A smart bet that, teeswolf. Fowler has been on form recently and has the touch needed for links golf.

After all the Who?s that they brought in last year, I don't mind if they bring in more Who?s as long as a lot of them have dance potential.

Looked even better on Saturday when he tied for the lead. All too briefly and Rory was 4 shots ahead again in no time LOL!

One of the Strictly good ideas.

http://static.entertainmentwise.com/...rharryjudd.jpg

Should have pointed out that I didn't mean to that arrangement. I think the song could work, but this is closer to the type of arrangement I would expect for a Rumba.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6TcQqv8zWc

Aliona and Vincent at Tony's 70th birthday celebrations.

http://championsofgolf.co.uk/latest-...rates-70-style

Was watching Matt and Aliona's American Smooth again and it reminded me of standing up and applauding the choreography. I think it captures the song perfectly. Aliona lived the song when she was growing up and I thought Matt understood exactly what the choreography meant - hence him saying " I'll tell you what I think - I absolutely loved that dance"
The audience seemed to agree.

Everything may not have been absolutely perfect, but its like when you listen to an old original song and then hear a clinically perfect version and still prefer the raw original. I still think its brilliant and my favourite Aliona choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y0ONxM-0nY

Fatskia,
That’s one of my all-time favourites, Aliona’s one of finest choreographies I have ever witnessed to. There had been some Strictly’s classic AS routines that can be considered as strictly's great routines but very much similar to one another. Matt and Aliona’s AS was a beautiful waltz based American Smooth with a flavour of contemporary and they certainly had the guts to introduce a unique routine for the first time ever on SCD. They couldn't believe the reactions of the live studio audience. And they managed to perform all dances giving that their AS was a waltz based.

I loved her creation of the opening and end sequences and I found this sequence was very endearing:
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...tsShow-007.jpg
They looked so young and soooo cute.

Really loved, loved Aliona’s dress designed by Ben Di Lisi and her hair colour too. Sorry to be v cheeky but hope she'd never colour it red again, leaving that year to be a unique series in her career.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...9intro-080.jpg

Heard Aliona is back...so pleased for her. She deserves a place there

Hi EmmaJC,

Two great screenshots and that dress was indeed beautiful.

I loved how Matt played the sleeping part at the beginning and end and the way Aliona 'woke' him with a kiss.

When watching it, the story it told me was of a man exhausted with the struggle to make it in New York and the 'Spirit of New York' wakes him and shows him the other wondrous side of the city - like in a dream. Then he sinks back out of the dream to his exhausted sleep.
Great story-telling - including when Aliona is both a burden to Matt and symbolically running to help him. Exactly the theme of the song.

Where Bruno got the psycho idea from and the 'not a murder!' comment, I have no idea as I cannot see any sign of that in Matt's expression. Len's 'it obviously hasn't worked comment', after the audience has given them a standing ovation, is equally baffling.

It was a challenge for Matt to do something so far from the norm for him and as usual, he gave it 100% and I was as impressed with him in that dance as any dance he did. At the end, he had danced it so well that Aliona cupped her face in her hands with an OMG expression, and I think it meant a lot to her with her background in New York to see the dance performed as she had imagined it.

Matt's a man who stands by his convictions too, so it was great after the criticism from 3 of the judge-impersonators to hear him defiantly say 'I'll tell you what I thought - I absolutely loved that dance'.

Now you got very sensible interpretation of their dance, fatskia!

I remember professionals like Artem and Anton admired Matt’s capabilities to dance Aliona’s routine. They got huge supports on twitter on that night including Camilla and Arlene. Erin gave her unbiased critic on ITT which I really appreciated. Wish she’d be in the judges’ panel.

Aliona’s OMG moment...
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...Smooth-163.jpg

And a big hug at the end How happy they were at that moment.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...Smooth-168.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...Smooth-174.jpg

There has been almost no news but Mark Wright is one of the celebs.

Here with Aliona and Iveta.

Its starting to look like a very good line-up for a learning-to-dance contest. What are the chances the producers will actually set it up as such and let the pros and celebs compete with support rather than interference?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvqeC10CEAAbSou.jpg:large

Another reminiscence.

When I heard this song that Aliona had chosen, it was new to me. Its a very emotional song and I thought at the time it would create a very emotional experience for Harry's fiancée Izzy. I wonder if Aliona had Izzy in mind when she chose it?

Later Izzy said she had sobbed her way through the Viennese Waltz.
I would expect she wasn't alone - even Aliona was wiping away tears at the end of the dance.

A WOW dance - according to Brendan and Artem at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0TKCHm6wzw

Not long to wait to find out who Aliona is with. Exciting!

