S13.E12: Week 10

[ceebee]

Week 10 dances and songs

Anita and Gleb are dancing the Rumba to ‘Read All About It’ by Emeli Sande.

Georgia and Giovanni will perform the Paso Doble to Europe’s epic soft rock anthem ‘The Final Countdown’.

Helen and Aljaž perform the Viennese Waltz to the beautiful ‘At Last’ by Etta James.

Jay and Aliona are performing the Tango to the Prince classic ‘When Doves Cry’.

Katie and Anton will dance the Argentine Tango to Ástor Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’.

Kellie and Kevin will Salsa to the poptastic ‘I Want You Back’ by The Jackon 5.

Peter and Janette are going to dance the American Smooth to the soulful ‘Sweetest Feeling’ by the great Jackie Wilson.

All the contestants will take part in a Quickstepathon in which they will dance 'competition style' for 90 seconds. They must stay in hold the whole time. The judges will rank them 1 to 7 and their points will be added to their scores.

Carnage!

Top tips from the contestants. https://amp.twimg.com/v/0784febe-bd67-40a3-952d-b9bf80a58f37

Training from early in the week: https://amp.twimg.com/v/811701b2-8f8e-46d6-9cc0-8ba259245cd1

Edited November 27, 2015 by ceebee

[Dots And Stripes]

All the contestants will take part in a Quickstepathon in which they will dance 'competition style' for 90 seconds. They must stay in hold the whole time. The judges will rank them 1 to 7 and their points will be added to their scores.

Carnage!

 

I'm excited to see this. It's something different but it's a gimmick that is actually related to ballroom dancing. Who knew that was possible? i *think* they've all done quickstep already, which helps. My concern is that the guys will struggle. I think it's easier for female pros to back lead in a normal routine but they might have a harder time keeping their partner out of traffic here. 

[Occasional Hope]

I loved Helen, Anita and Georgia this week.

 

My prediction for the danceoff is Peter Andre again and Kellie, whose dance I thought was boring and overmarked.  Will the judges save PA again?

[Dots And Stripes]

I haven't been a Helen fan, but she looked gorgeous this week. She was given a bit of a gift having two ballroom dances this week and lovely song, but she completely rose to the occasion.

 

I thought Georgia was a little better than the judges gave her credit for. Not her strongest dance although I think she was still much better than several others.

 

Kellie looked like she needed a few more hours of practice. There were a few times it looked like Kevin had to signal the next move to her. Kudos to her for picking up the cues quickly. The routine just lacked polish. 

 

Another ballroom dance, another struggle for Peter. Not at all surprising. (I still don't think Peter's the main problem there though.) I would expect they have to pull out the salsa for him next if he survives. 

 

Did Anton pay the producers to make the marathon dance ballroom? I liked it, although I think I would have preferred a waltz or something that made it a little easier to watch more couples at once. Still, credit to the producers for choosing a dance they've all done before. That helps level the playing field a smidge. For anyone who needs extra views, the dance is here.

 

Helen deserved to win that. She had the nearest collision I saw (with Kellie and Kevin) but always looked stunning. Peter probably deserved to lose. He looked tense and it didn't help that Janette didn't look so great either. His job was harder than the female celebrities though. I still think I would have given the edge to Kellie as being a little bit better, although she struggled too. Jay probably should have been higher than Anita and Katie. 

[ceebee]

Dances of the night for me were Jay's tango and Helen's VW. I didn't enjoy Kellie's salsa very much and Peter's AS was average. Georgia's paso was dramatic but a little wild. Katie wasn't quite right in the AT, although she has lovely lines (it was a bit casual, imo). I enjoyed the theatre in Anita's rumba, but it wasn't sinuous and sensual. Too spiky, too many Gleb moments, plus a lift.

Thought Jay deserved to be higher in the Quickathon, but he stayed second over all, so no matter.

