her choreography lol.

Bit strong.

Differing opinions are not spam. Aliona isn't rubbish - she's a fabulous dancer - but she's letting Matt down a bit, sometimes.

Well, maybe not pointless - it's an opinion and they, as the saying goes, are like a***holes; everyone has one and they're usually full of s***.

But rude? I'd have to agree.

I should just start by saying that I have supported Matt all series; he's a great dancer and a nice fella. I also think that this evening's salsa routine was badly conceived from start to finish.

However, Aliona is being blamed pretty much wholesale for Matt's failure to do a great dance, and it just isn't true. Matt has increasingly become his own worst enemy throughout the competition, by ignoring the judges' advice that he seems stiff, by not really feeling the dance that he's executing so well, and by completely failing to recognise that this element is the most crucial of all in performance terms.

Would another pro have recognised this and told him to relax into it a bit more? Or would they have been so thrilled by his skills that they'd have done exactly what Aliona's done and continued to choreograph routines that made the most of his abilities, delighted by the level they could go to?

Aliona is a lovely dancer to watch, and if her choreography doesn't always appeal to some, she does at least always make the effort to be original. In interviews she seems to take her responsibility to her celebrity very seriously - and let's not forget she's literally followed Matt around the country to make sure they could spend enough time practising.

Try giving all these points some thought and then tell me Aliona's all about herself and that Matt's totally blameless in all of this.

Exactly, it's not that I'm anti-matt or anything it's just that I get annoyed by thinking what could have been by Matt all series had he been given a more able pro There's no denying that Matt had the potential to be one of the best dancers of all SCD but that imo has been wasted.

we will agree to disagree on this one.

they are still a popular partnership.

pleased you have censored your language lol.

I tend to feel that Aliona doesnt care what the judges think of her coreography.....she should have spoken up and said the coreography was her responsibility not Matt's. However the judges have ensured he will get his place in the final and probably win and therefore Aliona will consider herself vindicated.

Why, what she done to Mrs Matt?

Yup, definately.

This is what worries me A combination of the major popularity of Matt and the sympathy vote from his 'poor me' attitude will probably result in him getting to at least the finals if not winning. I don't hold much hope of Aliona choreographing something that wow's me in this time and if she wins, for anyone that complains about her choreography will constantly get the 'well she won with it' comment thrown back at them

How can Matt be ignoring judges advice? If he wants to get himself corrected, surely Aliona should be the one correcting him? I know it took him more than two weeks to sort our his hands (but look at Gavin, he's hands are as flat as naan even now and the judges said NOTHING about it). And so what if Aliona's following Matt around? Does she have the choice NOT to follow Matt around, seeing she's contracted to teach Matt to dance? Unless of course she's paying out of her own pocket making those trips around the UK, there is no brownie points for her travelling around with Matt.

Aliona was criticised for making the Rumba too much about her. Rav wasn't that good a dancer, as you can see, and in this week one dance, I think Alona gave him as much as he could have done well. I rate this as good choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqx8tMaLkE

This year, I think Aliona has taken the opportunity to choreograph toward the viewers, not the judges. Matt danced a very entertaining Jive and got the Austin Powers character just right, but it wasn't a great Jive. I think the viewers would have liked it.

Sorry I don't see how this explains why I deserved the 'spammer' comment. Lorelei put forward some really good points on this subject and made a much better case in aliona's favour.

I know it's tough when your favourite gets criticised but it's better to discuss and put forth your opinion than disregard those that disagree with you.

Had I been Aliona, and seen my celeb who was undoubtedly good being surpassed by Scott who was more of a beginner, or passed by Pamela who is older, maybe had some fitness issues initially etc, I would have asked myself why. And both Scott and Pamela have been given traditional choreography. In fact, though I haven't like many of Pamela's routines, I have to admire James' approach - by giving her the choreography like that of their VW, he hasn't given the judges a lot of room to start taking off many marks. (I feel she's been quite leaden, and should have been more penalised, but that's beside the point.)

You would imagine that she would at least try, in one dance, to try out some different choreography, just to see if it would make a difference. But she hasn't.

yup definately.

Unfortunately though Aliona probably won't ever do this When she's making comments along the lines of we knew you wouldn't like it etc to the judges then it shows she knows it's not favourable but is willing to continue regardless of the damage to anyone - unfortunately tonight it seemed like Matt took the fall

I remembered when Len commented on the flips in the samba, and she was went on 'we know, we know' in a patronising way. Just rubbed me up the wrong way. And I said that despite liking the back flip in the samba because it was towards the end of the dance so embellishment is allowed in a way.


If different meant 'more traditional, less quirky', then I agree.

I think she hopes that the choreography will appeal to the public more than the judges. A little (though obviously not as extreme!) as Anton's choreography for Ann. But I don't know that she has pitched it right. If we take DS as a slightly more obsessive representation of the voting public, then there has been doubt expressed since the beginning.


Different by preference for me would be less quirky, but really any kind of different choreography. What would she have lost from doing this?

It appears as though Aliona is ignoring the judges advice too - surely she is there to teach and help him achieve these things ?

As SCD mentioned, it`s also her job to follow him around the country if his job merits it... Erin and quite a few other pros have done the same in the past.

don't think that is the case at all, however she does need to make some changes for next year. Hopefully whoever has a twitter account should give her some wee pointers on what she can do differently.

I've rewatched the Salsa. The choreography wasn't good, but I don't think that was the major problem.

If she doesn't listen to the judges' comments, do you think she'll care about the joe public twittering her on how to improve her choreography?

we can influence better as we are more polite than the judges. The judges tonight took the mickey and crossed the line and that to me is unfair. Starting to think whether bbc want a lame final. If they do then so be it.

If Kara is in the final, it won't be lame for me.