is infectious.) I did notice her grin getting a little rictus-like, but I love her ballroom dancing. I could have done without the opening ‘business’ (but I know that’s as nothing to next week). I enjoyed seeing her scream for joy at the (deserved) 9s.
And then we were all tense for Jay. I barely remember The Wanted, but I think I remember his bandmate’s face, but I was mainly staring at the height difference between them. More rugby team than boyband. Very quickly, I relaxed and joined Darcey and surely many viewers in swooning. I thought his attitude was spot on. Also, I hope he ignores Darcey’s advice vis a vis Aliona (whom he clearly adores, I’m not sure if that’s crushing or just part of loving dancing, but partnering her like that will work for nearly all the other dances, so it’s not advice he should take much further. Rather, take it as 'learn the character of the dance' stuff. And even so, as I said, I thought he came off as arrogant enough on the floor.) Second fave of the night.
My issue with Kelly’s jive was choreographic content – at times it didn’t feel like a jive, and there were bits where the attention was taken away from her, but that’s on Kevin, and the speed was ferocious while the dancing was of a high quality, so I am pleased she, too, scored nines.
Excellent fake horse and general clowning from Claudia, BTW.
So I used iPlayer and saw all Anita and Gleb’s dance – very nice tango. I liked the Glebian choreography – I thought there was less of a Star Trek vibe than the had judges made out, and it was less forcefully mental than, say, Pixie’s gladiatrix paso, but she definitely deserved to get into the 30s.
I also took the opportunity to rewatch my favourites, and enjoyed Jay’s paso even more. I was saying that I wanted a good paso the other week. Well, that was the first.
The results show
I enjoyed the Berkley-flavoured Charleston. Better outfits from both presenters. Good on the producers for being generous in the round-up and giving the glory spot to Helen having given it to Kelly on the live show, as they were equals.
I had started to worry for Jamelia, as she was near the middle of the leaderboard, having been in the dance-off before and done a mistake rather than improved. The sofa split in the Clauditorium after the first lot of results was very pointed, with the three good couples on her left and Jeremy and Carol, who are both worse dancers than Jamelia but never been in the dance-off, on the right.
Cue a meh song from Bryan Adams, so the paso bits were welcome. I found the Len’s lens informative – might they consider doing an in-depth with just one judge a week? I miss Craig having to explain himself on ITT.
And then I found myself wanting the better dancers to be safe so that if Jamelia could just dance it right, she'd be safe. I don’t think it’s entirely fair that Ainsley was in the bottom again, but I didn’t vote.
We had a better fitting hot-pink dress from Tess, a dress that looked like a business suit crossed with a nighty from Claudia. I liked the patterned skirts - Natalie’s even more than Karen’s (the yellow in the skirt was fine, but too much in the back detail). Carol looked gorgeous, as ever, especially when I was assured the top bit was the same colour as the skirt, Kirsty was rocking the Irene Adler do, what they did to Jamelia’s bosom was a bit of a disaster, and I liked the turquoises. Aljiaz carried off the pro men’s outfits, and I was going to say something about Jay but maybe the dancing made the outfit.
Bruno was cranked up to 11.
To the dances: Georgia still hasn’t won me over. I thought there was too much disco and not enough, well, grinding. The main problem was that she was overthinking the lifts. I wondered if she was overmarked, although she was trailing the top dancers. Maybe I’m prejudiced against her, mind.
Double chandeliers for Carol’s Viennese Waltz, and I basically wondered why Pasha let her get out of hold so much. Yes, she’s improved since the beginning, but she’s the weakest lady in terms of ability, and was the weakest on the night. (This in a week when much has been made on ITT of the culling of the men.)
I have to admit I lost the beginning of Anita and Gleb’s dance because I went to get some dessert and ended up having a crockery-shattering accident. I was gutted because I understood that I missed Star Trek tango goodness and vowed to rewatch. On the other hand, this meant I felt I couldn’t repeat the phoning in of last week. I think Anita has definitely deserved the praise she gets for being able to take on each dance and make it her own.
