I preferred both Chris's and Jade's Salsa to Ali's tonight. For me it was lacking the spirit of the dance as she seemed to be concentrating more on the next step rather than enjoying herself. I do believe if she was doing the same routine in about 3 or 4 weeks time we'd see a much better performance.

I think I read that there is more than one style of Salsa, and Brian's one was of the most common style in Salsa clubs, though we don't see it often on SCD. I find it a bit awkward to watch as there are arms all over the place which make it look quite ugly to watch IMO, but I was impressed with Ali and Brian (though she had almost no performance to it, just concentrating on the steps), but I also enjoyed Jade's Salsa though it was a different style of Salsa. I hated Ricky W's Salsa though, I saw almost nothing I would recognise as a Salsa in the routine.

Sounds like there is no agreement on what a salsa should be (or agreement that an wide range of things qualify) and, even if there was, the judges are incapable of allowing for difficulty in their marking. It looks decidedly unfair if you can do somthing simple thats not really salsa and you can do something vastly more difficult that is and get a 7 for one and an 8 or the other. Even more unfair if whats not really salsa is more pleasing for the viewers and easier to learn and do. More unfair still that if the better dancers did the easy routines that the not so good do they would be marked down as disapointing and not using their ability.

It does indeed seem that there are a lot of differing opinions of salsa and what it should be. I do know there is Cuban style, New York style and LA style. Is there a style I am missing? I would imagine whatever style you prefer will impress the most. I do believe Brian did an authentic LA style, which may not be the best choice for SCD and it's viewers who seem to prefer the other styles. But I did read a lot of positive comments on his choreography mixed in with the not so positive ones.

Some would say the arm shines and neck drops are dazzling to watch, for others it is a mass of what looks like confusion.

I can't wait to see all the salsas from tonight to see what they looked like.

Without reading any of the replies that dance did not deserve 4x8's. Ali was way too inhibited, and I was amazed how none of the judges commented on her total lack of hip action. Four x7's would have been right.

Best dance of the night but I have to say I hate all that arm movement. It looks messy and ungainly.

This summed it up for me as well!

JJ

I totally disagree with this. I didn't feel that Ali was inhibited. I loved Jade's salsa but it was way too sloppy. I think at least one '9' was deserved. Len gave the same mark to A&B as he did to N&B. Ali hasn't peeked yet which is a good thing at this stage of the competition. She is this year's Rachel Stevens as far as the judges are concerned. Whilst not wanting to take a swipe at Alesha, who in my eyes is improving, she was better at performance than technique and this is reflected in her judging.

Ricky W's salsa imo was the one that was overmarked.

I agree OP. I had high hopes for the dance based on the training footage and Ali's past dances but it fell really flat for me.

It looked like Ali was a step behind the whole time, a lot of clumsy reaching for hands that weren't quite there yet, very little actual dancing just a lot of flashy tricks with awkward stuttering transitions. I seriously thought they were going to get 6's and 7's from the judges.

Not at all SCD

I enjoy reading differences of opinion.

I loved it. It's the only one I have rewatched on youtube and I like it more each time. I agree a bit more performance would have been great from Ali, but she's doing so well and it's still early in the competition I wouldn't expect everything just yet anyway.

I loved it, best dance of the night for me. My only criticism would be that I felt it might have been a little fast for Ali at this stage, to me she didn't seem to connect properly with the floor to push off for more hip action. But a fabulous routine.

I'm sorry but to me the rest were just mishmashes of samba, mambo, cha cha and disco.

OP has said it all for me

parthena

Given the camera angles and lack of the necessary shots I don't see any argument she was underperforming what she had to do - she clearly was acting it out when the camera did manage anything in close up. The rest of the time she could have been completely acting it or compiling her shopping list and no one would have known from what was shown. Obviously she could have hammed it up more and done an Eastenders celeb routine but not with that choreography and she would have been bashed by the judges for doing choreography that was as simple as most of the others doing salsa.

