The Strictly launch show 2022
Sep. 24th, 2022 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI’m currently reading ‘The Ink Black Heart’, so I’ll be posting about that after I’ve finished it. I’m also taking a brief break from watching Hart of Dixie, because it occurred to me to look up fanfiction. Last night, I was expecting Ghosts to return, but on checking the schedule discovered that BBC One was showing the Strictly Come Dancing launch show instead.
It started off with the theme of moving from night to a new day, although what I mainly got out of it was hair extensions. The show epitomises the new normal, if you like: a full studio audience, TessnClaud interacting, couples on sofas with other couples, and Motsi dangling a return to Blackpool before us, but some COVID-secure things have remained, such as the four separate judges’ desks, although Anton is now ensconced as a judge, so Shirley doesn’t have to worry about Bruno Brunoing all over her, and the couples are still on the side of the dancefloor instead of in the Clauditorium, presumably because they feel like improvements. Or they didn’t want to waste the sets.
The message had gone forth: ladies should wear white trousers, as TessnClaud, Shirley and Jade Adams did, and yet Motsi outplayed them all with her black gloves.
As ever, I’d only heard some of the names of the celebs who were joining the show this year, I’d only heard of some of them, and I was equally curious to find out which pros were returning (because I only knew that Aljiaz wouldn’t be, which I’ve processed) and what the new ones were like. They dealt with the couples’ reveals in groups of four until they came to ‘the Adams family’ (doubt it’ll last, show) with a theme of the celebs being filmed finding out somewhere of significance to them, which the show made look rather gorgeous. As ever, some couples were better at coming off super excited at dancing with each other than others.
We began with the couple I was most curious about, because it’ll be fascinating to see how the pro works with Ellie S’s dwarfism, and it was Nikita and his hair. I liked his choreography last year, so I was quite pleased with this, although watching him bend down to hug her rather highlighted the challenge for them. I guess Ellie S is fit and will be competitive, but she can’t have Rose’s arc all over again, can she?
I thought Dianne got a starring role in the opening routine, but maybe that’s because her red hair makes her very distinguishable for me, which I appreciate. Ty made a strong case for being this year’s most busy celeb (the London marathon deserves a ‘blimey’) and started off a trend of ‘doing it for my mum’. Grazziano is back, yay, and has already worked with Kym Marsh. Turns out Will Mellor’s missus is a pro dancer (of what variety?) He seems a bit hyper so it’ makes sense that he got paired with Nancy.
We got introduced to the new pros with a dance routine mixed with pre-recorded interviews and then a chat with Claudia, where the girls came across as dance swots (and Lauren having short hair almost feels like a brave choice these days). Vito was a living Italian mama’s boys stereotype and Carlos legitimately seemed to fluster Claudia, although she reacted with Claudiaish aplomb.
Gorka should be able to understand Helen’s accent, fortunately. James was taller than Tess, so I was expecting him to get Nadiya, but it was Amy instead. He was blatantly hoping to act his way through routines. Fleur is this year’s early bird, but on the face of it, i.e. youngish and a singer, could be a contender, and the rap turned out to be good. Vito was paried off with her. Then we met Hamza, who I didn’t know because I don’t watch CBBC, and his awesome hair, which makes Nikita’s hair feel inadequate, who was paired with Jowita, who I had forgotten about, so I felt relieved that they emphasised she had never had a partner before. Justice for Jowita, I guess, but I’m not even sure I’ve spelled her name right. [Edit: I hadn't originally.] Hamza seems like the least confident performer.
Rose and Giovanni did the champion’s return, and my heart melted. What struck me is that they could have chosen from one of many dances (okay, mainly the ballrooms, the Argentine Tango, the showdance or the Couples Choice, with the last one being the most obvious) but I respect them for going for the Viennese Waltz for the sign language and representation. Also because they loved the dramah, I’d guess. She was glued to him, and it was bliss. So, that’s this year’s lot’s challenge: give us FEELS like they did. Rose was really sad that she’d never dance with Giovanni in the studio again, but I wonder, with Tess emphasising that it was Strictly’s twentieth series, whether the Beeb will be able to resist some kind of reunion show.
Nadiya got Matt – I was never a Brossette, but I suspect that that’s where the votes of many of the women a little older than me will go - and he seems an intriguing mix of ego, talent and shyness. Ellie T made everything that had come before seem not funny enough, and as she’s quite tall, I was fairly sure it would indeed be Johannes she’d be paired with, and lo, it was. Molly, the baby of the group, got Carlos, so they’ve given the two new male pros potential ringers. Claudia is clearly still deciding whether it is worth turning Carlos’s rumba as flirtation business into a bit. Potentially the running gag about her love for Dave Arch is on the line. Or she could turn it inro a tug of war.
