It is odd, but I wondered if it was something to do with what dances they can then dance if they get through to the final?

They might want to save certain dances for the final. Just a thought.

That's the most likely explanation.

You an AT expert are you?

I though Gethin 'got' the dance perfectly last year with the leading and chemistry. He is the celebrity and he is the one that the judges will be looking at. Not Camilla or Brendan.

Camilla and Brendan have only done ONE AT between them so of course Vincent should walk it.

When you compare Gethin's to Matt's last year. Camilla's routine out scored Flavia's and was much better.

God no, I'm just a beginner. Ask me again in 20 years, I'll be "intermediate" then I reckon.

But I can tell when technique is going so obviously wrong that it affects the look of the dance. Camilla's legs just "looked wrong" - at the time, I assumed this was because of her outfit or because she simply has long thin legs, but no, it's her technique that makes it look bad. She spends too much time with her legs (thighs actually) open, in short.

In fact, Alesha's AT technique (in this area) was better - getting a bit technical, If you look at the way they both do "giros" (circular grapevine moves), Alesha is collecting much better than Camilla, with the result that it looks better.


The judges are judging the dance partnership, they're not judging the celebs in isolation - if they were, why involve partners in the first place?

But yes, Gethin looked OK last year.


And, of course, it's physically impossible for a dance professional to take a few lessons in preparation? Is there some legal restriction preventing them from learning even the basics of the embrace and the walk?


Yes, probably. And...?

Take teh last point first. I meant it does not mean Vincent's will be the best. It should be but usually SCD surprises you. I'm thining Lisa's maybe the best routine on Saturday (I think Brendan was clever taking the focus off him).

I agree Alesha's was the best on the night last year but not every dance suits everybody's body shape. I noticed on the VT footage of Camilla's AT there was less leg movement this year. Maybe she is playing more to her strengths this year. More fancy slifts and romance. I agree she has very thin legs but thats like saying tall people can't Jive (yes I'm talking about you judges!).

Good luck with the training. I'll leave myself a post-it note to ask you how its's going in 20 years.

Unfortunately even if you are right, your unsophisticated mode of argument makes you somehow less than entirely convincing.

Anyway, here's a link to Darren and Emma's AT from two series ago - not an excessive amount of shoe-gazing going IMO. (It's the second dance of the three in this clip after Matt & Lilia's lovely Foxtrot).

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eAl_Wu...eature=related
Last edited by Paperbag_Writer : 11-12-2008 at 14:48

Yeah, sorry about that.

Basically, in AT, you're pretty much dancing check-to-cheek (well, sort of) - think of the position as an inverted "Y", with the upper bodies together and the legs apart.

Given that position, it should be clear that the man has to keep his head up - if not, he's no way of seeing where he's going.

Like any rule, there are exceptions, but it's usually obvious when someone's looking down because they're concerned about their feet, and looking down as deliberate technique.

For example, Rachel was looking down too much in the training footage - again, confidence. However, it's something that's fixable, and this was only training footage.

Thanks for that - I did think at the time that Darren was not leading the dance with any great authority, though still thought it was a pretty good effort and seemed to have more authentic content than, say Mark and Karen's AT on the same night - though for sheer performance M&K blew everything else away that night.

Good luck with the lessons, too.