Anita very popular with the studio audience, so think she will survive being second bottom. It has to be Peter's time to go. Think Kellie will join him in DO.

[legaleagle53]

My favorite dances of the night were Helen's Viennese Waltz and Katie's Argentine Tango.  Helen, I thought, was absolutely lovely in the VW (her frame and footwork were perfect, as far as I could tell).  And considering that Anton has never done an Argentine Tango before, I thought it was an excellent routine, helped greatly by the fact that they had a traditional Argentine Tango to dance to.  Yes, there could have been a tighter emotional connection between them, but I think that the reason there wasn't one was that Anton was definitely out of his comfort zone and was concentrating on not screwing it up for Katie.  You have to admit that it's nice to see him pick up something new this quickly; remember, at 49, he's the oldest pro, not only on Strictly itself, but also on any version of Strictly that I'm aware of.  So who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

 

And the "Quickstepathon"?  I loved it.  That's how real DanceSport competitions do it, and one purpose of it is to test how well the couples handle floorcraft, that is, navigating around the dance floor without colliding with up to five other couples who are also dancing.  It forces the couples to literally think on their feet and adapt to ever-changing circumstances, and it's what I want our DWTS to start doing.  Enough of the boring, overhyped and overdone Latin "marathons" that only favor certain pros and celebrities (you all know the one I'm talking about). Let's see our own couples have to think fast for a change!

[ceebee]

 

Did Anton pay the producers to make the marathon dance ballroom? I liked it, although I think I would have preferred a waltz or something that made it a little easier to watch more couples at once. Still, credit to the producers for choosing a dance they've all done before. That helps level the playing field a smidge. For anyone who needs extra views, the dance is here.

 

Helen deserved to win that. She had the nearest collision I saw (with Kellie and Kevin) but always looked stunning. Peter probably deserved to lose. He looked tense and it didn't help that Janette didn't look so great either. His job was harder than the female celebrities though. I still think I would have given the edge to Kellie as being a little bit better, although she struggled too. Jay probably should have been higher than Anita and Katie.

There were too many camera changes to really follow what was going on. I'd love them to put it on the website with static views from the various cameras. From what I could tell on rewatch, Helen deserved to win it, and though I thought he deserved better than 5th, Jay was probably a bit too bouncy :-). (He was enjoying it though, which made me enjoy it, especially after his error laden QS a few weeks ago). Don't think Anita looked great.

[Dots And Stripes]

I thought last night kind of exposed Anita. She's great at selling a dance and she knows her choreography cold. She commits to every move. The downside is, she lacks the finesse and grace of other dancers. We're getting to the point where I don't think it's enough to know which step comes next. The rumba looked rough.

 

I would say Anita, Katie, and Peter are the weakest left. Katie is sort of the anti-Anita. She hesitates and gets lost at times, but she has lovely lines and an elegance about her. I'd say Kellie is fourth best overall. Good dancer, but doesn't appear to have the time to commit to becoming one of the best. That leaves Georgia, Jay, and Helen (even though Helen annoys me) as the top three best right now, for me anyway. I wouldn't mind seeing Anton sneak Katie into the final instead of Kellie or Helen though.

[legaleagle53]

I wouldn't mind seeing Anton sneak Katie into the final instead of Kellie or Helen though.

 

Seconded, if only because I've been dying to see an Anton Showdance for years!

[Occasional Hope]

Thank God, at last he's gone.

 

I think Anita and Kellie are the weakest of those left, but I wouldn't mind seeing a Gleb showdance.  Georgia is my favourite overall, but I think Jay is now a lock for the final, even if he is in the dance off more than once (but quite likely he wouldn't be anyway).  Helen was excellent this week, and is usually good, but I feel she hasn't really managed to make her personality spark on the show, so she could be a shock bottom two; but I think the judges would save her over Kellie or Katie, and def over Anita.  Not against Jay; and I hope not against Georgia.  Katie should be OK next week with a foxtrot and Movie Night.