Just thinking...Danny, Danniella, Gary and Kieron's routines were all based around very definable characters. Even Mikey had a mood that he had to create as part of his routine.

Hayley's routine relied on the genre of dance she was performing, not in how well she could put across a defined character or even created a particular mood.

Now, does that mean the others actually did a better job than Hayley within the parameters of 'movie night'? Is this another example of Hayley being 'favoured' with a routine that played to her dance ability (and bypassing her acting skills)? Was it a level playing field if not everyone had to 'act' a character?

Hmmm.

I thought it was unfair she was the only one who wore a gold costume too

With it being Oscar night etc., it definitely showed favouritism

I may be one of only a few people on here who haven't seen Slumdog (?) but you could turn this on its head and say the lack of a specific character might have been a disadvantage..made up for though, IMO, by the material Hayley was given to work with,

The difference is that Lorelei Lee's point was a reasonable one, while yours was designed to seem ridiculous as a way to imply that LL's was too.

We get whole threads of such ironic posts in the BB forum.

Anyway, I think the answer is that much of the basic inspiration for the other routines was a character, while the basic i. for Hayley's was once of the ice dance routines in the Olympics (which can even be seen to the same music, jai ho, on youtube, though it was actually danced to something else).

Yes it did seem odd and then of course they brought in a specific Bhangra dancer to the ice, to choreograph her routine. None of the others had a dance they could carry through the whole routine so yes it was very different to what the others had to portray.

What character was Mikey playing?

That's a good question - I didn't even realise the music was from Notting Hill til I saw it written on the ice. Quite difficult for him really to have to portray just a 'romantic character' that didn't have any specific qualities and certainly no associated dance style. He seemed to get the worst of all worlds.

I think the choreographers were too preoccupied with using a fellow Boyzone member's track without thinking about how it would work within the context of 'movie week.'

Because the song and the film it was taken from weren't nearly as iconic as the rest we saw last night.

Everyone else managed to bring the movie they were portraying to life because they were given something quite specific. Mikey could have been conveying any romantic film with that routine.

Kieron and Brianne weren't really playing characters from the film either, tbh. They were performing as very definite characters, but they were more 'inspired by' the film than being actual film characters.

Neither Mikey nor Hayley were really playing characters at all. Nothing wrong with that, necessarily, of course, especially when you still have a good routine, as with Hayley. Mikey didn't exactly make you think of the film at all, in contrast, which was partly why his routine was so weak.

But what would make you think of Notting Hill? Romantic comedy - how do you portray that in ice dance?

Compare with Slumdog Milionaire - instantly in character with Indian Bhangra dancing - a very specific type of dancing which can be carried through an entire routine with specific and identifiable hand and head movements.

I think it's more a case of Mikey being let down than Hayley having an advantage though.

If I'd had last night's show on mute, I'd have been able to identify everybody's designated movie apart from Mikey's.

Just as Hayley was given specific Bollywood moves, Gary was given very recognisable moves from Pulp Fiction such as performing the twist. And you couldn't mistake Daniella for anyone other than Sandy from Grease. She looked every bit the part just as Hayley did in her costume. Ditto Danny.

It seems to me that they only one at a disadvantage yesterday was Mikey, because he couldn't portray something very specific (he could have been falling all over the place pretending to be Hugh Grant, but....).

To a certain degree I thought the costumes, and the films were well chosen. Every girl likes Grease, I'm a big fan of the Pulp Fiction dance scene (iconic), Kieron and Brianne were so funny in their routine, Danny was definitely Rocky and Hayley was some kind of Bollywood star (I haven't watched Slumdog millionaire, but seen other characters of Bollywood movies, and that was spot on). I can't really see any of them having an advantage.

I agree - I think most of the selections were pretty good ones. Even the Pink Panther for Kieron and Brianne, which seemed like an odd choice, was very well done in the end.

I suspect with Mikey it might have been quite hard for them to find something that would work for him. They probably figured that a Ronan song would get the votes pouring in, but it didn't really work.

I think that was the idea, but it didn't work in the end. By the way, Kieron's pink panther one was really good. I hope he will make it to the final.

Another thread trying to find a reason to have a go at Hayley. Look, she skated really well last night and deserved her marks. Next it will be 'the ice didnt look so cold for Hayley, was that fair':yawn:

Totally agree.

I think it's the other way around. People are making legitimate criticisms of the show and the routines that some celebs have been given, and people are fighting these points tooth and nail because they want to defend Hayley, even though it's not Hayley being criticised.

Yep, if you actually read the thread, it's not actually anti-Hayley.

If you say so Veri.

*faints*

*gets up to address others*

I'll start off by saying that this wasn't meant to be an anti-Hayley thread at all. OK, I'm not her biggest fan, but I'm not anti-her and loved the Jai Ho routine.

But I did think that as characterisation was so far up the menu of point-scoring items last night, it was a bit rubbish that she didn't get a defined character - and thus somehow got out of having to tackle one of the elements everyone else had to tackle.

I also made the point that Mikey had a role to play in that he was developing a romantic mood and partnership with Mel, along the lines of a rom-com. Hayley's routine was based on Bollywood dancing - NOT creating any kind of character or even a mood, other than that implied by the costume and music, which are the easiest bits of the whole performance.

So those who think Mikey was hard done by - yeah, he was compared to the others, but I still maintain he had more character-defining work to do (no matter how little material he had to do it with) than Hayley. Which is partly why I thought he did a better job than Danniella, in that the emotion his dance created was better than hers (as Nicky also said).

Is there any limits to how silly the 'Hayley is being favoured' threads are going to get.

As far as the viewers vote is concerned, I thought the song choice for her was not necessarily a good one, not everyone knows the song .. and not everyone has seen the film. The others were all really recognisable.

I would really love for them to have to all come out and do the SAME routine ... it would be dead boring for us at home .. but it would settle it for once and all ... Hayley is the best dancer .. leagues above the rest ... Chris and Jayne have said so and it's ridiculous that people are still looking to find ways of saying that she is considered the best because of some kind of favouritism or bending rules .. do you really think that's what Chris and Jayne are about?

Daniella got Grease FGS. Doesn't everyone love Grease? How better can you get? She, however, did not do it justice, Hayley on the other hand did.

The music Hayley had was from Slumdog and was easily recognisable if you'd seen the film. It is a very difficult form of dance and T&D know their limitations in dance. This was not a form of dance that they were familer with so get in someone who knows what their're doing I don't see any problem. The rest of the routines were more usual ice dance numbers so T&D, Karen and the pro's could give alot of imput to. Some of the funniest vid's of the training are watching Dan who shows that this was not one of his usuak styles.

I don't know. If you'd read any of it before posting you'd have realised that this isn't ranting about Hayley being favoured.

Hayley cant do the right thing can she? I dont know why she is always being picked on. I like watching her perform. She is exciting, very able and has very good work ethic.