Strictly pre-Blackpool weekend
Nov. 14th, 2016 07:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessSaturday's show
It took me a while to realise Mary Berry was in the audience, hence all the comments about her.
All the VTs were serious, mainly set in (gasp) the training room, not London sights or continental capitals. Wow.
Daisy and her legs opened proceedings that I quite liked, and I thought her stamina has improved, because the second half seemed to have more lifts and that.
At first I thought Natalie’s outfit was too busy and the fringing reminiscent of lampshades, but it worked during the dance. (Greg's trousers made Zoe sexually harass him on ITT.) Greg showed off how he’s improved, being rather commanding and into it, although I thought his neck disappeared. The music was spot on for the paso atmosphere.
Judge Rinder brought on the grandparents. Sadly, the combination of ninetysomethings and Tess went about as well as you’d expect. Anyway, we got the message about his love of the foxtrot. I was not overwhelmed by the dance, it was perfectly decent, but without enough sway. Oksana looked lovely and managed to control her loose, but thematically appropriate, hair. I realised she’s got a little similarity to Katherine Jenkins in appearance.
I felt sorry for Ore being given the exposing rumba after the dance-off, but he did a good one as far as celeb male rumbas go. I think I preferred Danny’s in hindsight, because although Ore’s dancing was mostly good, he didn’t quite project enough for me. (But I did end up pity voting for him.)
Ed’s ‘salsa’/Gangnam Style thing happened. I actually found the beginning dull, and had plenty of headspace to be impressed with the singer’s Korean. And then it all went ‘Katya, are you MAD?’ It felt like an audition for a showdance with a good dancer from her. Understandably, the judges were hysterical, especially Darcey, and unable to comment. BUT EIGHT, LEN? REALLY?
Claudia F had to follow that. Is this the first time we’ve seen the swing this season? I forget. I felt that AJ had choreographed the opening section in a way that made use of the height difference (although there was a bit too much of standing still and spinning, what looked like him grabbing at her skirt for no good reason, so I’m still not overwhelmed by him as a choreographer). But her control and her elegance throughout were really impressive. Craig was the only one to give feedback that she can work on to try to get that 10, and join that club – yeah, the Craig who will not reach for his 10 paddle. So I'm wondering if they'll work that narrative. (I also voted for her, the second Tess and Bruno were patronising. To give him his dues, Len did commend her for the maturity of her performance. But even Claudia W seemed to be infantilising her this week.)
I was all excited about Danny doing the Argentine tango (oh phew, we won against them – I stopped watching the rugby for Strictly) and I was right to be. It was my favourite routine of the night. Tough to follow on after Louise and lead. It was dramatic and impressive, and I rather liked the take on ‘Heard it through the grapevine’. If Louise had scored more than him, I would have voted for him. Also, for all that Tess called the judges ‘split’ (Claudia W, with her working brain, made less of it) Craig and Darcey were always going to give him 9s. The only question was would the other two reach for their 10s. And they did!
I also found Kcren's comments on ITT about the problem with the routine helpful.
Louise deservedly got the last slot after last week and because of the routine she was doing. I may have got a little sarky about a stage school alumni worrying about pulling off Fosse, but I was curious about whether wholesome Louise could vamp it up. But she kind of did. Spot-on choreography from Kevin (but seriously, next year…he needs a duffer). And she got one less than Danny which I felt was fair.
The singer gave good Shirley – a good night for the singers – although it was a shame that a screeching fan could be heard as the music went down.
So, the canonical narrative, well, from Tess and Len, is that Ed has to go through to Blackpool, but I’d like them to say who they think shouldn’t go instead. Daisy is probably going to be in the dance-off – I like her, but never enough to vote for her, even in a week when I voted twice. [That paragraph was written on Saturday.]
Results show
Maybe the colour will get up from the shoes to the outfit next week, Claudia. Meanwhile, Tess wore her cape well.
I find Strictly’s treatment of Remembrance Sunday problematic, so all I’ll say about the opening pro routine is that the gowns were pretty.
Then Len accidentally groped Darcey, so let’s move on.
The first batch of safes was a response to last week, as much as anything, as Ore had been in the dance-off and Claudia F had been called last then. No surprise as Daisy was not called safe.
Andre Rieu got my respect for wearing the white poppy. Let’s hope that next week won’t involve the results show having to pay tribute to a recently deceased musician. I wonder how much warning they had, specifically for the choreography.
They cut Darcy out of the Len’s Lens bit, but as she managed to negate her first bit of advice to Daisy with her second, that’s no surprise.
Ed was called safe, but it was then the joint next lowest couple under the red light. Judge Ringer looked petrified/worried/as if he'd throw up throughout. I thought they’d be biased to give Greg a bye because it was his first time, but I’d have given it to him too based on the performance (got to be nice that Len praised the technique) because Daisy’s first lift was a bit off. Poor thing, maybe she did better with a longer rehearsal, but she never quite followed up her first routine, although I quite liked her quickstep and Charleston, and there were always positives about her dances. I do think Greg has clearly demonstrated progress and improvement.
