So opening the show tonight is Graeme and his partner Oti and they will be dancing the Cha Cha Cha to the iconic Thriller by Michael Jackson. Whilst Graeme makes a very convincing zombie, he doesn’t do a convincing Cha Cha Cha. It was very stiff and wooden and whilst this may be in keeping with his character, unfortunately, it doesn’t lend itself well to a Cha Cha Cha and this was a poor routine.
Next up were the amazing Stacey and Kevin. Kevin looked so awesome as a Cyberman and his Tango routine was pretty incredible, even changing the roles around part way through the dance so that Stacey was the one leading him. I think Kevin is an amazing pro dancer and teacher, he always brings out the best in his partners, whether they have any dance background or not. Stacey was a complete novice with no dance experience and to see what she is now producing week after week is incredible and a testament to both her hard work and Kevin’s teaching.
Next up were Dr Ranj and Janette. Dancing the Jive, Ranj may look incredibly cute and they even rolled out the puppets but his dancing was truly scary. I mean wearing big furry slippers on your feet to dance a Jive might not have been the best idea really. It wasn’t sharp or clean, it was stompy and really not his best dance. I think Ranj may have reached his peak but I hope he stays safe this week. Although he’s amongst the bottom of the leaderboard, he might be in trouble if he finds himself in the dance-off.
Speaking of being in trouble, Kate Silverton has been looking a bit iffy the last few weeks. She was dancing the Rumba tonight, that very odd dance that no-one ever seems to understand. It seemed okay but not a hit with the judges. She looked elegant and graceful but to my untrained eye, the dancing seemed to come more from her pro partner Aljaz rather than Kate so that won’t make the judges happy.
Up next was my favourite Danny. He was dancing the American Smooth and doing lifts for the first time. Now as much as I like Danny, and I’m sure his footwork is fine, having all that smoke and dry ice on the floor is pretty much a cop-out. We want to see how good he is and this goes for any of the dancers. It’s a dance show so how can we see what their feet are doing if we can’t see them. From what I could see I was very impressed but he does need to watch that thumb, it does pop up from time to time. But the dance itself was very nice and the lifts weren’t bad for a first attempt.
Next to dance were Seann and Katya. They were doing the Viennese Waltz. Now I normally enjoy Katya’s choreography but I wasn’t impressed with this tonight. The Viennese Waltz for me should be a smooth and clean dance. This was jerky and messy, partly due to their characters but I just didn’t like it. It didn’t look right and they deserved to be at the bottom of the leaderboard, although it’s a bit crowded down there tonight.
The next dancers were Charles and Karen. They had a storming week last week with their couples choice Street dance and were looking to continue their good streak with a Jive to the Time Warp. It started off really well but as the dance progressed you could see him tiring and losing his timing. A good performance and hopefully he should be safe but not a patch on last week’s dance. A more contemporary style suits Charles more than the conventional dances.
Next, we had the only Couple’s Choice of the evening from Faye and Giovanni. They chose the Theatre/Jazz category and oh my word! This was incredible, the choreography was simply outstanding. As with the other couples choice dances, there were no specific rules to follow but there was everything in this routine. It was sharp, it was pleasing to watch and the two of them were so in sync with each other it would be hard to tell the pro from the celeb if you didn’t know. This was my absolute favourite routine of the evening and got my extra vote and like Ashley, just one point off perfect. Joint top!
Our penultimate couple was Joe and Dianne. They were dancing the Foxtrot and Joe is massively improved in Ballroom. The foxtrot is the dance that confuses me but apparently, it’s a lot like the American Smooth. So if we compare this Foxtrot to his American Smooth from week three, you can straightaway see the major differences and complete improvement in his dancing. Joe has really impressed me and has won me over completely. He and Dianne make a lovely couple (which I now believe has continued off the dancefloor, awwww).
The final couple to dance tonight were Lauren and AJ. Lauren has been a little bit hit or miss with her routines so far. Tonight she was the Evil Queen in her Paso Doble and my word she really got into character. She was fierce and strong and she danced really well. Okay, so it wasn’t a traditional Paso with the Spanish lines etc but I thought she did exceptionally well and it was her best dance of the series so far. Well done!
