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shallownessThey must be glad the live show went off so well.
I enjoyed the energy of the pro routine to the Latin medley, but I’m not sure I got it: the dancers seemed to be fighting a lot, then they were trying to outpose each other, so still fighting… WHUT?
Presenters and judges all went for monochrome, so the dancers’ colours popped out.
Such a good call to invite people from the NHS to make up the smaller audience.
I suspect I haven’t got the routines in order:
I’ll be honest, I was distracted by a RL issue, so my main impression of Jamie and Karen’s cha-cha was their blond heads and ‘Disco’. Importantly, he didn’t get injured. (Oti dodged a bullet.)
Caroline, on the other hand was lovely and emotional. My main thought was ‘she can move’ and even if she doesn’t quite reach Debbie McGee heights, she’s going to be a pleasureto watch. First outing of the hologram thingy.
Clara was confident (and I loved the electric blue of her outfit). I really want to see her paso.
Then, was it Max? I was very interested in Dianne’s hair (it had been epic in the pro routine, and was big in the rehearsal footage, more tamed in the routine but eye-catching because of the monochrome outfits.) Yeah, I wasn’t too excited about this tango. My main feeling was it’s good he’s got the first dance out of the way and maybe he’ll settle from now on.
Was it Jacqui next? She came off as really personable and enough of a trier to get Anton to talk some sense in the footage. With the messing about and the props (for a non-performer) she didn’t have much to do in hold. Which, given the skippiness, is understandable. I was thinking Craig would mention Ann Widdecombe (I think Jacqui’s better) so took a while to process the Theresa May reference.
I think her mother debuted the Strictly mask, which reminds me a bit of a beekeeper’s head covering, but is presumably designed to show more expression.
Was JJ next? Frankly, I thought, ‘Well, you’ve just lost fiftysomething of the Scottish vote’ when he waved an Union Jack cape in the opening montage. But he was one of the two people who most surprised me. I know I’m partial to a waltz, but this was probably the most emotive dance of the night, and he seemed to be an attentive partner. Way better than I was expecting. And with the backstory of not being able to dance a waltz at his brother’s wedding, the video of his wife and little girl was overkill, which Claudia recognised and apologised for. The irony being that the dance worked on its own merits.
I must be hard-hearted because nobody danced to my father or grandfathers’ favourite songs.
This year’s baby girl next. Maisie’s dress was impressive, but her dancing so much more so. I had been feeling sorry for her getting the samba this early, and it didn’t quite have the shock factor of being unexpectedly good of that Kelvin’s did last year, but it was good nonetheless. It became quickly apparent that Gorka could throw a lot at her and he was (Shirley said she did all the rhythms). So far, I personally find her more annoying than Alexandra, although I am aware some of that is patronising ageism on my part, but this ought to be a good year for Gorka, the other pro who’s gone bleached this year.
Got to admit, I was a little disappointed in Jason’s dance. Again, it’s A LOT to throw an American Smooth at a male celeb, plus weaving about holographic/AR cars in the first week. Craig’s critique was more addressed at Luba’s choices, at least Motsitalke about how Jason approached them. But one lift was dodgy, one dismount was dodgy and I mainly sent the routine loving Luba’s dress.
Ranvir looks like she’ll be this year’s contestant with not enough time in her life to do it all. But she, along with JJ, was the most surprising-in-a-good-way contestant. Like, my main note would have been she could go even bigger, but what she did was impressive, and I was reminded that Gio can be an ace choreographer.
I’m sure I’ve ot the order wrong now. It occurred to me that a same-sex pro-am couple, specially if they’re going for a complementary look, is potentially going to be as unlattering as any side-by-side dancing is, but Katya’s choreography was clever (I‘m sure It Takes Two - yay, it's back - will explain the hold stuff in great detail), and Nicola’s footwork, which you always look at in the quickstep, was very good.
Then came my favourite pairing for entertainment value – I give you the Elvis knees/African knees exchange, and it was classic ‘He’s not great, but he is joyfulness’. Bill clearly went for it for Oti, and she had tried to improve his free arm. And, yeah, I still want them to stay as long as possible, even if I’m not sure about the 6s.
Claudia overcompensated on the scoring totals, because even if, with only three judges, they’re lower, you can still work out that an 8 from Craig is impressive and all 7s is better than not.
Finally came the baby boy HRV, with possibly the bummest note of the night. Talking about a kid who has juss had COVID not having enough stamina and being exhausted doing the jive is more anxiety-making than I want Strictly to be. But then…Well, I think he surprised Janette by how he danced on the night, which suggests a born performer. It was stylish and energetic and very, very competent. Like, it wasn’t as good as Karim (similar age and build but Karim’s jive was much later in proceedings), and it was better than Joe’s (similar age and build. who did dance early on in procedings) and they both made it to the final. Don’t mess this p like you did for Aston, Janette!
With Motsi’s 9 he edged Maisie (Motsi’s going to mark with her heart) but isn’t the samba more technically difficult? So, hard to call between the babies.
Bruno got a clip that he’d obviously done before HRV had danced, but it was nice to be reminded of the earlier dances, and Bruno desperately wanted to say ‘Sweet Caroline’. So we got our fourth blonde crop of the night.
Claudia especially seemed yearning to hug everyone, but they pulled it off in a COVID-secure way. And like always, it was a big deal nerveswise for everyone to perform for the first time live. The ladies outshone the men (HRV and perhaps JJ excepted, though let’s see how the latter copes with Latin). But I hope that the show will carry on Strictlifying 2020, because we all need it.
