Strictly Come Dancing Week 3/Movie Night
We opened up with the couples dressing up for the premiere of a ‘trailer’ for the upcoming show, socially distanced, and then came the pro routine which was All About Inclusivity. So, obviously, it was set in a royal palace (reminding me of the time when people bleated that Meghan Markle’s engagement to Prince Harry inspirational, because now little black girls could dream of…marrying into a hereditary monarchy too!) Alternatively, this could have been Jason the choreographer working through some issues with the live action Beauty and the Beast, although I may be thinking that because Kai reminds me of Luke Evans. The set looked stunning though, in a show where they went heavy on the augmented reality.
Presenters’ outfits: Claudia was in black, but at least she varies the style of her outfits, Tess’s pink dress had a slit because of course it did, and Shirely’s red gown was a one-shoulder affair. Motsi looked the most glamorous, while the men were properly dull. But then we saw the couples in costumes and it was…all rather overwhelming.
Judi’s Charleston/gimme was pretty fun and well performed. Not as athletic as Tilly’s naturally, but it involved great braceography.
Dan was a bit stiff in his foxtrot, though I suspect this will be great for his posture. I didn’t spot the mistakes, being too busy finding the whole set-up a bit kitsch, well, the bed and Nadiya’s dress, and not quite gelling with the jazzy take on the song.
We’ve had to pretend Strictly’s never done Shrek before, but it was a good song for samba. Like Craig, I didn’t think having pale green legs helped Sara, but it was bouncy and it seems she took many of the pluses from last week into the Latin. Though this started a run of, ‘I’m not an actress’ from lady celebs, to which, yeah, well, Nina is and she got booted.
AJ’s dress was great and so was her American Smooth, while making me very excited about her potential. She was great before, during and out of the lifts and especially at the punctuation as the routine sped up.
Robert’s Muppets quickstep was joyous - I smiled throughout - and he’s evidently more comfortable with ballroom, but I did see some of his mistakes. Some of the side-by-side stuff was brutal.
Mr Emma Thompson was probably glad to be doing his paso as James Who? (gold star for Claudia) before John’s. There were some nice shapes, but it was underpowered, and the comments were confusing. Karen seemed really out of breath afterwards.
Tilly’s jive was not too shabby, though there was one weird bit and I thought the routine ended up being more about Nikita, although I loved the trick involving her doing a backbend.
And then came the most emotional moment of the night for me. I’d been prepped to hooe Rose’s first ballroom went well for her, and yes, it being an instrumental version of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ helped, but I was genuinely transported. It was so beautiful, mostly stripped back apart from a couple of nods to the film. I knew she was a mover (and as an actress could put aside the whole laughing at Gio business) but she was a dancer here.
And yes, I got excited about the straight 9s, so I was bouncing off the ceiling by the end of the show.
This was followed by the first salvo in the baby/little children wars. I was confused by Ugo’s (commercial?) couples choice until I focused on Oti and saw the style he was meant to be doing. Good lifts, and maybe I’m not crediting the actrobatic tricks enough but this was the routine I felt most strongly was overmarked.
So, Tom’s fully recorvered then, because he was doing a jive. Once they got rid of the guitar, I loved his leg action. He shook things up from whatever they’d settled into after last week, by reminding us that he’s good, although we’ve yet to see him do ballroom.
Were they tryig to dazzle us with the technology? While it was happening, I thought it was quite a strong, decent-enough rumba from Adam, but I think the judges’ verdict was that it was too soon in Adam’s development for a rumba, and if that was Katya’s call, it was a bad one, and after a smashing first dance, given what happened with this week’s leaderboard, she’s got to buck up her ideas.
Katie’s foxtrot (?) reminded us that ET wasn’t just there to support the hubby but to promote the costume, make-up and hair department’s favourite movie. This was more the type of dance I’d expected from Katie after the launch show - she styled it out, though not enough to impress the judges. I’d presumed that Gorka would be dressed as a more dalmatiany Dalmatian, although I’m with Craig on the on all fours bit.
Ugo was probably pleased he’d got his routine over when he saw Rhys’s - street/commercial as Miles Morales!Spidey. Ace choreography and brilliantly danced - in fact, I thought he outdanced Nancy, and the few moments when they weren’t quite in sync may have got them the 9s, but it wasn’t entirely surprising that Motsi gave out the first 10 of the series, but not entirely undeserved either.
And then we only had the best paso so far (and the paso to beat for this series) from John, with both strength and shaping, I loved the times when it felt that a duel was going on and I didn’t see such a gap between the pro and the am - they were equally elevated when they jumped. I’m calling Craig having to explain his rationale for not pulling out the 10 paddle` (and as always, it’s going to be extra special when he does.) Special award to Shirley for not using the ‘it’s never too early…’ catchphrase.
So, some neat little shake-ups at the top, telling AJ, who is still obviously in the running and had a personal breakthrough of confidence, she’s got competition, with John finally getting to the top, but Rhys securing a 10 and Rose all 9s, and Tom reminding us he’s also a contender. Generally, the pros seem to have figured out their celebs’ learning styles. I told myself not to be silly and vote for three couples like my heart wanted to at this juncture - it would have been for Rose, Rhys and Judi. I think Katie’s probably headed for the dance-off again, because although there hadn’t been a hint of ‘I’m too busy to rehearse’, everyone can spot the blood in the water. People who made mistakes ought to worry too, because the voting public might not be as understanding as Shirley.
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