Anyways, onto the celebs and we kicked off with Vick Hope. She was returning to Latin which I was apprehensive about given her poor Jive in Week 1. She was doing the Salsa to Take a Chance on Me from Mamma Mia. it was actually really good, she got her hips moving well, she and Graziano seem to have a good chemistry together and the captured the fun element of both the film and the dance. Following on from them was the delightful Dr Ranj and Janette. Here was my first Disney fix of the night as they did the Quickstep to Prince Ali from Aladdin. Alas, it was not their finest hour and as I predicted he is not so far adept at the ballroom. However, it was his first ballroom dance so there is room for improvement.
Next up were Lee Ryan and Nadiya. They were doing the Cha Cha Cha to The Power of Love from Back To The Future. All I can say is the best parts were Lee entering on a hoverboard and Nadiya's hair. The dance, unfortunately, was not as memorable, and Lee needs to work on his facial expressions. After being in the dance-off last week, we may just see a repeat fate this week. After Lee came the lovely Kate Silverton with a second Disney fix for me. She and Aljaz were dancing the Foxtrot to Why Don't You Do Right from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Despite an unfortunate trip coming down the steps right at the start, Kate was still channelling her inner vamp and this was a fantastic routine.
Speaking of fantastic, next up were Stacey Dooley and Kevin. They definitely won the award for best costume, whereas most of the girls were in beautiful sweeping ballgowns, Stacey was covered in yellow facepaint as a Minion as they did the Jive to Happy from Despicable Me. It was a fabulous routine, the kicks were sharp and the pace fast and snappy. Really good fun. Next up with my final Disney fix of the night were Joe Sugg and Dianne. They were doing the American Smooth to Breaking Free from High School Musical. Like Ranj, Joe had never done any ballroom dances until now yet he fared a bit better than Ranj. It was a good routine, he kept his hold quite well but he needs to work on his posture as his bum sticks out quite a bit and unlike Johnny Peacock last year or Greg Rutherford the year before, he can't blame athletics for that. Something for him to work on.
The next routine was from Katie Piper and Gorka. They were dancing the Foxtrot to City of Stars from La La Land. This was a vast improvement from Katie. She looked a lot more relaxed and as though she was actually enjoying herself. She also seems to trust in Gorka more and that showed in the routine. Okay so it wasn't as technically perfect or full of content as some of the others but considering her last two weeks, this was a joy to watch, and Gorka seems to be really taking care of her to show her off as best he can. After Katie came Seann Walsh and Katya. They were dancing the Paso Doble to the Matrix theme. OMG!! What a transformation from Seann after his terrible Jive last week. This was a slick routine, plenty of Paso content and Seann's timing was amazing. And Katya's choreography as always was absolutely phenomenal, especially the slow-mo section.
Next up we were back in the eighties for Lauren Steadman and AJ dancing the Cha Cha Cha to the theme from Fame. I loved the whole look and Lauren seems to be enjoying herself but the technique wasn't quite there. It looks like the Cha Cha Cha is proving to be the Achilles heel of a lot of the celebs again this year. Staying in the eighties we had Charles Venn and Karen dancing the American Smooth to Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. Charles certainly looked the part, and the lifts were amazing but he was lacking in his holds and his frame, not great but not horrendous.
The penultimate dance was clearly a favourite with the judges earning a 9 from all four judges but I wasn't entirely sure myself. It was from Faye Tozer and Giovanni. Faye is definitely a frontrunner and with Giovanni, she has a great partner and she's a favourite with the judges. This week saw her dancing the Quickstep to You're The One That I Want from Grease. There were some brilliant sections but there was too much of the original Grease routine especially towards the end which didn't feel like a Quickstep to me. The beginning was fabulous, Faye was a convincing Sandy and Giovanni's 'FAYE?!' was reminiscent of his infamous 'DEBBIE!' from last year which was great, I also enjoyed the more traditional Quickstep action as well but something was just a bit off for me, however I seem to be in the minority on this one.
