Austin and Erin's Paso had great drama but little technique, something that Len spotted and marked accordingly. The other three judges awarded ten.

Brendan and Kelly did three lifts in an American Smooth and claimed a 10 off Bruno.

Is there any point for the pros to choreograph a techinically challenging routine if entertainment is going to get awarded anyway?

Should technique now be put on the back burner, as it's seemingly becoming obvious that both the judges and the public prefer the entertainment side to the dancing itself?

For once this series Len's marks reflected his comments which I agreed with. That Paso deserved an 8 and not 10.

And I disagree! In another thread it was pointed out that flamenco is part of paso technique but that lots of pros leave it out because it's hard for the celeb to do. So I think there was a hell of a lot of content in that paso without even mentioning the amazing performance.

But different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Len hates the faffing around with the cape too, but that's authentic paso too.

re. The cape - I'm not sure whether it is original paso: I think in original paso the woman's the cape, and the man the matador, and it's evolved over time - something that some judges accept, and others don't.

I agree that flamenco is one part of Paso, but it isn't the be all and end all. There were three moves of Paso in the one minute 40 that he danced - the flamenco beginning, the run and jump (on a thread about technique I'm unsure of the technical phrase ) and the mirroring later in the dance.

I loved Austin's Paso for it's drama, though. But that's what I'm asking. Would you blame pros for dismissing technique for drama if they knew it'd still guarantee great scores?

I agree Paace. Yes Austin's paso was entertaining but I didn't think there was enough content & I felt that technically it all fell a bit flat. I personally felt that it wasn't worthy of a ten (8 or at the most a 9) but then I prefer technique over entertainment so it's each to their own really .

I found it quite dramatic at first. But looking again on youtube, it took really a good 50 seconds before there was what I could identify as true paso steps. I've only danced it rarely so I can't identify every step very well, but I only recognised bits of genuine PD from almost a minute into the dance!

Also on the rewatch some of his arm placements are a bit dodgy. He gets away with it because the dance requires power but they were not Latin arms. And the mincing bit was a bit laughable though he soon recovered!

I think it was a great show dance but not a paso. I remember Len critiquing Emma Bunton in SCD4 saying there wasn't much paso in hers either, but I reckon there was a lot more in that one really than Austin's.

It's dangerous if the judges reward so much on performance though. For me a 10 is only deserved where the content is tricky and advanced, those bits are danced well and there's that extra bit of magic performance. He had the latter, but there wasn't enough meat to make it a 10 for me.

As said the cape in paso is the women - A cape has NEVER been authentic paso - can you imagine in the middle of a competition the competitors running off to pick up capes!!!

I understand that it is a competition involving non dancing celebs so a great deal of technique has to take the back burner BUT if they are dancing a Paso it must contain some Paso steps not the two I saw - Flamenco btw is not a great part of the Paso technique (Flamenco taps is all I can think of in the technique book) the dance was basically show dance to paso music -what a great pity the lack of latin knowledge of three judges as made this poor dance the best marked paso on scd ever

Technique should be of paramount importance to the judges.

But I don't begrudge the public for voting based purely on entertainment.

The two outcomes are then combined as it should be.

What Austin lacked in content, he made up for in drama and performance. He didn't deserve a 10, but he deserves all the votes in the world

Yeah I'd agree with that. Technique should be paramount to the judges...but don't seem to be. Public go on entertainment and Austin's Paso was entertaining.

The judges should mark each of the dancers within the same peramitors though. Len said to Tom he had poor technique and stuck his bum out then gave him a 10 and Austin had little paso and he gets an 8!!!

I agree to an extent. However, Len said that every 10 had minor mistakes - so why point out Tom's but not everyone elses? He should've kept quiet; point out every mistake or never award a 10.

I do think the judges mark how they like usually.

Agreed up to a point. Last year, Gethin's Paso and Jive was little in technique, but a lot in showmanship. There was repeats in steps in his Jive, hardly any Charlston, and yet I believe he received a 10 from Len (or Bruno). And let's not forget Gethin's Paso. Granted, he tried the technical part of the Paso, and because he wasn't up to it, he was marked down by all three judges, save Len, who gave him 10 for a technically dubious attempt (his performance was aggressive though).