I did know Richie was doing Strictly and that he’d have a male partner. I doubt he’ll be as good as John turned out to be, so defending champion Gio got him, which certainly makes a change from ladies who are good at ballroom, which has been his rut, and offers him enough of a choreographic challenge to pique his interest. Who knows, Richie might like the jive? I still find it implausible that he’ll do a Bill Bailey.
John Legend sang a song that felt like a more boring version of songs I like better, so it was quite nice that the dancers turned up.
I hadn’t been spoiled that Jade (who she has contemporary dance experience but wants us to know that it wasn’t like the contemporary dance experience that Caroline Flack had but didn’t really disclose back in the day) would be dancing with a female partner. She got Karen, and it seemed like it was going to be a Katya and Nicola retread, except Jade started oversharing about how she wanted to lift Karen while both of them were wet. Don’t think the Strictly audience will be up for that, myself. Tony is the tallest male celeb (but Nadiya has paid her tall foot ex footableer dues) and oldest. I really liked his snazzy red suit in his interviews. Katya is going to push the gimmicky choreography. And finally we learned that Kaye is preparing to turn 60 by dancing with lovely Kai. I am apparently in the demographic who wants to cheer her on, although I wish the whole business with the organ playing the Strictly theme hadn’t happened.
Which means that Cameron, Luba and the two new girls, at least haven’t been paired up, and it seems as though Neil has left (which is gutting) and Oti has ascended. Maybe I knew the last. I did feel a wave of fondness for most of the returning pros, Grazz wasn’t the only one I went ‘yay’ about seeing return, and both Nadiya and Nikita are Ukrainian, right?
I’d learned not to trust my impressions of the first group dance even before my eyesight deteriorated, but FWIW, Fleur seemed to do well with her showy moves, Ellie S, Helen and Kym were really going for it, and Ty and Matt might be good. But I’ll reserve judgement, other than pointing out that Hamza’s hair is awesome, but they’re going to have to think about what they do with it while he’s dancing. I think there was one bit where they had Tess do a voiceover that was recorded after because of the schedule changes thanks to the Queen’s death, which means we only have 24 hours to digest all that and prepare for the upcoming (non London) marathon.
[Edited for typos 3/2/25.]
It started off with the theme of moving from night to a new day, although what I mainly got out of it was hair extensions. The show epitomises the new normal, if you like: a full studio audience, TessnClaud interacting, couples on sofas with other couples, and Motsi dangling a return to Blackpool before us, but some COVID-secure things have remained, such as the four separate judges’ desks, although Anton is now ensconced as a judge, so Shirley doesn’t have to worry about Bruno Brunoing all over her, and the couples are still on the side of the dancefloor instead of in the Clauditorium, presumably because they feel like improvements. Or they didn’t want to waste the sets.
The message had gone forth: ladies should wear white trousers, as TessnClaud, Shirley and Jade Adams did, and yet Motsi outplayed them all with her black gloves.
As ever, I’d only heard some of the names of the celebs who were joining the show this year, I’d only heard of some of them, and I was equally curious to find out which pros were returning (because I only knew that Aljiaz wouldn’t be, which I’ve processed) and what the new ones were like. They dealt with the couples’ reveals in groups of four until they came to ‘the Adams family’ (doubt it’ll last, show) with a theme of the celebs being filmed finding out somewhere of significance to them, which the show made look rather gorgeous. As ever, some couples were better at coming off super excited at dancing with each other than others.
We began with the couple I was most curious about, because it’ll be fascinating to see how the pro works with Ellie S’s dwarfism, and it was Nikita and his hair. I liked his choreography last year, so I was quite pleased with this, although watching him bend down to hug her rather highlighted the challenge for them. I guess Ellie S is fit and will be competitive, but she can’t have Rose’s arc all over again, can she?
I thought Dianne got a starring role in the opening routine, but maybe that’s because her red hair makes her very distinguishable for me, which I appreciate. Ty made a strong case for being this year’s most busy celeb (the London marathon deserves a ‘blimey’) and started off a trend of ‘doing it for my mum’. Grazziano is back, yay, and has already worked with Kym Marsh. Turns out Will Mellor’s missus is a pro dancer (of what variety?) He seems a bit hyper so it’ makes sense that he got paired with Nancy.
