I disagree after watching a couple of AT dances alongside the music played for Jake's dance.

I also watched the Anthony Quinn scene on Zorba the Greek and thought if they had incorporated some of those dance moves into the routine it would have worked really well.

Listen to Jake's music http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02d32ry whilst watching this by Flavia and Vincent with that music muted... it works brilliantly imo. Just needed a little imagination...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ftLLKrC81s

in fact I think most music can work to any dance. Have you ever watched a dance on tv with the music muted whilst you're listening to music on your stereo, it can seem like the dancers are dancing to the music on your stereo... or is that just me

I liked the music I think it could have worked. He just didn't do very well.

T
My thoughts exactly.
There is a link (on earlier threads) to an AT done to Zorba which was fantastic.
Sorry I'm a computer ludite and can't provide it

He made a mistake and lost timing briefly and did not seem to recover.

Jake is just a poor dancer.

Can a song that speeds up be suitable for the AT? I feel it didn't work. The music choice is so important, and Jake and Janette were given the short straw. Those extra dancers were a huge mistake on all their appearances last night.

I think that music has enough character and enough accents in it for a choreographer to use it successfully for the AT. Why it did not work IMO. 1. It was a dancing disaster darling. 2. It should have been more Argentine and less Greece despite the music.

I think we have seen worse music choices, especially for tango or paso, when music and a dance were so disconnected that it looked like the dancers were having a fit. By the way they kept saying that Craig was grumpy, but I thought it was the viewers, at least those posting here. Opening number, bad. Theme, bad. Costumes, bad. Backing dancers, bad. Music, bad. If you want to see bad, go watch karaoke on ITV and I am sure they are eating bugs, somewhere, too.

Jason Donovan's AT was to a tune that sped up, and he did a great job

I would have liked Jake to be in the dance-off so we could see it again. I think it would be better.

It just didn't work, frustrating as Jake could have a great straight Argentine Tango.

Zorba the Greek was perfect for Argentine Tango - But needed to be danced by Vincent & Flavia.

Jake impersonating a bridge spanning the Thames at Walford, whilst Janette is a snowstorm whirling round does not an AT make.

I sort of agree with you in a way. I expected to absolutely detest it when I heard on Friday what Jake and Jeanette were doing. And I didn't detest it. It wasn't an unentertaining piece but it failed as an AT.

I think the problem was that the choreography favoured the Greek over the AT. So what we got was a Greek dance with a hint of AT. I feel for the purposes of the AT section of a competition it should have been AT with a hint of Greek.

For example Greek dancing has leg kicks so does AT. But where the Greek are long and languid kicks the AT are short, sharp and aggressive. The only bit of dancing Jake did were some leg kicks but his were much more Ayia Napa than Buenos Aries.

My main objection to it was that Jake barely moved his feet. I thought he had the potential to do really well in AT. We will never know because he stood still and presented Janette ( not his fault). In the hands of real AT dancers it could have worked.

So for me it was a case of coulda, shoulda,, woulda, but in the event didn't!

It didn't work at all.

Unless you think an AT really is like the ATs served up on Strictly

It could have worked better than it did, however. I would like to see Jake and Janette do it again without the backing dancers and a bit (well quite a lot) more movement from Jake to experience what it should have looked like.

They were really not thinking this through when they decided to dance the AT to a Zorba. It could have worked if they had not speeded it up. It should speed up, but then it's not intended for use as a ballroom dance. So whatever they did, they were wrong.

It could have worked - if it had been danced by Vincent and Flavia who know exactly what they're doing.

I actually felt sorry for him. He said it was the dance he had wanted to learn and he got that. At least Pixie and Caroline had their wish of getting to learn a Charleston and do a good dance whereas for Jake it was obvious from the results show last week that it was a potential hot mess. The shifty looks, side eyes and yes, well, moving on comments from ITT made it even plainer that anyone who knew anything knew

It wasn't just the theme, it wasn't just the music, it wasn't just the choreography, it wasn't just the inadequate training, it wasn't just the backing dancers - it wasn't just any one thing it was the culmative effect of everything together and it must have been really hard to go through the week with anything like any positivity knowing that it was that.

It seemed like an idea that they had had in mind if one for one if the more comedy contestants if they had still been in.

Tango isn't just about the speed.
Latin american dances are based around specific placements of beats within a bar. The two strengthen each other.
Ignore that simple fact and the dance is weakened, and an unnecessary obstacle is put in the celebs way so they are disadvantaged.
That's before even considering the atmosphere that the proper dance/music combination creates.

Well he may be in the dance off tonight, so you may just get to see it again.

I doubt it. His EE fan base is so big that he could stand in the middle of the floor and just wiggle and he'd score highly in the public vote. He should be, and if he is then maybe he won't make the mistakes he made in the first attempt.

Very true and not just the beats in a bar but BPM too. To be fair though AT is quite forgiving but normally the decorative gestures (hooks, kicks, leg sweep and so forth) are used to decorate accents/features in the music. So a short sharp decoration best embellishes a short sharp accent in the music, a sweeping embellishment is timed to decorate a more sustained feature in the music etc.

BIB Indeed

Surely the main problem here was the choreography: it gave him absolutely nothing to do. One of the worst pieces of dance-making I've seen on this show - I stillhave no idea whether he can do the Argentine tango or not, all we got was his partner showing off

Yes - Zorba the Greek is so perfect that there's a queue of AT specialists chumping at the bit to dance to it

I didn't like his technique or his performance, first and foremost.
The bad music and theme were just the icing on the cake for an average dance.

Is that perfect in the same way that starting to bang your head against the wall would be perfect if you've got a headache? i, e. You wouldn't normally go out of your way to do it

Well said, if you go onto utube that gives you some idea of what the music should be and the clip with Flavia and Vincent just reinforces the type of music to be used. Be interesting to hear what they thought about it.

I think you are talking about ballroom Tango.

They were supposed to be dancing Argentine tango which bears absolutely no relation to the ballroom version. IT is NOT a ballroom-style Latin American Dance.

Last night's version failed in every level, never mind the useless music and bizarre choreography.