S14 E02 and E03: First Performances

[Dots And Stripes]

Strictly is back! Night one was mediocre. No one was great and no one was terrible. The judges sort of threw up their hands too. I think Laura was over scored. She looked confident and sold it, but her footwork was non-existent. I was happy to see Greg can at least move. Hoping this means Natalie makes it far for the first time in ages. Joanne's dance was strange, which is too bad because Ore has serious potential. Someone should tell her she's not on DWTS. In addition to spending way too much time on the bench the ending was also odd. I would have expected her to act like he won her over in the end. To end the dance with her looking like a smug brat was an odd way to sell the partnership.

As for Saturday: What happened to Craig!?!?! Way too many 8's from him week 1. As much as I hate Kevin having yet another contender, Louise did very well with the jive. I liked Tameka a lot and Gorka is very easy on the eyes. Melvin is in trouble if he can't do well with latin. Even if he's more suited for ballroom I seriously doubt Janette's ability to teach it. I loved Anastasia's sass. Too bad her costume made her look much shorter than she is. Claudia was ok but looked very nervous. I think she was hurt a little by having newbie AJ as a partner. Loved our Claudia giving him a toy after. Ed is not very good but he was better than expected. Good for Katya for clearly putting in some work there.

[legaleagle53]

You forgot several people.  I thought Judge Rinder did very well on the first night, although I could tell he got out of sync a couple of times, and he really needs to tone down the mugging -- that annoyed the hell out of me.  And Lesley's Waltz was beautiful; Anton is a good, age-appropriate partner for her (he turned 50 back in July), and I think he'll have her shine in ballroom -- Latin (as always) is where I think he'll have trouble with her.

Naga's Waltz, on the other hand, while technically pretty good, was almost a bit too difficult for her, I thought; she looked rather stiff, and I also thought she seemed to have trouble keeping up in spots.

As for the best of both nights?  Just give the mirror-ball to Danny Mac now and be done with it!  :)

[Anothermi]

There certainly was a LOT of decent dancing this season! I'm having trouble finding a favorite.

I'm going to love anyone Pasha dances with (by bias) and I thought Naga looked beautiful, but in this field she didn't stand out in any way. When so many contestants do so well it's hard to know which ones were dragged down by the inevitable 1st night jitters.

Danny Mac did really well - it's true. Yay for more Oti!

I wasn't able to see what provoked such high marks for Will Young. I enjoyed the dance, but don't know enough to appreciate if he did any difficult, or even good, dance steps.

By second night I revised my opinion of Laura - downward. She didn't do that well in comparison with the 2nd night crew.

12 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I thought Judge Rinder did very well on the first night, although I could tell he got out of sync a couple of times, and he really needs to tone down the mugging -- that annoyed the hell out of me.

So true. I started off really enjoying his dance and then started wishing he'd drop the shtick. He's got the entertainment factor, but I wasn't sure he pulled off the hip moves. And I found him a bit "stompy" dhaling. 

Aljaz pull off a great waltz AGAIN! I'm a little surprised that the back story/VTs and dragging in family/sad backstory is starting so early. I don't mean to be disrespectful of the fact that Daisy lost her grandfather recently, but there were a lot more meet-the-family/wife/whomever VTs this 1st week than I remember from previous seasons.

Anastacia is starting to bug me already. She's vocally interjected herself into Claudia's shtick 3 out of 3 episodes. Perhaps the "Tess" bit was pre-planned because they did it with another contestant, but Anastacia's felt uninvited. That said, I enjoyed her dance - possibly because Brendan was so elated and free to let loose during it.

Louise impressed me with her sharp pointed kicks and flicks. It was unexpected. They did a good job hiding her skilz until she performed.

I'm going to have to adjust to Ore's shape. He's not... ballroom OR Latin-shaped to me. Linebacker perhaps. BUT, he's got moves, so he's on my radar.

Ed looked better than I expected and I'm liking Katya. (her husband - who's choreography I have liked in group dances - seems a little camera-time hungry in the Clauditorium.

Back to Rinder for a sec. I'm liking Oksana better here than when she was in the Troop on DWTS.

Hmmmm. That's all I can remember, but I know there were a lot more than that.

[Dame sans merci]

12 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

You forgot several people.  I thought Judge Rinder did very well on the first night, although I could tell he got out of sync a couple of times, and he really needs to tone down the mugging -- that annoyed the hell out of me.  And Lesley's Waltz was beautiful; Anton is a good, age-appropriate partner for her (he turned 50 back in July), and I think he'll have her shine in ballroom -- Latin (as always) is where I think he'll have trouble with her.

Naga's Waltz, on the other hand, while technically pretty good, was almost a bit too difficult for her, I thought; she looked rather stiff, and I also thought she seemed to have trouble keeping up in spots.

As for the best of both nights?  Just give the mirror-ball to Danny Mac now and be done with it!  :)

I feel like Danny might end up as the Natalie Gunmede of this series - I mean, when you're pretty much outdancing your pro partner in week one, you're too good, too soon. Plus, he's a bit of a charisma vacuum. Like a pretty, dancing AI.

Relieved for Nat that Greg looks fairly promising - it was smart to get a dance that wouldn't suit him out of the way early when they could cover his technical flaws with his energy, but he had rhythm and musicality, and can 'sell' a dance so that bodes well. He's very bandy-legged though....

Ore's tango was bizarre. Yes, that was an awkward bit of music to choreograph to but...yikes. Plus, the whole thing was staged like some awful acid trip.

The Judge was an unexpected delight. Not sure if I want him to calm it down a bit (because he does have talent), or just continue to be ultra extra for every single dance.

Daisy's waltz was lovely, particularly given how stiff she looked in that group dance (although maybe the poor woman was just alarmed by the possibility of flashing a boob if she got too energetic in that tacky piece of red lace they gave her to wear). The latin should be interesting.

Ed was...not terrible. Good job Katya. 

Melvin...WAS terrible. I am side-eyeing the choreography and the entire BBC prop cupboard they foisted on him for this.

Louise and Will both looked confident and capable, despite notably hideous wardrobes, which was to be expected. 

Tameka is a whole lot to deal with. Did Gorka even get to speak? Having said that, their Paso was fun, and I thought she actually showed a lot of raw ability.

A bit disappointed in Claudia, although maybe my expectations were a little high. Bruno made a good point (!) in picking up on her transitions into the tricks and flicks needing work.

I can't remember anybody else, which doesn't bode all that well for them.

Excited that this looks like a competitive series though.

ETA: Forgot to mention the supremely awkward moment where we we introduced to Ore's lovely wife...and she was an absolute doppelganger for Joanne. Hello Strictly curse.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Blackcanary

[Occasional Hope]

Even the bad ones (Ed and Melvin) weren't too awful.  Ed Balls and Lesley Joseph both did much better than expected, but I suspect both may come to grief in Latin.

I thought Daisy, Louise and Danny were the best this week

11 hours ago, Blackcanary said:

Plus, he's a bit of a charisma vacuum. Like a pretty, dancing AI.

Sometimes, pretty is enough.  For a while, anyway.