At the start of the dance, not a major problem, although still faffing around.

At the end, probably fitting.


But slap bang i n the middle of the routine - it simply broke the flow, and the spell.

The wrong thing in totally the wrong place.

I sooo agree with this and I hope the same thing does not happen with Harry.

I think Alesha was a bit too critical of Aliona's choreography - she's not really qualified to talk about that. I reckon they need to get rid of these daft props, or only allow them for a theme week, otherwise we're never going to see a proper dance all series. They detract from the performance in most cases. I think they're only allowed in the name of "entertainment" for those who aren't really interested in the dancing.

I'm not a fan of Aliona myself, but the judges really do seem to have a problem with her year on year. So why is she still there as a pro??

Presumably because the judges quite understandably had no say in which pros the SCD production team engaged.

I agreed with every word Len said about the routine.

It started off looking absolutely beautiful and I thought "Great, Aliona has listened and is proving she can choreography a straightforward routine and it is amazing!" and then they broke hold and I thought "NO!".

The Waltz is danced in hold and Harry & Aliona were literally only in hold for half the dance. That says it all.

Aliona should apply for a job on DWTS.

It wasn't the only disappointing performance of the night, but it was the most disappointing because of the potential it showed, as it could have been right up there with the best.

I think the producers are loving the controversy - it takes the viewers minds off the general quality of the dancing.

Aliona was carefully chosen to be matched with Harry.
Its their fourth dance in 5 weeks together and Harry has no dance background to call on. Aliona has to teach him how to dance each routine from ground zero each week. In week 4, its asking a lot of them both to teach him 90 seconds of that quality in a week.

No-one dances 90 seconds of the dance anymore - like Rachel and Vincent's Tango. I liked when they had 6 weeks before the show to teach the celebs and you could got routines like that, but the producers have decided to steer the show another way to get more viewers and the figures aparently support that decision.

yes, agree with both of these posts absolutely.

That's not exactly the way to escape Len; does he say this sort of thing as a judge there?

As a 'floating voter' I am looking for someone to catch my attention and who I can throw my support behind for the rest of the show. Last week when Harry began the jive proper in his routine I thought 'this is it!' then it stopped again and it was disappointed. Again tonight, the waltz was so lovely and I thought Aliona had at last taken note, but no...faffing on the stairs. Why?????????

Fair enough for the likes of Lulu who is a rubbish dancer but Harry is so good. But I can't in all honestly support them as a couple if my feeling after they dance is 'That could have been better'

This is the time in the competition that the public decide who they want to support. Aliona is not taking advantage of that.

You are more or less saying the judges should have one rule for some and one rule for the others who can dance, which is silly all couples should be treated the same so if it's OK for Lulu and Brendan to go almost all the way up the stairs to waste time and not get shouted at then it's OK for Aliona to use the stairs in her dance.

Len needs to sort things out, it's getting personal the way he treats Aliona. If he can't embrace the modern with the traditional then it's time he left and they had another head judge.

While I'm sure Len likes her perfectly well off the dancefloor I am starting to sense that she gets on his "wick" while on it sometimes (of which I doubt Aliona cares, lol)

I didn't mention the judges. It's me I am talking about. I would never vote for the likes of Lulu but I could potentially vote for Harry. I need to get to the end of the dance and have enjoyed it. Both last week and this that hasn't happened, for the reasons I said above.

I haven't decided on a favourite yet and when I do it will be someone who I love to watch. That might be Harry if his routines improve and have more of him actually doing the dance.

Yes he does, but DWTS uses American Style rules which allows for the kind of out of hold choreography Aliona seems to prefer, so she would get away with much more on DWTS. SCD follows International Standard/Latin rules which don't allow the same freedom.

Aliona's job is the same as all the other pros.

Even if no one dances for the whole 90 seconds any more, 45 seconds in hold for the Waltz is not on - for anyone.

Harry is possibly the best male celeb we have ever had on the show and looks like he could be even better than Matt Di Angelo or Gethin Jones. We might know the viewing figures, but we don't know how the public are voting and Aliona could be ruining his chances with her choreography.

It all started so well.

Perhaps it's just her allotted role. You know, Craig's the 'villain' and is 'harsh'. Aliona goes off-planet with the choreography. Maybe it's in her contract.

It's an awful shame though. The stairs bit was dire. Embarrassing. We'd all like to see Harry dance. Totally not his fault.

