Strictly – week 4
Oct. 17th, 2016 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessFirst off, Will dropped out ‘for personal reasons’ – I haven’t read any speculation, which may be better informed than I'll ever be and am willing to assume that something one probably shouldn’t speculate about cropped up suddenly, because he seemed to be really enthused about dancing and competing and knew the reality TV score. My cynical side thinks his record company must be a bit gutted and maybe Tameka also could have wished for different timing, but there you go. (I mean, as a competitor, he and Karen were teetering on the annoying, but he was clearly able to dance, so...)
What this meant was that the judges and contestants had more time to jibber-jabber.
Saturday Greg got to open with a salsa. We learned that Strictly has broke another celeb, only this one’s an Olympian champion. ‘Fortunately’ it was his wrist and not his foot and he seemed able to cope. I presume Natalie’s response to Olly Murs was genuine. Each to their own. He’s so going to be a contestant next year, right? Anyway, Greg didn't bother with the fake tan, gave a confident performance, even if it wasn’t a great salsa, ending with a superpowered lift (down, Tess) which Natalie rightly judged would be what we’d remember.
Natalie’s gown nicely echoed the candy-floss, while Greg...got away with his outfit.
Laura’s VT was the beginning of a run of terrible VTs. Anyway, she responded to midtable unpopularity leading to the dance-off by being very determined, even though she must also know as a fan that being put on second in the running order is unflattering. But she did the routine pretty well, even if the song isn’t quite my quickstep cup of tea, and there were minor things that didn't work because of the speed and one section of gapping. I think they come off as forcing it – the dancing – as a couple, so although they didn’t deserve to be in the dance-off, I suspect they will be back there sooner than they deserve to.
Laura looked great, but I think that Giovanni would have looked better in a black or pink shirt with a contrasting tie than the patterned shirt he was sporting.
Anastacia’s VT was not terrible – the concept of transferring her comfort level as a singer to her dancing was not terrible like Naga visiting an aquarium to make puns, but you had to forget that Anastacia always performs.
Anyway, first rumba of the season with Anastacia blissfully unaware of the subplot of how Len and Brendan like their rumbas and how the others like their rumbas etc etc. Actually, I thought she was quite accomplished. I agree that she wasn’t as fluid as she could be, but it’s an exposing dance, and there was lots to like about it. Brendan knew the second Anastacia vocalised her disappointment with the score that that was not the way to play it with the British public. This is a shame, because her armwork made me long to see her paso.
Claudia and AJ (were forced to?) embrace the fact that they are the kids of the show, even though Claudia thinks of school as waaaay back in her past. The height difference still nags at me. I both liked the control shown in the dance while it didn’t make me feel much, so I knew what the judges meant, although, again, I thought Craig undermarked them.
With Ed, I could barely watch the VT and I felt the same about the routine. The only way I remembered it was a paso was when Katya caught my eye. He did the biggest blunders, his shaping was terrible and it was, indeed, stompy. Oops. The camp couldn’t save it and we were suddenly seeing sub-20 marks.
Naga, to me, looked pretty graceful in the first half of the Charleston – well, before the lifts. And she was smiling and conveying enjoyment! So I was pleased when Len (did Darcey?) mentioned that there was an improvement. I must also commend Tess for the crabby line, which felt improvised (it can’t have been, though, surely) – although Claudia W made me cackle all show.
Louise looked the best she’s looked on the show in a (gasp!) flattering dress with a nice detail on the back and a great red (which didn’t go with Kevin’s suit, but that’s par for the course). I also thought she sold the routine better, perhaps because it had more pizzazz and last week gave her confidence. Her best dance. And I’m not going to snark on Kevin for his reaction to the scores, because with his wife out of the competition because of her partner’s decision, it must have been a tough week, so he deserved his celebration.
Danny had the quickstep and I spontaneously grinned throughout. It was JOYOUS. That he managed to keep up was impressive (fair enough if they spotted an error), but that it looked like he was leading? The song was hardly a classic, but it din't matter i.e. he wore a suit and Oti wore a gorgeous dress. Anyway, I felt he deserved his set of nines again.
Daisy, like Louise, got a flattering ‘working hard at training’ VT. Clingy dress, but the nudey colouring and flounce worked against it. As for the rumba, it was a class above Anastacia’s, I thought her facial expression was distracting, and for all that Aljiaz was talking about taking the next step and all the work they’d (obviously) put in, the nature of the rumba worked against them – it made it seem like stasis on her part rather than progression.
They were given ‘Boom-bang-a-bang’ so what else could Oksana do than this routine? I did share the judges’ frustration that we’re losing the dancer because of the funny business. Judge Rinder didn’t seem to make mistakes and the Viennese Waltzy bits were not half bad.
He spoke for us all in the ‘ooh, Boris Becker is in the audience’ stuff.
The crew tried to justify their travels by very pretty shots of Malta.
