Originally Posted by wildwestlady:
“Omigod! Another week of Dr P, the Gurning Granny - I can hardly bear it! Hopefully the GBP won't be as prejudiced and silly as the judges and will vote her out after round one.
There are limits when it comes to making allowances for the elderly - and I can say this because I'm even older than the GG. We tend to be fatter, slower, stiffer, uglier and in some cases dafter. We are sometimes, though not always, wiser. The young will always do better than us at physical tasks and at many mental tasks (e.g. learning a language).
So don't pretend that someone with a bus pass can dance as well as a fit twenty-something - it just ain't so, Sure, if she's a good actress who has had dance training, with bags of confidence and a skilled and canny partner, she can give a passable impression of dancing well and can fool many/some of the people much/some of the time. But watch that same OAP dance without a partner, focus on her bottom half, not her face, and I think the truth will be revealed.”
Yes but that truth leads to the conclusion that no one much over 30 can win on merit. If thats the case there's not much point anyone much over 30 turning up.
You logically have to allow for age in your marking and cast people fit enough so that it doesn't become ridiculous. The top standard those people can be expected to reach will be slightly lower - both because thats what they can reasonably do and because the judges would otherwise look ridiculous telling a 61 year old to dance with a 30 year old's body.
The only way around the Kara/Pamela marking problem is to reserve 10 for an exceptional performance and have 9 for Pamela working at her level getting most things right and for Kara doing a 10 routine with an error. As I said, though, you can't give the top people 9 when you have dished out 9s and 8s to something as poor as Gavin or when Len's floor is 5.