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Strictly Team Showdown - Series 1
ADMR
Posts: 3,168 Forum Member
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Hello and welcome to the first show of Strictly Team Showdown 
8 contestants joined in a bid to compete for the Glitterball trophy. Those contestants have been split into two teams to battle it out head to head in order to fend off the competition and survive another week in the competition. Lucky for our contestants, there's no elimination in the first round
And whoever does fall at the first hurdle will join our judging panel alongside Queenie (dancing.queen), Danny (Damahepa) and Mitch (pothuthic)
Let's first welcome back the teams
For Team Euphoria we have...........
Erin (storyofmylife) & Anton...........
Izzie (IzzieStar) & Brendan..............
Nick (winter99) & Aliona................
Ross (rosco2010) & Kristina...........
And for Team Rapture we have...........
Aurora (Aurora01) & Pasha...............
Jess (I've Got Class) & Giovanni........
Riley (RileyHollyoaks) & Karen...........
Ross (Monsieur23) & Oti..................
8 contestants joined in a bid to compete for the Glitterball trophy. Those contestants have been split into two teams to battle it out head to head in order to fend off the competition and survive another week in the competition. Lucky for our contestants, there's no elimination in the first round
And whoever does fall at the first hurdle will join our judging panel alongside Queenie (dancing.queen), Danny (Damahepa) and Mitch (pothuthic) Let's first welcome back the teams
For Team Euphoria we have...........
Erin (storyofmylife) & Anton...........
Izzie (IzzieStar) & Brendan..............
Nick (winter99) & Aliona................
Ross (rosco2010) & Kristina...........
And for Team Rapture we have...........
Aurora (Aurora01) & Pasha...............
Jess (I've Got Class) & Giovanni........
Riley (RileyHollyoaks) & Karen...........
Ross (Monsieur23) & Oti..................
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Comments
Queenie chose a Samba for Team Euphoria whilst Danny opted for a Paso Doble for Team Rapture. They had to come up with a suitable song choice, male and female outfits and lighting and projections for the duration of the dance.
We will find out today how the Team Captains for this week coped with their dances and how well the team have performed in each
Before we start I can confirm that Ross (rosco2010) & Kristina have withdrawn before their team have even begun. As everyone is aware, there is no elimination in round 1. As a result of this news, there will also be no elimination in round 2
However........ That does mean that the first results of the series in round 3 could be the most nerve-racking and unpredictable yet, as the votes will be carried over for THREE shows. In round 2 will also see the introduction of the team twists so don't get too comfortable
But first, we have round 1 to get through.................
Lets kick things off with Team Rapture
In this round Riley (RileyHollyoaks) was Team Captain
Dancing their Paso Doble, it's Aurora & Pasha, Jess & Giovanni, Riley & Karen and Ross & Oti
Floor Projection: A chessboard, of white wood and black wood, with the females starting on the black squares and the males on the white.
Screen Projection: A fiery battle in the distance (http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-3857489-stock-footage-fire-burning-in-the-distance.html), with trebuchets, soldiers, and smoke (“...over the glowing hill, I will conquer...”).
Lighting: Dusky amber, to match the screen projections, with each dancer getting their own spotlight. When the couples dance together, the spotlights will be shared instead of each individual. Also, when this happens the light dims slightly at the edge of the dancefloor, while the couples’ spotlights brighten slightly. At the end, the lighting takes on a fiery vermilion tone.
Female Costumes: As white chess pieces, the females will be dressed in white. The dresses will have a Queen Anne neckline, and a slit up one side of the skirt so that leg work can be shown off. Think this ( http://i60.tinypic.com/2zxo679.jpg), with a less frilly skirt, and silver crystals along the bustline. As they are the "Queens", the women will have their hair pulled into a classy updo and, of course, what Queen is complete without her suitable headgear? All our Queens will have silver tiaras in their hair, which will be on the smaller side, pinned to the hair so that they don't accidentally come off during the dance or annoy the dancer, and white elbow length gloves with silver crystals on the back of the hand. To match the colour of the tiaras, the women will also be wearing silver Latin shoes.
