That's why I mentioned Kristina's and Pasha's American Smooths as sometimes it seems its only wrong if Aliona does something.

Everyone likes different things and Aliona's choreography will be liked by some and it will annoy others. That's natural and fine. Its good that everyone is different.

My only issue is when it appears to me that the same rules are not being applied to everyone regarding rules. The fact that there are hardly any rules left and even Len doesn't stick to those tends to reduce the importance of that issue though. Its getting more entertainment based and less dancing based, which I dont like but thats the way it is.

But that's what I'm saying. If others do it, Craig and Len mark down so heavily it creates a weekly talking point (Kara/Artem American Smooth, Lulu/Brendan Rumba) and then they stick to the rules from there on in. It seems that whilst Brendan's slipped away from doing that so often, Aliona's doing it more and more.

If she did it once and then stopped it'd be fine. But we've had Rav's Tango, Quickstep, Matt's Salsa, Freestyle, Charleston, Argentine Tango, Harry's Waltzes, AS, Tango, Freestyle, and that's in 3 seasons! It's getting boring and annoying now. If she did more like Harry's QS and Charleston I'd be fine with it, but it's too infrequent.

Hmm, there's 3 that I would take out of that list: Matt's Charleston, and Harry's 2 Waltzes.

Matt's Charleston - yes they used a unicycle, but from what I can remember of the ITT of that series, Matt had mentioned to Aliona that he knew how to ride one. Think that was the only gimmick that they used there and that dance was one of their better ones iirc (I preferred it to Kara's, to use a comparison, apart from the Jive, that was probably the one dance that she struggled with). I won't forgive the showdance but being fair, lots of us on here said that Pamela's was the only decent showdance of the night.

Harry's Waltz - I think Len acknowledged that it was only the bit on the stairs that he didn't really like. I agree it jarred a bit with the flow of the dance, but it did fit the lyrics of the song, so I can see why Aliona put it in.

Harry's Viennese Waltz - not sure what the issue was here, they got really high marks for it (a 10 or two I think). Was this the one with the sickled left foot or was that the Quickstep?


Also, I remember Aliona saying once on ITT that she was teaching Harry more technical stuff (such as the "sway" in his Ballroom dances) early in the series so that he was a better overall dancer for later on, and that meant that she sometimes simplified the routines.

I think she needs a "middle of the road" type this series - like a Robbie Savage perhaps. Robin's had 2 of these in his 2 series and he did pretty well with them with sometimes average choreography. I've said in another thread that Ronnie O'Sullivan (who has been rumoured) would be a good type of partner for her. She hasn't had a sportsman yet and if she does do decently well this series with whoever she's partnered with, then that might do wonders for her.

I'd say she's done quite well in her 3 series, so let's give her the benefit of the doubt until we see who she's partnered with and which route she goes down with them

Harry's Waltz was not only disrupted by the stairs hiatus, but he never went back into hold afterwards, even if the moves were more familiar, normally those moves are only for opening and ending, not 1/3 of the dance as was. As for the Viennese Waltz, I do remember being angry but I'm not sure why, so maybe I'm mistaken there. I believe the sickled foot was the Quickstep, but as that was technicality as opposed to choreography not Aliona's fault, and I thought the performance was brilliant. Like I said, I changed my mind rapidly about Natalie, I'm not adversed to Aliona doing the same, but at the moment, I'm not convinced, she doesn't seem as open minded and malleable as Natalie or the others, it's her way and everyone else is wrong, be they celebs or judges. We'll see, like you say, we don't know who she'll get this year, but I'm sure no matter what level of talent we'll get a talking point or two from it.

The thing is, they don't need to be so literal, otherwise we're on a slippery slope to this

Brilliant! Get David Armand on SCD Aliona's partner next year if she's still here perhaps? I would have said this year but I want Aliona to have someone with less talent this year

I think it will be absolutely hilarious, just for the reaction on here, if she gets Nicky Byrne or Matt Lapinskas.

Yes my sides are splitting at the thought of better pros being sidelined and overlooked for the 3rd year running in favour of Aliona

Hear Hear - PM for you Topaz

Not to mention a jive which was in the main spent sitting in a car that was totally unecessary

Oh the hilarity... I think we'd be so outraged we may be forced into action, in the form of a strongly worded letter!

