I think Lilia is the most consistent, and excellent at making the best of any partner she's given. Agree that Kristina is doing a superb job with John. I think it's incredibly hard for most of them not to get a tight glint of desperation in their eyes when they have a weak partner.

But they all shine when they have a good partner. I can't think of any that haven't done dances I've loved. Ian with Zoe, Brendan with Kelly, Matt with Alesha, Karen with Mark, Camilla with Gethin, Darren with Jill, Vincent with Louisa, Flavia with Matt, Erin with Colin (and great so far with Austin) - I can't think of any that I think haven't made the most of the partner they've been given, when they had talent to work with.

When they are given less potential to work with, I think Lilia edges it.

Which means his focus is misplaced because he's a judge for the dance, mainly the celebrities, not to judge the professional dancer's cherographer. It's understandable because Craig is a cherographer (though he seems to be out of work as he's on all sort of interview every day), but to judge on something he's good at and not something he's supposed to judge can only show his incompetent. It's like ask someone to mark an essay and they comment on the calligraphy.

Allo Gorgeous!

It's worth a look - Lilia and Craig make a fab team. And they are actually given plenty of time to talk about the couples.

Luckyforest - a good choreographer plays to their partners strengths - therefore the dancing is better. It's a talent to bring the best out of the celeb, or make them look good with inventive choreography. You can't separate the two. And I don't think Craig is out of work as a choreographer.

I don't really care whether someones fleckles are going the wrong way - or really whether they're not doing heel leads. All I care about is how their dance makes me FEEL.

Darren and Lilia. It's never all about them in the routines, they never put in stupid moves, their routines are always set at the right level of difficulty, always seem to get the best out of people.....and I'm not even really a fan of theirs generally but credit where credits due, they haven't put a foot wrong in all of the series'.

Darren and Lilia are the best choreographers on strictly.

They each have their strengths, but Ian is my favourite choreographer (& no, not just because I think he's gorgeous). His tango with Zoe is the dance that still sets my pulse racing every time I see it, and many of his routines with Denise were superb.

Overall, the pro dancers who work to their celebrity partners' strengths tend to produce the most memorable routines - Ian, Lilia, Darren and so on. Their lack of ego only serves to highlight what professionals they are.

1st - Matthew Cutler and Nicole Cutler
2nd - Vincent and Flavia.

amazing chorography........

Best: Lilia of course. And I also like Brian and James as they put in lots of basic.

Worst: Matt Cutler. His routines never 'wow' me and there are some obvious mistakes, e.g. putting in a Plait in the Samba for Christine, when she really wasn't up to it.

I also wish Vincent/Flavia would put in more basics.

And Darren, even though he excels in the Ballroom/Latin, can't choreograph a Salsa for toffee!

Do the pros take turns at choreographing (is that a word?) the group dance?

I wish they would say who did the choreography each week.

The more expert of you may be able to recognised a pros style but its beyond me.

being good at choreography doesn't always mean being the best teacher, I must say I like Matt Cutlers choreography and he seems ok at the teaching too, whilst Vincent's may have the 'wow' factor at times he doesn't seem to take his partners limitations into account IMO

Overall Lillia must take the top honours she seems to get the balance right as her track record in Strictly has proven

[quote=jtnorth;28419633]I think Lilia is the most consistent, and excellent at making the best of any partner she's given. Agree that Kristina is doing a superb job with John. I think it's incredibly hard for most of them not to get a tight glint of desperation in their eyes when they have a weak partner.

But they all shine when they have a good partner. I can't think of any that haven't done dances I've loved. Ian with Zoe, Brendan with Kelly, Matt with Alesha, Karen with Mark, Camilla with Gethin, Darren with Jill, Vincent with Louisa, Flavia with Matt, Erin with Colin (and great so far with Austin) - I can't think of any that I think haven't made the most of the partner they've been given, when they had talent to work with.

[quote]
I agree. When a pro gets their dream partner they can work real magic.

Lillia seems to have real musicality and wit when it comes to putting a routine together.

Vincent has some nice touches and Judging by last night's ITT Ian puts a lot of thought into the 'peg' on which to hang the dance.

They all do seem to have a style of their own. the danger of this is that you can just not like their style (sorry, Brendon for me) or you can get a bit bored with them (once again, sorry, Darren)

It must also be slightly frustrating for some of the pro's to have to compromise their creativity because of the celebrity.

My favourites are Erin and Lillia. I think they are both good at adapting their style to their celebrity partner, showcasing the celebrates strengths while producing an enjoyable routine. I have also been very impressed with Kristina, this season.

I think one really limiting factor is the judges - the pros can't afford to put in too many unusual touches if they know Len is just going to see that as 'messing about'. I know they have to uphold the rules, and I think they should, but it still saddens me that most of the judges, Len especially, reacted so badly to Camilla's 'doll' dance for James. I think it taught all the pros not to take risks like that. They have a responsibility to their celebs not to choreograph something the judges won't like however well it's danced. I think if Len would loosen up, we would have more varied choreography.

I'm very impressed by Kristina's choreography.

I also like Camilla's, Erin's and Matt Cutler's.

I'd agree with that. I really liked camillas doll tango and thought lens comments were very narrow minded. I also remember len having a go about the slips leap Colin did at the end of his QS - you know when everyone else went "wow"

however I suppsoe I am a bit hypocritical because when I watch DWTS I don't even recognise half of what some pros but in their routines. I'm not sure they would get away with it on SCD.

I agree Len needs to loosen up. If I recall that far back (Lol) Craig liked the routine and this is the problem. You can please one judge but another will hate it.

What you need is an entertaining dance, with good hold, lines, footwork, hands, frame with a wow factor and you please everyone!

Darren and Lillia and Karen and Matthew head and shoulders above the rest IMO.

Don't enjoy as much Brendan, Ola, James, Camilla and Hayley.....they are all too much of "I will do what I want and the Celeb will have to fit in"

Kristina I think has been very very good.

Last night's mid-week training footage segment really made me miss Lilia - her comments were really interested and she picked up on different things to Craig

Matthew and Lilia. Not keen on Brendan or Ola.

Brendan is the most exciting for me...he drew me in on series one and has kept me interested in him as a dancer/choreographer ever since

i also find Kristina very good and hope she gets a suitable partner if she returns next series to really see what she can do

Darren and Lilia and also I am a new Kristina choreography fan.

Again, its down to personal taste but for me Id say Darren is a strong choreographer. He is arguably (asides from this season ) one of the most succesful pros on scd and his excellent choreography must play a part in it.

I do like Lilia but I actually think Darren edges her a bit -then again, she's had a few duffers hasnt she?

Agree with the poster who wasnt that keen on Matt's choreography - its okay but a lot of the pizazz last year (imo) came from Alesha. I also dont like Flavias but that may be because she seems to lack facial expression when she dances?

Quite like Camilla, Ian, Vincent and James.

Also, loving new girl Kristina!

Lilia and Vincent are my faves

I like some of the dances Brendan does

Matt Cutler is a little hit and miss too

Lilia and Darren, Ian, Flavia, Vincent, Karen have all impressed me, but if I had to choose one, it would be Lilia.