Maybe it was great live but on the flatscreen the inadequacies of the celeb dancers seemed to be writ large - at least when the camera dispensed with long shots. A large floorspace is cruelly revealing!

Obviously some were better than others but talk about anti-climax! I suspect that it's the collection of celebs this year. When I first saw the list I thought we would be in never ending SCD heaven but talk about inconsistency!

Anyone else agree?

Alex is an uncut diarmond, and the celeb happiest to be in there for the dancing. I have always loved her, more than Christine Bleakley and Matt Baker. Alex is Alex, nobody can corrupt her.

Nobody can compare with Kara, that's a given,
The sun also rises on those not number one.

I wouldn't say 'duffers'. Inconsistent? Yes.

1 Alex seems a nice girl, tries hard, fairly consistent, no natural talent
2 Robbie tries hard, no natural talent, also consistent
3 Anita - as above
4 Russell
5 Jason - some flashes of excellence, inconsistent
6 Chelsee - solid thus far, no 'wow factor' as yet
7 Harry - cursed with Aliona, seems to have no real enjoyment or thrill and doesn't get to do much except perform the role of the lamp-post
8 Holly - good in parts

The latter 4 ought to be really good but somehow....aren't.

Oh, she's got some very good parts alright

A poor year, not made any better by being told it's the best year ever by the judges - the scores have been way over the top - and standing ovations for dances that have left me cold.

What a moaner I am, not the celeb's fault, just a bad year.

I think they all have the potential to be much better, but in my opinion the lack of very much constructive criticism from the judges, or focus on the techniques and style for each dance, together with concentration on flashiness and so called "entertainment" have hindered their progress.

StrictlyRed, you're right.

Too much showdance and too little proper tuition.

I think it IS the best year ever, from the point of general, all round ability.No one has been absolute rubbish - but then again, no one stands out as being exceptionally good.........ergo, it's all a bit flat and boring. For the first time ever, I do not have a favourite and have no idea who will win.

Russell - Not a fan.

Robbie - Not a lot of talent here either. He does try hard but I think too hard sometimes. I know he likes to say everyone (including him) is a ballroom boy but even in hold he isn't great. I don't enjoy his dances, at all.

Anita - Good for her age. Sadly doesn't mean too much as she is old; she hasn't got much more talent than the first two (a little more I think) and her "selling it" creeps me out a little. I don't really enjoy her dances.

Jason - For me Jason really isn't that good. He does have some natural talent I think but clearly puts an incredible amount of hard work in. I applaud him for it but for me... his dancing always feel very placed and the emotions feels forced. His facial expressions creep the hell out of me (as does his personality) and it's all a bit mechanical. I don't see any chemistry between him and Kristina; in fact I get the impression they almost dislike each other sometimes. IDK. but maybe if there was no VTs, tesspit and ITT then maybe I would enjoy his dancing more. Jason's dancing always leaves me cold, even more so that some of the less talented ones.

Alex - Not a lot of natural talent and nerves got in the way for a while; but she has improved. I think she would have been better with a different dance partner, more supportive like Pasha has been. Excluding a couple of good ones, all of her dances have been not to my liking so far.

Holly - As a person, I love Holly; she's sarcastic and awesome and has great facial expressions and her honesty and she's just awesome. Her dancing not so much. While I don't agree with the hate on Artem brigade that Brendan should take over, I don't think that she and Arty have tonnes of chemistry. They are also not suited in body size/shape. Her technique is fairly poor. I think part of it is that her natural movement is not very dancey; her movements arn't precise and she doesn't finish them either. I do think she has improved but nowhere near enough. I enjoy watching her dance cos I like her and Artem as people...

Harry - My opinion of this couple has actually changed. I originally thought that Aliona was bringing him down or something but actually I think she has done quite well. I'm don't necessarily enjoy his dancing yet but hopefully he will be able to relax and put on a more convincing smile soon. I'm not too sure about his relationship with Aliona but they don't have the friendship that others seem to have. IDK but if carries on how he is going he definately deserves to be in the final

Chelsee - Has really improved. Still not great but has the potential to get there. I think she has natural talent and a natural rhythm. She seems to get on great with Pash and her humble personality makes me go aww. I want her to win. I think she deserves it as a dancer and as a person. I love watch her dance. Hopefully now Waterloo Road is over she'll be able to spend more time training and will produce some amazing dances. If she is not in the final then... i don't know what but I'll be proper upset!

