what should we notice?
I loved Zoes tango, i like Rachels too but Zoes was brilliant.

The only thing I noticed ... apart from it being brilliant ... was her hair decoration falling out.

Going back to Rachel and Vincent - I thought the choreography was excellent ... it just didn't seem very passionate. Nicely done ... deserved 9's not 10's.

Thanks

Was beginning to think I was blind as I could not see what everyone was raving about even though I voted for her (on my daughters behalf). Other dances from R&V have been tingly, this one did not cut the mustard nor did the CCC for that matter.

I could pick fault with this if I chose to - I remember it well and remember really liking it - great performance.

My opnion though is that Rachel and Vincen'ts was better. More intense, less flashy and technically better, despite the errors.

The people who don't rate R&V's tango - try looking at it again. It's one of those dances that improves and improves on viewing.

I've just watched Zoe's and Rachel's back to back, and the cleanness and intensity of R&V's is astonishing.

Interestingly re-viewing Zoe's - I enjoyed it again, but gapping, posture and footwork precision could be issues. I still loved it though !

I liked it - and I'm not a Rachel fan. Good choice of music, great choreography, a crisp performance, and Rachel looked stunning. Not my favourite tango of the series - that would be Austin's, but not far off.

For me, the dance of the night that really struck me as over-praised and over-marked was Lisa's Waltz. It looked quite wobbly to me - Lisa seemed as if she was hanging on to Brendan at several stages, but I guess I'm wrong because the judges obviously saw near-perfection.

Couldn't agree more!

I've watched it three times now and I still dislike it,sorry,I'm trying to understand why people are rating it so much but I just don't like it

Just goes to show, we all see things differently.
I dont know enough about the technicalities to comment, but for me there was not enough intensity and passion in Rachel and Vincent's version.
That is what I find missing from Rachel's dances in general, the ability to make me forget looking for errors and become involved in the performance.

I loved Zoe and Ian's Tango and yes I noticed lots of gapping that I have never noticed before !!!!

However I also loved Rachel and Vincents Tango I also loved John and Kristina's Tango its all horses for courses you either like dances or you dont they are all different but all great in their own ways. Vincent made last nights tango much more like an Argentine Tango and I thought it was fantastic.

It wasnt in the league of zoe and ians, and lens comment about the 11 had me wanting to throw a banana at him!

Well, we're all different - I don't rate Lisa's ballroom that much - bit messy and the lines aren't always clean.

I suppose - beyond a certain level of correctness and competence ( which is important, otherwise they could all just shake their booty) it comes down to taste.

I love the subtle touches, fluidity and control in a dance. Charm and emotional connection are also important but less easy to talk about rationally!

I like it less each progressive time I watch it. Every time I notice more flaws.

The rumba blew me away with their passion and intensity, it's possibly my favourite dance to be on Strictly.

The tango bored me. More passion in a waltz

I wasn't trying to put down Zoe's Tango. She danced it better in the final and got the same score, so I could have linked that one, which had less errors. Both were great performances.
This was Rachel's first attempt so I thought that was fairer.

I'm no dancer, but I just love the precision of Rachel's dancing. She is small, which can help with sharpness, which I think was there when there were sharp moves to do.
Some people prefer performance and dont worry about details, but for me, the extra trouble and skill required to get the details right, gives a dance a kind of wow factor.

I think it's difficult to compare Rachel and Zoe's Tango's because they were both such different styles.

I think it comes down to a matter of taste.

Same here, her Rumba was undoubtedly the best there has ever been in SCD, but her Tango left me feeling completely cold, and it leaves me feeling more unimpressed every time I see it. I thought it was one of the most overmarked dances of the night.

I agree with this. I would say that the VERY best dances combine both technical excellence and performance.

I think that too manny errors - or a posture problem (for example) actually detracts from the 'wow' factor of a dance.

I would also argue that a high level of technical ability (it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect -Allesha's latin-) gives the dancer the tools to deliver the emotion and performance in a dance.

As a poet has the ability to communicate emotion through their understanding and artistic use of words. Most dancers need a framework of reference and technical understanding.

It's no good just to feel it - the feeling of the dance has to be communicated to its audience.

Sorry about the awful grammar - got a bit carried away trying to explain what I meant.

Brilliant summation (blow any grammatical errors)

The leg shaking bit put me off as it made the dance look unnecessarily untidy.

Fabulous dance. Have seen it again and it only gets better. Opening sequence when Rachel pushes away from Vincent and he then grabs her back is brilliant - fantastically dramatic.

Could only be improved if Annie Lennox sang the song. Some have claimed that it was not sharp or staccato enough - I think this is just a load of monkey bollocks.

There's a soft, mellow element to the song so any sharper and the routine would have been out of sync with the music. Vincent's use of sharp and soft movements was right on the money (Len said as much).

Thanks for that Monaogg!

Liked the leg flourishes meself, risky but I thought they worked. I like a bit of tickly leg action

I don't understand Arlene.
Talk about nothing in the eyes!
To give a 10 for that when Arlene has repeatedly referred to the lack of expression as a problem!

I don't get it. The others can give what ludicrous marks they like. But for Arlene to give a 10 when Rachel STILL had all the power and animation of a deflated balloon...

I absolutely loved it. I even clapped when they had finished and couldn't wait for it to appear on the BBC site so I could watch it again. Sad I know.

But as I have said before, I know bugger all about dancing technicalities. I just know what I like.

The dance is supposed to be a lady of the night and a Gaucho (as Len puts it). I dont know if there is only supposed to be one way to convey that.

The usual aggression seems to be based on her playing hard to get, which sounds strange.
Rachel's dance seemed to be based on being the most attractive one, which sounds more realistic?

Best thing for me was the dress.