So Len himself is NOT consistent. Case in point that someone here mentioned his ignoring Tom's bottom and awarded him a ten and then giving Austin eight for basically doing everything given to him right. Len has lost his plot, tbh.

So true. I feel a mixture of being sad and annoyed that this is now the highest. Over Jill's for heaven's sake. In fact there have been several pasos better than this one, however dramatic it was.

I would have started a thread on Len losing the plot, but there'd be so much agreement I doubt we'd get very far.

Maybe a Len Disappreciation Thread should be started?


Even this series - technically I thought Tom's was better, Rachel's was better tonight. As you mention, it was marked over Jill's. I'm not sure the mark Zoe and Ian's got but if that was below Austin and Erin's that really would show the farcical marking.

Have to agree with you. The judges are not only arguing amongst themselves, at which time Len is usually very rude, but more importantly they are being unprofessional and very inconsistent in their marking.

I don't know enough about the paso as a dance to know whether flamenco is a major part of technque. However, there did seem to be an over reliance on it and the content seemed to differ quite a lot from other pasos in the show.

It definitely seemed tonight that the judges were making it up as they went along (even more than usual). "I'll mark this one down on technique and this one up because I liked it better." As Sid said, that sort of subjectivity is the public's job not the judges'.

The scoring was truly bizarre tonight. Other weeks there was some strcture to it, and you could follow it. I couldn't even understand Craig tonight about how he was scoring it, and he's usually the most reliable of the lot.

What's up with Craig this year? Handing out ten's like he's Bruno, given Tom a 7 for his Waltz.

And Bruno lost the plot completely tonight, did his hand get superglued to the 10 paddle?

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with this, Bendy.

I'm just a non dancing fan of the show - but that was my impression too. A great crowd pleaser - but.

If I, as a complete amateur, can see that something was technically not right, then - well - all I can say is that Craig won't be able to criticise Bruno or Len for dishing out kindly tens anymore - so at least perhaps some good will come of it.

Really we should have at least one more judge with a proper ballroom background.

Having said all that, I was glad I saw the dance though

Nick

I hardly think that just because Craig gave a 10, he is 'dishing them out'.

I thought Erin was very clever with this dance. On a week when they have to learn 2 dances and Austin was having trouble concentrating, she (taking a leaf out of Kristina's book) kept it relatively simple. Gave him things he could do well (and obviously enjoyed) and went for the crowd pleasing, performance stuff. It's getting difficult now and one bad dance can mean they are at the bottom of the leader board. I think it was deliberate strategy that instead of pleasing Len with a more ballroom paso, they went for the Wow factor with the public, which just happened to please 3 of the judges as well.

Yes, it was mostly walking around, but you've got to admit he did it with style and intent. One of the very few wow dances this year, in a season that for me has been lacking in the performance stakes.

As usual, fans like to pick up the comments that align with their beliefs, and discard the others.
Len is bonkers this series, the paso did have content (otherwise, neither Arlene nor Craig would have given it a 10), technique was excellent (look at the body position and footwork) and with the amazing performance that made it a 10. It was one of the very few "wow" dances we had this series!!!
Of course, then people are OK when Len dishes 10s to really flawed dances (like, in ballroom, major gapping and complete lack of heel turns), provided the 10 goes to their favourite couple...

Disagree totally. It was just a lot of stomping around shouting Ole. Plus he lost the timing at one point.

It was a total disgrace.

To me, it felt like the introduction to Austin's Paso took 45 seconds, which is about half of the time allocated.
Performance wise, I'd have given it a ten. Absolutely amazing.
If I was running a bullring in Spain, I'd have offered him a job.
As a dance, at the end I was of the same opinion as Len.

It was the most macho performance we have ever seen, so maybe that swayed Arlene Craig and Bruno.

I was expecting Erin to be the cape as she had said that in training, but Austin did not dance with her as if she was the cape and she did not dance like she was the bull. Not a lot of connection, for me.