[Edited for typos 15/1/23.]
I enjoyed the energy of the pro routine to the Latin medley, but I’m not sure I got it: the dancers seemed to be fighting a lot, then they were trying to outpose each other, so still fighting… WHUT?
Presenters and judges all went for monochrome, so the dancers’ colours popped out.
Such a good call to invite people from the NHS to make up the smaller audience.
I suspect I haven’t got the routines in order:
I’ll be honest, I was distracted by a RL issue, so my main impression of Jamie and Karen’s cha-cha was their blond heads and ‘Disco’. Importantly, he didn’t get injured. (Oti dodged a bullet.)
Caroline, on the other hand was lovely and emotional. My main thought was ‘she can move’ and even if she doesn’t quite reach Debbie McGee heights, she’s going to be a pleasureto watch. First outing of the hologram thingy.
Clara was confident (and I loved the electric blue of her outfit). I really want to see her paso.
Then, was it Max? I was very interested in Dianne’s hair (it had been epic in the pro routine, and was big in the rehearsal footage, more tamed in the routine but eye-catching because of the monochrome outfits.) Yeah, I wasn’t too excited about this tango. My main feeling was it’s good he’s got the first dance out of the way and maybe he’ll settle from now on.
Was it Jacqui next? She came off as really personable and enough of a trier to get Anton to talk some sense in the footage. With the messing about and the props (for a non-performer) she didn’t have much to do in hold. Which, given the skippiness, is understandable. I was thinking Craig would mention Ann Widdecombe (I think Jacqui’s better) so took a while to process the Theresa May reference.
I think her mother debuted the Strictly mask, which reminds me a bit of a beekeeper’s head covering, but is presumably designed to show more expression.
Was JJ next? Frankly, I thought, ‘Well, you’ve just lost fiftysomething of the Scottish vote’ when he waved an Union Jack cape in the opening montage. But he was one of the two people who most surprised me. I know I’m partial to a waltz, but this was probably the most emotive dance of the night, and he seemed to be an attentive partner. Way better than I was expecting. And with the backstory of not being able to dance a waltz at his brother’s wedding, the video of his wife and little girl was overkill, which Claudia recognised and apologised for. The irony being that the dance worked on its own merits.
I must be hard-hearted because nobody danced to my father or grandfathers’ favourite songs.
This year’s baby girl next. Maisie’s dress was impressive, but her dancing so much more so. I had been feeling sorry for her getting the samba this early, and it didn’t quite have the shock factor of being unexpectedly good of that Kelvin’s did last year, but it was good nonetheless. It became quickly apparent that Gorka could throw a lot at her and he was (Shirley said she did all the rhythms). So far, I personally find her more annoying than Alexandra, although I am aware some of that is patronising ageism on my part, but this ought to be a good year for Gorka, the other pro who’s gone bleached this year.
Got to admit, I was a little disappointed in Jason’s dance. Again, it’s A LOT to throw an American Smooth at a male celeb, plus weaving about holographic/AR cars in the first week. Craig’s critique was more addressed at Luba’s choices, at least Motsitalke about how Jason approached them. But one lift was dodgy, one dismount was dodgy and I mainly sent the routine loving Luba’s dress.
Ranvir looks like she’ll be this year’s contestant with not enough time in her life to do it all. But she, along with JJ, was the most surprising-in-a-good-way contestant. Like, my main note would have been she could go even bigger, but what she did was impressive, and I was reminded that Gio can be an ace choreographer.
I’m sure I’ve ot the order wrong now. It occurred to me that a same-sex pro-am couple, specially if they’re going for a complementary look, is potentially going to be as unlattering as any side-by-side dancing is, but Katya’s choreography was clever (I‘m sure It Takes Two - yay, it's back - will explain the hold stuff in great detail), and Nicola’s footwork, which you always look at in the quickstep, was very good.
Then came my favourite pairing for entertainment value – I give you the Elvis knees/African knees exchange, and it was classic ‘He’s not great, but he is joyfulness’. Bill clearly went for it for Oti, and she had tried to improve his free arm. And, yeah, I still want them to stay as long as possible, even if I’m not sure about the 6s.
Claudia overcompensated on the scoring totals, because even if, with only three judges, they’re lower, you can still work out that an 8 from Craig is impressive and all 7s is better than not.
Finally came the baby boy HRV, with possibly the bummest note of the night. Talking about a kid who has juss had COVID not having enough stamina and being exhausted doing the jive is more anxiety-making than I want Strictly to be. But then…Well, I think he surprised Janette by how he danced on the night, which suggests a born performer. It was stylish and energetic and very, very competent. Like, it wasn’t as good as Karim (similar age and build but Karim’s jive was much later in proceedings), and it was better than Joe’s (similar age and build. who did dance early on in procedings) and they both made it to the final. Don’t mess this p like you did for Aston, Janette!
With Motsi’s 9 he edged Maisie (Motsi’s going to mark with her heart) but isn’t the samba more technically difficult? So, hard to call between the babies.
Bruno got a clip that he’d obviously done before HRV had danced, but it was nice to be reminded of the earlier dances, and Bruno desperately wanted to say ‘Sweet Caroline’. So we got our fourth blonde crop of the night.
Claudia especially seemed yearning to hug everyone, but they pulled it off in a COVID-secure way. And like always, it was a big deal nerveswise for everyone to perform for the first time live. The ladies outshone the men (HRV and perhaps JJ excepted, though let’s see how the latter copes with Latin). But I hope that the show will carry on Strictlifying 2020, because we all need it.
[Edited for typos 15/1/23.]
