Oh god, Lisa doing a rumba spells out DIS-AH-TUH for me

Lisa has just tweeted "A little clue for next weeks dance R+R=R I am quite chuffed with that one! "
I'm guessing that they are dancing the Rhumba next week.

Robin + Riley = Rumba?

@Reallisariley: A little clue for next weeks dance R+R=R I am quite chuffed with that one! What do you think @Robinwindsor????

Wicked - so glad they've got it! Can't wait to see how he choreographs it. Also Robin has always gone out on the last weekend of Nov so hope this doesn't happen this year.

Looking ahead at the dances remaining is actually quite eye-opening.

I think Louis has by far the best run of remaining dances, probably he will peak at the right time. He's got: Argentine Tango, Charleston, Jive, Paso, Rumba, Quickstep and VW. None of those I particularly see any problems with technically, but performance may be a factor for some.

Denise has got a tough run when you consider that it includes Samba, Salsa and Rumba (though I think James will ditch the samba). The only other hip action based Latin that she's done is the cha cha - by far her worst dance. Her Argentine Tango, American Smooth, Quickstep and Tango should be fine though.

Lisa has a nightmare run to the final, if she makes it: Argentine Tango, Salsa, American Smooth, Paso, Rumba, Quickstep and Waltz. She may be able to coast for the waltz and salsa, but the others are not gonna suit her at all.

Michael is also gonna run into several dances that won't suit: Argentine Tango, Charleston, Samba, Paso and Rumba. His Viennese Waltz and Tango should be ok though.

Kimberley has a mixed bag. American Smooth, Waltz and Tango should be alright for her; Rumba, Jive, Charleston and Argentine Tango less so I would say.

Dani, like Louis, has a great run of dances: Argentine Tango, Charleston, American Smooth, Samba, and Viennese Waltz. The only two that might trouble her are the Paso and the Rumba in my opinion.

Nicky could be able to make the Charleston, American Smooth and Viennese Waltz work for him. But I'm not looking forward to the Argentine Tango, Salsa, Samba and Paso.

Victoria probably won't last much longer, but if she does she'll have some disaster dances - the Argentine Tango, Charleston, Salsa, American Smooth and the Jive. Her Viennese Waltz and Waltz should be ok though.

How much do you wanna bet that they ditch the American Smooth if they make the final?

Paso for Louis according to twitter

Good dance for him.

Dani & Vincent - ? (prob latin)
Denise & James - ? (prob ballroom)
Kimberley & Pasha - ?
Lisa & Robin - ?
Louis & Flavia - Paso (Twitter)
Michael & Natalie - Argentine Tango (Michael's twitter)
Nicky & Karen - ?
Victoria & Brendan - ? (poss ballroom)

Hopefully this will be their WOW dance! (Louis & Flavia)

I was hoping for something a bit less serious for Louis, like the Jive, to bring out the performance side but I suppose the Paso might work for that too. I still feel that if I'm ever going to like him as a dancer, it will be the Jive that does it.

He was due a latin this week and frankly all of the ones he has left look like disaster areas to me because they all really, really require the performance element - he seriously needs to look more "into" the paso. All things considered I think Dani and Kimberley have the best runs of dances left.

Wouldn't describe them as disaster areas - he'll have great technique. He just needs to crack a smile and he'll be fine. I imagine they'll skip the rumba, but I think that actually would have been his stand-out dance.

I know Louis will probably do alright with the Paso, but it's one of the more "masculine" dances and for me, although his arms are undoubtedly strong, they haven't really looked masculine in his dances so far (I'm thinking more his Latin, but his Tango too).

I hope he does some cape work in his routine as I think that might help. Just put some welly into it Louis! (Sorry I channelled Len for a moment there)

I'd rather he does flamenco than capework if I'm honest. I'd be really happy if he can do an Austin type paso, lots of flamenco and HA-ing.

I don't agree about him being masculine either. I think all of his dances have been masculine but with a cool edge. Craig commented on him making the samba look masculine and his Latins never look mincy, so I think this could be the one to unlock more emotion.

To me, he has really "soft" arms and that's all I can see when he dances - he seems to move them in the same way that a female would (and it makes it look like he's not putting effort in). I know he's not as "built" as Austin was but I think he needs to "channel" Austin for the Paso - Austin looked really masculine in this and it was definitely his best dance (or perhaps Mark R, he had similar arms to Louis but he always had a really strong hold/shaping in the dances that required it).

^^ This is what's holding him back for me, his footwork is good, but the arms need work. A little bit of cape action at the beginning of the routine might help him with the performance side which he can then sustain when he does the more technical stuff.

You see soft, I see elegant. I think his arms are one of his greatest strengths, or the finishing of the lines is anyway. He has gymnast arms, they're very smoothly placed, rather than being stiff and awkward like a lot of male celebs. I think it's his frame that can sometimes tend towards soft as he's so flexible but that's what so interesting, we all see something different.

