Strictly Come Dancing - Week 2
Between Strictly airing and the first It Takes Two, it was announced that COVID had struck Tom (I hear he was unwell, so I hope it’s not too bad and with no long-lasting symptoms) and Amy. And then I watched It Takes Two, now with added Janette.After this first week, I thought she did a pretty good job, particularly in the interviews, where her positivity came across as more than contractually obliged rooting for them all. But with no Zoe, there was no Waite’s warm-up.
Week 2 then
I would not have called Claudia being the only one to wear a colour out of the presenters and judges. Tess outslitted her, while both Shirley and Motsi went for jumpsuits of sorts.
Rhys opened with an energetic and confident cha cha. I loved the colour of Nancy’s dress against his black and white. The mirrors on Nina’s dress really worked, but not so much her tango, a bit frantic and all over the place. Although they couldn’t have known she’d make mistakes, in hindsight, putting her in the slot of doom makes more sense. But mistakes as a result of less time to practice cropped up in the next few dances. Breaking an Olympian isn’t a good look, Katya. Adam’s quickstep wasn’t a patch on his cha cha. The lack of Katie in their VT was instructive. It wasn’t as good as the lady!jives of last week, and I suspect Craig was right about her stamina.
I don’t want to be flip about Greg sharing some of his life story, because that was devastating and I hope he managed to block out the VT before he started dancing (but most of the celebs should avoid the life story choreography route after this, right?) But I did think snarkily about disco being an allowable genre now after influencing so many Latin routines. However, in the midst of all that, clever Karen got in a great foundation for future partnering for Greg.
John delivered a very good cha cha. My only problem was that having so much side by sde invited unfair comparisons between the amateur man and the pro man, which Shirley kind of covered too in her comment about the choreography. We then learned that AJ can be graceful. I thought that she put in some nice details, while clearly feeling safe in her partner’s arms. And I know it was a foxtrot, but AJ is clearly fit as she was able to talk to Claudia without panting, unlke most previous celebs.
Judi and Grazziano are a brilliant pairing. She…went for it with that samba. I love her timing on top of her rhythmicality and she managed to maintain. I like her balance of effort and performance a lot. Is it in Dianne’s contract that she can only dance in clothes that match her hair now? I really liked the trad tango - it didn’t need the wobbly lamp-post! - Robert was controlled in a way I didn’t expect. Much improved, as you could tell from the fact that he was getting only minor criticisms.
Rose delivered a pretty good salsa, although I felt it was lacking something and jotted down ‘groove’ before the judge claimed she had plenty of that, but not the footwork, so it may have been that that was the problem instead of her not being able to feel the music, as I suspected. Her fearlessness about lifts will help, although the dismounts were a bit sticky, but the producers really need to think more about how they shoot her signing.
Sara got a lovely song, but although it was clearly a good foxtrot, I admit to failing to recognise the things the judges were raving about, (although I spotted that the body contact was good). In fact my attention wandered enough to observe that someone had overthought the origami link and that her dress‘s material reminded me too much of a nightgown. However, to think I’d jeered at how unlikely it was she’d get a score in the thirties at the start of the ep…and Anton may have found a hook about wanting to dance with belles of the ballroom.
Dan’s paso definitely projected strength, if not other stuff I’d like. Strictly must be good for his posture, and he could certainly rock the one-armed look. Ugo’s quickstep lacked finesse, but he definitely managed more contact than Adam. So, Tilly’s Gimme/Charleston got the closing slot. I wondered what better performers and movers’ Charleston’s would be like, although I guess I’m willing to take on board the point about different directions and rhythms that gave her 9s.
So, at the end of all that, we learned that Rhys, John and AJ are consistently good across the Latin and ballroom. Ditto Judi, and I was going to say Rose, but she’s technically done two Latins. Greg and Tilly having done non-traditional dances doesn’t clarify much, but Dan is not terrible at both!
On the other hand, Nina and Adam seem to favour the Latin, while Robert, definitely Sara and possibly Ugo favour the ballroom. Will Sara be this year’s Ranvir? She’s certainly lifted herself up from being in danger, but we saw a shot of Gorka’s very worried face right at the end of the show (heh, director) because he knows and we know Katie could be good, but she’s clearly bitten off more than she can chew timewise (for Hollyoaks! When it’s clear Corrie is the show of her heart!)
I could have done with a look at that night’s leaderboard as a separate thing (mostly fair, give or take Craig, and possibly extravagant 9s), because there were some very different positions than last week, which we’d had so long to sit with, but no, we just had the combined leaderboard. And I’m not quibbling that Kai is having the first series OF HIS DREAMS so far, thanks to AJ.