There have been no outstanding dances for me this year. Last year Scott and Natalie's jive was great and Kara and Artem did quite a few great dances too imo.

The 5 dances that stand out for me (don't shoot me!) so far are Artem and Holly's Tango, James and Alex's paso, Artem and Holly's AS, Chelsee and Pasha's QS and Harry and Aliona's AT. I think it has more to do with the choreo, music choices and general atmosphere than great dancing.
Last edited by Rose-2010 : 20-11-2011 at 09:54

Rose, that's a great post for me and more or less expresses my thoughts about everyone. I love Chelsee and Pasha the most but still haven't been totally drawn into the competition like I was last year with Kartem.

After last year I really didn't want to get so drawn in as I did with Kartem, but I really miss it actually...

I know exactly what you mean. I'm willing Holly to be better - and perhaps my expectations are too high...probably the same with Chelsee and Pasha too.

Normally by this time I feel that I have an 'emotional investment' in at least one couple. This could be because they produce the best dancing, or are the most entertaining but this year I'm struggling to make a connection because so many of them appear 'wooden' (Holly, Jason and Harry), or rely on showmanship (Russell, Audley and Robbie).

Alex looks good because James keeps it simple. I admire Anita because she sells a dance but her posture doesn't appear to be improving.

Chelsee appears to be the most gifted technically but she gets on my nerves for some reason I can't quite put my finger on!

I know that for every 'plus' there's a 'minus' but the pluses appear few and far between this year.

Add diehard ham Brucie and false uncle Len to the mix and I'm struggling to feel the luuuuuurve

Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to call all the dancers duffers (Chelsee appears to show some promise), I agree with the general thrust of your post. The large space highlighted the limitations of the dancers a LOT. The mediocrity that is Harry should be penalised not praised (is there ever a week he's not sliding around the dance floor on his knees and gurning at the judges!!!). And dancing the Samba to "Come On Eileen"??? As Craig would say...revolutionary

Not entirely. I think the problem is that everyone expected another Kara or Jill Halfpenny. You have to remember that this a dance competition for people to learn to dance and if they were all trained music theatre stars it would destroy the point of it. I think you can rate the dancers as follows

Good dancers
Chelsee, Holly, Jason and Harry

Average dancers
Anita, Lulu, Robbie, Alex, Rory

Bad dancers with some small talent
Audley, Russell, Dan Lobb, Edwina

Poor dancer

Nancy

Can't get wildly excited about this years crop but the ability levels are about what they should be.

I think the problem is that people are not that inspired by the personalities and there hasn't been a really controversial exit yet, viz. Gabby Logan. Maybe a show consisting entirely of newsreaders might turn people on more.

But normally by this stage there is clear separation between the celebs who can dance (as far as it goes) and those who are just having fun. This year I get the feeling that anyone could end up in the bottom two because the routines are so hit and miss and the celeb dancers are more inconsistent than usual.

Maybe Chelsee in the bottom two might be pushing it but she's the only one.

I like Holly - her wit and attitude make me smile but she is definitely the weakest dancer of the 'top four.'

The short skirt last night exposed her shortcomings - unlike Chelsee's quickstep, when the short skirt served to show just how good she is.

Ouch I've got a glister on my foot from too much dancing. Does anyone have a sequin I can put on it?

You were going great guns until this bit. I really hate the British mentality of needing a talented act to be humble in order to be won over. It drives me mad. Chelsee hands down is one of the best dancers this year, she shouldn't need to be humble for people to acknowledge that.

It was this very mentality that meant that Chris whatshisname beat Ricky Whatshisface a couple of years ago. That was the single worst result in Strictly history so far.

I agree with this. By this time I usually have a couple I want to win, but this year I don't have one.

