Hi all.

Just wondered how we all feel Jake's Rumba is going to go/be recieved this week.

ITT is famous for red herrings on how a dance is going and on the live night it can turn out quite different.

Jake and Janette gave a humoured answer to Zoe's questions re progress on the Rumba. Surely the key hip movement will be right in Jake's great movement zone.

Jake seemed really focused and committed as ever last night on ITT but maybe a bit disheartened without saying at some of the judge's responses (Craig's 6 for Jake's Paso was ridiculous).

Just wondered how my esteemed posters think his Rumba will be this week?

His music is good and will be able to act to it - his hips should help - the routine will be key if it has a reasonable amout of rumba in it he will be fine - I like Jake he is one of my faves but did not think Paso was one of his best

I was slightly surprised to hear him say they are going for romantic rather than raunchy. The training footage tonight on Ian's ITT slot will be interesting.

They've got a great song and I think a really crowd-pleasing song and I think they are very wise to go for a romantic rumba not a 'naughty' one. Whether or not the judges mark him down as not raunchy enough, I think it will do well with the public and he can act it, no problem.

When's the last time anyone said they were going to do a raunchy rumba? They all claim it's going to be classy and romantic and then come out and frot around pulling sex-face in see-through silks anyway

Don't like the song choice - more of a foxtrot than a rumba.

Jake is one of the two or three lucky ones in the choice of music this week. Plus he has the hips in spades. Rumba should be good for him. I expect he'll be back close to the top again this Saturday

I'm not too optimistic. If he hasn't got enough rehearsal time then he won't be able to sort out the 'middle aged man doing rumba' problems. It's still likely to be better than any rumba Mark could do right now,.

think he will be able to use his acting skills to the max () this week with that track which will cover up lack of rehearsal etc at this point am expecting it to be good will be interesting to see ITT tonight

What a wonderful bunch you all are Thanks for the insights!

That dance is the kiss of death for male celebs. Hopefully if he does end up in the dance off it'll be against someone rubbish like Alison or Judy.

Yes it will be a car crash even with all his acting skills. I can't see Jake doing the silly mincing walk and dinky porcelain tea cup holding outstretched pinkie finger.

I hope Jake pulls the Rumba off and even though he has snake hips, the Rumba requires a little bit more of finesse and lots of very delicate arm movement which jake might struggle with.

I hope the best to him and Janette since they are my favorite couple, but I don't think this will be an easy dance for him, hopefully he will prove me wrong and kill it.

He has natural musicality so I just hope he realises that the rumba is continuous movement and doesn't just stand there in the slower buts like do many learners do. It helps when the music aids that though.

I think he'll be okay I just hope he remembers to extend his lines in hi arms and pint his feet.

Jake and Janette are fabulous couple together - grossly under-marked by Craig last week - I hope their rhumba is really good - it is a notorious difficult dance for the males. We all know the best dancers are Pixie and Frankie , but both are trained dancers and seasoned stage performers. Caroline also has had training and won a previous competition. We should support the dancers who are learning and improving each week i.e. Jake, Mark, Sunetra, Simon, Steve

Good grief! If that's the best you've seen you clearly haven't watched a good male dancer perform a rumba. Forget Strictly; they never do proper rumba - go to youtube and look up Joanna Leunis and Michael - rumba. No mincing or dinky cups (really?) with those 2!

He needs to stop looking down at Janette with his whole head, thereby digging his chin into his neck, but otherwise I'm looking forward to it. If he can act it then he can pull it off. Anyway, last week we had the scripted 'bring Jake down a peg or two', so maybe this week is the scripted 'Jake's triumphant return to form'.

So being a dance geek, I took your advice:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DamRwRmZYx0

Is the extreme slow/fast typical of pro level Rumba? Because it's like someone hits the fast forward button!

It's a kiss of mediocrity, granted - male Rumbas tend to be quite dull - but I've examined the archives and have found that the Rumba's only actually eliminated male celebrities about 5 times in total (Jason and Kylie S1*, Roger and Camilla S2*, James and Camilla S3, Kenny and Ola S5, Paul and Ola S8*), and 3 of those were in weeks where there were several Rumbas in the same week, as denoted by asterisk. It's had 36 non-Christmas show outings, 38 if including final reprises (going by Ultimate Strictly).

Having said that, the last 4 male Rumbas were in the bottom two, but survived (in Mark Benton's case, it was somewhat of a technical knockout, but whatever)... and there are a number of issues that make interpreting dance danger as a pure function of dance quite... difficult. In any case, I think that minor streak will probably be broken by Jake since I can't quite envisage him being in danger yet, regardless of the dance's quality.

I can't remember the last male Rumba on Strictly I actually non-ironically liked, so more power to Jake if he can do a good one.

If it's arranged as a rumba, it's a great choice


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF09jJlJCU0

I think it is going to blow us all way and can't wait to see it.

I want it to be good, but watching the rehearsal video on ITT tonight doesn't give me hope.
Really want to be wrong though.

You know I think he will be alright and will avoid the 'dad dancing' look someone mentioned above (or WTTE).

I think what is making many of us take notice of Jake isn't so much his technique. This, while not bad, is far from perfect. (I am thinking of the salsa particularly). I think what is making him stand out is that he really seems to feel the music and dances from within to the best of his, so far learned, technical ability. As opposed to dancing by numbers as many men do.

That seems to be what the rumba calls for, feeling and flowing with the music and expressing that feeling continuously.

I have faith. Famous last words.

Thanks [and thanks for telling me off Kaycee ]

Impressed. No mincing. Dinky finger seems under control.

Only the occasional tea cup holding outstretched pinkie in this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Y-XC8as34

This is Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis - Basic Virtues Rumba with a Rumba master class talking about isolation / disassociation. Well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAicAMeKUgU