Don't know about proportions, but hey, there's nowt wrong with defending your favourite.

I just think that posts adapting the moral highground sound slightly less ridiculous when they aren't resorting to the same petty and personal rubbish they are meant to be condemning (I don't mean you, Shaps).

You think you know better than the experts, why would they prefer Emma to Louisa, it doesn't make sense.

not for the paso - no way. I noticed two mistakes and I'm not a dance judge, they were quite big ones. Why did Arlene give her an 8? because she saw them and marked accordingly

it's obvious this was all written down before the show started emma will win if they wanted mark or matt or louisa to win they would've made them do the CIN single it's all linked.
Last edited by pri : 09-12-2006 at 22:17

That's hilarious! I've now got an image of Matt or Mark singing downtown!

You're not calling 3 west end show choreographers "experts" in ballroom dancing are you???

Cos believe me sunshine - their expert knowlege of the genre is the square root of squit all!

I loved Craig telling the public to vote for the best dancer - take your own advice Craig darling - and you should have vgiven Louisa more marks for the rumba which was technically better than darling Emma's!

But they are more 'expert' than the majority of the GBP who vote.

I dont despise Emma at all, infact I think she is the only Spice Girl that has remained normal and not her head up her butt

BUT

I will not vote for Emma as I feel she has an unfair advantage on the other celebs who have never danced.

It has been argued, contested, and disagreed about, on many, many threads.

I don’t dislike Emma on a personal level at all, and everything I see of her in interviews etc. points towards her being a nice girl. But there is something utterly lacking for me in her dancing. I just find her dancing very bland and it doesn’t excite me at all. There is also something lacking for me in her connection with Darren when they dance, I personally felt that he even had a better connection with Gloria Hunniford last year!

I wouldn’t say this just to jump on the current bandwagon, but the judges having favourites has been blatantly apparent throughout the series, perhaps especially with Emma. There were mistakes in her dancing tonight, which even my layman’s eyes picked up on, which were then confirmed by the commentary. But the judges never seemed to offer anything major about her faults, whilst ripping the other couples to shreds!

I was also was astonished that Arlene seemed to offer a bit more of a balanced view in regards to Emma’s general performances whilst watching her training footage on ITT. I believe she even commented that there was something lacking in Emma’s performances, compare that to the gushing she offers on a Saturday night and you’d think she was talking about two different people!

Women have won 2 out of 3 series so far...

But no less biased, unfortunately.

*laughs* that would be amusing. Maybe they could do a duet?

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I've had a thought! I think this is a nice parallel!

We are being told that three people qualified in teaching and choreographing non-ballroom/latin dances are, in fact, qualified to judge a ballroom/latin competition.

Equally, we are told that Emma and Louisa's experience in dancing in other genres from stage school and Emma's career doesn't give them an advantage.

Something isn't adding up here!

I'm so glad someone has pointed this out!

Either dancing is dancing, or the styles are so different that being good at one doesn't make you good at the other!

They can't have it both ways.

I used to have a high opinion of this forum. Yes, last year things got a bit needlessly spiteful towards poor old Zoe - who comitted a crime not worse than actually being quite good at dancing virtually from the off - but the general level of discussion and enthusiasm here i felt was greatly to be admired.

However, the display of anti-Emma sentiment this year has been hideous in the extreme. Occasionally constructive, more frequently plain pathetic.

Get a grip.

Actually you may have a point, I'm watching the performance Romeo and Juliet in the series " How Ballet changed my Life". Now those kids can dance and have gone through a journey and the whole programme has been wonderful. Not staged or gushing just kids from a very hard backgrounds putting on show that simply puts the arguments about the merits of the "competitors" in SCD to shame.

I'm not for one second saying I condone any comments that may have been made of a personal nature against Emma, but I have read many comments that were restrained and reflected merely a disappointment with the marking and with some of the judges' comments.