Peter’s rumba was good (and I feel sorry for Ainsley and Jeremy if they’re still on for long enough to have to do it), although I agreed that there were not quite rumba-ey moments in it.
Kirsty is still twinned with Carol in terms of the dance she's given, but here, Brendan outdid Pasha by keeping her in hold (once the dance started – I didn’t think the opening on the platform justified the long descent. Yeah, I agreed with Len.) I thought there was at least one wobble they judges didn’t go on about, but it was nice to see her get a breakthrough moment.
Ainsley’s Ready Steady Cook referencing jive was FUN. It did get slouchy, but the entertainment value was high for me.
Jamelia, of course, had had her breakthrough moment last week, which still puts her and Kirsty a while behind the people who are looking for 9s. I also agreed with Len that she’s half-defeating herself by her mindset with the ballroom. It started off quite nicely and then descended into less good territory.
I thought Katie seemed confident and was doing more than in the cha-cha, but the lifts got progressively worse, and then there were the comments. I am going to put some of this down to Anton, not so much his choreography, but his ability to teach her Latin (there are plenty of free female pros, could he get them into the studio?) It may not cost her yet, but the other good lady dancers are much more consistent.
That may have been one of the eleven billion times Craig gave someone a four and Darcy gave him the self same look of outrage. Eventually she elbowed him.
I spent most of Jeremy’s dance thinking it was a shame he didn’t have a taller partner. I have to commend his, Carol and Katie’s attitudes to the show, especially, though.
HELEN’S QUICKSTEP. My favourite dance of the night. Light, airy, together, top-drawer quality. Again, happy Aljiaz (which is infectious.) I did notice her grin getting a little rictus-like, but I love her ballroom dancing. I could have done without the opening ‘business’ (but I know that’s as nothing to next week). I enjoyed seeing her scream for joy at the (deserved) 9s.
And then we were all tense for Jay. I barely remember The Wanted, but I think I remember his bandmate’s face, but I was mainly staring at the height difference between them. More rugby team than boyband. Very quickly, I relaxed and joined Darcey and surely many viewers in swooning. I thought his attitude was spot on. Also, I hope he ignores Darcey’s advice vis a vis Aliona (whom he clearly adores, I’m not sure if that’s crushing or just part of loving dancing, but partnering her like that will work for nearly all the other dances, so it’s not advice he should take much further. Rather, take it as 'learn the character of the dance' stuff. And even so, as I said, I thought he came off as arrogant enough on the floor.) Second fave of the night.
My issue with Kelly’s jive was choreographic content – at times it didn’t feel like a jive, and there were bits where the attention was taken away from her, but that’s on Kevin, and the speed was ferocious while the dancing was of a high quality, so I am pleased she, too, scored nines.
Excellent fake horse and general clowning from Claudia, BTW.
So I used iPlayer and saw all Anita and Gleb’s dance – very nice tango. I liked the Glebian choreography – I thought there was less of a Star Trek vibe than the had judges made out, and it was less forcefully mental than, say, Pixie’s gladiatrix paso, but she definitely deserved to get into the 30s.
I also took the opportunity to rewatch my favourites, and enjoyed Jay’s paso even more. I was saying that I wanted a good paso the other week. Well, that was the first.
The results show
I enjoyed the Berkley-flavoured Charleston. Better outfits from both presenters. Good on the producers for being generous in the round-up and giving the glory spot to Helen having given it to Kelly on the live show, as they were equals.
I had started to worry for Jamelia, as she was near the middle of the leaderboard, having been in the dance-off before and done a mistake rather than improved. The sofa split in the Clauditorium after the first lot of results was very pointed, with the three good couples on her left and Jeremy and Carol, who are both worse dancers than Jamelia but never been in the dance-off, on the right.
Cue a meh song from Bryan Adams, so the paso bits were welcome. I found the Len’s lens informative – might they consider doing an in-depth with just one judge a week? I miss Craig having to explain himself on ITT.
And then I found myself wanting the better dancers to be safe so that if Jamelia could just dance it right, she'd be safe. I don’t think it’s entirely fair that Ainsley was in the bottom again, but I didn’t vote.
