What nonsense. He himself said that he performed the dance correctly repeatedly in the last couple of days. He simply screwed it up on the day, as it sometimes happens.

I really felt for him, he seemed so disappointed in himself.

There's no case for that conclusion. He forgot. He said he had done it and performed it right many times before. She can't predict he will forget the routine the one time that matters. And, if she produces a routine no one could forget, there's going to be too little content in it.

I think there was a sense of getting carried away with the lift side of things after everyone was wowed by the ones in their Salsa.

Other than that I thought poor Steve just lost it, can happen to anyone.

Wasn't much swivel going on at any point though - no excuse for that!

Apart from his fused left ankle, that is. He broke his back, leg and ankle in a climbing accident.

I totally agree- it really felt as if they weren't there. I had to keep reminding myself throughout the routine who they were, and then during the judge's comments and Zoe's chat, I couldn't tell how they were reacting- couldn't see if they were smiling or not.

On a slightly different tack- my heart is always in my mouth during lifts- even the supposedly easy ones- because it is simply a matter of time before someone falls. The only question is, how badly.

Though it looked to me that he was doing much better in rehearsal???

I think Steve just had a bad night, partly as a consequence of the dress rehearsal costume chaos. But it's a combo of things. Maybe, as kaycee says, taking out one lift would have given room for recovery -- or less congested brain space for remembering the steps. There was no breathing room in the Charleston routine, so maybe whoever choreographed it pitched it too high.

I wouldn't talk about individual 'fault' though. Probably they all -- Steve, Ola, and the choreographer(s) -- got too excited about what they could do if all went well, and somehow forgot that the guy spends most of his days up to his wotsits in swamp water for a living.

I know this is a thread about Steve and Ola rather than Jake and Janette, but Janette definitely choreographed that salsa since that marvellous keepy-uppy section and the lift were directly copied from the routine she did as her audition piece for So You Think You Can Dance in the US.

If Steve and Ola are in trouble as a result of the TV audience not engaging with their Charleston, I'd blame the make-up more than the routine or the way Steve performed it.

It's the same every year. Female pro gets muscular male celeb, so they crowbar loads of ridiculous lifts in at every opportunity.

I do think that she should have kept it simple for him. Last week, his routine was simple and beautiful. This week it was over choreographed. She has to take responsibility for that.
I bet if you asked her, she would say she has learnt a valuable lesson.

Yes, that makeup simply got in the way - the dance should be a happy, quirky dance, with expressions to match. The stupid makeup made it impossible to see any facial expressions, and smiles.

I think that their make up, although very good, made it difficult to read their expressions.

Sorry I posted before reading the whole thread and see you have said the same thing!

Sorry mum!

He also said that the bit he had messed up on, he had been doing perfectly well in training. I think it was just a case of bad luck, with him making mistakes on the night.

I know, my point was that generally the pros don't choreograph salsa. Janette is the exception to the rule as she actually knows what she's doing for that dance (and possibly Karen does too)!

The pros don't even always choreograph the 10 dances, so t does amuse me how quick people are to blame the pros for choreography without stopping to think if they actually even did it or not!


I think she would say nothing of the sort given she didn't choreograph it, as has been pointed out on this thread several times already.

On the contrary, she did choreograph the waltz you liked so much!

I think the Pros have other Professional help when it comes to choreographing the Charleston, so the routine and how it looked wouldn't have been entirely of Ola's making, so blame would have fell mainly on another source choreography wise, not solely her.

So far none of the Charleston dances this year have impressed me (though some of the bad music has helped with that as well).

They had a wardrobe tangle in the dress rehearsal which meant that they couldn't finish the dress rehearsal, so Steve didn't get a chance to get a run right through the routine as it would be on the night.

With that makeup and costumes, not having a visual memory of the routine in that setting could be part of the problem. He said on Claude 9 that it was the simple parts that he forgot and he had done it right many times.

The lifts were not clean, but that may have been as a result of forgetting the simpler stuff before them.

Although the speeded up song does allow you to dance a Charleston to it, it is a boring repetitive song, so that puts pressure on to try to make the routine more memorable. Their makeup also prevented them from putting facial life into it, so there was added pressure to do something to liven the routine up.

The pros are in charge of choreography whether they have help it not

Wow..

He did? In that case I'll let him off!

Ola's been doing SCD long enough to gauge her celebs ability, even if it wasn't her choreography she's vocal enough to have objected if needed.

Sadly it was 'just one of those nights' for Steve, it happens to the best, hoping he's still around next week to redeem himself as he's been making some good progress.

Quite right too. It's be a bit unkind to yell "I don't care how rigid your ankle is - SWIVEL IT!!!

He can't point his toes, either.

Ola showed great trust in Steve with those lifts and Steve himself admitted that he forgot the footwork because he was concentrating too hard on them.

It was a shame, because it could have been a great dance. But we all have days when we screw up. He and Ola will just chalk it up to experience and move on.

If you can bear to open the Torygraph, he talks about his ankle here, along with giving some nice appraisals of all the others left in the competition:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...scientist.html

It wasn't that much of a disaster and certainly not Ola's fault, she had to do something! It was quite entertaining really considering Scott is no dancer.
If he goes out, it will be on a high!