We got introduced to the new pros with a dance routine mixed with pre-recorded interviews and then a chat with Claudia, where the girls came across as dance swots (and Lauren having short hair almost feels like a brave choice these days). Vito was a living Italian mama’s boys stereotype and Carlos legitimately seemed to fluster Claudia, although she reacted with Claudiaish aplomb.
Gorka should be able to understand Helen’s accent, fortunately. James was taller than Tess, so I was expecting him to get Nadiya, but it was Amy instead. He was blatantly hoping to act his way through routines. Fleur is this year’s early bird, but on the face of it, i.e. youngish and a singer, could be a contender, and the rap turned out to be good. Vito was paried off with her. Then we met Hamza, who I didn’t know because I don’t watch CBBC, and his awesome hair, which makes Nikita’s hair feel inadequate, who was paired with Jowita, who I had forgotten about, so I felt relieved that they emphasised she had never had a partner before. Justice for Jowita, I guess, but I’m not even sure I’ve spelled her name right. [Edit: I hadn't originally.] Hamza seems like the least confident performer.
Rose and Giovanni did the champion’s return, and my heart melted. What struck me is that they could have chosen from one of many dances (okay, mainly the ballrooms, the Argentine Tango, the showdance or the Couples Choice, with the last one being the most obvious) but I respect them for going for the Viennese Waltz for the sign language and representation. Also because they loved the dramah, I’d guess. She was glued to him, and it was bliss. So, that’s this year’s lot’s challenge: give us FEELS like they did. Rose was really sad that she’d never dance with Giovanni in the studio again, but I wonder, with Tess emphasising that it was Strictly’s twentieth series, whether the Beeb will be able to resist some kind of reunion show.
Nadiya got Matt – I was never a Brossette, but I suspect that that’s where the votes of many of the women a little older than me will go - and he seems an intriguing mix of ego, talent and shyness. Ellie T made everything that had come before seem not funny enough, and as she’s quite tall, I was fairly sure it would indeed be Johannes she’d be paired with, and lo, it was. Molly, the baby of the group, got Carlos, so they’ve given the two new male pros potential ringers. Claudia is clearly still deciding whether it is worth turning Carlos’s rumba as flirtation business into a bit. Potentially the running gag about her love for Dave Arch is on the line. Or she could turn it inro a tug of war.
I did know Richie was doing Strictly and that he’d have a male partner. I doubt he’ll be as good as John turned out to be, so defending champion Gio got him, which certainly makes a change from ladies who are good at ballroom, which has been his rut, and offers him enough of a choreographic challenge to pique his interest. Who knows, Richie might like the jive? I still find it implausible that he’ll do a Bill Bailey.
John Legend sang a song that felt like a more boring version of songs I like better, so it was quite nice that the dancers turned up.
I hadn’t been spoiled that Jade (who she has contemporary dance experience but wants us to know that it wasn’t like the contemporary dance experience that Caroline Flack had but didn’t really disclose back in the day) would be dancing with a female partner. She got Karen, and it seemed like it was going to be a Katya and Nicola retread, except Jade started oversharing about how she wanted to lift Karen while both of them were wet. Don’t think the Strictly audience will be up for that, myself. Tony is the tallest male celeb (but Nadiya has paid her tall foot ex footableer dues) and oldest. I really liked his snazzy red suit in his interviews. Katya is going to push the gimmicky choreography. And finally we learned that Kaye is preparing to turn 60 by dancing with lovely Kai. I am apparently in the demographic who wants to cheer her on, although I wish the whole business with the organ playing the Strictly theme hadn’t happened.
Which means that Cameron, Luba and the two new girls, at least haven’t been paired up, and it seems as though Neil has left (which is gutting) and Oti has ascended. Maybe I knew the last. I did feel a wave of fondness for most of the returning pros, Grazz wasn’t the only one I went ‘yay’ about seeing return, and both Nadiya and Nikita are Ukrainian, right?
I’d learned not to trust my impressions of the first group dance even before my eyesight deteriorated, but FWIW, Fleur seemed to do well with her showy moves, Ellie S, Helen and Kym were really going for it, and Ty and Matt might be good. But I’ll reserve judgement, other than pointing out that Hamza’s hair is awesome, but they’re going to have to think about what they do with it while he’s dancing. I think there was one bit where they had Tess do a voiceover that was recorded after because of the schedule changes thanks to the Queen’s death, which means we only have 24 hours to digest all that and prepare for the upcoming (non London) marathon.
[Edited for typos 3/2/25.]
