I couldn't care less about it, gimmicks or no gimmicks. What difference does it make? at least they are selling the dances and trying to win our votes.

Yes, and it's a dirty word

parthena

Yes there are too many gimmicks. Its what Aleisha was getting at to Paul about wanting more dancing which they all found very funny but she was right. He's too busy doing his magic gestures/gimmicks/body language.

And yes Len let the cat out of the bag didn't he and I'm glad he did with that comment. About time, those that don't wanna go for it are told that their gimmicks have not gone unnoticed. Ann was doing gimmicks at the begining of her routine and in her previous dances as well. Fed up with it. When they do it, expose them on it, mention it and deduct points for it I say.

Craigs honesty is refreshing but some of his scoring is a bit too low sometimes.

Sadly, it seems that way. Over the on X Factor boards, some are saying it's more about entertainment and not the actual singing. Forgive me, but I thought it was about the singing just like SCD is about the dancing I tune in to both shows every week to be entertained, but I find entertainment from a good singer and (on SCD) a good dancer. Lets not forget what these shows are really all about.

Last night he marked Matt @ 8 whereas Lollard Len only gave him 7 the same mark as he awared Peter Shilton

I nearly deleted the whole show in disgust.

parthena

Personally I am liking the use of the new performance areas and the subtle use of props. However, I think it can work against them in the judges eyes (and our eyes as we are not stupid) if the dance is all gimmicks to hide the fact that the celeb is not vvery good. Just as we can see when a pro is dancing round the celeb (Paul Daniels last night) to cover up.

General thumbs up, but pro's be careful not to overuse it please!

This show is rapidly beginning to plumb the depths as the choreography, in the main, is appalling and so is the music. The Rumba is a game of statues and nothing else - what a shame SCD has ended up like this.
Axe any further series, please.

As always with Strictly, they've changed the rules without telling us. Do they really think the audience won't notice? All right, it's hard to achieve, and maintain, a good ballroom hold, but previous contestants at least gave it a go without running around by themselves/sitting on a park bench for 30 seconds. I can understand the professionals trying to make it easier for the no-hopers, but it's when they do it for the real contenders that it annoys me. The quickstep is an entertaining dance as it is, what's the point of introducing cartwheels/making it look like a jive?

I can almost excuse it for the poor/weak dancers this early on...but what will those left in near the end be doing at this rate

I wish that Len would say what he really thinks about the dance routines and the dreadful choreography but there again why would he risk his nice job at SCD?

This is my opinion too.

Previous years Len would have been ranting about all the faffing about, but he has barely mentioned it this year.

Last night he was complaning about the content of the dance now and again, and seemed to be laying the blame at the feet of the celebrity which annoyed me.
They only do what the professional tells them, and I believe, like you that the producers have given the dancers their instructions that the dance must be more 'showy' in keeping with the new DWTS style of the show.

Why they feel the need to do this to the show is beyond me, unless it is to attract the 'X factor' viewers......who seem to be the only ones who count these days.

Nail on head $$$$$$$

I hate the faffing about. Hate it. Wish they'd revert to the rules on time spent in hold etc. Otherwise we'll just get disco and tango with lots of weight-lif....I mean lifts.

What I'm finding interesting with Len's comments this year is that he has obviously been told not to fuss too much about gimicks and time wasting so he's carefully overlooking the worst offenders and ending up complaining only when the better dancers come on, even if they've done comparitively little "faffing" when taking all the other danes into account. I actually find that quite sad because it's almost as though he's given up and doesn't care what the middling to bad dancers do any more and is just concentrating on the good ones. In the end I'm not sure that approach favours anyone, because he's holding certain dancers up to a completely different standard. I admit I do the same thing a bit because I'm much more willing to accept a prop from Paul Daniels than Matt Baker, but I'm not a judge.

I'm not a fan of the props and gimicks either, by and large. I didn't mind Anton's hat and cane initially (though I'd have preferred it if he'd actually used them rather than just picked them up and then thrown them away again) and I didn't actually mind Paul's first two magic tricks (like anyone ever dances rumba steps all the way through anyway- I'll give them 4 bars for gimicks, if I must ) but it is beginning to bother me quite a lot when so much of the dance is out of hold. I enjoyed Kara's dance last night but I actually found it hard to say in the end how good I thought the quickstep was, because there wasn't a huge amount of quickstep content in the routine. It really came home to me when Patsy was dancing, because despite the fact that she's obviously not as good a dancer as Kara, her routine had far more quickstep content which I would argue meant that her routine was actually the harder of the two. Isn't that the wrong way round? If you're fairly comfortable dancing generally (as Kara seems to be) the challenge with ballroom and Latin is the partner work and the specific technique for each dance so as fun as her routine was (and I quite liked the music for something a bit different) I would have appreciated a little more time spent in hold so that we could see properly how she coped with that.