I think, whilst we may call it Interpretative dance, Aliona refers to it as "almost a Foxtrot"

Didn't Vincent once get criticised for doing a VW that didn't have enough Viennese in it. Someone needs to pull Aliona to one sde - preferably La Hardy and explain to her what the rules for ballroom are. And get rid of the props - Karen didn't to use a prop when she won - just her her knowledge of ballroom and latin

Have they been confirmed as taking part? If so I think either would be fantastic with Aliona!

It seems so tesswolf. Persoanlly I think Aliona is being given strong partners because she is the weakest choroegrapher- but she has had three young fit male celebs, this year she needs someone who has limited ability. She has had it easy with Matt and Harry - this year she has to be tested

But I don't want Nicky or Matt with Aliona. I think Matt will go to Karen and Nicky would suit Flavia/Kristina/Ola

To me it's fantastic light entertainment on a Saturday evening. I don't really look at it in terms of any pro getting a better deal than another.

If I did I think Flavia, Kristina, Ola and Aliona are lucky to have had as many years in the show as they have, compared to the likes of Hayley Holt and Jared, who really didn't get a chance.

Hayley in my opinion was treated badly. She did everything she could with Mark Foster including taking him to an acting authority in Barrowman. Jared though was out of his depth, too inexperienced and maybe needed a couple more years experience before joining SCD

Artem has been given two strong partners in a row and I don't think it is because his choreo is weak.

Aliona is a good pro because of her marmiteness. Some people love her some don't but everyone has an opinion on her. It's probably why the producers love her as well. She's also the youngest female pro I think and there is potential for future showmances which also goes down well as most of the other female pros are already in high profile relationships.

Aliona is not my favourite female pro but I think her choreo improved immensely with Harry and I look forward to the drama she will bring to the next series with whichever celeb she gets.

If they are looking for showmances they would be barking up the wrong tree with Matt, and also with Nicky who is married

Could see their respective other halves being highly amused if they thought their partners were going to be used as a showmance tool

I would put Matt with Karen and Nicky with Kristina/Ola

I think you've summed it up perfectly there callicot

I'd agree that it would be a big plus for the producers that people get all worked up about Aliona.

I dont think the producers decide to deliberately sabotage some of the best celebs by pairing them with Aliona - quite the opposite.

But the problem for me is that by giving Aliona strong celebs they are ignoring other pros who would do just as good a job if not better

Do you agree with me that Aliona needs a good test this year so we can see just how good she is with a weak celeb

I agree that they have many good pros on the show who will do a very good job when given a good celeb.
I'm all for it being more the way it was and being more about learning to dance, but unfortunately the direction of the show has changed. So I think the pros now should be judged against what is being asked of them by the producers,and not like it is a real dance contest.

I think Matt wasn't a real test as he had all the attributes a pro could ask for.

I believe Harry when he said the only previous dance training he had had was the 5 days with Ola, so I consider him a real test of Aliona's teaching ability. Harry wasn't perfect - pigeon toed, slow learner at the start because it was so new to him, had a hang-up about looking girly when dancing, struggled with facial expressions and after drumming for so many years his hands had to learn how to do shapes.

I think Rav was a test in that he hadn't danced before and didn't bring a big fanbase with him. I thought they were progressing OK until before the Quickstep and the relationship broke down. I think Aliona was mostly correct and Rav had made a mistake in putting the judges opinions above Aliona's but Rav was new to it and maybe Aliona could have got him back onboard if she had been more sympathetic; maybe not.

Just explaining that to say why I think she has had some testing.

So I am happy that she already has proved herself other than if she had someone who didn't agree with her.
Rav wasn't a difficult customer, but would have needed more coaxing maybe than he got.

Since Rav, Aliona seems to explain how she wants things to be at the start now and it would be interesting to see what happens if she gets someone like Gary Rhodes or Dom.

We don't know for sure if Nicky or Matt L are confirmed but let's say for the sake argument two celebs similar to those two are.......What on earth could Aliona show us with ringer celebs like those that she hasn't already shown us with the two very talented partners she's already had in Matt Baker and Harry Judd we've already seen enough of what she can do with talented partners........we know she's a marmite pro and the controversy schtick with Len has been done to death now!..........It's time for the producers to move on and give all he pros different sort of partners to who they've had in the past few years!

Quite agree - Topaz - could you send me a song selection please- have sent you a PM