Most posts have been constructive without being personal. People are entitled to disagree and have their own opinions, and it's not fair that so many people get lumped into this 'emma bashing' category when all they have done is point out mis-steps, a lack of connection, or just preferred a different dancer.

I can understand your frustrations, but exactly how constructive are ner-diddly-ner-ner threads?

Personally, I was expecting Emma to be great and was really looking forward to seeing her in this competition. Instead I've found that I just can't warm to her as a dancer. I can see that she's competent and the steps are all there (well most of them! And I'll gloss over the bent knees) but there's just something about her performances that leave me cold, and my flatmates all feel the same.

I think it is that she seems to lack the passion for dancing that Louisa, Mark and lately even Matt seem to have. She seems to be just going through the motions. By contrast, someone like Claire, say, who was a long way off being the best dancer, appealed to me far more as she always worked so hard and danced her heart out. Same with Carol.

And the clear bias (and though I don't buy the conspiracy theories, she is certainly judges pet, much as Zoe was last year) is starting to grate. I have nothing against Emma whatsoever - I've met her several times because of my work and she is a very sweet, genuine girl - but IMO, she is certainly not the best dancer and have yet to be inspired to vote for her! And the overmarking is irritating, to say the least.

She's not the worst by a long shot, but there are others who are/were better. Coming from a layman's point of view, so I am not looking at it technically, Louisa seemed to be the best natural dancer, with Mark not far behind. Yes, they stuffed up sometimes, but they have both coped admirably with some very very hard choreography and still, on the whole, stood out for me. And they seem to 'feel' the music. (Yes, I realise how pretentious that sounds!)

So, unless she wows me next week, I'll be voting for the boys ahead of her. It's the passion and enjoyment that hooks me in, as much as the dancing, which is why I loved all of the final 3 last year.
Last edited by flashgirl : 10-12-2006 at 00:01

I wasn't endorsing this thread as such (altho i agree it was justified in essence), i simply had to post it somewhere and here was as appropriate a place as any.

I just think the tone of the debate on Emma has been disgusting, often lapsing into spite and groundless accusations of institutional bias which, frankly, are so ludicrously inflated in some people's minds that i can only assume its a fantasy they long to be vindicated in order to satisfy their own personal melodrama.

I read all posts in their merits. As you say, many have valid and constructive ramarks to make about Emma's performances - however negative they may be. On the other had, a large number of people have proven themselves to be ignorant, idiotic and illiterate in their fervent Emma bashing. Its that grouping who have tarnished this forum this year.

A point I have made many times (and at greater length - well, I never pretended not to be verbose!) in quite a few posts, Trem. The majority of people on this forum are reasonable and fair and blame the perception of favouritism on the judges, the BBc etc etc (where it belongs) and not on Emma. But there is a tiny minority that delights in vicious attacks for no good reason. Unfortunately, although they are more vociferous and more in number with their Emma attacks, Mark, Matt and Louisa have also come in for some personal and very unnecessary comments.

It's the nature of the internet - where people can hide behind anonymity (I'm going to get this word put in 'my most frequently used' list! ) and launch vitriol against people whom they've never met. Wonder if they'd do the same face to face?

And - the OP - although possibly well-intentioned, also fell into the trap of personal attacks - only this time against fellow posters. Again, absolutely no need for it.

I don't hate Emma but the constant hyping has turned me against the partnership.

I much prefer Mark and I liked Louisa.

It was balanced out by the fact that she was top with the judges vote.

I think the bottom two was partly due to the curse of the rumba... usually low marks are given.
Tess said that couples usually score 32s at the highest- well Emma did get a 34...

I didn't like Emma's pasco but I loved her tango. Again I loved Mark''s samba but not his vienese waltz.
All the couples have good and bad weeks for me. It's a shame Louisa went on one of her bad weeks cos I really enjoyed her rumba but not her American Smooth.

The judges mark it on technical ability- I just vote on who's performance I have liked the best.