I wouldn't worry. There is more choice than doing exposed and difficult dances and 'doing a Kristina'.

Pasha could have put together perfectly content driven but simpler routines more in hold for both the QS and the Paso.

Dancing isn't just about getting very complicated things right. And their last dance was lovely.

I wouldn't be surprised - and perhaps the old injury was low on her back and left her with limited flexibility in her hips.

I took a slow-mo look just now at that back-to-back thingy which didn't work. Artem passed behind Natalie, and emerged on the other side with his body strongly arched towards her and his arm curved over his head towards her. I guess she was intended to mirror his move so that the result was sort of heart-shaped. But her body was less curved and her arm was straight, and it instead looked a bit Morecambe and Wise.

You're right. There's a middle way and perhaps his challenge is to find it.

What sums up Pasha for me is something that came up on another thread a day or two ago. In the semi-finals, Chelsee did a step, I've no idea what to call it - the woman does a sort of travelling splits across the floor while the pro carries her by her arms - anyway, it didn't work quite right in the semi-finals. So Pasha choreographs for Chelsee to do it (I think twice) in the final. That is someone who isn't afraid of failing and is more interested in teaching someone than points, and I love him for it. Of course it paid off then, and it was beautiful, but it might easily not have and then people would have probably been cross with him. But why not try to do something beautiful - it's only a glitterball. There is one pro who really comes across to me as desperate to win, whether their celeb can dance or not, which really puts me off the pro and their celeb (unfairly I know). I don't think Pasha is like that and I admire him for it.

Jmo, but while Pasha was very sad that he and Rachel were voted out, and sweet with Rachel, he didn't strike me as feeling the sort of shocked fury that would get someone to quit.

Some very nice words jtnorth. I didn't take it that Pasha would quit because of Rachel but rather that in the near future he might become fed up and frustrated with the show's focus away from good choreography that challenges a celeb and decide to leave as a result of that. Whatever happens I hope he gets to lift the glitterball before he leaves.

I think that move is simply called a split, or an assisted split.

Also, may I hazard a guess the pro in question has her name starting with a K?

Nicely put, Poppys.

It's sickening to see the judges allocating the perfect score to performances such as the Harry Judd AT I singled out in the top post of Page 2 of this thread - when many dance enthusiasts would rather see them encourage the couples to aim a bit higher, in the direction of something like this perhaps -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1dUZm6lbc

Btw - it does warm up after 20 seconds or so. And the Mark, or Sofie, or Abbey followers here might like to note the shapes of the guy and girl

Hi apenny4them. Sadly I can't open the YT clip as my browser is out of date and will not open certain videos. I rewatched Harry's AT and realised that about halfway through he stops doing any footwork and poses for Aliona to dance around.

I've seen some proper ATs on YT and in films before. They're quite different from the s&m ATs we see on SCD.

I feel quite sad about the show now. It's not going to attract and hold decent dancers who are keen to be creative and explore choreography if it's all a mirage with the judges inflating the score according to how something looks.

In other words, the show morphing into the American DWTS!

Fwiw - I'm using a very old computer, and it made a massive difference when I switched from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox. It's free, and everything which used to work before I switched still works after the switch.

Just update your flash and you'll be fine. May not need to change browser unless your browser is really old like those in Window xp machines.

I know it's just a case of getting round to it ...

I don't watch DWTS and from some vids I've seen of dances on that show I've not cared for them much. They seem a lot more polished, flashy and strangely anaemic. I didn't like the jive Katherine Jenkins performed on SCD (last year?) that she'd done on DWTS.

But that's the problem! You must have seen SCD in series 4 and 5, and even the series when Kara, Matt and Pamela (and Gavin!) was in, and those were classic series with mostly proper dancing with only few exceptions (like the NEWWWWW YORRRRRK and Kartem's AS), but now those exceptions seem to become the norm. Dances becoming more and more bizarre and props galore. Adding to those silly VTs (hope it's because Halloween therefore they up the silly VT stakes)...

I know what you mean.


American smooth,their first semi-final dance and despite the foot fault still one of the most beautiful dances I have ever seen on Strictly,showcasing Chelsee's "exquisite arms" (Craig) and Bruno declaring "your upper-body fluidity is extraordinary" and saying she had a feel for phrasing that takes dancers years to learn.
It was their last dance but one in the final,that featured the double sequence of sliding splits,a rumba that was the first time that type of dance really moved me,a masterpiece of Kovalography and Chelsee's most complex performance.

Fabulous light and shade in that AT.

Seems like the focus for SCD AT's is sleaze rather than style and smut rather than substance.

You are comparing apples with pears here, as the saying goes. What you want the amateurs to achieve in the short time frame they have to learn the style and techniques of dances is a bit unfair I think. They're just a bunch of celebs who fancy throwing some shapes on a telly show, and have limited time frame to put it together. They do great with what they have I think, and if it means padding out with a bit of glitz so to make the bits they can do look better, fair play to them.

I thought the OP was suggesting this is what the pros should aspire to introduce their celeb partners to and not to shirk from choreographing properly because it will look better superficially. Harry doesn't seem to be that good at the AT and yet he received the perfect score. This is absurd and the OP's point.

This series it seems that just about anything is an acceptable substitute for substance.

Brendan's repeated use of the chair in Sofie's AT, combined with the amount of time Sofie spent being lifted by Brendan, left very little time during which Sofie was called upon to deliver AT footwork. The little footwork she did deliver was not sharp, and there was no intensity from her.

For me Chelsee delivered far and away the best characterisation of any Rumba I've seen. Wonderful choreography from Pasha -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEBP25YRAY

Really Interesting thread this,explains to me why I so enjoyed both Chelsea and . Kimberly.

Seemed to me as though with both Chelsee and Kimberley, once Pasha had got them up to an acceptable standard as regards the basic techniques he felt able to go to town on the choreography - and began to include some really nice details.

I really liked the touch of his tight-faced expression when he reached out to Chelsee at the end of their Rumba (to which she responded by brushing him off and walking away).

Tight face! Teehee, like you are describing he had indigestion!

Perhaps I should have described it as a really "hard" look - most unlike his usual expressions.