Male Costumes: As black chess pieces, the male costumes will be black, with accents of gold, to contrast the white and silver females. He will wear a tunic (http://www.darkknightarmoury.com/images/Product/large/882534.png), in all black, with black chain mail and a gold heraldic crest, secured with a gold and black leather belt. Underneath, they will wear black 15th century shirts (http://historicenterprises.com/images/284_large.jpg), and they will wear black matte leather gloves. The trousers will be black Latin trousers, and the shoes will be black matte leather Latin shoes, with 1 inch Cuban heels. Their hair will be down, unstyled, and on their heads will rest a burnished golden crown (somewhat similar to this, but polished and without the gems http://www.partypro.com/mm_PARTYPRO_/Images/60250-GD.JPG ), pinned tightly to the hair so they cannot be dislodged.
Queenie: The song choice was good, I appreciate that you took a risk and for me it paid off. For the lighting/projections it was a tad basic, but still not bad!
Male Outfit Comment
Danny: I think the costumes are one of your strongest elements of this dance, you fit the theme marvellously. I am left wondering, however, the practicality of dancing in chain mail...
Female Outfit Comment
Mitch: Sexy, saucy and paso dobleyey, I can't wait to see more from you!
Overall Routine Comment
Danny: A chess themed Paso is a little bit of a risk, overall though I think you made it work. It felt a little bit style over substance, which is often the case with a themed dance, and I think I'd find a trebuchet in the background a tad distracting.. However, you made a clear image in my head of what the dance would look like, and was, overall, a decent effort! Powerful and dramatic if a little over the top, but then again, it is Stroctly... Would it be a sequinned trebuchet?
Mitch: TEAM WORK! You have all worked excellently together and I love your routine, I can't wait to see more from yall
Queenie: As a first week effort, I was very impressed. There was no obvious break in the routine so it was clear that everyone was pulling their weight, not one bit was weaker than the other. Good stuff!
In this round Izzie (IzzieStar) was Team Captain
Dancing their Samba, please welcome onto the floor, Erin & Anton, Izzie & Brendan and Nick & Aliona
'Rich Girl' (Gwen Stefani ft. Eve)
Male Costume
With both sets of costumes within the team, we are trying to portray a pirate battle over the 'riches' (reflecting the 'Rich Girl' video) through different colour schemes for each half of the team. The different sections of the male costume are here. With an open, white shirt for sexy Samba feel, the outfit sees the same basic outfit, but with two of the men wearing purple waist sashes and hat ribbons, and the other two males wearing red waist sashes and hat ribbons. The trousers of the male are designed to be loose around the thigh to allow Samba motions, while all the males will wear black Cuban heels, but if you look at the image the 'boots' are not boots but decorated covers worn over the lower leg and Cuban heels to give the appearance of pirate boots which would inhibit to movements of the dance.
Female Costume
The female’s outfit would be the one in this picture. 2 females would have red/white/black whilst one would have purple instead of red. These are typical pirate colours whilst colours such as purple and red also can be considered Samba colours. The skirt and sleeves would have ruffles which are a key part of a typical Samba outfit. The female’s tops would be link to the original music video which would also be easy to dance in and wouldn’t restrict hip action and the top’s stripes would represent the pirate rivalry. The overall look is a blend of Pirates and Samba.
The shoes would be a pirate’s boot similar to a typical Samba shoe (Same heel length etc) which would be easy to dance in and reflects the theme of the dance. The females would wear other accessories to add to the realism.
Lighting
For the Samba, we incorporated the colours featured in Gwen Stefani’s ‘Rich Girl’ but with our own twist. For the lightning, we have chosen contrasting colours such as black/red/purple to give the visual image of a storm set on a pirate ship. Black is the main colour of the lighting and red represents one side of the opposing
colour scheme and purple the other. Screen projection has the appearance of the rear of a pirate ship, while floor projection has the appearance of the deck flooring of a ship. Both these projections encompass the darkened colours of the lighting.
Mitch: Oh it's greased lightning! That lighting was brilliantly done, I can tell a lot of effort was put into it.
Male Outfit Comment
Queenie: From Hybrid, I know how hard male costumes can be but you tackled this with ease. It was fun, I loved the pirate theme running throughout the dance and you kept it within that, great stuff!