I think he does say what he thinks generally but is realistic, realising they are amateurs so doesn't lay into them to hard but if he did get very critical like Craig, then why would he lose his job for?

I wouldn't expect him to lose his job if he did that. Only thing I didn't like about Len was those, imo orchestrated/staged slanging matches that he had with Craig and they got close to the mark before they stopped that silliness.

Judging by the performances in the series so far, they should stop titling any dance "quickstep", "waltz", "foxtrot", because most of the dances look the same with no distinction between them, i.e. lots of pfaffing around, props etc and only half the routine containing any dancing.

In previous series I have been able to tell which dance the couples are performing in the ballroom section. I have no clue what they are performing now, and neither do the judges by the comments they are making.

Exactly. He would never have accepted the sort of choreography we are getting from the new male dancers in previous years. Admittedly we didn't see Jarrod last night but the other two were dreadful excuses for a quickstep, and the marks given for a quickstep with a cartwheel in were way too high. I really don't enjoy the programme as much now, it's a shame how they have dumbed it down and I think the gimmicks and props etc will be it's death knell eventually.

I completely agree, so many of the ballroom dances don't have the right feel. Last week the foxtrots definitely had a tango vibe, and this week the majority of the quicksteps were too manic in my opinion.

They can't have the right feel as, very rarely now is the music chosen wisely. Once you have the right music then the whole dance will take on a completely different feel. I remember, once a dark skinned 'amateur'(an athlete, I believe?) dancing a marvellous tango but here there were no singers and the music was almost a classical tango tune.
The Quicksteps last night were absurd in their tempo and gimmicky as well.

Myself and partner are on the verge of giving this series the old heave ho!
What a disappointment this show is, nowl

Completely agree OP!
Sometimes an unusual choice of music can work, but so often on this programme it seems to hinder the celeb as it makes it harder for them to hear the beat and rhythms in the music. There's a reason that particular music is always used for certain dances, and that's because the pace and rhythm fit with the steps - and so it adds to the performance rather than fights against it.


agree witht his as well - they are all looking like American Smooths at the moment - fair enough, have an introductory bar or two to get into hold, but then the majority of the dance should be in hold. Developing a proper frame and body movements with your partner is the massive challenge of ballroom, and when you get it right it looks fantastic and makes the footwork easier to achieve. Cartwheels don't count


Couldn't have said it better myself, especially the bit in bold.

I don't think the producers realise that the ballroom dances are attractive and entertaining to watch for different reasons to the latin. They don't have to be crazy/sexy to entertain. It's the contrast between the dances that makes them interesting - if they all become samey then it will be a dull watch.

I agree that too many gimmicks are appearing in the ballroom dances. As a non dancer, and only from picking things up from Strictly, it seems that the quicksteps and foxtrots are a lot different from what I traditionally think from. Perhaps in future the dances should announced as 'performing a routine based on the quickstep' rather than name the actual dance?

I hate it!

The only possible excuse is when the celeb is a poor dancer and the pro has to choreograph something enetertaining so shoehorns faff into the routine to take our mind off the actual dancing.

There is no excuse at all when the celeb is a good dancer. This is the main thing that put me off Natalie last year and it's the same with Aliona this year.

Just stop it!!

I'll sort of agree with you then!

I've been watching from the very first show, so I think I have an idea of what to look for in each dance and as long as I see enough of that, I don't mind the gimmicks.

Gimmicks can be entertaining and I don't mind either that the couples are now allowed to dance more out of hold. I do prefer seeing fancy footwork, etc., but then I would expect higher scores to be awarded. Gimmicks plus no dance content should get low scores. All fine by me.

I totally agree, although you need a bit of a build up at the start of a ballroom dance, you don't need props or a 30/40 second lead up before they get into hold and start dancing!

Totally agree with OP.
Some of the routines bear very little resemblance to the dance they are supposed to represent.
As Len says "all this mucking about on the stage before they get to grips" is an absolute waste of time.
New choreographers needed who know which dance they are supposed to be doing.