They may be avoiding putting Ali ahead of Ricky W early and trying to make it look more like a race with the other girls. Thats a better place to be in than being the early favourite getting the best marks week on week. As you say, its early and journeys win over some voters more than excellence. The problem is that just as there's a group of voters who vote the opposite to the judges every week there's possibly another group who regurgitate anything the judges said at any point even if it obviously doesn't still apply weeks later. She doesn't want to be labelled like Rachel as inhibited because some people will still be thinking what the judges told them to think months earlier at the end - contrary to all recent evidence. With Rachel it took a change of audience and close proximity for the opposite view to win over overwhelmingly on the tour.

I'm coming around more and more to that way of thinking. The earlier weeks are a good chance to become a better, more confident dancer before the competition gets so tight that every point matters; and all-8s is a perfectly good score.

However, I think it would be better if her jive came later in the competition. I think there's too much chance of her being labelled (as explained in thenetworkbabe's post) if she gets another fast latin dance so soon with the difficult choreography Brian's sure to produce. Better later, when her skills have developed more.

This is what I think too. I loved Ali's dance, it was so fast! Great fun. I have a feeling if they continue the way they are, Brian pushing her a bit each week and boosting her confidence then she will be fantastic at the later stages.

I also agree that the other salsa's were not my cup of tea (though I will admit it is not a dance I like) with only Natalie and Vinthent making me smile with the fun the were having.

I do like Jade and Ian very much but wasn't impressed with the dancing and Ian's trousers were just

Ricky W's routine reminded me of those awful stage school dance performances were they do a 'disco' routine. Nails down a blackboard moment for me.

We miss so much because of the dancing camera, you'd think it was competing

parthena

Some interesting points. Not being an expert, I don't know a "real" Salsa. However, I do think a common factor in any Salsa should be a sense of fun, a party atmosphere.
To me, Ali's performance lacked that sense of fun. You could see her concentrating, something a performer must surely try to hide ? Of course, it's early days, and when she gains more confidence that "performance" may emerge.
Personally, I can forgive a few little mistakes if the performer really "sells" the dance..but I guess that's not what Strictly is all about.

I loved it, and I've not really been a fan up until now. I would have had Jade a close second, but she almost nailed a very fast and complicated routine.

Certainly it deserved more marks than that abortion Ricky Whittle did.

You must have forgotten Ricky Groves' feedback.

parthena

I've viewed a few of the performances again on Youtube. Ali's looks even better than it did last night, and Ricky's....well, it's a bit flat. I don't think he deserved 32; there were a lot of "dad dancing" moments.

Absolutely, but as I said in another thread, there was noway they would have given Ricky W a 5/6 for his effort. Grossly unfair I thought, but hey ho.

I'm glad you raised this point OP. I was slightly disappointed. I loved the choreography, I could watch Brian dance forever but I felt that Ali lacked a "fire in her belly".
Technically, to the untrained eye, she was great but I just felt it needed a bit more energy. It looked so good in training maybe it was the nerves again. Perhaps she was concentrating so much on getting the moves right that she forgot to enjoy it. A very good routine but felt it was a little lack lustre.

Hello twin - spot on as usual!


I agree with all of your post.

This dance was the one I was most looking forward to seeing and I was definitely underwhelmed.

The choreography was great, Brian was great, the music was fine and Ali did all the steps and moves as far as I can see (1 blip?) - but there was no energy, no party atmosphere and her costume was the worst Salsa costume of the night. It was drab and shapeless and didn't help emphasise all the intricate moves.

But I was already worried after seeing the training VT and I think Brian was too. It looked to me like Ali had a crisis of confidence last week and Brian was trying to boost her confidence when I heard him speak. Almost everyone who lasts on SCD seems to get overwhelmed at some point and for Ali I think it has happened a bit early - but that could be because of all the media attention Brian and her have received. I feel a bit sorry for her and wonder now if she's got what it takes to edge over the finishing line.

I wanted to be thrilled, but I wasn't.

Evenin' Buddy! I agree with you entirely, as usual.