shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2018-10-07 08:07 am
shallowness) wrote2018-10-07 08:07 am
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One of the better movie nights the show's done
Strictly – Week 3/Movie Night
I can’t say the Harry Potter opening routine made a strong case for Harry Potter the ballet, but if a proper ballet company wants to prove me wrong…The outfits were clever, though I can’t have been the only one watching who got distracted by which house the pros had been sorted into. Anton brought some inappropriate professor/student action – I had been fully expecting Craig as Snape to happen. I liked what they did with the quidditch section, and it was interesting that AJ, the Boy Who Danced, got the lead role, and not Kevin, ultimately.
I think Tess, in pink, and Claudia, in textured white, beat Darcey’s ruffle of doom and Shirley’s fringed bolero thing, although the latter looked better while she was seated and Darcey’s multi-coloured earrings were a win.
Vick was unhappy about the props, but that’s movie week for you. Before I forget, the production design etc was brilliant. I didn’t love the choreography of her salsa, the comedy beginning was faffing about (first time I’ve thought about Len in a while) and I didn’t like the disco section, although I guess they had to go there with Abba. The first lift was better than the second, and I agreed with Shirley about the lack of body action. (I then proceeded to forget the dance, given the masses of dancing that followed, so it’s a good job I took notes.)
Mean thought: but when they referenced Love, Actually, of course it was going to be Martine McCutcheon. Everyone else who’s still with us from that film has acting careers to be getting on with.
Odd that they gave the death slot to Ranj. I thought he was light footed, but lacked strength. Having seen his ballroom now, I think he’s going to have issues with his frame/topline and I can’t imagine him doing a quiet, restrained number. Stacey must have been rolling her eyes so hard about all the special pleading about him doing the quickstep as his first ballroom, as it was her first dance, full stop.
Everyone has been pretending all week that Lee’s dancing was the problem, when it was his personality/landing in the danger zone. So, maybe they decided it’d be too horrid to put Lee n the death slot. (Nadiya’s look made me seriously consider campaigning for a gender-flipped Back to the Future remake. Emma Thompson as Doc Brown, anyone?) Ropey start to Lee’s cha cha. I thought he lacked confidence but relaxed more as it went on.
Kate recovered well from her fall (all that live experience helped her where it would have floored others) although I think I’d have loved the routine more if it hadn’t happened. She looked goooood, and her love for dancing and Strictly are such pluses, but can we see a routine that isn’t all about the sexy for her, just for a different flavour?
Tess nailed it (for once) when she called Stacey’s jive infectious. She was on it (her poor knees!) if maybe a little too contained compared with Kevin, which is probably him needing to lower his level to flatter her, but she deserved all the 8s. I was slightly reminded of Aston’s Trolls thing, but this wasn’t as good, although it entirely deserved to end up third on the leaderboard.
I noticed this last week, but I’ll put it out there now: Joe and Dianne are one of the more touchy-feely couples in their downtime. There was lots of promise from him in his first ballroom. I wanted him to be bigger and to smile, but I think that Joe showed a great base for Dianne to work on in the ballroom, and the lift choreography was smart.
FUN Spider-man routine. Nicely averted Spider!Daddy upsidedown kissing someone who’s not mummy, but it is THE iconic moment from the Raimi films, so they had to get it in. Great synchronisation, the gloves made all his hand movements pop, and while I didn’t love it as much as the judges, it was good.
My notes for the next routine read: PASHA, YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS.
I loved all the little nods to the movie. The Lift went right and then was surpassed by THE FINAL LIFT SEQUENCE. Flavia and Louis just got pwned. I love that Pasha had such trust in Ashley and it was rewarded. Right score, total blockbusting salsa/medley routine (and such knowingness about the Venn diagram between Dirty Dancing fans and Strictly fans. There is so much you could parse about Scherzinger and DD, DD and DwtS…)
I thought Katie clearly improved – and was better towards the end. Her enjoyment then transferred to us. I also enjoyed the treat that was Gorka playing Ryan Gosling. Brilliant reaction to a 5 (from Craig), and I was very fond of the show at this point, because it was a totally different routine from the one preceding in mood, and, yes, in quality, but Katie’s breakthrough was given as much attention as Ashley’s triumph.
