They have to do two dances now surely! Only five dances in all! Has that ever happen since series 1? Outrageous!

& nor would it be fair that Chris would have the dance that suits him best.

Not sure how you can justify Chris getting his preferred style, yet then be narked by both the 2 other dancers getting their preferred dance. The split is going to be 2/3 - from what i can tell, the best options for all would be Ricky & Natalie C with R'n'R & Ali, Laila & Chris with Charleston.


I would be quite happy with that combination for a good show.

Last week's show was 90 minutes in length (6 dances, plus time taken up talking to Jade and Ian). This week's show is 95 minutes in length - I don't think that'd be enough time for 10 dances TBH. When there were 10 dances earlier in the competition the show was on for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

That would have included 10 vts as well though and now there are 5 couples, surely we won't get 2 vts for each?

In that case, I wonder if they will do a group Latin the following week?
Following the trend, the 2 they have all done are the Jive and Paso.
(Remember too - 2 couples still have to Samba yet; Ricky was the third but obviously he has gone now. Should AB and/or CO be worried it's an omen so that there is only 1 Samba to do? )

Well whatever we think they are not doing 2 dances this week. Remember that if Jade hadnt gone there would been 6 this week (when the timing of the show was organised) and that would have been 12 dances. I think we can be more outraged if they dont do two dances the week after.

If anyone thinks that either of these dances will give anyone any advantage, I suggest you think again and maybe take a look on Youtube to see how fast and complex both can be

for Charleston I'd expect to see something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM5bx...eature=related
& RnR should look something like this (I know it's Boogie but it's what I hope they will go for)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QQzbCmlZM4

Laila and Anton have charleston. Confirmed by Anton on radio.

He hasn't choreographed the routine. An expert came in yesterday to choreograph it for them. I don't know if this is the case for all the couples, it might well be seeing as it's a new dance for the pro's. Although Anton said he had done charleston before, so that gave him an edge.

Surely as that's three Charlestons and one RNR confirmed, Natalie must have the RNR to provide any kind of balance?

Naturellement!
Although you would think that RnR will suit some "bubbly" choreography (but cleverly reined in by Vincent) better than a fast Charleston, with Ricky being the main benchmark for people to compare her with this week, she could suffer.

Theres a shocker......they might both be regarded as fast dances but the two girls that cant do fast latin have got the most 'ballroom' of the two....

Fortunately I think Natalie might make a decent fist of the rock n roll and I would have been happy to see Chris do either (but just prefer the charleston myself from what I saw on DWTS this series)

Judges will want Chris and Natalie in the dance off this week.......I think one might be there but doubt it will be both together. Hoping they both avoid it myself.

Craig and Alesha have both scored Natalie & Vincent overall higher than either Cola or... Lanton (?!) so I can't imagine either of them want rid. Alesha in particular has marked Laila & Anton super-low comparatively and nobody really seems all that interested in them any more.

I think the judges might actually get their way this week, as they have most weeks, when we get shot of Laila, in a dance-off with Ali, or possibly Natalie.

(I'm quite glad everyone's got the style that most suited them. After the last two shit shows I'm not really interested in conspiracy crap so much as seeing some dances I actually enjoy)

Weeell, think of all the acrobatic moves - back rolls etc. - that are allowed in rock n roll. You can bet your whatever that Natalie L will include the lot, and Ricky will be able to do them if they don't put too much strain on his left foot. OTOH, remembering how Vincent choreographed the AS (no lifts) and last week's Samba, his RnR could be good-ish, but still pale in comparison.

I think it'll be Laila and one other in the DO this week. It's unlikely to be public favourite Chris unless he's bottom of the judges' leaderboard with no tied marks above him. If it's Natalie, she'll go out. If it's Ali or Ricky, Laila will go out.