I have always defended Aliona's right to do what she wanted but yesterday her choreography ruined what was going to be a ten dance. I was taken in by how beautiful the dance was and how it was the most moving dance I had seen on the show since Rachel and Vincent's dances and then Aliona saw it fit to choreograph the ridiculous stairs part.

Did she actually break any rules, though? Craig will usually dock a mark for an illegal lift, say (and has sometimes been given the 'Len stare' treatment by doing so, because it wasn't 'serious'), and, as people say, 'stairwork' is virtually standard on SCD. I just think that looking for consistency on SCD or in Len's responses is an exercise in futility.

I have just rewatched the dance after last night debacle.......I can see why Len was upset.....they had no faffing about at the beginning they were straight into hold and it was lovely but after only half the dance they scurried off up the stairs and they never got back into hold again afterwards....Why did she do the kiss on the stairs thats what I wonder she could have just had it as 10second in the dance and then back into hold.

What the hell was she thinking. She has a wonderful partner in Harry and YET she does it again, goes off on a tangent and ruins a potentially brilliant performance. She makes me SCREAM..what the hell was she thinking.

One word for you: conjecture. I don't have to prove anything to you. You, on the other hand, has to show proof why you claim the pros have no input or limited input in the choreography.

I can't believe I am defending Aliona here. If it was last week, I would have wished for someone to skin Aliona alive for choreographing almost no jive steps in that jive routine.

But this week, at least 50% of the time they were in hold and they were immaculate when in hold. I agree the break in the second half somewhat ruined the magic, but I can see why she wanted to add that kiss there because it matched the lyrics of the song.

Then again, it can be said if they started off from the stairs (with the same lyrics come away with me, followed by the kiss) and then danced the second half all in hold, Len might just about let her get away with it.

Such a wasted opportunity. Apparently Karen said in the red button it was a ten-worthy dance, wondered how she thought of Aliona's choreography...

I'm going to defend Aliona as well.

OK, for me too, the scurrying on the stairs did break the dance, but she has proven now that she can do traditional and for Harry to be where he is now, it means he's good, but she's a darn good teacher as well.

It seems that some here demand that Aliona should only do a traditional dance with no faffing abaht. But Why should we demand that of her, when everyone else is seriously faffing about. Yesterday we had a rumba that took place on the floor, a samba that went all the way up the stairs, an tango that started and ended in bed and a waltz that consisted mainly of dancing out of hold around lamp posts.Aliona and Harry were more in hold than Artem and Holly, yet they were not criticised.

The point is, Harry is good, EXCELLENT even, so faffing about is a waste.

Chelsee is good too. And did Pasha mess too much with her dance? No, there were pure dance. Yes it took her five weeks to get anywhere close to getting the dance technically, but she got there, because Pasha didn't give up throwing her all the technical difficulty into their choreography.

Aliona must have discovered she discovered a gem again this year. But what did she do? She probably taught Harry to do the basics well (and what vast improvement in Harry's ballroom-hold, from the foxtrot two weeks ago to the waltz last night, it was almost night and day!).

Pasha did break hold mid-way during the QS, but went back to it. They did spend time faffing about, but only in the beginning and the end (and the end they did a little charleston, which is allowed in the QS).

Artem faffed about in the beginning and the end (and a bit out of hold in the middle), but he did a proper VW with Holly, enough for the judges to be less anal about it.

Aliona was very strange. If she did that second half of last night's performance first and the in-hold bits to the end, I actually think they may get two tens instead of one.

But credit to Aliona: in two weeks she vastly improved Harry's hold and posture to something near perfect.

And I did think Artem and Holly were faffing abaht a lot. Those lamp posts really got on my nerves, and they were only there for 90 seconds! Plus, they hindered the free flow of the waltz.

It's just up to Aliona to do a very very very traditional dance with Harry, putting in all the steps, no props, and to see what happens.

I think the problem is that the faffing around was in the middle.

I personally think the start and the main bit in hold was better than most of the other brilliant waltzes (and I include Matt D, Gethin, Ricky, Alesha and Rachel in this) that have gone before.

If the stairs faffing had been at the beginning or end, I think it would have been acceptable. Its just where it happened and broke the spell that Aliona and Harry were casting over the audience. After the stairs bit, the open shadow bit was ok but by then the bubble had been burst..

Well thats what I think!