Strictly Week 3
Oct. 15th, 2017 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessSo, it turns out I got a few pro names wrong in last week’s results show.
Not much to say about the presenter and judges' outfits except that I wouldn't like to see the state of Tess's white train by the end of the show.
Although I laughed at the VT playing up the premise of Debbie and Giovanni's dance and how they played it, I found her cha cha a bit stiff (so it's an 'oh dear' for her current arc after such a good start.)
Even Debbie was caught up in the chaos in the Clauditorium, although variants on the standing leg split were the move of the nights.
I saw no fluidity in Brian's paso. Amy came off as his annoying stepdaughter with the stuff about him wanting the make-up/to play out a quasi Jagger role.
I have massive indifference towards Mollie and AJ as a couple, although I don't think the show has needed to be so desperate to get a Saturday in the audience every episode. It felt like Mollie gave the salsa the right attitiude, the lifts got worse as they went on, but the whole thing was a bit loopy and more showy than earthy.
Davood's VW started off well, but his face got tougher to watch - I suppose he was battling nausea too much to perform. I'm starting not to rate Nadiya's choreoraphy, although the music called for intensity instead of romance, she does seem to be one-note, and if that spin was a borderline lift in rehearsals, just cut it. Part of the pro's role is to make the celeb look good, and she seems to have limited ideas about how to do it. Her dress was gorgeous though and the judges liked the routine more than I did.
Charlotte's jive was okay (though Alexandra's later jive makes that feel like too much of a kindness). I was bugged by her arm movements not being big enough. On a night when a lot of names were got wrong (and the camera picked out someone who wasn't Nadiya's mum?), Shirley 'Bassey' got Charlotte's name wrong. On the one hand, it's nice to get confused for a young twentysomething, on the other, it's rude. Maybe Shirley should do contestant recognition homework over next week?
Joe's dance - well it was a tango storyline for a cha cha, so that was confusing. It looked good in bits, but, whoa, he's inconsistent. Excellent make-up for Katya.
Ruth danced in her own hair! There was a feeling of 'she got through it!' No mistakes, less terror? I mean, she wasn't totally in sync with Anton, but this was much needed improvement. I really liked the concept, look and choreography, and would have loved to see someone better do the routine with Anton.
I loved Janette's dress from when I first saw it and the subtly (!) sympathetic colour Aston was in. The beginning made me think too much about how they'd got that effect, but I thought the routine went pretty well myself.
It was a picky week from the judges - Aston was the first to get over 30. Craig quite often gave positive-sounding remarks, although he was, as ever, harsh with the paddles.
Karen did her best 'let the gentleman show off the pro lady as she twirls around him' routine for Simon, but if he went wrong (even I noticed some of it), well.
We had a fierce, committed and good paso from Gemma, also glitter clapping, which is one of the reasons why I loved Strictly. The VT suggested (possibly misleadingly) that Ajiaz's approach to choreaography, i.e. changing things so that they look better, is working better than several other pros being rigid about choreography that's beyond their celeb... but yeah, sorry, Debbie, that was the second-best lady paso. And it puts no pressure on Mollie when she has to do one.
But then Alexandra...
She pulled it out of the bag. Again. I couldn't keep my eyes off her, despite Gorka being her partner, and she looked as if she was more or less matching him (I spotted one or two 'eh' bits in the linkages between the drags and the drops). Amazing legs used to a purpose. Is the consensus that The Big Three Jives are now Four? Because I suspect it should be. I loved Alexandra's artless response to Bruno's name-dropping. Shirley got to launch a catchphrase, and then Claudia handled a difficult emotional situation very tenderly. I had known Alexandra had lost her mother recently, and it must be awful.
Also, I feel bad that we've seen her boyfriend, and no wonder the show is emphaisising Gorka = teacher now.
Oti was obviously moved by what had happened. Jonnie's American accent was the main take-out of the VT. We had an excellent opening to their routine to savour, with Oti probably winning the pro dress contest, although wearing red always gives you a head start. I suspect she is now very excited about all the dances that they can do lifts in. I thought there was a lot of improvement, so I was chuffed they broke the 30 mark.
And then to close, we had some nice homage in the VT, and Susan's quickstep featured clever choreography, great lightness of foot, and a strong suggestion that she's more than a comedy contestant. It was certainly her best dance yet and a canny closer.
Wouldn't want to guess who's in trouble: Simon, Charlotte and maybe Brian are obvious contenders, but we did have ties, and there are still too many people on the leaderboard for me to work it out. My favourite routines were towards the top, so I felt no compulsion to vote.