Female Outfit Comment
Danny: If anyone had come up to me in real life dressed as a sexy Samba pirate I think I would probably die a happy man. It does feel intrinsically a carnival-esc costume so in spite of being very themed, it feels like a very easy fit into a traditional Samba, so I do approve!
Overall Routine Comment
Danny: Fighting pirates in a Samba? Are you mad? That said, however, I think the whole thing felt a lot more cohesive and I could very much see this routine gelling and working as a team dance. You balances functional pragmatism with the fun of the theme, so we'll done there.
Mitch: SPICY, that was great! I loved the style and the projections, great first week effort
Queenie: A fantastic and innovative song choice, which worked very well I think. A brilliant effort, and if you can match this again next time I will be very impressed!
So now they've both completed their first team dance. Clearly, there is no leader board for the first round, however...........as was stated in the launch of the series, each round, the judges will decide which is their winning team. The team who is ultimately the winning team will be decided by the public vote. But the winning team with the judges will start the public vote one point ahead of the other team (this will be explained later on)
I can reveal with a 2-1 split, the winning team with the judges for round 1 ARE......................
Clearly a very close round with the judges not able to make a unanimous decision.
Although I thought Rapture's Paso was fab.
There is no elimination this round, but all votes will be carried over to the next round. And with that, I can confirm that for the first time this series, LINES ARE NOW OPEN
How to vote:
ANYBODY may vote, viewers, judges, contestants.......anybody.......your votes must be your own and must not be posted in the thread or discussed with anybody else. Please send your votes to me (ADMR) in a Private Message
You will have a vote for each individual contestant in each team and also a vote for each team. To vote you will be asked to rank the contestants from highest (favourite) to lowest (least favourite).
Below is an example of how your votes should look........
Team Euphoria
Nick - 3
Erin - 2
Izzie - 1
Team Rapture
Aurora - 4
Riley - 3
Jess - 2
Ross - 1
Winning Team: Team Wotsit
So as you can see you are ranking the contestants in each team separately. The contestant on each team with the lowest number of votes will go head to head with the judges and one will leave the competition (Remember, there is no elimination this round so all votes will be carried over into the next round)
The team that receives the most "Winning Team" votes will be the winners of the round and will therefore get the added benefits of being able to opt to change the person they are facing against the judges in the other team. (Remember, as the winning team with the judges, Team Euphoria begins this round of votes 1 voting point ahead over the opposing team) The +1 vote head start only applies to the Winning Team vote and not the individual member votes where all 7 contestants will start on zero
NOTE - Contestants are permitted to vote BUT, they may not vote in the "Winning Team" vote. You may only vote in the ranking of the contestants.
Lines will close at 19:00 hours tomorrow where I will return to reveal details of the second round.
Due to no elimination in the first round, the Team Captains will remain the same for the second round but will change for Round 3
HOWEVER..................Let's not forget that in round 2 the competition really starts to get under way meaning the inclusion of the dreaded team twists
Series Twists
[HIGHLIGHT]1. Immunity for one team member for two consecutive rounds. This will mean that you can choose one member of your team to be immune from elimination in this round. The following round, they will be able to use that immunity pass again, however on the second week they may choose to use it themselves or pass it to another member on their team. (This twist will become invalid later in the series as no couple will be granted immunity into the later rounds such as the final or semi final)[/HIGHLIGHT]
2. A 5 point vote penalty for one member of each team. The team member that receives this penalty will be decided by the judges but will not be made public and will therefore not influence how people vote
3. Give a 10 point vote advantage for one of the opposing team BEFORE the next round airs. The points will not be made public so will not influence the voters.
