I agree Blackberry he did make a mistake I think- it was a salsa and he knew that really as he made the comment about the back step.

Whoever the comment was made to (I am going to watch it back shortly as I missed the beginning of the show so its still on the box) it was a joke but now everyone is up in arms every week about Len

What I heard was that he said "I have that nasty play with you" to Harry, when Harry started rolling his eyes at Lens critique. Don't think it was a personal insult.

The samba and salsa basic stapes are different. The hip action is different. The only similarity between them is that they're both "party" dances and have a lot of hip action.

And the back basic in salsa has been like that in every celebrity. I don't think Harry's hip action was brilliant, but I would put his back basic in the top quarter of the SCD contesters. It's quite hard to get right and not even Kara got it last year.

This is what I thought I heard too. It seemed to me he was referring to himself, not Aliona or Harry.

I know- I was responding to the Aliona will correct it later and didn't add that as they have done both they have done the main 'party' dance s so it will be a bit late...My not very good explaining!

Really- I think some people have got the back basic okay- anyway my point was that Aliona should have picked up on it in training- that wasn't something that he would have just done tonight.

I still dont like Harry's Latin.He doesnt seem to get into the mood of the dances as its required.I love his ballroom though.

Ah, yes I get what you mean. Sorry!


I think the same sometimes when I see celebs making obvious technical errors (like last week when I watched Alex's jive. It suffered from the same "steps too large for latin" problem). But then I think what we're forgetting is that however much the pro tells the celeb the correct technique, there's a limit on how much technique the celeb can force into his/her muscle memory.

Obviously the more talented dancers are the ones who can understand the technique and physically get it quicker than others. Which is why having previous dance background (of any style) helps the celebs immensely, since they are both mentally and physically prepared to learn new technique.

True- but they have had more training time than others so I hoped Aliona would work more on the technique- particularly when we are told Harry is the best male celeb evah! (He's not but he could be good).

I thought Len was fine tonight.

I thought so too. So much even that I wonder if he was told off for his remark of last week.

I know and Harry & Aliona are so hot. I fear the DS forums may not be for you.

I still can't figure out if Harry's shortcomings are because Aliona is not a good teacher, or because Harry isn't as talented as the judges keep banging on about. As we see very little of the training this is hard to judge. So far Harry's good dances have been mostly in ballroom which doesn't expose the celebrity much. He has the advantage of being young and good looking which immediately makes whatever he does look better. And they train a lot, so it might just be that he's good because of the number of hours they put in, and not because of his talent.

On the other hand Aliona is very young. She has admitted to being one of the youngest professional dancers in America, so she doesn't have as much experience as the others. And as far as I know she hasn't done as well competitively as some of the others (but that's true of all the new pros). But of course best dancers aren't always the best teachers and vice versa.

Sorry for the ramble, I was just laying down all my evidence. In any cause as I like Aliona I will hold judgement for a bit longer

Harry's not a professional dancer so why shouldn't he have shortcomings like all the other celebs? Despite all of the criticisms of music, choreography and technique Harry and Aliona don't seem to be doing too badly on the leader board week after week.

As for the OP's comment, Len's scoring compared to Craig's says something about his ongoing feud with Aliona.

Yeah, there's something amissed in his latin. He doesn't seem to show his enthusiasm very well in a latin dance. I recalled Aliona in the beginning kept tell him to smile and 'perform'. But he just always look like this :sleep: (nonchalant) when he danced latin. Either that or he tried to look too-cool-for-school like he did with his jive and that's about it.

I heard it as "You have that nasty way with you". Itwas not a joke in my opinion and in any case, if it was meant as one, which I very much doubt, why would Len think it was in any way funny?

I will grant that it could just have been a foot-in-mouth remark to which he seems prone of late.

I've just watched this again and it is very obviously a joke. Len starts off his critique giving him very positive feedback and then says "what what I would have liked", the audience start to react and Harry pulls a face, to which Len retorts (comically) "don't start on me Harry, I know what you're like. You've got this nasty way with you" and Harry is laughing!

What's wrong with you people?!

IF Len does have a problem with Aliona then it's probably because for two years she has had really good partners with great potential and still carries on creating these daft routines which always seem to, without fail, show case her. On first viewing I loved tonight's salsa but watching it again you can see Harry has very little do whilst she spins around looking sexy. She lets her partners' down in my opinion.

Well you heard it wrong so don't worry too much about it

What's wrong with Len? My best guess? Dyspepsia.

baffled by this interpretation of what was clearly nothing more than a slip of the tongue from Len.
I often say Samba when I mean Salsa as do quite a lot of people. just cause they are similar words they are easy to get mixed up, it was nothing more.

Len and all the judges know full well what dance all the celebs are doing. If Len thought for one moment that Aliona had choreographed a Samba routine when they were meant to be doing Salsa you can bet your bottom dollar he would have went to town on her.
As it was when he made that comment he clearly meant it as a compliment and was very effusive about the routine Aliona had choreographed for once.
That was very obviously Salsa and not a Samba and for once Len complimented Aliona on her choreography.

Not really though, as you and both agree that he said "You've got that nasty way with you". However, we interpreted it differently. Not the best choice of words for someone in his position. I don't mind being wrong in my interpretation. It wasn't a very clever thing to say, as many others have misinterpreted beside me. Not all post on here as my family and friends will testify.

Len has only himself to blame. Not all of us have the time to replay, re-analyse and re-interpret everything, and he should take that into account. Unless he enjoys being a 'silly sod' .

My impression was that it was an ironic joke. I'm not a Len fan, but on this occasion I think he was mickey-taking. True Non-Lovers of Len may disagree.

Lol but you don't need to "replay, re-analuse and re-interpret" what he said to realise he was joking ? Harry even laughed out loud (again this was fully audible). I, by chance had it on Sky + and when I read what somebody had said he'd said to Aliona I thought it was really strange because I couldn't remember that. So I had a look and to be completely honest I hadn't picked up what Len had said when I'd watched it first time round, I'd got the jist of it and knew they were having a joke but that's the end of it. Ever heard it's not what you say but how you say it?

You and a few others have completely taken his comment out of context and are either choosing to ignore what is patently obvious or you have the social skills of a Dairylea triangle.

He used to be just about ok but he seems to have seriously lost the plot. He keeps going on about lifts when it suits him.
It is not a professional dancing competition. The lifts add a bit of fun to it.

I think it is time to pension him off. He seems to be spoilng the show. Even Craig seems to have toned down his commnents

Like Len and yourself no doubt? That was entirely unnecessary. It is quite clear now. This is a discussion board by the way.

Of course I have heard of 'it's not what you say it is how you say it'. I am quite a mature cheese, perhaps not Dairylea. How patronising was your reply merely because I said something you did not like, which is true for me and others, that we can't all replay the show.

Anyway, that's it now. Dinnertime.

You could take your own advice by the way.

This pretty much.