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Oct. 9th, 2016 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessStrictly – ‘It’s only’ Week 3/Movie Night
That was a very weird zip through bits of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, involving Brendan as the King of Siam. There’s probably a hashtag for that. Also we got Natalie as Maria in pigtails, most of the pros in costumes that initially made no sense to meand cowboys and nuns. The last combo is totally Strictly.
Enter Tess and Claudia in monochrome dresses with slits showing off different legs.
Daisy got to start things off, smiling her way through being a quickstepping Mary Poppins. (Somebody had to tell us how quick this dance is and how many steps there are in it and it was her.) Setting happy!Aljiaz aside, hard though that is, I wished her performance had been just a little more finished, so I thought the marks were fair.
We got reassured that Anastacia is being looked after all right after all the awkwardness and drama of last week. She was really feeling the mood of the song/routine, and though it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, I liked it. I like them. I wish Brendan had worn sparkly-eyed contacts, though.
I find myself being more chuffed that Oti can pull out all her best choreographic tricks because Danny is so good than that Danny is so good. That is not to take away from what the judges praised about his lines and body shape. I am certainly not quibbling with his four nines (but that bodice on Oti’s dress, I would quibble with that).
That Lesley does yoga (unless the VT was a total fabrication) explains a lot. I enjoyed their routine very much. She pulls it off performance-wise, obviously, but there’s a higher quality to her dancing than you expect. People who love to dance are infectious dancers. I think these two suffer as a couple because of the height difference, and maybe Lesley deserved a shorter dancer and not to be given Anton as the obvious coupling.
Who else but Will would have so many trousers like that to rehearse in? I was intrigued about the Bollywood/salsa combo, but I have to say that I’m with Len about the lack of samba content (apart from the lifts). Will talking back to Len just made me cringe, and he’s really got to watch it, because after last week he's coming off as annoying and that’s more pernicious than the question of how much samba was in the dance, which is on Karen, as we all know, because he did dance the routine well.
Poor Naga, the image of them in the air like that was cool and directly referenced the movie, but getting out of the harness was awkward and ponderous, and the ending went a bit wrong too. But the middle bit? She looked so much more comfortable in serious tango face, and I’m glad Len (who I applaud for getting the praise first, criticism later order right, because the way everyone else did it isn’t going to build her confidence) did say that it was her best dance yet, because it was, although it wasn’t great.
Judge Rinder and the way he played treating Fred Flinstone (voiced by an imposter) as his philosophy guide is so very taking. I was looking forward to his Charleston, and I thought Oksana’s choreography was marvellous, but I’m glad he didn’t get away with the timing being off or the mistakes, which were so blatant I spotted them.
Doing ‘Singing in the Rain’ is BRAVE, and although I have so much goodwill for Ore, I thought it was a big ask, but they pulled it off – Jo with the choreography and Ore with the execution. The references were so clever and everything, from the smoothness to the use of the umbrella, even though it’s a dreaded prop, was, as the judges said, outstanding, if he really hasn’t had any training. (Has he really not?)
I voted for them because I adore that film and they did a gorgeous bit of transformative magic working on it.
Laura’s descent went so much better than Naga’s. I have to repeat the judges’ comments (apart from Len and Bruno’s twaddle about the raunch) in that she went for it big time, which is to be commended, and was pretty good, but lost fluidity because of it.
After all that, did Claudia W let her feelings about certain political developments be known?
I differ from the judges on Greg’s American Smooth, because I wasn’t feeling it. I may even have been mumbling ‘you’re no Harry Judd’ although I was impressed by the lifts, but I was more caught up in how caught up Natalie was in it, if that makes sense. (Whereas Laura was commanding the attention so much in her routine that I got annoyed at one close up of Giovanni!?!?)
From the smiley face Claudia F had been wearing on ITT, I thought her Charleston was going to go well, and so it did. Good song for them (as the show’s kids), an apt routine for the tricks that we knew she was going to do well, but it was the dancing and thus the whole routine that impressed. She looked much more comfortable and on it, and I hope she takes that away for future dances. Pieing AJ took a lot of the attention afterwards, understandably enough, but she too deserved the straight nines, and getting one from a previously cool Craig is a big deal, even if a gymnast getting nines for a Charleston isn’t perhaps the achievement Danny and Ore pulled off.
Tameka the actress performed the tango well. She also maintained the intent we’d seen in her paso, but I was mainly watching Gorka, so, yeah, whatever.
Ed outRindered Rinder – I didn’t spot mistakes. Again, he’s going for it, and as IT was a Jim Carrey character, IT was terrifying but undeniable, but given that he was handed the samba in week 3 and some actual samba stuff in the midst of out-there-ness, I can’t quibble that he never stopped being in character. Katya looked fabulous in that colour and fringing.