It was the fab concept that got to me the most about the Matrix paso – never doubt Katya’s choreography. For me, Seann got it right, but it was more about her and her flexibility, but the judges loved his work. I would not have called that score after last week. But they are a really likeable couple.
I thought the opening choreography for Lauren on the car was lacking any impact. Her legs looked all right to me. I did feel very sorry for her, because I tend to see AJ as as much of a hindrance as her lack of performance experience. (Get Greg Rutherford or Jonny Peacock in to have a chat?)
Charles semed a little anxious to me. There was gapping and some lines that could have been more finished, but the routine ended so strongly with great lifts. The judges seem puzzled as to why this pairing isn’t working better.
Remember Giovanni’s ‘DEBBEH’? Well, we got a higher-pitched ‘FAYE’ this year. Fortunately what came after that was a wowzer. I literally gasped at the speed at one point, and red shoes below tight black trousers gave her footwork nowhere to hide – not that she needed it. Very, very good – that’s the quickstep by which all the rest will be measured this year, then (and these two excite me as a partnership.)
Right dance to end with. I thought there was a lot of quality about Danny’s paso, and it worked better for me than his cha-cha.
Then there were Claudia & Janette & popcorn shenanigans.
Faye and Ashley look set to exchange the top spot week by week, and methinks the British public will hold Steps in greater affection than the Pussycat Dolls. Also, Ashley still seems a little befuddled by the arc of the show and British humour and attitudes. Then you’ve got a group of good dancers, most of whom seem to have had no dance training, although I’m always in the dark about that, who are helped by which dance they get each week. Well, maybe it’s too early to say that definitively, given the changes from last week. A lot of the pros brung it with the choreography, and Craig and Bruno's spat was funny until it ran on too long, plus at least three of the films referenced mean a lot to me, so Strictly can have it’s inevitable Greatest Show bragging for the rest of the week.
I can’t say the Harry Potter opening routine made a strong case for Harry Potter the ballet, but if a proper ballet company wants to prove me wrong…The outfits were clever, though I can’t have been the only one watching who got distracted by which house the pros had been sorted into. Anton brought some inappropriate professor/student action – I had been fully expecting Craig as Snape to happen. I liked what they did with the quidditch section, and it was interesting that AJ, the Boy Who Danced, got the lead role, and not Kevin, ultimately.
I think Tess, in pink, and Claudia, in textured white, beat Darcey’s ruffle of doom and Shirley’s fringed bolero thing, although the latter looked better while she was seated and Darcey’s multi-coloured earrings were a win.
Vick was unhappy about the props, but that’s movie week for you. Before I forget, the production design etc was brilliant. I didn’t love the choreography of her salsa, the comedy beginning was faffing about (first time I’ve thought about Len in a while) and I didn’t like the disco section, although I guess they had to go there with Abba. The first lift was better than the second, and I agreed with Shirley about the lack of body action. (I then proceeded to forget the dance, given the masses of dancing that followed, so it’s a good job I took notes.)
Mean thought: but when they referenced Love, Actually, of course it was going to be Martine McCutcheon. Everyone else who’s still with us from that film has acting careers to be getting on with.
Odd that they gave the death slot to Ranj. I thought he was light footed, but lacked strength. Having seen his ballroom now, I think he’s going to have issues with his frame/topline and I can’t imagine him doing a quiet, restrained number. Stacey must have been rolling her eyes so hard about all the special pleading about him doing the quickstep as his first ballroom, as it was her first dance, full stop.
Everyone has been pretending all week that Lee’s dancing was the problem, when it was his personality/landing in the danger zone. So, maybe they decided it’d be too horrid to put Lee n the death slot. (Nadiya’s look made me seriously consider campaigning for a gender-flipped Back to the Future remake. Emma Thompson as Doc Brown, anyone?) Ropey start to Lee’s cha cha. I thought he lacked confidence but relaxed more as it went on.
