S13.E13: Week 11: Musicals

[ceebee]

Week 11 Dances and songs:

Anita & Gleb will dance the Argentine Tango to ‘Cell Block Tango’ from Chicago.

Georgia & Giovanni will Foxtrot to ‘Beauty & The Beast’ from the show of the same name.

Helen & Aljaz perform the Paso Doble to ‘At The End Of The Day’ from Les Miserables.

Jay & Aliona are going to Rumba to ‘Falling Slowly’ from Once.

Katie & Anton are dancing the Foxtrot to ‘Maybe This Time’ from Cabaret.

And finally Kellie & Kevin are performing the Viennese Waltz to ‘Oom Pah Pah’ from Oliver.

Anita's music has been done to death, but still a great crowd pleaser. Not sure it fits an AT as well as a ballroom tango.

Will have to go and remind myself about Georgia's Disney number.

Can't quite imagine Helen's paso - song gets a bit manic.

I think Falling Slowly for a romantic, sad rumba is a great choice.

Maybe this Time is fantastic.

Oom Pah Pah is going to bring on another Kevin twee fest, isn't it?

[legaleagle53]

Another week of great song choices.  I'm impressed that the music monkeys got it right!

 

And Katie and Anton should kill it in the Foxtrot, given how well their American Smooth was received.

[ceebee]

Training video

https://amp.twimg.com/v/7ece6369-0b0d-495a-a2e9-241d9f418a1f

[ceebee]

Behind the scenes at Friday rehearsals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/1a6348f3-7700-4b22-87ee-9fe981260774

[Anothermi]

Looks like G & G, at least, will be having back-up dancers. Wonder who else?

 

Got a chuckle from Jay's description of his character and then his look at the camera with the dry "digging deep".

 

Thought Gleb would be the one who wanted to do hip hop, but Anita isn't far off. However, completely didn't expect H & A to suggest dinosaur week. :-O

 

Fun clips. Thanks for the links ceebee.

 

ETA: just saw some other clips and yes, it looks like there is going to be back-up dancers for all.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Anothermi

[Dots And Stripes]

So Len basically decided to take the week off. He gave out five "9's" and one "10." According to his scoring, he'd put everyone but Jay in the dance off. Bruno and Darcy at least realized they still had an 8 paddle.

 

Anita, no. Craig said this week exposed her weakness, but I thought the rumba last week did. I figured this would be a better dance for her because it's very heavy on steps (Anita usually knows her steps cold) and tricks and wouldn't require the fluidity of last week. If I could excuse the rumba as not playing to her strengths, I can't excuse this one because on paper it should have. Maybe Gleb used too many of his tricks in early weeks and didn't save up anything for now. If anyone but Anita leaves, I'll be sorely disappointing.

 

Katie's dance made me a little emotional, but that was probably that song for Anton. I know Anton is probably fine being someone who hasn't won Strictly. He's done very well for himself anyway. It was just very sentimental. Katie looked elegant and much more confident than in past weeks. Good for her.

 

Helen was a bit of a mess. I usually don't buy that it's a struggle for trained celebs to unlearn old habits, but maybe Helen will make me a believer. She just gets so awkward.

 

Georgia was lovely, but having such a slow dance got her scrutinized more than some of her peers. Jay was nice, but a little boring. Probably because I'm usually bored by the rumba. He and Aliona making a stunning dance couple though. 

 

Kellie is just kind of there. I did like her a lot more this week than i have in the past though.

[Occasional Hope]

I loved Georgia's dance - classy and elegant - although the backing dancers made it look like the Disney version of a panto.

 

Anita: technically not great, but that was hot.  Could be at risk, and would almost certainly get booted by the judges if in the danceoff.

 

Kellie: Horrrid, I've never seen a more ill conceived combination of dance and music.  She did get a better dress than usual, but I reckon she's in danger again. Ridiculously overmarked too.

 

Jay: For me he still lumbers a bit.  Not awful, but I wasn't feeling it.

 

Katie: one of her better dances, it was nice but maybe a touch forgettable.

 

Helen: Another totally unsuitable choice of music for the dance, imo.  It really didn't work for me.

[Occasional Hope]

Well, I was completely unsurprised that Helen was in the danceoff; the routine wasn't great imo, and I've never thought she really connected with the public.  She is a good dancer, though, so I'm a little sorry to lose her, though pleased Georgia stayed.

 

I was shocked that she was joined in the DO by Georgia.  Maybe that routine was just too sugary sweet for the public?  I thought it was beautifully danced, but as she was equal second on the leaderboard she must have got the least amount of votes, more or less.  (Maybe if the judges had seen fit to give her one more point, it would have been Kellie in her place with that horrible mess of a dance, and Helen would have survived that danceoff.) 

[legaleagle53]

Well, I was completely unsurprised that Helen was in the danceoff; the routine wasn't great imo, and I've never thought she really connected with the public.  She is a good dancer, though, so I'm a little sorry to lose her, though pleased Georgia stayed.

 

I was shocked that she was joined in the DO by Georgia.  Maybe that routine was just too sugary sweet for the public?  I thought it was beautifully danced, but as she was equal second on the leaderboard she must have got the least amount of votes, more or less.  (Maybe if the judges had seen fit to give her one more point, it would have been Kellie in her place with that horrible mess of a dance, and Helen would have survived that danceoff.) 

