Kara was competent in the opening weeks, and has become an excellent dancer. If you compare her first Latin, the Cha-Cha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sikuBj5KD_I

To her most recent, the Rumba:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQLODYQBVJg

Her first Ballroom, the Foxtrot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ltVll6UHa4

And her most recent, VW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYtfA_ENZvY

A journey is still a journey - whether it's from poor to consistent, or mediocrity to excellence.

I think they have all had a journey in their own way, but I do agree that Kara has has turned from a competent dancer to someone who is now mimicking pro routines and moves, she absolutely blew my mind this weekend as I have never seen a contestant on strictly dance to the standard that she has, she is the best ever contestant who has ever been on the show in my eyes.

Agreed.

Kara's journey has been more to do with the performance side of things. Her earlier dances, whilst very good, didn't quite have enough oomph.

She's learnt not to hold back and trust what Artem tells her.

I've been thinking the same thing! I think sometimes it's easy to think that a great dancer like Kara has always been great but I was thinking in the rumba how much she has improved since the cha cha cha. In the cha cha cha her balance wasn't as good in the turns and spins and her lines weren't as nice. just shows how much work she has put in and what a great teacher Artem is

Every contestant who makes the final will have made quite a lot of progress. I don't think Kara has had a great "journey" because she was good when she started. She is now technically great, but she doesn't always connect with me. Everyone has grown in confidence, which also helps immensely. I still think she deserves to win though.

Kara hasn't really had any poor performances, apart from her jive, which was a bit lacklustre.

People said that Gavin improved a lot throughout the series, but I don't think so. From day 1, his Ballroom was always reather competent and his Latin was dire - that never really changed.

I think the concept of the "journey" is very overrated.

I still find it so annoying that she hasnt got a 40 and cant get over that Craig had to go and bloody spoil it for her .
She is by far the best dancer on the show and yet he chooses to show off his knowledge and pick on her .,
Still raging over it .

( I know I should get a life before someone shows up to tell me that )

I think she has quite noticeably improved, especially her arm shaping in the Latin dances, and her hold and stability in the ballroom. I still really love those early routines though.

I agree with you about Kara's jive, but in fairness that was the week Artem was injured & they didn't start practising until about the Wednesday, which makes a lot of difference.

Agree about Gavin; he definitely developed a nice hold in the ballroom which gave him a good look, but his footwork was often poor, and as you say his Latin was pretty dire.

That's my point entirely.

If you look at her arm placement in the VW, you can see the massive improvement.

Yes, it's a shame that Artem was injured that week. I think she did well considering the lack of training hours.

I think you can get away with a lot in Ballroom if you have a decent hold. Gavin's Ballroom was still never great and in his VW he was out of sync with the music. I don't really think he improved very much at all He did have more confidence at the end and his performance level had increased a lot, but that's about it.

I love a journey. Call me sentimental if you like!

I think that we've been a bit light on the journey aspect this series. It's been not so much a cross country hike as a trip down to the shops for most of the celebs. Within that context Kara has had as much of a journey (I agree probably more) than any of the others (Pamela, Matt, Scott or Gavin).

(By the way, the reason I like a journey is that it is an inspiration for others to start dancing. It it were just about watching people who are just good, then we might as well watch professionals dance and forget about the 'celeb/novice' aspect of the competition.)

I was thinking that when they were talking of Gavin as the journey boy. Kara has gone from good to amazing. At the start I don't think she was any better than Alesha at the start but, by gum, she is head and shoulders above her now.

I've not really had a fovourite until last week. Her VW was really lovely and her rumba touched me. She deserves a vote from me this week even though I haven't voted since trying to get Alesha into the final.

Yes, but the other 2 have also improved.

I do think that Kara looks like a professional though. She should easily have received 2 perfect scores over the weekend.

Would liken her progress to a dieter tying to lose the last very stubborn stone. Going from good to great is often the hardest part of the process as it is often easier to stick at good and not bother going further.

That's debatable. I'd say Matt plateaued in his Samba and hasn't improved since. With Pamela it's hard to tell given the silly marking (which isn't her fault). Kara's journey has been gradual and the most impressive, IMO.

I actually don't think Matt has improved that much, he's pretty much the same now as he was in his first dance. About the only thing that has improved is his hands. I still can't connect emotionally with his dancing unless it's to at Aliona's choreography.

Pamela - I don't know, I can't be impartial about her, but her waltz was pretty good to start with, but it's very difficult for me to divorce her improvement from her overscoring.

Kara has obviously improved, she was very shy and withdrawn in her dancing, the emotion wasn't transmitting itself to the audience, but now her dances sweep me away and I get lost in the magic of the emotion of the dance.

I edited my post to put a bit of distinction between Matt and Pam, but on the whole agree with what you say. ^^

Matt has probably improved the least for me. Technically, he isn't anywhere near as good as Kara and his performance level isn't always good - he looks like he's sweating a lot and just not enjoying the experience.

I think Pamela is good technically, but she lacks sharpness at times because of her body shape and age. She manages to connect with the dances and music in a way that the others don't/can't IMO. Kara is too focused on being technically perfect and I'm just not sure if Matt is really capable of connecting in that way. It seems like he just wants to get through his dances a lot of the time. He needs to relax and just enjoy the whole thing more.

I absolutely agree with this. It's quite normal for someone with natural talent to go from good to really good when they're training with a pro every day for months on Strictly but it hardly ever happens that they go from good to near-pro level. It's so hard to reach the technical and performing standard she is now at, no matter how naturally gifted you are. She amazes me quite frankly.

Agree, Pamela's unique selling point is her abilities as a performer. This has emerged as the weeks have gone on, so you could say that's been her journey.

I also agree with both these points. Matt started quite good and has remained quite good. Pamela started really good and has been demoted in my eyes to good. The last routine of her's that made me stand up and take notice was her waltz and that was week 1 and since then she's actually fallen in my eyes. She's never been bad (like Scott and Matt have been) but since her first dance, she hasn't been great either.

Kara's Cha Cha is one of my fave dances this series since it was a great song choice (I had thought this before Strictly started.) I had even practised to it myself so was thrilled when it was used.

And her outfit was WOW - I remember not recognising her at first in the Tesspit. Have always hoped to see Kara on Strictly and it seems likely she will be lifting the trophy.

Truly amazing, isn't it?

When I watch the Rhumba, I now can't help but compare it with the 'joke' James' version and was stunned by now much James seemed to pick up most of Kara's choreography (then again he's a professional) and how well Kara compares to a pro!!!

I always have to keep convincing people that this is the case. While she was good (and never bad) at the beggining, she has improved since her very first dance.

Having said that I actually thought her chacha was quite good though! The intro was fine and it all looked to be going well until that tumble back. But despite the tubmle (and instant confidence knock) she still managed to produce a more than half decent routine that still scored respectfully for a dance that contained such an early and glaringly obvious mishap. If you erase that sec where she went down, the routine was still the one of the best of the night (imo) which just shows how good she is ...(and was back then).

I I know most people think her Paso was the point where she suddenly looked good or became noticeable but I still think her Foxtrot and Quickstep before that where lovely dances too (despite neither being perfect). The only dances that didn't really ping the dance-dar were her Charlston and Jive (of which the music didn't do much to help the choreography due both tunes not really "speaking to the dance" as the Pros similarly say).

Sorry, Abbasolutely, but I entirely agree with you - 100%