Greg and Natalie. Salsa
Good effort, lots of energy, danced well. Light on his feet, despite being a bit flat-footed. Was wondering, could musculature be slightly inhibiting his hip-action? I don't know. Slight hesitation before lifts, but they were strong: very impressive. Natalie ended up horizontal, way above his head: epic. No rear-guard jacket this week, so derriere came into its own. Don't be surprised if Greg's rear gets its own Twitter account: if it hasn't already. Overall impression: Entertaining. Bruno called him a 'nanimal'
7; 7; 7; 7 = 28.
Barber's shop quartet helped Claudia with the Ts&Cs. Slightly toe-curling: but they looked very pleased with themselves. They made another appearance, to do the same thing, after a later dance, but I can't remember which one.
Laura and Joe Varney. QuickStep.
Minimal faffing - good. More or less, straight into the dance. Looked very good to me. Although my qualitative assessment of the Q/S has proved less than accurate in the past: as we all know. Fast, intricate footwork, full of energy. Judges were pleased. Len threatened us with his pickled walnuts, again.
8; 8; 8; 9 = 33.
Anastacia and Brendan. Rumba.
Quite good. Slight jerkiness, on occasion: eg. on sinking to the floor. Collided with Brendan's foot, slightly. Were there heel leads? Difficult to tell sometimes, with high heels. Good arm action, though. Hip action was very good, sometimes.
6; 7; 7; 7 = 27.
Claudia and AJ. Foxtrot.
Quite good. Height disparity, a bit of a problem, I think. Lot of tip-toe action from Claudia. Did notice one definite heel-turn (not used to using this degree of scrutinising, so bear with me). Not romantic or elegant, imo: too fast. Cheeky and very young. Odd choice, perhaps: but adds variety, I suppose.
6; 8; 8; 8 = 30.
Ed and Katya. Paso Doble.
Fair effort. But, Oh, Ed! Whirling, flappy arms, stretch my devoted support to the limit. Good sense of rhythm, though. And gives good cape-twirl, considering. If I wasn't Raffy, I would say "Lacks drive, shaping and passion". But I am........so I won't. Sadly, not his best dance. Sorry Ed. Luv ya.
Eviscerated by judges.
2; 5; 5; 4 = 16.
Naga and Pasha. Charleston.
Much better, this week. Missed a kick, near the start, but improved, as it went on. Timing, not all it could be, on occasion. Two of the lifts were a bit too similar, imo (waited, a tad, too long for that second one, I think). Castors on her soles, might have helped, a bit, with those foot swivels.
Judges: mixed.
5; 6; 7; 6.
Louise and Kevin. Foxtrot.
Too much faffing, at the start, though the song intro is very long. When they finally got going, it was elegant, flowing and stylish. Good footwork. Probably not a good idea, to make the cue-check glance towards Kevin, quite so obvious. On the whole, I enjoyed it.
Judges seemed pleased.
8; 8; 8; 9 = 33.
Danny and Oti. QuickStep.
Oh, no! Not another one! I'm such an expert! As you would expect, with his training, Danny was very good. As a dance, it was smooth, slick and well executed. But it could never have the key to that special place in my heart, which houses Jay's Q/S. It lacked the magic, the exuberance and the innocence, that made Jay's Q/S such a joy for me.
Judges were quite happy, tho'
9; 9; 9; 9 = 36.
Daisy and Alijaz. Rumba. "Careless Whisper". George Michael.
Thought this was very good, indeed. Smooth, sleek and seductive: not raunchy, in any way. Well done, Daisy! I've decided that I like her, very much. I hope that she does really well, in the competition.
Craig thought that it "lacked chemistry": code for: 'not filthy enough', for his taste.
The others loved it.
7; 8; 8; 8 = 31.
Judge Rinder and Oksana. Viennese Waltz - to Boom-Banga-Bang. Lulu.
Milkmaid and Lederhosened Yokel.
Too much silly faffing about, at the beginning. I so want this to be a good dance. Oh dear, his feet seem to have an aversion to each other. Also, it seems to be a bit ploddy, or stampy.....Come on JR.... Hope no-one noticed that slight mis-step.....Oh no, another.....and another! Slight timing issues, too, occasionally. Seems, overall, a bit clumsy. He doesn't need to do DAFT: he can really DANCE! So get on and do it, JR! Fly-catcher mouth can be folded up, and put away, please.
6; 7; 7; 7 = 27.
Lesley and Anton. Charleston.
In my view, both of them were excellent. Loved this dance. It was just so good. Energetic, cheeky, and had lots of content. Good timing. Good performance. Hope it gets good marks.
7; 8; 8; 8 = 31. (Thought they were a bit undermarked)
Ore and Joanne. Jive.
Really liked this dance. Stylish, fast, with lots of content. Good attempt at kicks and flicks - not as sharp, and polished as Jay's: natch: but good, nonetheless. Good timing, with lots of energy. He's worked hard this week. I really like this guy, and unlike some, I see not a shred of arrogance. Just boyish charm, exuberance and enthusiasm to do well.....And you did, Ore.
Hey, wait a minute, Len! "Move over, Jay"? Wash your mouth out, immediately!
And Bruno! You can stop that nonsense, right now! There is only ONE JIVE, as we all know.
9; 10; 10; 10 = 39.
As I said, I really like Ore, but that Jive was NOT as good as Jay's. And just by giving it two marks more than Jay's, you can't pretend that it was. Twits.
I've just noticed, as well. They put Ore's Jive on, last-in-show: the same as Jay's last year. Still, none of this is Ore's fault. He's just doing the best that he can do, and hoping he can do better.
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) posting a conversation they'd had with a Strictly viewer who'd voted last year for 'the one who won' but the viewer couldn't remember his name.
I've had favourites before, both male and female but Jay and Aliona had the magic and that's missing for me this year. Aliona leaves a big hole in SCD, always loved her quirky choreography (yep, even the much slated vampire tango with Harry) And the current pros don't seem to have the skills of a Vincent, Flavia, Katya V1 & Erin. What's wrong with just dancing the prescribed dance eh?