Another quick one this week, but it is going up early with the Dance League Table to follow.
Joe & Katya - Quickstep - "Jumpin' Jack"
1. Wowzers, this made me sit up and take notice. Fantastic choreography there.
2. Joe's footwork looked absolutely on point, those rotating pendulums were amazing.
3. I did however see Joe's frame wobble a few times, and it's as if he was pushing his left arm and shoulder forward too much?
4. Props to the special fx team, that skyscraper floor graphic at the end was superb.
5. I can't give a 10 for the mistakes, but I'm happy to give a solid 9, so 36 from me.
Alexandra & Gorka - Rumba - "Halo"
1. Not for me I'm afraid, I really don't like when dances that are designed to be sloooow end up being frantic, it just doesn't work and it didn't here either.
2. I was surprised that Alex actually did this dance, I thought this was the one she'd skip as it would likely cause her the most problems?
3. I can kind of see what the judges meant about the lack of connection; most of the time Alex was looking away from Gorka and so that chemistry which you need in a Rumba wasn't there, but when they did have gazes locked I could sort of see it.
4. It didn't really feel like a dance for me, completely agreed with Shirley on Alex dancing through the 1 when she shouldn't have, but also because of the lack of connection, there was no storytelling which you need for a Rumba. The choreography didn't seem to connect with the song as such?
5. I'm struggling a little on where to place this, I think I'm more on Craig's side of things so I'm going to go with a 29 (I did wonder whether the spin in the middle was an illegal lift, but the thumbnail shows it wasn't)
Gemma & Aljaz - Samba - "The River of Dreams"
1. I'm not a fan of this one either, this dance is a great example of when a crap concept ruins a dance.
2. The whole theme just made the Samba they did do look a little lacklustre, and I was missing the double bounce action from Gemma through most of that. She did get the voltas correct though as Shirley noted.
3. Is Aljaz not a fan of the Samba? I thought this dance was lacking a bit in terms of content.
4. Aljaz isn't the best actor of the male pros, but he's still better than Pasha.
5. One of Gemma's worst dances, I'll give it 22.
Mollie & AJ - Quickstep - "Umbrella"
1. That was going ever so well, and then something went wrong at the end, was Mollie meant to do running splits Natalie Lowe-style?
2. Mollie's frame was so much better, hand placement was consistently flawless, and those rolling pivots were stunning.
3. I did feel that there was a bit of a disconnect when they first got to the floor and were doing the side-by-side section, AJ's steps had him picking his foot off of the floor a fair bit whereas Mollie's moved a little but not as much. I don't know whether that was deliberate but it didn't look right.
4. It took a little too long to start the dance properly, but great choreography from AJ again. His work for the Ballroom dances seems a fair bit better than his Latin.
5. I thought this was underscored, I'd give 34.
Davood & Nadiya - Waltz - "With You I'm Born Again" (RECYCLED SONG ALERT! - Natasha & Brendan in series 1, Mark & Karen in series 4, Denise & James in series 10, Helen & Aljaz in series 13)
1. Can we retire both this song and Espana Cani (used for the PD-athon) now please?
2. Now this I did give a standing ovation to, if only because Davood has finally managed to close his mouth when he dances!
3. All joking aside, he's managed to maintain the great Ballroom that he had from his American Smooth, and Nadiya has kept up the simple but beautiful choreography; this dance actually reminded me of Abbey's Waltz with Aljaz a little.
4. Only a couple of things I noticed: Davood needs to fully extend his arn lines through the hand as his hand looked a little 'spatulistic' (as Craig would say) during the standing spin with Nadiya near the start. Also, his left elbow dropped a few times so he needs to watch that.
5. I did love this though, so fully agreed with the scores and therefore Davood gets 35.
Debbie & Giovanni - Argentine Tango - "Por Una Cabeza" (RECYCLED SONG ALERT! - Tom & Camilla in series 6, Holly & Artem in series 9)
1. You could actually hear a guy say 'Wow' in the middle of that, think that says it all.
2. It looked a lot better on rewatch, do think Debbie was slightly shaky at one point, but I did love this routine (kudos to Vincent, that guy can choreograph and then some!) and I felt the connection between them.
3. Debbie's attitude at the start on the chair was fabulous, that little snooty look she had as she did the splits, oh yeah, totally feeling that.
4. That little leg brushing move always amuses me, as it was done for the lady of the night to see how much money the male had; and it always reminds me of Britney Spears doing the same in the video for 'Toxic', only she did it with her bottom rather than her leg. Same reasoning though.
5. Again, fully agreed with the scores so 38 it is.
Susan & Kevin - American Smooth - "Beyond the Sea" (RECYCLED SONG ALERT! - Ashley & Ola in series 11)
1. This is another one that looks so much better on rewatch, and I think it was also Kevin's little homage to his bench-tastic showdance with Frankie from a few years ago.
2. I would have liked more in hold, but I do feel that this was meant to be in a similar vein to their Quickstep so it didn't bother me too much.
3. A little bit clunky in the transition to that last lift, and Susan needed to extend her arm lines some more, but I smiled watching this, the realisation of Susan's little crush on Kevin. *sighs*
4. I can't think of this song without hearing Robbie Williams sing it, and I think the singer sounded a little like him on this one.
5. I'm going to go higher than the judges, and I do think this was better than Gemma so I'm going to give 25.
The Paso Doble-athon: not as fixed as previous years, let's leave it there.
My Leaderboard (PD-athon excluded):
1. Debbie & Gio - 38
2. Joe & Katya - 36
3. Davood & Nadiya - 35
4. Mollie & AJ - 34
5. Alex & Gorka - 29
6. Susan & Kevin - 25
7. Gemma & Aljaz - 22
RECYCLED SONG ALERTS! - this week: 3 (3 out of 7 is pure laziness)
RECYCLED SONG ALERTS! - overall: 35
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