Ashley is ok but his long flat feet drive me bonkers! I mentioned this is another thread where we were discussing that wearing Latin dance shoes would help the male celebs to achieve the correct weight balance and get them on the balls of their feet more.

I like Ashley, he does very well considering how little practice time he gets compared with the others.

Which says to me that it's just for the money. Why else would you commit to Strictly if you can't fit in a reasonable amount of training time? I'm not anti-Ashley, just an observation. Is there a blog or somewhere that shows the amount of hours trained per couple per week?

Why do you think the rest of them are there?

Doing Strictly for the money would be a sensible move, he has a young family to provide for.

I'd do it for free!

Mexico has over 500 bullrings and the largest bullring in the world, so cowboys and bullfighting isn't that strange a mix.

It would have been better to have a poncho style cape but Ashley did use the cape very well and danced the Paso with some good shaping and power. One of the best Pasos we have seen this series.

Ola seems to have been told that she had to use other dancers and tell a story, so that may have led to the theme of the dance.

The only thing that I thought Ola did right was to put Ashley together with the pros when he danced the solo. But you can tell the pros were clearly trying NOT to outdance him...

I thought the whole routine was cheesy and a bit cringeworthy. Susanna and Kevin's amazing and traditional routine really put it to shame.

Ashley Taylor Dawson ‏@ashoztd 14m

For those asking, we didn't choose our theme but we enjoyed it and I think you'll agree @The_OlaJordan choreography was fantastic! #capefear

Didn't choose, hmm, did Suz&Kev get that from the producers too?

I think it's a difference of taste between traditional or modern.

I personally preferred the modern and really enjoyed the fact that Ashley brought the gusto that it needed. It was a man's dance.

The other thing is that the Paso represents the bull fight - either using the bull fight theme or the cape theme. With Ashley and Ola they used (mostly) the theme of the bull fight whereas Susanna and Kevin used completely the theme of the cape.

The Pasos were completely different. I didn't enjoy Susanna's either - I didn't quite get it. Possibly I expected more as the Toreador theme is one of my favourite pieces of classical music of all time.

I'd guess so, Ash and Ola got a raw deal imo but did the best they could with it.

Often the woman played both the cape and the role of the bull, depending on the figures they were doing. Wheneve they were 'in hold' the woman usually plays the cape, when they were mirroring each other (facing each other) the woman is depicting the bull.

paso is not about bull fight is about matador and his cape

I agree, it would have worked far better without the cape work or if they'd disguised the cape to look like a poncho. I enjoyed it but his hands really bothered me all the way though. His fingers were splayed and it really showed up when he had the two backing dancers behind him demonstrating how to shape your hands!
Other than that, I thought he performed it really strongly and I loved the fact it was "themed" and contained elements of the cowboy and western feel.


Yes, I'd also absolutely agree with you here. As soon as I saw his shoes I thought it looked like he was wearing a pair of trainers or boat shoes!

I think he did a great job with what he was given to work with. I really wish that the showrunners would just leave the concept to the professionals. Ola, for all her choreography faults, came up with a decent routine, but it was never going to compare to a traditional one on the same night.

That wasn't necessarily for Ola to know though beforehand

I thought it was great. I like all things cowboy. Beef jerky, six-shooter and cowgirl, where's my lasso? yee-hah!

I see. Could you explain, if you have experience with dancing or teaching Paso, to break down the Paso figures that Susanna did in her Paso, Bendy?

a cape can cover a lot of sins

an actual cape is not used in 'proper' paso in say competition or in the dance studio it was used by professional giving a dem mainly and has been used on SCD a lot . In the actual dance the woman is meant to represent the cape hence the steps - chasse cape, caping walks etc - the Paso is not spanish it developed in the first world war in france from miltary marching and was later added to and became the paso we know by French dance teachers hence a lot of the terms are in French


will answer this properly tomorrow SCD but will give you brief answer now - Ballroom and Latin is something I know but not my speciality I have been around it all my life have parents and brother/ sister who were dancers at highest level, who teach it and judge it but I am qualified in other forms of dance and in my field I taught and judged at the highest levels.

so looking at her video can see
,
she did flamenco taps, chasse cape,surplasse, , caping walks, promenade and counter promenade, grand turn, coup di pique

Seems like Ola & Ashley got screwed over to me.

Mark and Iveta was screwed over as well with their space ship paso and bond rumba. Whoever came up with those ideas MUST be culled and shot on the head, ten times over.

I kinda feel like that when the judges score them every week.

Yep and yep - I feel so sorry for them but like I've said in a previous thread there always seems to be one celeb who has to work for the points they deserve on the night rather than appear to be prescored. There's at least one every season :

Examples :
Series 11 - Ashley Taylor Dawson
Series 10 - Louis Smith and Dani Harmer
Series 9 - Alex Jones
Series 8 - Scott Maslen
Series 7 - Phil Tufnell (in ballroom esp)
Series 6 - Tom Chambers
Series 5 - Letitia Dean
Series 4 - Matt Dawson
Series 3 - Darren Gough
Series 2 - Aled Jones
Series 1 - Don't Know - didn't watch