It's all about the dancing, apparently
Strictly Week 4
Last week was busy, so, I only know the headlines. But this particular live show came with an unexpected, perhaps unwanted, frisson. How would they handle it?
Enter Claudia and Tess in one-shoulder (same shoulder) outfits that were mostly black. I feel obliged to say that I liked Tess’s jumpsuit a lot. I really liked the colour and shape of Darcy’s gown, and Shirley looked classic and shimmery.
Seann decided brazening his intro out was the way to go. Tess had told us that it was going to be all about the dancing, which is disingenuous.
I thought Joe was pretty good, his timing particularly-though he ended up being the lowest marked male celeb-and that he needs to smile more. Did Darcey call Dianne Diana?
Based on Friday’s ITT, I think Graziano’s lack of experience as a pro on Strictly is telling - he was far too honest and not supportive enough there. But Vick’s quickstep in no way deserved to be in the death slot. That was my favourite dance from her so far, the performance value was high, there were nice details and a sense of lightness and energy throughout. Good on her for getting her highest score so far.
A nice showy (of course showy) VW from Danny. I noticed early on that he and Amy weren’t quite together and that impression stayed with me throughout the dance. Bruno made a good point about plateauing, emphasised by other people’s ups and downs. (Surely this is the longest Amy’s been in as well as Dianne by now!?)
The dance I was most looking forward to was Faye and Giovanni’s rumba - the first of the series (there are many potential rumbas that I’m not looking forward to in the same way at all). I found it very accomplished. I understand what the judges were saying about Faye/the routine coming off as contained. I thought she danced beautifully, but it didn’t blow me away.
Katie’s VT was heart=warming. The jive…well, it was clear Gorka had decided to choreograph many breaks via the storyline, and bless, Katie isn’t going to be called upon to do many pantos in future-not that I think she wants to. Equally clear was why Gorka had given her what he had to do. I spent most of it hoping that if (IF) she stays, she gets ballroom. She did have her happy place from last week.
Karen had cearly decided that to keep Charles out of the bottom two again the way forward was a striptease from him and letting us feast our eyes. His salsa was a mixed bag, he lacked fluidity and I noticed whatever it was that went wrong in the third lift, although it sounds like it was worse or had greater potential for disaster from the judges’ comments. Consistency is not good for Charles.
I think Lauren is more one for ballroom. I liked the floor coverage and didn’t see the mistakes so much. I suppose the job for her is to get the balance right between accuracy and performance. As Claudia pointed out to AJ, going up against a world champion is stupid. My favourite part of the VT was the difference in their dives.
That was a well-drilled paso from Ranj after a dodgy week. I really liked the middle section. (I think I agreed with Craig, but it was noticeable that Gorka was really into it.)
I wondered if they decided to go for noble VTs for Katie, Ranj and Kate before The Incident. They must have, and it’s not like they don’t love seeing the celebs in their natural habitat.
I smiled throughout Kate’s samba and applauded her for having a go at it, so I was a little surprised by the judges panning it so much. Shows what I know.
Graeme’s jive wasn’t sharp enough for me, but it was not bad, and certainly entertaining. I loved the opening and how it played on the concept. (Shout out to First Man, yes?)
There was such quality about Ashley’s tango. It was a dramatic part that she played to the hilt, so, well done on that, Pasha, and making her a co-lead in the routine. I did wonder about what I termed ‘frills’ but what were obviously AT elements by the end, too. I think they muddied matters, but I wasn’t arguing with her being the first to break 30 on the night.
The tension about whether they were going to blag it out and put Seann and Katya last had been mounting, but no. As it was, that was extra stress for them. And then it was about the routine - what a tough one! The lifts were inventive, especially the one where he was basically her steps and she got way up high. I thought his energy level flagged by the end and the third lift sequence suffered. It really was frenetic.
I can’t have been the only one scanning for Neil in the Clauditorium. We were mainly foiled from seeing his reaction shots by Claudia’s head.
I wasn’t swept along by Stacey’s foxtrot as I was too busy thinking ‘a sheer skirt for ballroom, is that wise?’ For me, she didn’t seem to be quite on it, but hey, Shirley liked it, and Bruno really liked it. I loved Craig’s neat deconstruction of Kevin’s sucking up to Shirley, and found Kevin obnoxious over the cake.
What struck me the most about the leaderboard was that we had four ladies on top - the guys seem to vary depending on who gets the Charleston/what dance they have. I cracked and voted, and it wasn’t for Kate, even though I enjoyed her performance, because I thought Lauren had had a performance breakthrough. I voted for Faye, because the rumba IS tough and apparently she and Giovanni are currently my faves of the better dancers.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/352013.html.
