The costume did her no favours, even OH said it "made her bum look big" tho I'm sure it isn't. But she never looks as if she gives 100%.

Misconcieved. The Charleston gives you a chance to grab votes and attention by doing something obviously funny and dressing up accordingly (ask Ola) The more obvious the better -slapstick even. You want the outfit to be striking and probably recognisable but she ended up in something that was neither striking, romantic, in an obvious role or even colourful. Give her Tom or Chris's routine to do and I think she would have done better. Artem's been giving her too complicated choregraphy for much of the series and he hasn't even tempered that for a week when she has two dances to learn. Holly's also not built for endurance and she's tall for gymnastics and two dances would obviously cause problems without some way around it. Its notable that the other pros found ways around the problem of two dances - Jason particularly got more marks for dancing fewer steps and acting something simpler badly. Basically its the recurring problem. too much difficulty, not tailored to the celeb, no identifiable character developed and continued through the different dances over the series (see Chelsee) and this week no matching of the content to the physique that was needed to perform it.

I am a BIG fan of Artem and his choreography, but I would hesitate to give him credit for either of the two dances tonight. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Strictly brings in experts to choreograph the AT (except for Flavia and Vincent, of course), the Charleston and the Salsa - none of which are standard 10 dances.

Last year, I remember Artem looking bemused in one clip at what the Charleston was all about - he'd never danced it before, so it beggars belief that he choreographed last year or, given that he hasn't danced it since last series, that he would have done so this year either. I'm sure the pros have some input, but I think it is probably wrong either to praise or castigate Artem for a very interesting and innovative Charleston that Holly simply couldn't do justice.

And he put a cartwheel in the middle! What is it with Artem and cartwheels, he ruined one of Kara's beautiful ballroom routines by placing one in the middle of it. I know some love his stuff, but I am afraid I don't and felt that the routine did not suit Holly, it looked as though she had run out of puff. Imo Artem should have been less clever and thought more about what suited her and kept to basic principles of Charleston.

I thought he'd never danced it like we dance it on Strictly. I thought he had danced it the way they dance it in the US where it has more of a swing/lindy hop/jive crossover and he was confused because our's bears no resemblence to actual Charleston as he would know it.


Others who watch SYTYCD US and know about dance would probably know more than me though.

It seemed to me that Artem's charleston was sufficiently different from almost all the other charlestons we've seen that he must have had some input. Apart from Aliona he's really the only one who introduces new elements on a regular basis.

At the other end of the scale there is James and Ola who generally play it very safe, obvious and populist.

I loathed it on every level.

I can understand why Artem's popular, but he's a bit too out there for me. I prefer Pasha & Kristina's choreography because they manage to keep things exciting but also relevant.

And poor Holly looked completely cream crackered. The dance looked like a real chore.

I loved it on most levels. But, I agree, it didn't make Holly look very good, so my love is a very selfish one

Agree about Pasha and Kristina, but, Natalie!!!, never forget Natalie! One season with a duffer and she's history?

Not at all, I've always championed Natalie too She's probably the most effective teacher.

That's the thing; she was quite out of breath by the end of the dance, so I don't think that she could have given it much more. She doesn't have the endurance that particular routine needed. If it was a bit less demanding, it probably would have come off better.

I loved the concept, the music, and the choreography.

I think the problem with Holly is not her dancing ability, but her fitness levels.

Love him or hate him, I think it's great he brings something different and he takes risks.

I agree, I think he's done amazingly well to get her this far if I'm honest and maybe even to the final. I think some dances suited her and some didn't. The faster dances or the ones in hold could be dodgy, but some of the slower or more dramatic ones, or the ones where Artem choreographed as much as he could get away with out of hold have been good and in the odd case - AS, paso - amazing.

Maybe but he didn't do the best by his celebrity. The dance as choreographed showed off his own dancing skills and played to Holly's weaknesses rather than her strengths - unlike the AT.

Yes - I love the something different and the risk taking he brings (makes a change from some of the other pros). However he should tailor things a bit more to his celeb's ability - Kara could handle it, Holly (as much as I liked her) not so well.

I don't think any Charleston. traditional or modern, would have suited Holly. It was a clever attempt at something different, but just didn't work. I like Holly, but thought the judges' comments and marks were quite generous..it was only worth a 7 in my book.

The dance, regardless of choreography, played to Holly's weaknesses. She couldn't really spend this one sitting on a chair for half of the routine, could she.
The choreography played to her strength inasmuch as it gave her a character she was (or would have been if she hadn't been so exhausted) happy to portray. Was it too fast and too difficult? Maybe, but then again she coped with the jive very well, which was much more full on, I thought.

True, I'm not sure this was going to be Holly's dance either way. I liked her but agree with some other posters who felt (with the exeption of last week) that it looked as though she never really gave 100%.

I loved the concept, the music, and the choreography.
I don't usually like the Charleston but loved this modern version even though Holly didn't fully do it justice.
I think Holly was always going to struggle with this dance but Artem came up with something that she could really work with and probably appealed to her more than the trad sort.
I wonder what music they were originally going with before changing it on Wednesday


And her AT tonight! Thought that was fab.
I agree, I thought overall he really did well to choreograph what worked best for her as much as possible.

Certainly looked that way tonight. I know her outfit did her no favours, but (unlike most celebs who do the show) she doesn't seem to have dropped very mmuch weight during the series, nor built up much stamina...has she been putting in enough hours in the training?

You are right about that, they do bring in outside help to teach and help choreography these dances, although of course the pro dancers are at liberty to alter any choreography they wish in a way that they think will suit their celeb partners.

But also a lot of the pro dancers will bring in outside help to help choreograph other dances as well - a pro who's specialty is Latin (for example) will frequently get help to choreograph and teach their celeb partner the ballroom dances.

I thought it was horrible. Very awkward and totally unsuited to Holly. However, their AT was fantastic, so that kind of made up for it.

She's about 8 stone.

I love his choreography and this charleston was no exception, I'm sure there was a bit of lindy hop in there as well.

I loved it. It really suited Holly's attitude as well.

I think that lift they were trying to do near the end which got messed was just not suitable for Holly as she's a tall girl, and definitely too big for Artem. It made the poor girl look heavy!