So by the end of a scarily, spooky evening’s entertainment, the leaderboard looked like this
So onto Spooky Sunday and a devilish dance-off. A spooky start to the show from the pros and an odd song from Rita Ora, using her own dancers (how rude) and its dance-off time. First into the dance-off are Seann and Katya. We've been here before though. They will be facing Graeme and Oti who are experiencing the red light of doom for the first time. Both couples performed badly on Saturday night though so it could be anyone's guess.
Personally, I preferred Graeme dance to Seann's, both Saturday and Sunday. There were issues for both couples in the dance-off with timing and performance but in the end, the judges agreed unanimously 4-0 to save Graeme and Oti and its time for Seann to say goodbye to an interesting stint on Strictly. I'm sure Katya's husband won't be too sorry he's gone.
So onto Week 7 for the remaining ten couples and the competition is hotting up. We are starting to see a clear gap between the two ends of the board but there are a few couples who are consistently around the top half so the final four are still a long way from being clear. Which makes everything all the more exciting for us viewers.
So until next week
Keep Dancing
OOooooh Thriller!! Hahah that was fun and Graeme's stiffness worked well here with what they were going for, smart move on Oti's part there. There was a lot more Thriller moves than cha cha moves though. I agree that I wouldn't call it a good cha cha cha, but it was a well danced dance.
ReplyDeleteHAHAH CYBERMAN TANGO! Fantastic use of the environment with that clock move. I love the way they turned Jody's Doctor outfit into a ballroom outfit. That was a fun tango hehe. I LOVED that Stacey took the lead halfway through! I can't say Kevin has ever stoof out to me before this season but he's top 3 now for me along with Giovanni and Oti hehe.
...Is Ranj supposed to be Sully? Because Janette definitely looks to be channeling Boo. Their moves are great but Monster Mash doesn't lend itself to a jive to me? ANd you're right it was incredibly stompy.
Yeah that's not good rumba music and I don't understand what it has to do with their theme which appears to be statues. They had their sensuality down with this dance though but that's about all it had going for it, it was very meh and I agree with you that she didn't seem to do much really.
HAH I love the reveal of Danny and Amy rising from the fog. Oh that is a HORRIBLE Spirit in the Sky cover...Another beautiful dance from Danny and Amy though, but I agree with you about the smoke ending up being a bad thing from an actual dance perspective.
Wow Ashley was awesome in that Charleston! You know I love a charleston but this isn't just me being bias I think it was genuinely a really awesome charleston. Kudos to them on this one! This was absolutely my favourite routine of the night (tied with Kevin and Stacey) which I was not expecting because like you I don't like Ashley.
I feel like a halloween themed Viennese is even harder than a normal Viennese so I do give them props for going for that. I love I put a spell on you, but I do not love this cover of it. The only stand out part of that dance for me was that last spin, but then I also don't remember spins like that being Viennese Waltz moves normally? Their costumes seemed to be at odds with each other too.
TIME WARP!! Oh this is a great jive! I love the way they incorporated the actual time warp moves into traditional jive moves. Only way that could have been more awesome would've been if Charles has gone full Frank N. Furter and put on a corset haha.
Ooooh I like the choice of going for their jazz dance this week, and I like what they did with it. The synchronized bit with the sunglasses was awesome. I love the matching costumes. I agree with you about how awesome this was, definitely top 3 of the night for me and I am glad to hear it got the extra vote sweetie hehe.
Joe grows on me more each week and I find myself begrudging it because I was not expecting it haha. He and Dianne really are well paired though because they really compliment each other (and I think it is adorable if it's moved off the floor as well). He did well tonight he managed to look graceful even in that costume and makeup haha.
Was that actually Lauren monologing or was that dubbed over? haha. She makes a great evil queen. it's hard to buy sweet little AJ as the big bad huntsman though (the long hair suits him though). That was a great Paso though, only complaint is how much more intense about it she was vs him hehe.
Oh thank gods they got rid of Seann.