Last week was busy, so, I only know the headlines. But this particular live show came with an unexpected, perhaps unwanted, frisson. How would they handle it?
Enter Claudia and Tess in one-shoulder (same shoulder) outfits that were mostly black. I feel obliged to say that I liked Tess’s jumpsuit a lot. I really liked the colour and shape of Darcy’s gown, and Shirley looked classic and shimmery.
Seann decided brazening his intro out was the way to go. Tess had told us that it was going to be all about the dancing, which is disingenuous.
I thought Joe was pretty good, his timing particularly-though he ended up being the lowest marked male celeb-and that he needs to smile more. Did Darcey call Dianne Diana?
Based on Friday’s ITT, I think Graziano’s lack of experience as a pro on Strictly is telling - he was far too honest and not supportive enough there. But Vick’s quickstep in no way deserved to be in the death slot. That was my favourite dance from her so far, the performance value was high, there were nice details and a sense of lightness and energy throughout. Good on her for getting her highest score so far.
A nice showy (of course showy) VW from Danny. I noticed early on that he and Amy weren’t quite together and that impression stayed with me throughout the dance. Bruno made a good point about plateauing, emphasised by other people’s ups and downs. (Surely this is the longest Amy’s been in as well as Dianne by now!?)
The dance I was most looking forward to was Faye and Giovanni’s rumba - the first of the series (there are many potential rumbas that I’m not looking forward to in the same way at all). I found it very accomplished. I understand what the judges were saying about Faye/the routine coming off as contained. I thought she danced beautifully, but it didn’t blow me away.
Katie’s VT was heart=warming. The jive…well, it was clear Gorka had decided to choreograph many breaks via the storyline, and bless, Katie isn’t going to be called upon to do many pantos in future-not that I think she wants to. Equally clear was why Gorka had given her what he had to do. I spent most of it hoping that if (IF) she stays, she gets ballroom. She did have her happy place from last week.
Karen had cearly decided that to keep Charles out of the bottom two again the way forward was a striptease from him and letting us feast our eyes. His salsa was a mixed bag, he lacked fluidity and I noticed whatever it was that went wrong in the third lift, although it sounds like it was worse or had greater potential for disaster from the judges’ comments. Consistency is not good for Charles.
I think Lauren is more one for ballroom. I liked the floor coverage and didn’t see the mistakes so much. I suppose the job for her is to get the balance right between accuracy and performance. As Claudia pointed out to AJ, going up against a world champion is stupid. My favourite part of the VT was the difference in their dives.
That was a well-drilled paso from Ranj after a dodgy week. I really liked the middle section. (I think I agreed with Craig, but it was noticeable that Gorka was really into it.)
I wondered if they decided to go for noble VTs for Katie, Ranj and Kate before The Incident. They must have, and it’s not like they don’t love seeing the celebs in their natural habitat.
I smiled throughout Kate’s samba and applauded her for having a go at it, so I was a little surprised by the judges panning it so much. Shows what I know.
Graeme’s jive wasn’t sharp enough for me, but it was not bad, and certainly entertaining. I loved the opening and how it played on the concept. (Shout out to First Man, yes?)
There was such quality about Ashley’s tango. It was a dramatic part that she played to the hilt, so, well done on that, Pasha, and making her a co-lead in the routine. I did wonder about what I termed ‘frills’ but what were obviously AT elements by the end, too. I think they muddied matters, but I wasn’t arguing with her being the first to break 30 on the night.
The tension about whether they were going to blag it out and put Seann and Katya last had been mounting, but no. As it was, that was extra stress for them. And then it was about the routine - what a tough one! The lifts were inventive, especially the one where he was basically her steps and she got way up high. I thought his energy level flagged by the end and the third lift sequence suffered. It really was frenetic.
I can’t have been the only one scanning for Neil in the Clauditorium. We were mainly foiled from seeing his reaction shots by Claudia’s head.
I wasn’t swept along by Stacey’s foxtrot as I was too busy thinking ‘a sheer skirt for ballroom, is that wise?’ For me, she didn’t seem to be quite on it, but hey, Shirley liked it, and Bruno really liked it. I loved Craig’s neat deconstruction of Kevin’s sucking up to Shirley, and found Kevin obnoxious over the cake.
What struck me the most about the leaderboard was that we had four ladies on top - the guys seem to vary depending on who gets the Charleston/what dance they have. I cracked and voted, and it wasn’t for Kate, even though I enjoyed her performance, because I thought Lauren had had a performance breakthrough. I voted for Faye, because the rumba IS tough and apparently she and Giovanni are currently my faves of the better dancers.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/352013.html.