Highs & Lows 2015

Needed another high on a miserable wet morning, so I just had another viewing of Jay's A.T. and Georgia's samba. No discredit to others but these were so very enjoyable. I absolutely love Aliona's total trust in her partner because she is so very elegant even when in flight. Georgia, was quite breathtaking the way she just ran at that samba with the pedal right down on the floor. She looked in complete control and so full of confidence that her dance was uninhibited and full of joy. Loved it.

saxonsiren wrote:Ooh how devine do be wary of Mrs Bennett's plans for Jane!

Thanks to yours and Tango's exchanges, I managed to get a literary quote on The Chase quiz programme right the other night. Who'd have thought that SCD would improve my general quiz knowledge?

B4p wrote:
Thanks to yours and Tango's exchanges, I managed to get a literary quote on The Chase quiz programme right the other night. Who'd have thought that SCD would improve my general quiz knowledge?

Believe me B4p, I could go on Mastermind on Pride and Prejudice, not all Jane Austen's although I know them well enough, but P&P , I kid you not I know every obsolete character in it. I can get 100% in on-line quizzes on the book without trying. If I could only have three books ever (all of which I have anyway) they'd be The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, The Bible and Pride and Prejudice.

Highs

Katie looking so elegant, sexy and fabulous. Lots of people say that men improve with maturity but women don't. Katie shows that's totally untrue. Great Rumba I love Katie's attitude to dancing - she's fearless.

Georgia and Giovanni's Charleston. Mrs Twirlie pointed out that while she tends always to look at the male pros during the dances, she doesn't with Georgia. Is that Georgia being wonderful or clever choreography from Giovanni or a mixture of both? Anyway they were terrific.

Helen's red dress and hair style. Fab-u-lous!

The shaking of Kellie's bustle!


Lows

Jeremy and Karen's number. Appalling.

Some of the fabu-u-lus darling one's marking. It was worse than normal tonight.

Peter André's legs/footwork are beginning to get on my whatsits!

Highs
Georgia's Charleston - I would have given a 10 too- had me jumping up and clapping
Katie's rumba- for once I wasn't squirming as I watched, good job, girl! (And it front of her hubby too! )
Some good old fashioned dancing without props- who'd have thought?

Lows
Sorry Jez, that was terrible, and not helped by Karen's comedy / truly awful theme. We like you because you try to dance not because you're funny
Normally I love the singers but they killed the Erasure song
C.raig being totally grumpy and out of sync- unnecessary

Highs.

Anita's good start to the show.
The continued visible level of improvement of all the contestants.
Georgia's last two dances have been tremendous.
Jay , unfortunate slip apart, still impressing with sheer technique and application.
Helen's impressive Tango.
Katie's handling of her rumba was a plus, and the support of her husband was heartening.

Lows.

Not many really.
As ever, some of the pig-headed musical choices that don't lend themselves to particular dances.
Karen's misguided choreography for Jeremy. Okay, it can't be easy, but that was poor.
The rest neither good or bad, more indifferent.

Highs
Georgia's Charleston. Fantastic. Total immersion into the dance
Katie's Rhumba. Stirred not shaken. Glamerous, sophisticated, elegant, classy
The new male singer whose birthday was also Saturday. Happy birthday to him
Darcey seemed to be more constructive and eloquent this week.
An ton's latin trousers

Lows
Karen's choreography
Kevin's choreography
Music choices
Cr aigs crazy bi-polar scoring
Tight, drainpipe trousers with superfluous ugly pockets that spoil the whole line. What's the point? Beautiful dresses, yet some of the mens outfits look like 70's rejects

One high. The musical fella singing tonight. Lively and had a real Cuban beat. What we used to call the "Shave and a haircut...two bob" rhythm.

Couple more lows because it seems a bit crass to celebrate some body leaving as a high. It just isn't.