Lesley’s dance was delightful (and my third favourite of the night, so I voted for her because I'm voting already. I think this is the first time I’ve voted for Anton) and astounding in that she kept up the quality and everything. (Katie Derham was in the audience, so some of Anton pretending he’s never had a good contestant even if what he meant was ‘Look, this celeb who was meant to be an old lady they palmed off on me for us to make the audience laugh is really quite good’ played badly.)
Ore got the closing slot, deservedly so after last week. Very quickly, it became apparent why all the sweaty hard work had been necessary. Oh, my. It just kept on and on. I liked the choreography, again, I liked his style, and the comparisons with Jay’s routine were not unfounded. In fact, it looked to me like he had more content and is the better performer. So, yeah, that was astounding.
As for Craig saying Danny has a fight on – well, yeah, and Ore has most likely had less dance training of some variety, but Danny was one of the loudest in cheering Ore on. (I didn’t see Oti’s reaction.) Ore did the overwhelmed crying again, as did Jo – totally understandably, because she hadn’t got anywhere near 10s with Scott. (Claudia W wonderfully subverted it all with that line about her wedding. And the apologetic delivery of the build-up to ‘A kestrel’...) But still, wasn’t tonight meant to be a letdown?
Just to clarify, Ore and Jo’s jive was my favourite routine, then Danny and Oti’s quickstep and then Lesley and Anton’s charleston. I can’t be bothered to untangle my feelings for everyone else and how well I think they did, though for me, clearly Ed deserved to be in the bottom two and I feared Anastacia would be there again for reasons that had little to do with her dancing.
Results
If the rumba was ‘the most difficult dance’ in the previous episode, for this one it was the jive. Moving on, Claudia W wore colour!
Before we saw that, the guest dancers stole the James Brown tribute from the pros, although I did chuckle at Anton’s moves.
Nice of them to let Lesley and Laura off the hook so quickly. Although she’d improved performance-wise, Naga was deservedly second bottom, so I’m not going to quibble with the voting public for losing patience with her, but when is the first white celeb going to go (and it really should be Ed)? Having said that, I can see why the judges chose who they did out of the two couples.
We had more crying from Ore.
I think they could have gone a bit more interpretive with the dancing for the Madness song.
Craig apparently said nothing worth delving into in Len's Lens and after having to listen to himself screech or watch himself flap about, Bruno got to deliver some critique in Len’s Lens.
I started getting worried about Greg, but not as worried as he was for himself. Once Ed was called safe though, it was always going to be Anastacia and Anastacia was always going to survive against Naga, so I skipped them dancing again.
But the producers must be relieved Ore has come good and Danny and Oti are also likely to stay around for the long haul.
What this meant was that the judges and contestants had more time to jibber-jabber.
Saturday Greg got to open with a salsa. We learned that Strictly has broke another celeb, only this one’s an Olympian champion. ‘Fortunately’ it was his wrist and not his foot and he seemed able to cope. I presume Natalie’s response to Olly Murs was genuine. Each to their own. He’s so going to be a contestant next year, right? Anyway, Greg didn't bother with the fake tan, gave a confident performance, even if it wasn’t a great salsa, ending with a superpowered lift (down, Tess) which Natalie rightly judged would be what we’d remember.
Natalie’s gown nicely echoed the candy-floss, while Greg...got away with his outfit.
Laura’s VT was the beginning of a run of terrible VTs. Anyway, she responded to midtable unpopularity leading to the dance-off by being very determined, even though she must also know as a fan that being put on second in the running order is unflattering. But she did the routine pretty well, even if the song isn’t quite my quickstep cup of tea, and there were minor things that didn't work because of the speed and one section of gapping. I think they come off as forcing it – the dancing – as a couple, so although they didn’t deserve to be in the dance-off, I suspect they will be back there sooner than they deserve to.
Laura looked great, but I think that Giovanni would have looked better in a black or pink shirt with a contrasting tie than the patterned shirt he was sporting.
Anastacia’s VT was not terrible – the concept of transferring her comfort level as a singer to her dancing was not terrible like Naga visiting an aquarium to make puns, but you had to forget that Anastacia always performs.
Anyway, first rumba of the season with Anastacia blissfully unaware of the subplot of how Len and Brendan like their rumbas and how the others like their rumbas etc etc. Actually, I thought she was quite accomplished. I agree that she wasn’t as fluid as she could be, but it’s an exposing dance, and there was lots to like about it. Brendan knew the second Anastacia vocalised her disappointment with the score that that was not the way to play it with the British public. This is a shame, because her armwork made me long to see her paso.
Claudia and AJ (were forced to?) embrace the fact that they are the kids of the show, even though Claudia thinks of school as waaaay back in her past. The height difference still nags at me. I both liked the control shown in the dance while it didn’t make me feel much, so I knew what the judges meant, although, again, I thought Craig undermarked them.