My favourite routines were Rhys and Judi’s, with AJ’s and Robert’s second. I mean, I could tell John and Sara were good, but I do respond to story, and Nancy choreographed a routine where the gimmick worked for Rhys instead of just reminding me of past gladiatorial pasos Anton has forgotten. (He must have been out back when Pixie and Trent did theirs. Ooh, do you think they’ll be able to manage Blackpool this year?)
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/471975.html.
Week 2 then
I would not have called Claudia being the only one to wear a colour out of the presenters and judges. Tess outslitted her, while both Shirley and Motsi went for jumpsuits of sorts.
Rhys opened with an energetic and confident cha cha. I loved the colour of Nancy’s dress against his black and white. The mirrors on Nina’s dress really worked, but not so much her tango, a bit frantic and all over the place. Although they couldn’t have known she’d make mistakes, in hindsight, putting her in the slot of doom makes more sense. But mistakes as a result of less time to practice cropped up in the next few dances. Breaking an Olympian isn’t a good look, Katya. Adam’s quickstep wasn’t a patch on his cha cha. The lack of Katie in their VT was instructive. It wasn’t as good as the lady!jives of last week, and I suspect Craig was right about her stamina.
I don’t want to be flip about Greg sharing some of his life story, because that was devastating and I hope he managed to block out the VT before he started dancing (but most of the celebs should avoid the life story choreography route after this, right?) But I did think snarkily about disco being an allowable genre now after influencing so many Latin routines. However, in the midst of all that, clever Karen got in a great foundation for future partnering for Greg.
John delivered a very good cha cha. My only problem was that having so much side by sde invited unfair comparisons between the amateur man and the pro man, which Shirley kind of covered too in her comment about the choreography. We then learned that AJ can be graceful. I thought that she put in some nice details, while clearly feeling safe in her partner’s arms. And I know it was a foxtrot, but AJ is clearly fit as she was able to talk to Claudia without panting, unlke most previous celebs.
Judi and Grazziano are a brilliant pairing. She…went for it with that samba. I love her timing on top of her rhythmicality and she managed to maintain. I like her balance of effort and performance a lot. Is it in Dianne’s contract that she can only dance in clothes that match her hair now? I really liked the trad tango - it didn’t need the wobbly lamp-post! - Robert was controlled in a way I didn’t expect. Much improved, as you could tell from the fact that he was getting only minor criticisms.
Rose delivered a pretty good salsa, although I felt it was lacking something and jotted down ‘groove’ before the judge claimed she had plenty of that, but not the footwork, so it may have been that that was the problem instead of her not being able to feel the music, as I suspected. Her fearlessness about lifts will help, although the dismounts were a bit sticky, but the producers really need to think more about how they shoot her signing.
Sara got a lovely song, but although it was clearly a good foxtrot, I admit to failing to recognise the things the judges were raving about, (although I spotted that the body contact was good). In fact my attention wandered enough to observe that someone had overthought the origami link and that her dress‘s material reminded me too much of a nightgown. However, to think I’d jeered at how unlikely it was she’d get a score in the thirties at the start of the ep…and Anton may have found a hook about wanting to dance with belles of the ballroom.
Dan’s paso definitely projected strength, if not other stuff I’d like. Strictly must be good for his posture, and he could certainly rock the one-armed look. Ugo’s quickstep lacked finesse, but he definitely managed more contact than Adam. So, Tilly’s Gimme/Charleston got the closing slot. I wondered what better performers and movers’ Charleston’s would be like, although I guess I’m willing to take on board the point about different directions and rhythms that gave her 9s.
So, at the end of all that, we learned that Rhys, John and AJ are consistently good across the Latin and ballroom. Ditto Judi, and I was going to say Rose, but she’s technically done two Latins. Greg and Tilly having done non-traditional dances doesn’t clarify much, but Dan is not terrible at both!
On the other hand, Nina and Adam seem to favour the Latin, while Robert, definitely Sara and possibly Ugo favour the ballroom. Will Sara be this year’s Ranvir? She’s certainly lifted herself up from being in danger, but we saw a shot of Gorka’s very worried face right at the end of the show (heh, director) because he knows and we know Katie could be good, but she’s clearly bitten off more than she can chew timewise (for Hollyoaks! When it’s clear Corrie is the show of her heart!)
I could have done with a look at that night’s leaderboard as a separate thing (mostly fair, give or take Craig, and possibly extravagant 9s), because there were some very different positions than last week, which we’d had so long to sit with, but no, we just had the combined leaderboard. And I’m not quibbling that Kai is having the first series OF HIS DREAMS so far, thanks to AJ.
My favourite routines were Rhys and Judi’s, with AJ’s and Robert’s second. I mean, I could tell John and Sara were good, but I do respond to story, and Nancy choreographed a routine where the gimmick worked for Rhys instead of just reminding me of past gladiatorial pasos Anton has forgotten. (He must have been out back when Pixie and Trent did theirs. Ooh, do you think they’ll be able to manage Blackpool this year?)
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/471975.html.