Tess being utterly thoughtless in drolling on about how everyone so much wanted Jeremy to get to Blackpool whilst Jamelia was waiting to dance. She had previously said the same thing a couple of minutes before. Totally unprofessional. She is not the presenter for Strictly. Sorry if this upsets anyone. Not something new with me.

Just one couple having to miss the Tower experience. Seems doubly hard to take.

Agree Tango. I know Jeremy had reached his sell by date but I would have preferred to see him in Blackpool. At least he'd be entertaining.

Highs
Georgia and Giovannis charleston and their overall sustained breakthrough
K atie and A nton's rhumba
K atie and A nton getting to Blackpool and doing the American Smooth (justice for those horrible weeks)
Some lovely ballroom costumes again - Helen, K aren, Janette, A liona and a real stunner for K atie
Someone else said that D arcey made a better contribution this week in terms of constructive comments and I agree

Lows
Most of the music wasn't brilliant this week (and the band didn't do their usual brilliant job on some of the tracks - it is really really hard to get the vocals right on songs like the Erasure one)
T ess and her wittering
Enjoyable performances in the main but far too much coasting in some quarters and out of hold capers
The men's costumes - again I know someone else has also raised this higher up the thread - for example being dressed up in country tweeds or in some cases drainpipes. Alijaz's costume was bizarre - clinging in all the wrong places and just looking strange.

Highs

Katie and A.nton back in the game (typed "on the game" by mistake at first!)
GG aren't my faves but their Charleston blew my socks off! And Gio is a sweetie who does good choreography.

Lows

Clifton Choreography. I wouldn't mind if they both left and took lil sis with them.
I'm losing interest in Helen.
Would have preferred Blackpool for Jeremy's last hurrah.

Sid wrote:Highs

Katie and A.nton back in the game (typed "on the game" by mistake at first!).

Sid wrote:Highs

Katie and A.nton back in the game (typed "on the game" by mistake at first!)
GG aren't my faves but their Charleston blew my socks off! And Gio is a sweetie who does good choreography.

Lows

Clifton Choreography. I wouldn't mind if they both left and took lil sis with them.
I'm losing interest in Helen.
Would have preferred Blackpool for Jeremy's last hurrah.

What you said Sid - particularly the part about Jezza. I never thought I would think this as I'm not a fan of Jeremy's, but I think his efforts deserved to go out on the high of Blackpool, whereas Jamelia and Tristan are a bit lacklustre about it all and could have just as well gone out tonight.

Slight disagreement about Helen - last night's dance I really liked, for the first time in a while with her.

Sad about Kevin from Grimsby. Really loved him in the first series he was in, and he had some good 'un with Frankie last year, but he's really let me down this series. I think Joanne may deserve another chance due to her stuff on ITT, but she has to promise to dye her hair back to its natural blonde colour or a shade more flattering to her skin tones than that dark red which washes her out entirely (I'm all about the hair y'know!)

diamondsandpearls wrote:Sad about Kevin from Grimsby. Really loved him in the first series he was in, and he had some good 'un with Frankie last year, but he's really let me down this series. I think Joanne may deserve another chance due to her stuff on ITT, but she has to promise to dye her hair back to its natural blonde colour or a shade more flattering to her skin tones than that dark red which washes her out entirely (I'm all about the hair y'know!)

Ya don't say, diamonds!

Joanne certainly explained technique well during her stint on Choreography Corner. I don't think she's made for TV though. She'd be all silly and childish again with her partner. Doesn't bear thinking about!

Another Low - pants pro dance again.

Highs
Kellie & Kevin samba, yes I really liked it, thought it very clever and well executed
G & G charlston, wow
Claud's Saturday night blue dress

Lows
Agree, some of the costumes unflattering and now "Strictly" enough
Agree, judges scores a bit erratic & inconsistent
Jeremy leaving before Blackpool. I know the judges have a job to do but, given that Jamelia has been in the dance off four times and Jezza only once AND he has improved, surely they could have used their discretion and put him through just this once

Highs
Georgia's American Smooth
Katie's American Smooth
Helen's Charleston (apart from the final slip obviously) and her terrific legs in that costume. I know it wasn't rough enough for some, but I thought it was a very stylish Fred and Ginger type Charleston and enjoyed it.