Louise got the glory slot on a night when lots of people had upped their game, lots of couples had got into the thirties and nines had been given out. Flashdance is a little before my time so there was no automatic connection. She was good, OBVIOUSLY, but she isn’t the showiest dancer, and that may be a problem.
It was a hysterical night, which is to be expected of movie night – Claudia was on the verge of tears of laughter on a regular basis, and made Tess corpse. Then there were the Ore tears. Because they’re such a good bunch, I didn’t feel like grumbling that it’s too soon and got in the way of the celebs’ learning to dance, which I normally do with movie week.
Many people improved, with Claudia and Ore bothering the top of the leaderboard for the first time. Even the weakest dancers (Ed and Naga) improved. A few stayed at about the same level and maybe Daisy and Laura were a bit weaker, thanks to the dance they had, but the disappointment in terms of quality was Judge Rinder. I don’t think he’s going to appear in the dance-off because he performed it so strongly and it was still heaps of fun, and it’s going to be about popularity and entertainment value.
Ugh, I voted already.
Results
We opened with a bit of a confused number that featured terrible overacting from Giovanni and Aljiaz failing to convince as a meanie. I think that the moves involving the scarves deserved a better routine.
Tess and Claudia turned up in different monochromatic clothes.
Moving on, then, as Judge Rinder and the bottom two scorers were saved, suddenly it looked like whoever would be under the red light would be facing Anastacia, and it would be a 'shocker'. I did think that Laura didn’t have an improvement arc and maybe a showgirl salsa wasn’t going to get the numbers out voting? (Or maybe it was all about the EU??)
Jo got showcased again, so she must have been happy with her night overall. Alfie Bow outsung Michael Ball, and I think I’d have preferred him to do a solo.
The second lot got their results and it was nice that the producers didn’t torture the better dancers for too long, but when Anastacia (brilliant reaction) was called safe, well, I felt it might be Tameka – more because the tango wasn’t as good as her Charleston than because of that thing she has in common with Melvin (...) I thought Laura would win, and, to be fair, Laura did perform better the second time around. I’d forgotten they’d managed a kind of lift in the tango, which nobody mentioned in the first show, but it was more pronounced tonight. Tameka didn’t deserve to go yet, but I can see how it ended up happening.
That was a very weird zip through bits of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, involving Brendan as the King of Siam. There’s probably a hashtag for that. Also we got Natalie as Maria in pigtails, most of the pros in costumes that initially made no sense to meand cowboys and nuns. The last combo is totally Strictly.
Enter Tess and Claudia in monochrome dresses with slits showing off different legs.
Daisy got to start things off, smiling her way through being a quickstepping Mary Poppins. (Somebody had to tell us how quick this dance is and how many steps there are in it and it was her.) Setting happy!Aljiaz aside, hard though that is, I wished her performance had been just a little more finished, so I thought the marks were fair.
We got reassured that Anastacia is being looked after all right after all the awkwardness and drama of last week. She was really feeling the mood of the song/routine, and though it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, I liked it. I like them. I wish Brendan had worn sparkly-eyed contacts, though.
I find myself being more chuffed that Oti can pull out all her best choreographic tricks because Danny is so good than that Danny is so good. That is not to take away from what the judges praised about his lines and body shape. I am certainly not quibbling with his four nines (but that bodice on Oti’s dress, I would quibble with that).
That Lesley does yoga (unless the VT was a total fabrication) explains a lot. I enjoyed their routine very much. She pulls it off performance-wise, obviously, but there’s a higher quality to her dancing than you expect. People who love to dance are infectious dancers. I think these two suffer as a couple because of the height difference, and maybe Lesley deserved a shorter dancer and not to be given Anton as the obvious coupling.
Who else but Will would have so many trousers like that to rehearse in? I was intrigued about the Bollywood/salsa combo, but I have to say that I’m with Len about the lack of samba content (apart from the lifts). Will talking back to Len just made me cringe, and he’s really got to watch it, because after last week he's coming off as annoying and that’s more pernicious than the question of how much samba was in the dance, which is on Karen, as we all know, because he did dance the routine well.
Poor Naga, the image of them in the air like that was cool and directly referenced the movie, but getting out of the harness was awkward and ponderous, and the ending went a bit wrong too. But the middle bit? She looked so much more comfortable in serious tango face, and I’m glad Len (who I applaud for getting the praise first, criticism later order right, because the way everyone else did it isn’t going to build her confidence) did say that it was her best dance yet, because it was, although it wasn’t great.
