Sorry for the delay in posting this; I’ve had to juggle moving to London, starting a PhD course and checking out the local dance lessons this week! Anyway, in the world of Strictly, this week was my beloved tango and jive night, with the boys once again strutting their stuff on the dance floor.
Fast-paced fun vs. passion and aggression
- Austin & Erin (jive): Austin started the night in style with an excellent jive that could only make him the one to beat right from the start. He was sharp, precise and having great fun as he took to the floor. From the boys, Austin definitely has my vote- although those muscles make me feel queasy- and not in a good way.
- Mark & Hayley (tango): My mantra for the tango is “flexed knees, heel leads, no rise and fall”, that being what you want in the dance. Unfortunately, Mark’s knees seemed a little too flexed and I spotted too much rise and fall (Hayley said she put in a bit of foxtrot, but this is a tango!) – in fact he seemed quite unstable throughout. In fact, the best thing about this whole lacklustre routine was Hayley’s skirt, although it’s good to see (or rather hear) traditional music being used. Hopefully an acting coach can draw out Mark’s performance potential.
- Gary & Karen (jive): a smile plastered on her face, Karen tried her best to enliven this routine, but nothing could disguise the fact that flat-footed Gary was slowly stomping his way through what is meant to be a fast, bouncy dance. Maybe not a complete disaster, but hardly something to write home about.
- John & Kristina (tango): Kristina looked stunning in her dress, the music was just right, but for poor John it wasn’t quite enough- he tried his hardest, but the tango just doesn’t quite seem to be his dance. With the same face that he used for the waltz, John looked like a proud father dancing with his daughter at a wedding rather than a gaucho trying to woo a proud lady of the night.
- Andrew and Ola (tango): I’ve said it before, but let me start by saying that I don’t like it when they use rock music for a tango- it just makes it that much harder to create the mood. Anyway, this tango was a bit hit-and-miss- there were moments when Andrew looked powerful and in command, but then he stiffened up at points and seemed more like a wooden doll. Equally, the footwork had good moments but I wasn’t a fan of the head-banging section; an inconsistent effort overall.
- Tom and Camilla (jive): The show is trying to play up a rivalry between Tom and Austin, but even though Tom’s jive was a lot of fun, but he just didn’t quite have Austin’s sharpness, and some elements felt a little too reminiscent of Gethin’s jive last year. Even so, Tom is ahead of the pack right now.
- Don and Lilia (tango): I need to take a moment to express just what a great teacher and choreographer Lilia is, for even though Don isn’t the most naturally talented dancer, she created the perfect tango for him, drawing on his skills as an actor to fill it with the requisite passion and aggression. Admittedly his tango face was ‘interesting’, but the dance itself was worthy.
- Group swing: the girls performed a group swing, and whilst Jodie’s height clearly put her at a disadvantage, overall it was a good dance and everyone performed well.
Results show
- Pro rumba: five of the pro couples (James+Ola, Darren+Lilia, Brian+Kristina, Mark+Karen and Vincent+Flavia) performed a rumba to show how the celebs how it’s done- even though I love dancing the rumba, it takes a particularly good performance for me to enjoy watching it, and luckily, this one did the trick.
- Vincent and Flavia performed a lovely showdance, a slow romantic number. I must admit I felt slightly awkward watching it the first time, however, simply because of what’s happened in their personal lives, but it shows an amazing degree of professionalism to be able to still dance together like that.
- Group swing: the girls re-performed their group routine; a bit of a time waster as it offered nothing new.
- Andrea Bocelli performed on the show once again, but the real highlight was Anton and Erin’s accompanying dance- although not perhaps as magical as the waltz they did last year, it was still very good.
- Dance-off: When the results were finally announced, Mark&Hayley and Gary&Karen were in the bottom two. Mark was able to up his game somewhat, but Gary was clearly the weakest, and it was indeed a unanimous decision by the judges to send him home. It’s a shame for Karen, but Gary really was the weakest dancer, even if it didn’t seem quite fair that he was asked to do two consecutive Latin dances and no ballroom.