4. Chance to grant one of your team members an additional public vote for two consecutive rounds (Just to clarify, this means that when lines open, the chosen member can vote more than once). This will not apply to the "best team" vote and will only apply to the individual forum member votes (This will be made clearer at the time of voting)
[HIGHLIGHT]5. Save me pass - Will allow this team to avoid an elimination this round and all team members will be safe. This will mean that two of the opposing team will face the bottom two. However, this will only be valid if this team emerges as the winning team after the public vote.[/HIGHLIGHT]
[HIGHLIGHT]6. Elimination cancelled for both teams. If this twist is drawn then there will be no elimination this round, but there will still be a public vote and all votes will be carried over into the next round. Once one team draws this twist, it will be removed from both teams list.[/HIGHLIGHT]
7. Option to change the dance allocated to your team this round by the judges for one of your own teams choice.
8. Judges choice - The head judge for this round will get the opportunity to devise a twist of their own (within reason, i.e they can't choose a twist to eliminate half the couples and therefore muck up the series lol)
As revealed in the launch show, each round the teams will each be asked to pick a number from 1 to 8 to determine which twist they will get for the round. Each time one team chooses a twist it will come off of their teams list. However, the above twists will be randomized so they won't know which twist lies under which number
As you can decipher, some twists are beneficial and some are not. Good luck to both teams Not all the twists will necessarily get used before the end of the series so there are a few which you may get the opportunity to dodge
Now................due to Ross (rosco2010) & Kristina withdrawing from the competition and there being no elimination until round 3, some of the above twists have been shaded out and therefore will not be included in the selection for round 2. Seeing as you are all safely through to round 3 anyway, there is no point in anyone receiving immunity in round 2
The twist you have picked for the next round will be revealed after lines close tomorrrow at 19:00
Team Euphoria
When we realised we were up against a Paso, we made the decision to go with a theme that would, hopefully, stand out against the drama of the Paso. Nick found our song for the round and I remembered that part of the video had a pirate setting that we could incorporate. With our theme set, we all Googled image ideas and selected the preferred images as a team, before Erin set a colour scheme for the lighting. From here, I divided the sections up to play to the area where each team member had most input. Nick designed and explained the female costumes, Erin detailed the light scheme, while I focussed on projection. When Ross pulled out, I put together the male costumes with the ideas and colours we had already discussed.
Team Rapture
As a team, we worked together really well.
May I remind both teams that you need to pick a number between 1 and 5 to determine your teams twist for the next round. If you don't decide as a team, it's fine for any one of each team member to make that decision on behalf of the team
Thanks for all the votes I received this round. They will be carried over to the next round
Now it's time for the teams to learn their next dance for round 2 and to see what twists await them in the next round
Now remember, the Team Captains from round 1 will remain the same for round 2, before swapping over in round 3
Also, you will remember that some of the twists were shaded out of this round due to there being no elimination until round 3
Just a reminder of what is expected of you..................
Choose a Song Choice suitable for your specific dance
Describe the outfit(s) to be worn by the male dancers in this dance (All males in the dance can wear the same outfit but you will be allowed to specify if there are any differences between them if you wish) (maximum 150 words)
Describe the outfit(s) to be worn by the female dancers in this dance (Again, all females in the dance can wear the same outfit but you will be allowed to specify if there are any differences between them if you wish) (maximum 150 words)
Describe the lighting for this dance, including floor and screen projections. (maximum 100 words)
Please remember that your team captain will receive a 5 point vote penalty if your teams routine is not in on time
The deadline is 23:59 on Sunday for everything to be in to me and please don't forget your supporting statement
Team Euphoria.........after your round 1 Samba I can reveal that Mitch has chosen your next dance and that is......................
Rumba
Team Rapture........... after your opening Paso Doble I can reveal that Mitch has decided your next dance will be...............
Jive
Your team twists will be revealed shortly
You selected your twist earlier and I can reveal that twist to be......................
This means that sometime between now and Sundays deadline, that your team have to choose to give one of either Aurora (Aurora01) & Pasha, Jess (I've Got Class) & Giovanni, Riley (RileyHollyoaks) & Karen or Ross (Monsieur23) & Oti a 10 point head start in the voting of round 2. This must only be discussed among yourselves and then only be told to me in private message and not discussed on the forum
As none of you responded to the twist number, a random number was chosen on your behalf ........................
This means that the twist your team drew for round 2 is....................
This means that by Sunday's deadline you must also have told me which member of your team you have chosen to give the extra vote to. This must only be discussed among yourselves and told anonymously to me in private message and not posted on the forum
Not biting your bait.