I don't think the best of the celebs (maybe Jason, Chelsee, Harry?) are as good as the best in previous years, and noone really stands out, but I do think the overall standard is more representative of what you would see if you went to a weekly dance class. If anything they might be, on average, slightly better. But yes, it would be nice to have a Jill Halfpenny too.

I read these forums and am surprised at the targets contributors set for the celebs. A celeb might give a good performance in certain aspects, but because they haven't got everything right, they are often dismissed as rubbish or talentless (or "a duffer" to quote the forum title). It takes the average person quite some time to get all these aspects right, especially some of the presentational stuff such as arm movements, good topline etc. Building core strength, for those not used to displaying it, is not easily achieved in a short time. Nor is breaking old, bad habits. I know the celebs have an intensive training schedule, but that may not necessarily help, since it is easy to reach saturation point.

If the judges, in their comments, could focus on what the celebs need to develop, it would help. Also there is a content problem, in that there is now less focus on developiing the celebs, and more on the immediate need to produce a crowd pleasing (content-lite) dance, OK, you may have to do the latter for practical reasons, but if you are in it for the long haul, you have to have an eye on the former too.

[quote][quote=Richwood;54713455]Not entirely. I think the problem is that everyone expected another Kara or Jill Halfpenny. You have to remember that this a dance competition for people to learn to dance and if they were all trained music theatre stars it would destroy the point of it. I think you can rate the dancers as follows

Good dancers
Chelsee, Holly, Jason and Harry[/QUOTE

Don't entirely agree Richwood. It is nice to have a Kara or Jill every year to savour (or in my case my all time favourite being Colin Jackson at least until pre-Muppet dance). I may want a Kara or Jill but I don't necessarily expect it as such. What I DO expect though is consistency and standards which most everyone on this board agree have been slipping or indeed fallen through the floor. This year's crop of "good" dancers are for me not that gripping to watch (especially Harry and to a lesser degree Jason), seeing as they are allowed to spend a good 50% of their routines sidestepping actual technique with filler (Harry's Jive springs to mind). It was only yesterday that Craig mentioned the gap in Holly's Quickstep, and also yesterday that were lifts were finally pronounced a no-no

If you compare the top four this year to the top four last year they are, collectively, probably not as good (imo)

None of the top four this year are as good as Kara (imo) because she, whether Latin and Ballroom, was in the main just an equisite dancer (as a non professional).

If you compare Matt Baker and Scott Maslen to Harry and Jason it probably comes down to individual dances in which to be able to determine which individual was best overall. I would say I prefer Holly over Pamela as a person but but certainly Pamela was better at the performance/selling aspect of the than Holly is this year and possibly even better technically too. As for Chelsee, I find her hard to compare with any of them, maybe just because she's difference to all of them at one end of the spectrum as is Kara to all of them on the other.

Just imagine though if you had the opportunity to work with some of the top dancers for several hours a day - wouldn't you expect to be further on by now than say Robbie, Russell, Alex, Anita, Jason and Holly are at this stage? Wouldn't you look like you're having a ball? Couldn't you at least flirt ever so slightly with your prof and generally be less wooden?

Are any of these things that difficult?

I'm just not feeling any passion or magic this year. It's like people are just dancing the routine but not feeling it.

Maybe the profs are too controlling and the celebs are not warming to this approach - they're too busy remembering their steps instead of feeling the dance?

Also, the panel started dishing out high marks far too early and consequently there isn't any sense of what a mark of 8, 9 or 10 indicates in terms of level of achievement.

Maybe everything will come together in the final half of the series? Hope so.

I don't know. I have dance lessons with a professional dancer (who has nothing to do with the show) and I find it difficult to remember and do everything I'm taught. It is the multi tasking aspect of it that is difficult (get one thing right, the other thing goes). Add to that the thought of appearing in front of a few million people..... (admittedly maybe less of an ordeal for a celeb).
Maybe lots of other people would find it easier. But not necessarily.
Also you can't just feel the dance (although obviously that is an important aspect). You have to learn how to do it too.