Not much to say about the presenter and judges' outfits except that I wouldn't like to see the state of Tess's white train by the end of the show.
Although I laughed at the VT playing up the premise of Debbie and Giovanni's dance and how they played it, I found her cha cha a bit stiff (so it's an 'oh dear' for her current arc after such a good start.)
Even Debbie was caught up in the chaos in the Clauditorium, although variants on the standing leg split were the move of the nights.
I saw no fluidity in Brian's paso. Amy came off as his annoying stepdaughter with the stuff about him wanting the make-up/to play out a quasi Jagger role.
I have massive indifference towards Mollie and AJ as a couple, although I don't think the show has needed to be so desperate to get a Saturday in the audience every episode. It felt like Mollie gave the salsa the right attitiude, the lifts got worse as they went on, but the whole thing was a bit loopy and more showy than earthy.
Davood's VW started off well, but his face got tougher to watch - I suppose he was battling nausea too much to perform. I'm starting not to rate Nadiya's choreoraphy, although the music called for intensity instead of romance, she does seem to be one-note, and if that spin was a borderline lift in rehearsals, just cut it. Part of the pro's role is to make the celeb look good, and she seems to have limited ideas about how to do it. Her dress was gorgeous though and the judges liked the routine more than I did.
Charlotte's jive was okay (though Alexandra's later jive makes that feel like too much of a kindness). I was bugged by her arm movements not being big enough. On a night when a lot of names were got wrong (and the camera picked out someone who wasn't Nadiya's mum?), Shirley 'Bassey' got Charlotte's name wrong. On the one hand, it's nice to get confused for a young twentysomething, on the other, it's rude. Maybe Shirley should do contestant recognition homework over next week?
Joe's dance - well it was a tango storyline for a cha cha, so that was confusing. It looked good in bits, but, whoa, he's inconsistent. Excellent make-up for Katya.
Ruth danced in her own hair! There was a feeling of 'she got through it!' No mistakes, less terror? I mean, she wasn't totally in sync with Anton, but this was much needed improvement. I really liked the concept, look and choreography, and would have loved to see someone better do the routine with Anton.
I loved Janette's dress from when I first saw it and the subtly (!) sympathetic colour Aston was in. The beginning made me think too much about how they'd got that effect, but I thought the routine went pretty well myself.
It was a picky week from the judges - Aston was the first to get over 30. Craig quite often gave positive-sounding remarks, although he was, as ever, harsh with the paddles.
Karen did her best 'let the gentleman show off the pro lady as she twirls around him' routine for Simon, but if he went wrong (even I noticed some of it), well.
We had a fierce, committed and good paso from Gemma, also glitter clapping, which is one of the reasons why I loved Strictly. The VT suggested (possibly misleadingly) that Ajiaz's approach to choreaography, i.e. changing things so that they look better, is working better than several other pros being rigid about choreography that's beyond their celeb... but yeah, sorry, Debbie, that was the second-best lady paso. And it puts no pressure on Mollie when she has to do one.
But then Alexandra...
She pulled it out of the bag. Again. I couldn't keep my eyes off her, despite Gorka being her partner, and she looked as if she was more or less matching him (I spotted one or two 'eh' bits in the linkages between the drags and the drops). Amazing legs used to a purpose. Is the consensus that The Big Three Jives are now Four? Because I suspect it should be. I loved Alexandra's artless response to Bruno's name-dropping. Shirley got to launch a catchphrase, and then Claudia handled a difficult emotional situation very tenderly. I had known Alexandra had lost her mother recently, and it must be awful.
Also, I feel bad that we've seen her boyfriend, and no wonder the show is emphaisising Gorka = teacher now.
Oti was obviously moved by what had happened. Jonnie's American accent was the main take-out of the VT. We had an excellent opening to their routine to savour, with Oti probably winning the pro dress contest, although wearing red always gives you a head start. I suspect she is now very excited about all the dances that they can do lifts in. I thought there was a lot of improvement, so I was chuffed they broke the 30 mark.
And then to close, we had some nice homage in the VT, and Susan's quickstep featured clever choreography, great lightness of foot, and a strong suggestion that she's more than a comedy contestant. It was certainly her best dance yet and a canny closer.
Wouldn't want to guess who's in trouble: Simon, Charlotte and maybe Brian are obvious contenders, but we did have ties, and there are still too many people on the leaderboard for me to work it out. My favourite routines were towards the top, so I felt no compulsion to vote.
