Waltz, round 7 - Alesha - 38
Waltz, round 9 - Gethin - 39
Waltz, round11- Matt ---- 40

QStep, round 11 - Alesha 38
QStep, round 8 - Gethin - 34
QStep, round 7 - Matt --- 34

Paso, round 10 - Alesha - 36
Paso, round 11 - Gethin - 34
Paso, round 5 --- Matt --- 31

ArgT, round 11 - Alesha - 38
ArgT, round 11 - Gethin - 36
ArgT, round 11 - Matt ---- 35

In piano competitions all contestants play the same piece, thus removing extraneous differences which cloud any comparisons for merit. Last night's SCD already has gone half way towards a level playing field, by assigning the Argentine Tango to all 3 dancers on the same night. Alesha had to dance the woman's part, but this gender difference was unavoidable in all dances.

There is never much in it dancer-wise, but last night there was an inevitable builtin difference in scoring potential and artistic impression, between the latin paso and the ballroom waltz and quickstep.

Suggest SCD management SplashMediaTV to consider rolling out the AT concept and assign an equal syllabus towards the later rounds of the compo, by all means allowing different music and choreography. Instead of lingering bitter dispute the fans will be happier with the result whichever way it goes -- as of now it is hard to prove an apple is better than an orange.

Gethin's Waltz scored 39.

that's the only real anomaly for me - Alesha's waltz was the best waltz of the competition for me, emotionally certainly, and yet it scored the lowest of the three!!

Thanks Zankoku

Dollystanford, an excellent point. It is hard to compare performances across time. If all 3 excellent dances were done in close succession, what a feast! Supporters will not mind losing, if they feel it was as fair as can be.

Also, while I'm at it, wasn't Gethin's Paso 34 and Matt's AT 35?

it's like comparing their jives - Alesha's was fab, particularly for week 2

I also enjoyed Matt's and it was the first dance where I thought 'he's actually pretty good'

whereas I enjoyed Gethin's but thought if it had been in the same week as theirs it probably wouldn't have scored as high?

My notes show
Gethin paso 8-9-9-9 = 35
Matt AT 8-8-10-8 = 34.

Can someone confirm please?

I agree ... I was thinking this last night ... it would be much fairer if the same dances were danced by all in the final rounds of the competition (ie, once they start doing two dances per week) ... the Waltz has clearly been a very good dance for everyone this year, and Matt had a clear advantage doing that instead of the Passo in the semi final ... of course, if he gets through he probably won't be able to do it in the final, where as the other two could.

... I think there's very little point in comparing the actual scores between weeks, since I'm sure the judges clearly aren't marking relative to other weeks ... so if the judges were asked to re-score the three Waltzes compared to one another I don't believe the order would remain constant ...

... but it is clear that Waltzes do better than Passos whatever night they are on ...

Other way 'round - Gethin got Len's crazy ten.

You've got those two he rong way round ... or I have ... I've got the 8s and 10s for Gethin's Passo and the 8s and 9s for Matt's AT ...

Alesha came out of the starting gate scoring 31 for rumba.
Gethin and Matt scored 22 and 23 for cha cha cha.

If they are to be compared it will have to be at journey's end. Contestants (and their supporters) have invested so much sweat and pain and heartache in 3 months, that the organisers need to make sure everything is as fair and impartial as they can make it.

Um ... Gethin scored 31 for his Rumba, and Matt scored 33 ...

ETA ... sorry, you were talking about their scores in the first week ...

I'm sure Alesha's jive, Gethin's VW and Matt's jive would have scored higher had they been done in later weeks. But I suppose it all evens out. What I think should be done is the easier dances done first and the harder ones all done later. Why give someone a rumba or quickstep in week 1? Week 1 and 2 should be chacha and waltz, week 3 salsa since the judges don't know what to look for so shouldn't be left for when it matters, and the AS left for when the celebs are more comfortable with ballroom and lifts, e.g. the semis.

Yes thanks, my typo, was cha cha cha in round 1.

but what are the difficult dances? It seems that every week one of the judges says 'this is the most difficult latin/ballroom for a man/woman'

I've heard rumba, foxtrot, paso, vw, QS all described as 'most difficult' and dances like jive, samba, etc. described as either 'fitting' people or not

*grins* ... 'tis cool! ... BTW does anyone have the score breakdowns for weeks 1-4? ... I only started to bother recording them in week 5 when I realized how strange the scoring was this year ...

Here.

tragic alesha fan that I am:

Alesha rumba = 7, 8, 8, 8 (31)
Alesha jive = 9, 9 , 9 , 9 (36)
Alesha AS = 8, 8, 8, 9 (33)
Alesha foxtrot = 9, 9, 9, 9 (36)

Thanks!

Excellent post Emma, some very salient points in there. Of course, far too much common sense for your suggestions to make it into reality.

Waltz and chacha are considered easier to learn. Beginner classes usually start with them.

VW is more difficult to sell as it's just the waltz, twice as fast, with turns. So it's hard to tell one VW from another unless one is inventive with the choreography. But it's not a hard dance.

Rumba is like a slowed down chacha so mistakes hidden in the faster dance are more obvious, and it requires some acting which people can find uncomfortable, especially when you've only just met your professional partner! So I won't have it done early on.

Salsa I reckon is a good one for early on as it can be adapted to suit the celeb. Once these 3/4 are done, we're already a third of the way and the "intermidiate" dances can be introduced, with the harder ones which require acting skills and tricky things like lifts (e.g. AT, AS, paso) done close to the end.

... eeek ... forum's gone all strange! ... thanks Zankoku & Dolly!

EmmaGx, great minds etc......

well there's a very real problem in that how do you know in week 1 who will be there in week 12, and accordingly, how can you arrange it so that those three or four people all do the same dances so late?

I find it hard to compare the dances right from the start when they have different dances.

Is the only reason for half doing latin and half doing ballroom to keep it more interesting for us?

Personally I'd rather they all did the same - think it would be much fairer. It seems very unfair that someone who may be weak at latin gets to dance the ballroom one week while another who is weak at latin has to dance the latin that week. (would like to know how it's picked also).