I don't know whether the pro's choreographed the dances themselves but I thought both Brendan's and Tristan's routines were pretty awful, messy and disjointed. Even a good dancer would have been hard pushed to make them look good.

Brendan's routines are normally better put together than that.

Also thought Kirsty's makeup did her no favours - I know it was halloween but it made her look peevish.

I've no complaints about the result neither are popular with the GBP so were unlikely to last long.

I thought both routines, maybe more so with Kirsty, were choreographed to hide the flaws rather than show the strengths of each celeb. With Kirsty's in paticular there were so many lifts it was as if Brendan didn't want Kirsty's feet on the floor because she couldn't even do the basics.
Jamelia's Jive was very lazy. She hardly picked up her feet and as always her routine looked laboured. Tristan comes across as so laid back, must just be his nature, I wonder if this has been a problem in training because he's just too easy going. If she turns up for rehersal that's great, if she'd doesn't turn up well there's always tomorrow.

As it was a Charleston, based on past form, Brendan would have had very little to do with choreographing it. I agree it was bloody awful though, I don't care how much Kirsty can or can't do.

Lousy choreography in both dances.

Just because you are a pro dancer does not mean you can choreograph. You need to have a particular talent for it. Neither of them has.

Tristan's jive choreography was fine. All it needed was better technique from Jamelia. Straightforward routines with a lot of basic steps are probably good for her right now as she'll learn more, she can pull off basic routines, and it'll please the judges in a dance off.

For a poor dancer, like Kirsty, it seemed a death wish to choreograph a number where she does so little dancing. We need to see she is making the effort - is making some improvement. Without that there is no option really but to vote her out.

Tristan's choreo is never good - as lovely as he is, it is not his forte. Hence his need to bring in outside help with that that Charleston, which was perfect for her.

As a dancer I'd hate to work with what he produces, and I can handle most things. I'd be very uninspired by his dance routines, but very happy to hang off a bar stool with him!

I thought pretty much all of them (apart from Gleb recently they mentioned?) had outside choreographers for the Charleston?

I think there was an interview with the choreographers that someone posted on here where they said some of the pros have increasingly more say in the choreo for Charleston, AT and Salsa as they get more used to doing it year on year.

There were some very odd choreo choices in Kirsty's Charleston right from the off- such as hiding her face with her right hand for the first 4 or so bars which made her look embarrassed by her own participation in the dance and made the viewer look at her footwork which was almost sullen in its refusal to be bouncy.

And her eye make-up made her look as if she had a permanently pained expression on her face. I genuinely thought she was on the verge of tears after the first missed lift and it took me a while to realise it was just the make-up adding to an already naturally serious-looking face.

I think she was hiding her neck at the beginning so that we couldn't see the bite marks painted on her neck before Brendan had come down and bitten her.
I agree about her make up, made her look bad tempered.

Good point: however, I still think it made for a clumsy and awkward opening.

Yes it looked very awkward, she could just as easily have faced the other way.

Brendan's choreography is normally wonderful! He is particularly talented at choreography, whatever the abilities of his partners, and has often won high praise from the judges for it. For whatever reason, this wasn't a particularly great routine, but it's not a reason to write off all the other wonderful routines to which he has treated us.

I agree...both were bloody awful, but what was brendan thinking??