This is something that I've wondered about for a while and now the current series is on it seems like the best oppurtunity to get people's opinion on it.

When you watch a performance of DOI, do you regard the dancing technique/performance or the skating performance/technique as the criteria for how you would yourself judge each competitor?

Which side of it seems to reign triumphant when being awarded the marks and how do you if you can seperate the good dancers with a pair of skates attatched to the good skaters with the ability to do limited dance movements?

Is it that you look for the skating: as in clean technique transitions in and out of the lifts, yet with enough time skating individually from the professional partner without too many lifts, intricate footwork, showing grace and energy where appropriate in accordance to the music.

Or in the dancing: facial expressions, straight legs, arm lines, musicality and relationship performance.

Can a competitor on this show be a great skater without being a good dancer? and yes I know it is called 'Dancing On Ice' but it is judged as a skating show format.

So I'd just be really interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

Although I love to watch skating, especially the Ice Dancing in such as Europeans, Worlds etc., I have no knowledge of the technique of skating. However, you don't need to be an expert to judge if someone can move at a reasonable speed across the ice; if they can hold their leg straight in a raised position as and when needed, or whether they can let go of their pro partner and carry on skating with a certain amount of confidence. These are the things I look for as my interpretation of 'technique'.

But I also want to see someone performing, 'selling' their routine to the audience; musicality and natural rhythm are great assets, but although not everyone has that, moving in time to the music can be taught. I never thought Kyran Bracken had musicality, but he learnt to perform his routines to the music quite acceptably.

I look for both. One is no good without the other. That's why I didn't like Chris Fountain last year - great skater, just not much else there and no partnership at all.

I look for the intangible 'X-factor'. No idea what it is, but I know when I've seen it - and when I haven't.

It's not always the 'best' skater/dancer, just something that makes it special.

Last week Donal had 'it' in spades, whilst Ray just didn't.

Well to start off with: Facial expressions are a key factor. If they aren't enjoying it, I don't feel like I am.

I love anything technical, which is probally why I prefer faster songs over slow ones (i.e love songs).

I'd probally look at dancing more than technical stuff. Like Coleen's dancing in week 4. Heck if she did dancing whilst moving I'd be well impressed, like Chris Fountain with "Timewarp" or Suzanne Shaw doing "Music".

The skating side would be pretty limiting given nearly no one can do jumps, spins or anything requiring that much speed. The problem with watching the footwork would be that it would be impossible even with a very big TV screen as the camera can't be relied upon to actually be showing the feet for more than part of the time. It would be marking something that couldn't be compared to the rest of the performance and you couldn't compare people whose errors were shown with those whose were invisible. Even when we do get a long shot view there seems no agreement sometimes what we have seen. Zoe got one judges comment on transitions one week and the next week it was repeated as a problem by someone here watching even though her transitions look as smooth as anyone's that week to me even in slow motion.

I think its got to be the whole picture and if its the whole picture even the best skater is going to look strange if what they are doing has nothing to do with the music or their partner or the actions don't follow any logic. Its also going to look strange if the face and emotions don't match the song. On top of that there's the issue of wow factor or excitement, As all routines are going to have to build up to something its pretty inevitable that something more exciting and visibly harder is going to do better. Waltzing on ice wouldn't do however well you did it and it would look odd if you just kept waltzing as the music and routine cried out for something more to happen. Some people would probably love it though.

Yes I agree about the X factor and that Donal really had it last week.

As a skater (and ice dancer) I do tend to look at the skating skills more critically than most but although Ray is technically a better skater, it was Donal that caught my attention last week due to the performance. Yes he was off time a bit but he really gave it everything. I couldn't take my eyes off him! And Donal had exciting and difficult footwork too and jumps.

I don't normally pay much attention to Jason's comments but last week, although he got it wrong on Donal, I could see what he meant about Ray's performance looking 'safe' - it was technically great (rotational lifts !!!) but lacked that Wow factor which I think his first weeks performance had.

Part of that maybe because it's not so exciting when you know Ray can do it - he has good edges and has probably done a lot of similar footwork and jumps on roller blades so it's somehow less exciting seeing that translated to ice than watching someone you know hasn't done it before, experiencing the thrills and enjoyment of ice skating and conveying it as Donal did - to me anyway!

I watch in the hope that somebody will fall really badly - but then again, I'm evil

You really are evil but luckily I have a penchant for evil.