But seriously, everyone, the deal was Ed gets to Blackpool and then leaves. RIGHT!?
It took me a while to realise Mary Berry was in the audience, hence all the comments about her.
All the VTs were serious, mainly set in (gasp) the training room, not London sights or continental capitals. Wow.
Daisy and her legs opened proceedings that I quite liked, and I thought her stamina has improved, because the second half seemed to have more lifts and that.
At first I thought Natalie’s outfit was too busy and the fringing reminiscent of lampshades, but it worked during the dance. (Greg's trousers made Zoe sexually harass him on ITT.) Greg showed off how he’s improved, being rather commanding and into it, although I thought his neck disappeared. The music was spot on for the paso atmosphere.
Judge Rinder brought on the grandparents. Sadly, the combination of ninetysomethings and Tess went about as well as you’d expect. Anyway, we got the message about his love of the foxtrot. I was not overwhelmed by the dance, it was perfectly decent, but without enough sway. Oksana looked lovely and managed to control her loose, but thematically appropriate, hair. I realised she’s got a little similarity to Katherine Jenkins in appearance.
I felt sorry for Ore being given the exposing rumba after the dance-off, but he did a good one as far as celeb male rumbas go. I think I preferred Danny’s in hindsight, because although Ore’s dancing was mostly good, he didn’t quite project enough for me. (But I did end up pity voting for him.)
Ed’s ‘salsa’/Gangnam Style thing happened. I actually found the beginning dull, and had plenty of headspace to be impressed with the singer’s Korean. And then it all went ‘Katya, are you MAD?’ It felt like an audition for a showdance with a good dancer from her. Understandably, the judges were hysterical, especially Darcey, and unable to comment. BUT EIGHT, LEN? REALLY?
Claudia F had to follow that. Is this the first time we’ve seen the swing this season? I forget. I felt that AJ had choreographed the opening section in a way that made use of the height difference (although there was a bit too much of standing still and spinning, what looked like him grabbing at her skirt for no good reason, so I’m still not overwhelmed by him as a choreographer). But her control and her elegance throughout were really impressive. Craig was the only one to give feedback that she can work on to try to get that 10, and join that club – yeah, the Craig who will not reach for his 10 paddle. So I'm wondering if they'll work that narrative. (I also voted for her, the second Tess and Bruno were patronising. To give him his dues, Len did commend her for the maturity of her performance. But even Claudia W seemed to be infantilising her this week.)
I was all excited about Danny doing the Argentine tango (oh phew, we won against them – I stopped watching the rugby for Strictly) and I was right to be. It was my favourite routine of the night. Tough to follow on after Louise and lead. It was dramatic and impressive, and I rather liked the take on ‘Heard it through the grapevine’. If Louise had scored more than him, I would have voted for him. Also, for all that Tess called the judges ‘split’ (Claudia W, with her working brain, made less of it) Craig and Darcey were always going to give him 9s. The only question was would the other two reach for their 10s. And they did!
I also found Kcren's comments on ITT about the problem with the routine helpful.
Louise deservedly got the last slot after last week and because of the routine she was doing. I may have got a little sarky about a stage school alumni worrying about pulling off Fosse, but I was curious about whether wholesome Louise could vamp it up. But she kind of did. Spot-on choreography from Kevin (but seriously, next year…he needs a duffer). And she got one less than Danny which I felt was fair.
The singer gave good Shirley – a good night for the singers – although it was a shame that a screeching fan could be heard as the music went down.
So, the canonical narrative, well, from Tess and Len, is that Ed has to go through to Blackpool, but I’d like them to say who they think shouldn’t go instead. Daisy is probably going to be in the dance-off – I like her, but never enough to vote for her, even in a week when I voted twice. [That paragraph was written on Saturday.]
Results show
Maybe the colour will get up from the shoes to the outfit next week, Claudia. Meanwhile, Tess wore her cape well.
I find Strictly’s treatment of Remembrance Sunday problematic, so all I’ll say about the opening pro routine is that the gowns were pretty.
Then Len accidentally groped Darcey, so let’s move on.
The first batch of safes was a response to last week, as much as anything, as Ore had been in the dance-off and Claudia F had been called last then. No surprise as Daisy was not called safe.
Andre Rieu got my respect for wearing the white poppy. Let’s hope that next week won’t involve the results show having to pay tribute to a recently deceased musician. I wonder how much warning they had, specifically for the choreography.
They cut Darcy out of the Len’s Lens bit, but as she managed to negate her first bit of advice to Daisy with her second, that’s no surprise.
Ed was called safe, but it was then the joint next lowest couple under the red light. Judge Ringer looked petrified/worried/as if he'd throw up throughout. I thought they’d be biased to give Greg a bye because it was his first time, but I’d have given it to him too based on the performance (got to be nice that Len praised the technique) because Daisy’s first lift was a bit off. Poor thing, maybe she did better with a longer rehearsal, but she never quite followed up her first routine, although I quite liked her quickstep and Charleston, and there were always positives about her dances. I do think Greg has clearly demonstrated progress and improvement.
But seriously, everyone, the deal was Ed gets to Blackpool and then leaves. RIGHT!?