Very true Monkseal........I think the writing is on the wall for Laila myself but I am not convinced that if the judges got the chance to keep her over Chris or Natalie they wouldnt take it as it obvious to anyone (including them surely) that Chris and Natalie have got a lot of support and could be a threat to the better dancers ......however Len is a completely unknown when the judges are split ....some very odd decisions so far.

Oh dont get me wrong I am not saying she is going to be very very good but I dont think it will be too terrible she certainly has the energy for it.

One thing that does interest/concerns me is that in the little pre-VT the judges gave notice that they thought the two new dances were, so far as they were concered, all about performance and pizznazz rather than technical merit or style.

In which case the week is a bit of a muddle, because Natalie is the only person they've really praised for her performance skills consistantly, and Ali the only one they've consistantly dissed. The only other person they've really talked about performance with is Chris, and they've been pretty schizophrenic on that score, with Alesha giving him a 9 solely for entertainment value last week, but slamming him for how dull and mechanical he was this week (part of me thinks this might be part of a 2 week storyline where he "wows her" this week with a performance led piece).

Ricky Nipple and Laila they've been utterly silent on.

Of course they might just stick to their usual pattern and stick Ali and Ricky at the top and mix the rest up in a random jumble but there's at least the possiblity for something interesting to happen with the scores this week.

Yes that interesting......on DWTS (dont know if you watch it) when they did the Charleston this series there was someone at the top of the board who did an absolute stormer of a Charleston yet she had been almost invisible before and quite low down.....it was because she put a lot of 'wow' into it rather than it being an amazing dance technically. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I actually enjoyed the Charlestons on DWTS and as you say this is the one dance that requires personality PLUS and loads of acting will be interesting to see how the SCD people perform it

Len has never, never let me down on a judging decision until he got rid of Tuffers over Ricky G

Re: Monkseal's comments on the performance emphasis that these dances have, I can't see that making any sort of difference at all to the scores at the top of the board - Ali and Ricky have been panned for some of their performance-related issues, but got away with murder when the time comes to lay the marks down.

The fly in the ointment will no doubt be Chris, who, if he's comfortable with the dance, will perform it brilliantly, and won't if he isn't. Natalie will give it everything regardless of whether she can actually do it or not, Laila will be bland regardless of whether she can actually do it or not.

I think a combination of poor performance skills and poor public support will seal Laila's fate this week, leaving the way clear for it to get a bit more interesting in the voting stakes.

If you say the Argentine Tango is one dance for the semi-final, then that leaves 3 dances for each couple still to do at the end of this week ... so the double dance has to start from next week?

I get Ricky still to do Foxtrot/Cha Cha Cha/Rock 'n' Roll; Ali left with Samba/Tango/Rock 'n' Roll; Chris still to do Waltz/Samba/Charleston; Laila Salsa/American Smooth/Rock 'n' Roll and Natalie with Rhumba/Waltz/Charleston (although could have made a hash of that ).

Wonder what the split of the dances will be after this week? Would imagine that next week will be the undone ballroom with one of the Latins but will they go straight into the either/or spare from this week or do the more established dances ... or mix them up?

Yes I agree I would rather have seen Tuffers too

who do you think will be in the dance off with Laila then ?

I really enjoyed watching that Charleston - it was so much fun. I notice that they had flat shoes on. Is that compulsory or optional?

She will most likely receive a lot of praise of the judges

"You came aht gave it lots of energy and really looked like you was enjoying yourself"

The 20s shoes certainly didn't have heals like we see the ladies wearing in latin & ballroom dances and few swing dancers wear heals over say 1 1/2 inches - If as I expect both dances will be ramped up I'd expect the ladies to wear something like these http://swingdanceshoes.co.uk/aris_al...oxfordpeep.htm
Expect some of the guys to be sporting two tones (mind you Vincent does at every opportunity). For Boogie / Lindy I prefer green flash trainers but I don't think they would get past the costume dept!

BTW I think this would be great as a Charleston song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-xd3...eature=related

Thanks CB, it is always good to learn something new about dancing and its history.

Much appreciated.