 

Take comfort in the fact that James Jordan is, in his words, "off sulking for a bit" at the results.

 

As long as Katie and Anton make the finals (because I REALLY want to see an Anton Showdance), I can live with whatever the ultimate result is.  I just wonder, though, whether Anton would finally leave the show if he won.  I mean, what else would there be to keep him in once he's finally achieved his career goal?  He's pushing 50, and he's not exactly Derek Hough, after all.

[Dots And Stripes]

Is winning Anton's career goal though? I imagine he gave up on that years ago. There's always speculation he'd like to be a host or judge. He really does have a great television personality. Staying on the show would continue to give him exposure.

 

James Jordan also predicted a man will win and was sticking to that for a long time. If that holds, he really must be pulling for Jay now.

 

I think people assumed Georgia was safe and she did have a far less dramatic routine than others. Anita, Kelly, and Katie fans all probably knew they had to vote hard. It is a little disheartening that Anita received more votes than Georgia. I really think Anita has gotten a lot of free passes. Then again, voting is all about personal preference. I love Georgia and Geovani together. If others like Anita better, that's completely their prerogative. 

[legaleagle53]

Is winning Anton's career goal though? I imagine he gave up on that years ago. 

 

That was before he finally got a partner who actually had a legitimate shot at winning.  Remember, he made it all the way to the semi-finals in the very first series of SCD.  He's just had so many crap partners since then that getting Katie must have sent him into shock -- a celeb who can actually dance!

 

Actually, that's the one thing I'm afraid of -- that he'll get to the finals and choke in the Showdance.  It's happened to many a pro on DWTS, many of whom have had plenty of experience choreographing good routines for celebs who can dance.

 

As for even getting to the Showdance round, the one thing he HAS to avoid at all costs is doing a Latin routine.  If he DOES have to recreate one of them for a judges' pick, I hope it's the Rumba.  I thought that was Katie's best Latin routine, and I thought Anton did a pretty good job of getting into character for that one. Other than that, if he and Katie re-do their American Smooth, their Viennese Waltz, or their Argentine Tango as their favorite dance, they've got it made.

[Anothermi]

Take comfort in the fact that James Jordan is, in his words, "off sulking for a bit" at the results.

 

As long as Katie and Anton make the finals (because I REALLY want to see an Anton Showdance), I can live with whatever the ultimate result is.  I just wonder, though, whether Anton would finally leave the show if he won.  I mean, what else would there be to keep him in once he's finally achieved his career goal?  He's pushing 50, and he's not exactly Derek Hough, after all.

 

I just might have to join James Jordan in a sulk. I really liked Helen. Even when I could see she was weak in Latin dances, she really worked at trying to get the movements. This was just a bad confluence of wrong style for her, wrong song and wrong performance night to have wobbles. Could have happened to any of them.

 

At this point I couldn't pick one of the couples I'd have preferred to leave, so I'll live with Helen's classy good-bye and that she got to do the dance (and Aljaz) some justice before she went.

 

Bit in Bold: I'd be fine with Anton winning IF he doesn't return to being the duffer catcher after that. I really disliked him up to this point. His "har hars", his thinly veiled making fun of his duffer partners - even the ones who were trying - drove me crazy. Actually, Judy Moo was the reason I softened toward him at all. He didn't seem as rude towards her because she 1) knew she wasn't good at dancing, 2) was still game and 3) could handle his humour and give back when she felt like it. I couldn't bear it if he actually won and then returned to be his old self with the comedy partners.

 

I do think, however, that the writing has been on the wall for a while that Jay is this year's winner. It feels much like the years when Harry Judd and Lewis Smith won. The difference is that I'd be fine with Jay winning because I actually rate him as a dancer.  If hell froze over I'd also be fine with any of the women winning - all for different reasons.

 

It's been a pretty good series I must say.

 

P.S. I'm sad I won't get another chance to see Helen's angry hamster faces. They are so cute and never fail to bring a smile to my face.

[ceebee]

The theming intruded too much on many of the performances this week.

Georgia - Foxtrot. I found this utterly charming. Great hold. Teapots and furniture and chandeliers obscured the view - so annoying. Bruno was hopping up and down to see over the extras.

Anita - AT. It was over the top and entertaining, but a really poor example of Argentine Tango. I agreed with everything Craig said about her flaws, although, to be sure it will have galvanised her support. It's a bit late in the day to START giving her a technical critique and the way he expressed himself was harsh.

Kellie - VW. As a performance I enjoyed it. Good dress finally. Only a short section of actual Viennese unfortunately, so they should have marked her (Kevin) down for that.

Jay - Rumba. I thought this was beautiful, tender and romantic. There were moments where I would have appreciated a little more intent (a few movements were apologetic), but it was a lovely interpretation of the song and suited Jay enormously.

Katie - FT. I kind of loved it (the song really helped) but I don't think she sold it as well as I'd have liked. Needed to build more and be more 'showbizzy'. Nice, but It should have been epic.

Helen - Paso. They did well to work with the song, but overwhelmed by extras and the 'frantic' theme. She was off balance at times. So, so sorry to lose her from the comp though. She was one of my finalists and the show will be poorer without a gorgeous ballroom number from her at the close. Lovely send-off dance. Will miss these two very much.

Edited December 8, 2015 by ceebee