Judge Rinder and the way he played treating Fred Flinstone (voiced by an imposter) as his philosophy guide is so very taking. I was looking forward to his Charleston, and I thought Oksana’s choreography was marvellous, but I’m glad he didn’t get away with the timing being off or the mistakes, which were so blatant I spotted them.
Doing ‘Singing in the Rain’ is BRAVE, and although I have so much goodwill for Ore, I thought it was a big ask, but they pulled it off – Jo with the choreography and Ore with the execution. The references were so clever and everything, from the smoothness to the use of the umbrella, even though it’s a dreaded prop, was, as the judges said, outstanding, if he really hasn’t had any training. (Has he really not?)
I voted for them because I adore that film and they did a gorgeous bit of transformative magic working on it.
Laura’s descent went so much better than Naga’s. I have to repeat the judges’ comments (apart from Len and Bruno’s twaddle about the raunch) in that she went for it big time, which is to be commended, and was pretty good, but lost fluidity because of it.
After all that, did Claudia W let her feelings about certain political developments be known?
I differ from the judges on Greg’s American Smooth, because I wasn’t feeling it. I may even have been mumbling ‘you’re no Harry Judd’ although I was impressed by the lifts, but I was more caught up in how caught up Natalie was in it, if that makes sense. (Whereas Laura was commanding the attention so much in her routine that I got annoyed at one close up of Giovanni!?!?)
From the smiley face Claudia F had been wearing on ITT, I thought her Charleston was going to go well, and so it did. Good song for them (as the show’s kids), an apt routine for the tricks that we knew she was going to do well, but it was the dancing and thus the whole routine that impressed. She looked much more comfortable and on it, and I hope she takes that away for future dances. Pieing AJ took a lot of the attention afterwards, understandably enough, but she too deserved the straight nines, and getting one from a previously cool Craig is a big deal, even if a gymnast getting nines for a Charleston isn’t perhaps the achievement Danny and Ore pulled off.
Tameka the actress performed the tango well. She also maintained the intent we’d seen in her paso, but I was mainly watching Gorka, so, yeah, whatever.
Ed outRindered Rinder – I didn’t spot mistakes. Again, he’s going for it, and as IT was a Jim Carrey character, IT was terrifying but undeniable, but given that he was handed the samba in week 3 and some actual samba stuff in the midst of out-there-ness, I can’t quibble that he never stopped being in character. Katya looked fabulous in that colour and fringing.
Louise got the glory slot on a night when lots of people had upped their game, lots of couples had got into the thirties and nines had been given out. Flashdance is a little before my time so there was no automatic connection. She was good, OBVIOUSLY, but she isn’t the showiest dancer, and that may be a problem.
It was a hysterical night, which is to be expected of movie night – Claudia was on the verge of tears of laughter on a regular basis, and made Tess corpse. Then there were the Ore tears. Because they’re such a good bunch, I didn’t feel like grumbling that it’s too soon and got in the way of the celebs’ learning to dance, which I normally do with movie week.
Many people improved, with Claudia and Ore bothering the top of the leaderboard for the first time. Even the weakest dancers (Ed and Naga) improved. A few stayed at about the same level and maybe Daisy and Laura were a bit weaker, thanks to the dance they had, but the disappointment in terms of quality was Judge Rinder. I don’t think he’s going to appear in the dance-off because he performed it so strongly and it was still heaps of fun, and it’s going to be about popularity and entertainment value.
Ugh, I voted already.
Results
We opened with a bit of a confused number that featured terrible overacting from Giovanni and Aljiaz failing to convince as a meanie. I think that the moves involving the scarves deserved a better routine.
Tess and Claudia turned up in different monochromatic clothes.
Moving on, then, as Judge Rinder and the bottom two scorers were saved, suddenly it looked like whoever would be under the red light would be facing Anastacia, and it would be a 'shocker'. I did think that Laura didn’t have an improvement arc and maybe a showgirl salsa wasn’t going to get the numbers out voting? (Or maybe it was all about the EU??)
Jo got showcased again, so she must have been happy with her night overall. Alfie Bow outsung Michael Ball, and I think I’d have preferred him to do a solo.
The second lot got their results and it was nice that the producers didn’t torture the better dancers for too long, but when Anastacia (brilliant reaction) was called safe, well, I felt it might be Tameka – more because the tango wasn’t as good as her Charleston than because of that thing she has in common with Melvin (...) I thought Laura would win, and, to be fair, Laura did perform better the second time around. I’d forgotten they’d managed a kind of lift in the tango, which nobody mentioned in the first show, but it was more pronounced tonight. Tameka didn’t deserve to go yet, but I can see how it ended up happening.