Kate recovered well from her fall (all that live experience helped her where it would have floored others) although I think I’d have loved the routine more if it hadn’t happened. She looked goooood, and her love for dancing and Strictly are such pluses, but can we see a routine that isn’t all about the sexy for her, just for a different flavour?
Tess nailed it (for once) when she called Stacey’s jive infectious. She was on it (her poor knees!) if maybe a little too contained compared with Kevin, which is probably him needing to lower his level to flatter her, but she deserved all the 8s. I was slightly reminded of Aston’s Trolls thing, but this wasn’t as good, although it entirely deserved to end up third on the leaderboard.
I noticed this last week, but I’ll put it out there now: Joe and Dianne are one of the more touchy-feely couples in their downtime. There was lots of promise from him in his first ballroom. I wanted him to be bigger and to smile, but I think that Joe showed a great base for Dianne to work on in the ballroom, and the lift choreography was smart.
FUN Spider-man routine. Nicely averted Spider!Daddy upsidedown kissing someone who’s not mummy, but it is THE iconic moment from the Raimi films, so they had to get it in. Great synchronisation, the gloves made all his hand movements pop, and while I didn’t love it as much as the judges, it was good.
My notes for the next routine read: PASHA, YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS.
I loved all the little nods to the movie. The Lift went right and then was surpassed by THE FINAL LIFT SEQUENCE. Flavia and Louis just got pwned. I love that Pasha had such trust in Ashley and it was rewarded. Right score, total blockbusting salsa/medley routine (and such knowingness about the Venn diagram between Dirty Dancing fans and Strictly fans. There is so much you could parse about Scherzinger and DD, DD and DwtS…)
I thought Katie clearly improved – and was better towards the end. Her enjoyment then transferred to us. I also enjoyed the treat that was Gorka playing Ryan Gosling. Brilliant reaction to a 5 (from Craig), and I was very fond of the show at this point, because it was a totally different routine from the one preceding in mood, and, yes, in quality, but Katie’s breakthrough was given as much attention as Ashley’s triumph.
It was the fab concept that got to me the most about the Matrix paso – never doubt Katya’s choreography. For me, Seann got it right, but it was more about her and her flexibility, but the judges loved his work. I would not have called that score after last week. But they are a really likeable couple.
I thought the opening choreography for Lauren on the car was lacking any impact. Her legs looked all right to me. I did feel very sorry for her, because I tend to see AJ as as much of a hindrance as her lack of performance experience. (Get Greg Rutherford or Jonny Peacock in to have a chat?)
Charles semed a little anxious to me. There was gapping and some lines that could have been more finished, but the routine ended so strongly with great lifts. The judges seem puzzled as to why this pairing isn’t working better.
Remember Giovanni’s ‘DEBBEH’? Well, we got a higher-pitched ‘FAYE’ this year. Fortunately what came after that was a wowzer. I literally gasped at the speed at one point, and red shoes below tight black trousers gave her footwork nowhere to hide – not that she needed it. Very, very good – that’s the quickstep by which all the rest will be measured this year, then (and these two excite me as a partnership.)
Right dance to end with. I thought there was a lot of quality about Danny’s paso, and it worked better for me than his cha-cha.
Then there were Claudia & Janette & popcorn shenanigans.
Faye and Ashley look set to exchange the top spot week by week, and methinks the British public will hold Steps in greater affection than the Pussycat Dolls. Also, Ashley still seems a little befuddled by the arc of the show and British humour and attitudes. Then you’ve got a group of good dancers, most of whom seem to have had no dance training, although I’m always in the dark about that, who are helped by which dance they get each week. Well, maybe it’s too early to say that definitively, given the changes from last week. A lot of the pros brung it with the choreography, and Craig and Bruno's spat was funny until it ran on too long, plus at least three of the films referenced mean a lot to me, so Strictly can have it’s inevitable Greatest Show bragging for the rest of the week.