The final dance came from Danny John-Jules and Amy. I was expecting big things from this and being the last couple to dance clearly the producers expected a big finale. Dancing the Paso Doble, they were performing to The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman. It had all the elements to be a showstopping ending however it fell a bit short. I love Danny but this week he seemed a bit stiff and seemed to be a bit hesitant at times. Still, it was a decent routine, not quite the dance to bring the house down though.
After everyone had danced the leaderboard looked like this
Onto Sunday night and a rather wet opening dance to Singing in the Rain and a performance from the legendary Gladys Knight singing Licence to Kill, let's get to the voting and dance-off. First into the Dance-off is Charles. Maybe a little unexpected but I guess it wasn't his best dance. Joining him a little later was Lee. This one was less of a surprise given it wasn't a great dance. Not surprisingly the judges voted to keep Charles 3-1 with only Shirley opting to save Lee. I'm still not sure what Shirley has against Karen.
Anyway, thirteen celebs continue onto Week 4 which sees our first Rumba of the series.
Until then, keep dancing
That dance through the studio tour was awesome and I couldn't stop grinning goofily!! And I loved the part where they did the dancing duel hehe. Oh my god this whole number is amazing!! They really went all out for this. All AJ needed was some fake glasses and a scar hehe.
ReplyDeleteOOooh Mamma Mia dance! Disco really does seem like a popular choice for salsas. I enjoyed it very fun, I almost wish they'd used Does your Mother Know instead of Take a Chance on Me hehe. It was a good sign in this case that I forgot which one was the pro and which one is the celeb because they were both good (mainly I just forgot which of them was Vick...).
I enjoyed Ranj's quickstep, and as always he looks like he's having a great time, but you're right about how technically good it was, it wasn't very.
In a footwork heavy dance like the cha cha cha, it feels like a really bad idea/cop out to have the floor covered in fog. Nadiya's hair was awesome though haha.
Haha I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I am amused by the fact that they selected it! I didn't even notice the trip so I must not have been watching closely. It was a good foxtrot though.
You know I love a jive, and I did enjoy this one the yellow was very distracting though haha, like I liked it but it was almost too much. I agree that the dance itself was good.
I enjoyed Joe's American smooth, from the look on his face the entire time though he was having to concentrate a lot more this week. Now I miss Johnny Peacock haha I liked him.
OOooh Spier-Man, That was a very Oti heavy dance, as in she was more of a focus than her celeb. It was well danced but I feel like I barely noticed Graeme.
Oh man, dancing to a Dirty Dancing song, that seems like setting themselves up to fail, Dirty Dancing is iconic. Okay, they definitely didn't fail but like you said, nothing special. Thank you for linking to the Louis Smith one as I had never seen it. I definitely preferred Vick's salsa as well.
A meh La La Land foxtrot. But like you said Katie did look more relaxed which is a good thing.
Oh man a Matrix Paso haha this is something completely different. He does not have the intensity needed for a Paso...his pro is awesome though and stylistically the dance was really cool. I agree with you that he was MUCH improved, just that the paso isn't his dance because he doesn't have the intensity, he still looked a little confused, but maybe he just always looks confused?
Haha, on man, Fame, haven't seen anything to do with that in ages. AJ has crazy hair this week and I LOVE it! I really do like Lauren. The cha cha cha does seem to be tripping them up.
I like Charles's American Smooth over Joe's. It felt more like an American Smooth if that makes sense? I'm not as good at noticing the errors as you are. OOoh and that end lift, soooo romantic! Seeing the scores now I am not surprised that he and Joe scored within a point of each other.
GREASE! HAH Her Sandy costume was awesome. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Giovanni?? Haha. He is always so much fun to watch! This song really lends itself well to a quick-step. I agree that the end was a little too much original Grease and not enough Quick-Step. (Also ever since last year every time I see my friend Debbie I end up greeting her like Giovanni with a "DEBBIE!")
OOOOOooh Danny doing a paso! I'm not entirely sold on this music for a Paso, but I feel like they danced well. Interestingly enough they mis-identified his dance in his individual video on YouTube, they called it a cha cha cha in the title haha.
Licence to Kill is my favourite Bond movie, and I have always enjoyed Gladys's theme song! I didn't notice this in the playlist until I read your post so I immmediately went back to hunt thsi down haha.
I am not surprised Lee left this week.