Lows
Peter André's Jive. Awful.
C.raig arriving on that guitar and looking so smug about it.
Kellie and Kevin's Quickstep. Boring.
Tess and Claud's dresses. Worst of the season sadly.

As an Edit to this post, the lowest of the lows this year was the dance-off! Appalling result!

Highs:

Blackpool Week.
The whole show and the fact that there is no clear cut winner in sight yet.
The steady progress of everybody in general, including Jamelia.
Anita, Jay and Georgia's dances.
Katie's emergence as a dancer.Loved the glitzy Hollywood top hat and cane routine
Erin.

Lows.
Peter's jive to unfortunate music.
Helen's lacklustre Charlston.

Highs:
Anita, Georgia and Jay
Take That ( sorry but I love them! )

Lows:
Felt like the extra dancers spoilt some of the dances
Helen's charleston
THE DANCE OFF scandal - never thought I'd say it but Jamelia wuz robbed!

Highs

- Anita and Gleb. They were CAMPTASTIC!!! She's by no means the best dancer but boy does she make the most of what she has. Gutsy.

- Jay and Aliona. Salsa's tough in a big arena. It's quite a static dance with tight, compact movements, so Jay did well to make it as impactful as he did while still making it look Salsa-like with sound technique.

- Katie dazzles me.

Lows

- The injustice that was the dance-off!!!

- The opening pro routine. It was a shambles.

- 10s have lost all their magic. They are the new 9s.

Sid wrote:Highs



- 10s have lost all their magic. They are the new 9s.

With any luck that judges will have a 'harsh' week next show and we'll see scores back to '8's and the odd '9' - they did it last year after Blackpool - at least it means the '10's will be a bit tempered.

Highs
I loved the show - the spectacle, the themes and the costumes
The music was great - liked every track (even the Whitney one!!)
K atie and A nton's American Smooth
A nita and G leb and that paso - absolutely fantastic!!!!

Lows
There weren't really many lows for me until the Dance Off - not the right result
On a lesser scale:
i didn't really enjoy the group dances this week - there just seemed to be too many dancers on the floor.
I thought the backing dancers got in the way during J ay and Aliona's routine.
Not sure why K and K got a '10' - a good competent performance but not outstanding.

Yeah we're due a "judges get strict" week, mauve!

Highs

Blackpool
Katie
Anita

Wish we had the final there too


Lows

Overwhelming "meh" series this year,is it the series getting tired?
Moving away from traditional costume/music/dance steps
or am I bored as a viewer?
another fright night costume for Kellie

saxonsiren wrote:Highs

Blackpool
Katie
Anita

Wish we had the final  there too

Great idea Sax (though I'd ban the use of backing dancers in the final).

[bHighs][/b]

K atie and A nton's Argentine Tango
Helen and Alijaz's Viennese Waltz
Two very enjoyable shows all round with a great standard of dance
Il Divo - never heard 'Sway' sung in Spanish!
Not really being able to guess who would be in the DO (not sure of vote shares now)
Right decision in the dance off

Lows
Not really many for me this week - have to have a think about it
The boo-ing during L en's critique of A nita and Gl eb
G leb (sorry
Once again didn't particularly enjoy the pro routine- the launderette theme
The silly attempts at comedy when C laud and T ess are together and the 'young man' sexist comments - not needed.

Highs.

All the way. Good show, right results eventually, though puzzled how they were achieved. Great performance level and some really smart He is. And we obey him., Jay, Katie, Helen and Georgia. Enjoyed Sway in Spanish (hey, I could enjoy that in Arabic, Chinese, Nepalese or Russian) one of dance's great He is. And we obey him..

Lows, not worth mention really, not so much low as a bit below par.