Torn loyalties this time as I will be wanting Frankie to do well too!

I may have split loyalties too. I only have an idea of what one person is like, so there may be others I take a liking to.

I would be more excited if I thought that Aliona was likely to get a contender, but at least this year there are more men who might have some potential and no outstanding male candidates.

Steve Backshall is the only one that I ever suggested, so there is a slight chance that they might pair him with Aliona.
I think Steve begins with the most interesting CV. He seems to be a nice guy you can rely on to be enthusiastic and hard working, but I have never detected any hint that he might be able to dance or even that he has any musicality.

IMO the two strongest dancers are likely to be Pixie and Caroline, but after getting a female winner last year, they may allow men to get to the final this year.

Another reminiscence to get our hopes up. Shows what Aliona brings to Strictly - who else has ever made a Foxtrot sexy?

Matt's first ever ballroom dance and Aliona teaches him a very difficult Foxtrot.
Its HD so you can see how stunning Aliona looks and the little wince from Matt at 53 seconds when he makes a tiny mistake that I can't even see.

I like Kara's reaction to the finish - probably similar to the audience's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns_zYaL0LXk

Aliona with pro partner Trent Whiddon at the Red Carpet event.

Trent is Australian ten dance champion.

http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/new...hoto/454521888

Wish them both luck with the celebrities they get.

And a photo of Aliona in typical pose from her DWTS days - dancing with Fabian Sanchez.

http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/1...2302/GW279H367

The pairing are now complete but we don't know who Aliona got.

The celeb I know most about is Steve and from what I know of them, I think Aliona was the best pro to pair (in particular) Steve with. There is a case for Aliona being the best pro to pair several of them with.

The BBC are going to be losing David Attenborough at some point. Steve has a lot of the credentials to do that job, but has mostly been a children's show presenter. This is a good time for the BBC to steer Steve towards the adult audience that don't know him.
He has a lot of good characteristics and as we saw with Matt, Aliona is great at bringing out and illustrating those characteristics. I also think character-wise they would get along very well.
I'll be surprised if Steve can dance very well.

Aliona and Gregg will be interesting.

Expectations will be low, so if they can get a good working relationship going, they may surprise people.

the claws are out already! that didnt take the main forum long did it!

I think Greg and Aliona will be just fine, as long as Greg listens

Aliona doesnt do jumping up and down and fakeness, she is what she is, a fairly quite, unassuming dancer who, unless she is dancing, doesnt like the limelight - nothing that she did on the Launch Show was rude - she was the same with Matt, Harry, Johnny and Tony, she just smiles, nods, takes their hand and moves towards the stairs - why on earth people have a problem with that is beyond me

Hello everyone btw - hope you are all well

Hi Olivej,

Roughly the same interpretation as last year with Tony - and that worked out well.
Its an opportunity for Gregg to do well and he has got the best pro on the show as a partner.
Hopefully he will accept the discipline that Aliona required of Matt and Harry etc. and be a good pupil because she is a good teacher.

If they get the rules straight they could both have a chance.

Good luck to them.
http://alionavilani.co.uk/wp-content...44041121_n.jpg

I'm disappointed Aliona has seemingly got someone who is not likely to last long, for a 3rd year on the trot.

Then again at least she's involved, which is more fortunate than the likes of Hayley, Katya and Anya (I know Anya is taking some part).

Hopefully Gregg can be a surprise and give Aliona a decent run. I wish them both good luck.

I guess the flip side, if it is an early exit, will be seeing many marvellous pro dances from Aliona again. I sometimes wonder if the producers love her pro dances so much that's why she's invited back?

We shall have to wait and see. The forum is not representative of the real world.

At least Gregg now has the correct Twitter address for Aliona and I like this statement about being ready to work hard with his new boss. Good attitude.

https://twitter.com/GreggAWallace

judging by the feedback we have had via our twitter (I run AlionaOnLine) he is well liked and has a firm fanbase - DS is just a spiteful forum who hate for the sake of hating

He is on a popular show on the BBC so I am going to assuming he is pretty well known out there to the general public

He might not have the potential to be a dancer - yet - but Aliona is a great teacher and if he listens to her and works hard (which I am sure he will) we may be surprised by how far they can get in the competition

lol, bless him, he hasnt - thats me! fan twitter but I have pointed him in the direction of Alionas twitter so hopefully he will be following her soon

I noticed that but he did get it right when posting the picture.

Whoops! - I'm wrong again - he still linked your site

hmm, they are not following each other on twitter yet - that isnt a particularly good, encouraging sign..........