Nicky & Karen - Charleston (Nicky's twitter)

The producers must ave had a very drunk production meeting They're evil geniuses, I'm well on my way to forgiving them for Wembley.

Dani & Vincent - ? (prob latin)
Denise & James - ? (prob ballroom)
Kimberley & Pasha - ?
Lisa & Robin - Rumba (Lisa's Twitter)
Louis & Flavia - Paso (Twitter)
Michael & Natalie - Argentine Tango (Michael's twitter)
Nicky & Karen - Charleston (Nicky's Twitter)
Victoria & Brendan - ? (poss ballroom)

While I quite like Alli's idea that the producers got together and basically plotted a week where everyone got the dance that was least likely to make them look good, I'm not convinced we're on for a full house of disasters here...

I really think Louis's natural facial expression will lend itself to the paso, and he's quite capable of taking a strong lead and making it the only really macho paso we see this year.

Nicky's also proved he's quite good at playing the fool so if Karen can come up with a decent bit of characterisation, he'll probably be able to pull off a perfectly OK Charleston - certainly no worse than Richard or Lisa's efforts this series.

Even Michael's AT needn't be an utter car crash - Natalie did a pretty good job with the AT when she danced it with Ricky W and she may well be able to choreograph something that is fairly ballroom-y for him to get stuck into.

The only one I'm frankly not optimistic about is Lisa and Robin's rumba, but even then she's a good enough actress to not do 'sex faces' that make me want to hide behind a cushion chewing its stuffing

PS: Although if we WERE on for a full house of disasters, I'd want Kimberley to have the waltz (snore), Denise the samba (hip action + the curse of James), Victoria the jive (oh please) and Dani the rumba (not sure sexy is exactly her thing) to round it out

I'm surprised people think Charleston is a bad dance for Nicky. It means side by side dancing, not essential to have chemistry with Karen, needs lots of bounce and attack and very little technique as long as you put on a show. I'd have thought that was playing to his strengths? Nicky strikes me as very fearless and willing to do anything, even if I haven't exactly warmed to him. If he was happy to do that Elvis thing, despite the fact he really couldn't do it, nothing about the Charleston is going to embarrass him. And it's a vote winning dance for the week after a b2.

Rumba is 'interesting' for Lisa. I hate the dance whoever's doing it, so I can't say 'great', but it will give her a chance to act, slow down and they can't do side by side hand jiving for that, so I think it might be a very good time for her to do it and answer a lot of recent comments. And it gives her a chance to slow things down without having to be in ballroom hold. She's a good actress. I think it will be a needed change of gear for her.

AT for Michael - I honestly don't think it matters what he gets now. Natalie is on a roll and will find a way. He's tall and he can lift her, it's in hold, and it's a hugely popular dance, so if he doesn't try anything stupid (and Natalie won't let that happen), it will be another big success. I think people are so keen to see Michael do well, they're past caring about his technique.

Paso for Louis - mm. Part of my mind is going off into lovely images of him in very tight black trousers and can't wait; part of me is worried because it needs a lot of performance and if he just plays it as arrogant that won't win people over. I really hope that his edit this week will be 'Can Louis perform?', get the acting coach in, etc where any improvement in performance will be taken as an achievement, rather than at the moment where he seems to be expected to be perfect. I don't think of paso as a high scoring or vote winning dance for men, but that may be just my faulty perception. It's a real shame of timing that his gymnastics have been turned into 'tacky tricks' after Wembley as it would be a lovely dance for lots of leaps and tumbles, etc. I want to see Flavia make a clear story out of it, as I think their dances work better with a story.

With Victoria back in hold, it all looks amazingly even this week. I'm very interested to see what Dani will have.

I think the Rhumba will suit Lisa to the ground. She and Robin are very fond of each other as it is, plus she can draw on her acting skills to convey that tenderness between them even more. The performance will be convincing and rather touching but no one will pay any attention to poor technique again

If Louis can't do a decent Paso then I really will give up on him. I reckon it'll be his comeback dance. He'll nail it.

I'm officially over Nicky & Karen. But however good or bad their Charleston is, they'll get a bounceback vote.

I'm not convinced Michael will be able to capture the mood of the Argentine Tango. I think it'll be awkward. I hope I'm proved wrong. But even if he overcomes this hurdle, none of his remaining dances are ideal. He's used up all the ones that suit him.

I think the charleston is hilarious for Nicky because he has the ego the size of a small African country and unless they find some other rock star that's known for their charleston, he's going to be awful.

Nicky smiles and laughs a lot if its all about him, but in his head he was Elvis for that jive, he's not going to enjoy the whimsical nature of the charleston.

The technique was poor on the jive too, it's going to be worse on the charleston, I don't see that swivel coming naturally at all.

I do think the week after the dance off is a mean week to give someone the charleston though.