With Ed, I could barely watch the VT and I felt the same about the routine. The only way I remembered it was a paso was when Katya caught my eye. He did the biggest blunders, his shaping was terrible and it was, indeed, stompy. Oops. The camp couldn’t save it and we were suddenly seeing sub-20 marks.
Naga, to me, looked pretty graceful in the first half of the Charleston – well, before the lifts. And she was smiling and conveying enjoyment! So I was pleased when Len (did Darcey?) mentioned that there was an improvement. I must also commend Tess for the crabby line, which felt improvised (it can’t have been, though, surely) – although Claudia W made me cackle all show.
Louise looked the best she’s looked on the show in a (gasp!) flattering dress with a nice detail on the back and a great red (which didn’t go with Kevin’s suit, but that’s par for the course). I also thought she sold the routine better, perhaps because it had more pizzazz and last week gave her confidence. Her best dance. And I’m not going to snark on Kevin for his reaction to the scores, because with his wife out of the competition because of her partner’s decision, it must have been a tough week, so he deserved his celebration.
Danny had the quickstep and I spontaneously grinned throughout. It was JOYOUS. That he managed to keep up was impressive (fair enough if they spotted an error), but that it looked like he was leading? The song was hardly a classic, but it din't matter i.e. he wore a suit and Oti wore a gorgeous dress. Anyway, I felt he deserved his set of nines again.
Daisy, like Louise, got a flattering ‘working hard at training’ VT. Clingy dress, but the nudey colouring and flounce worked against it. As for the rumba, it was a class above Anastacia’s, I thought her facial expression was distracting, and for all that Aljiaz was talking about taking the next step and all the work they’d (obviously) put in, the nature of the rumba worked against them – it made it seem like stasis on her part rather than progression.
They were given ‘Boom-bang-a-bang’ so what else could Oksana do than this routine? I did share the judges’ frustration that we’re losing the dancer because of the funny business. Judge Rinder didn’t seem to make mistakes and the Viennese Waltzy bits were not half bad.
He spoke for us all in the ‘ooh, Boris Becker is in the audience’ stuff.
The crew tried to justify their travels by very pretty shots of Malta.
Lesley’s dance was delightful (and my third favourite of the night, so I voted for her because I'm voting already. I think this is the first time I’ve voted for Anton) and astounding in that she kept up the quality and everything. (Katie Derham was in the audience, so some of Anton pretending he’s never had a good contestant even if what he meant was ‘Look, this celeb who was meant to be an old lady they palmed off on me for us to make the audience laugh is really quite good’ played badly.)
Ore got the closing slot, deservedly so after last week. Very quickly, it became apparent why all the sweaty hard work had been necessary. Oh, my. It just kept on and on. I liked the choreography, again, I liked his style, and the comparisons with Jay’s routine were not unfounded. In fact, it looked to me like he had more content and is the better performer. So, yeah, that was astounding.
As for Craig saying Danny has a fight on – well, yeah, and Ore has most likely had less dance training of some variety, but Danny was one of the loudest in cheering Ore on. (I didn’t see Oti’s reaction.) Ore did the overwhelmed crying again, as did Jo – totally understandably, because she hadn’t got anywhere near 10s with Scott. (Claudia W wonderfully subverted it all with that line about her wedding. And the apologetic delivery of the build-up to ‘A kestrel’...) But still, wasn’t tonight meant to be a letdown?
Just to clarify, Ore and Jo’s jive was my favourite routine, then Danny and Oti’s quickstep and then Lesley and Anton’s charleston. I can’t be bothered to untangle my feelings for everyone else and how well I think they did, though for me, clearly Ed deserved to be in the bottom two and I feared Anastacia would be there again for reasons that had little to do with her dancing.
Results
If the rumba was ‘the most difficult dance’ in the previous episode, for this one it was the jive. Moving on, Claudia W wore colour!
Before we saw that, the guest dancers stole the James Brown tribute from the pros, although I did chuckle at Anton’s moves.
Nice of them to let Lesley and Laura off the hook so quickly. Although she’d improved performance-wise, Naga was deservedly second bottom, so I’m not going to quibble with the voting public for losing patience with her, but when is the first white celeb going to go (and it really should be Ed)? Having said that, I can see why the judges chose who they did out of the two couples.
We had more crying from Ore.
I think they could have gone a bit more interpretive with the dancing for the Madness song.
Craig apparently said nothing worth delving into in Len's Lens and after having to listen to himself screech or watch himself flap about, Bruno got to deliver some critique in Len’s Lens.
I started getting worried about Greg, but not as worried as he was for himself. Once Ed was called safe though, it was always going to be Anastacia and Anastacia was always going to survive against Naga, so I skipped them dancing again.
But the producers must be relieved Ore has come good and Danny and Oti are also likely to stay around for the long haul.
