Week three of Strictly Come Dancing and there was
a whole lot of love of in the air. What better way to kick off love week than a
wedding themed pro dance in honour of James and Ola’s 10th wedding
anniversary. Our cold bitter hearts almost can’t take all the hearts and
flowers. Time to take to the floor…
Abbey & Aljaz
Jive to ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ by The Beatles
First performance of the night by Abbey and Aljaz
with a swinging 60’s influence. ? The routine had lots of content; it was fast-paced and very energetic,
as good as any Jive should be. If only the energy was kept throughout and more
polished footwork, this would've been sensational. Craig felt that the whole
routine was “slightly laboured” and his comment sparked a conflictual response
from Bruno who totally disagreed, as well as most of the audience - Booo!
(booing Craig for telling the truth is just tradition now) The start of the
dance involved a bit of ‘faffing about’ as Len would say, but overall it was a
good routine and the duo’s chemistry is endearing. We want Aljaz to do his
Liverpudlian accent every week.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7
|
Patrick & Anya
Foxtrot to ‘Let There Be Love’ by Nat King Cole
We admit that
since their rather good jive in week, Patrick and Anya have just kind of passed
us by on the main show and on It Takes Two. I’m afraid to say this dance did
nothing to change that. Despite a few gapping issues, Patrick’s ability to tell
a story through the art of dance is one to be commended. According to Darcey,
Patrick bought “panache and class” to the dance floor as he oozes “style with a
smile”
Scored | 27 |
Our Score | 6 |
Dave & Karen
Paso Doble to ‘I Would Do Anything for Love (But I
Won’t Do That)’ by Meatloaf
We look forward to Dave and Karen each week and
when we heard they had the Paso we could barely contain our excitement. They
didn’t disappoint. It was everything we’d expected, hilarious, enthusiastic and
choreographed brilliantly by Karen to compliment Dave’s slightly limited
dancing abilities. Flat-footed and stompy at times, it just didn’t matter to
the ‘Strictly’ audience as Hairy Biker Dave performed with passion and
conviction. Love love loved the ‘Karen-Floor-Sweep’ at the end, and the whole
routine definitely deserved the standing ovation in my eyes. However Craig
declared the dance as “Dreadful”.
Scored | 16 |
Our Score | 4 |
Fiona & Anton
Waltz to ‘True Love’ by Pat Boone
We still find it very odd to see Anton actually
dancing! This week Fiona
and Anton take to the dance floor with a slightly wobbly waltz, as Fiona is
slightly unbalanced in her turns at the beginning of the routine, however once
in hold, the entire dance was as elegant as it was romantic. Fiona just needs
to work on tilting her head more to really make an impact on the judging panel,
nevertheless all ‘S-E-V-E-N-S’ from the judges brings a birthday wish come true
for the ‘floaty Fiona’ this week. And to make her birthday extra special, Sir
Bruce himself kick starts an audience outburst of ‘Happy Birthday to you’,
which really was a nice touch! Overall, a very good performance and
the scores were better – up by 6 points from last week.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Rachel & Pasha
Cha Cha Cha to ‘When Love Takes Over’ by David
Guetta/Kelly Rowland
It was certainly better than last week! She has come out of her shell and is
moving in the right direction. It
was by no means perfect, but she seems to have come on in leaps and bounds
since last week. She seemed more confident in her abilities (though she still
needs to work on this a lot, as the judges said), and it showed in her
performance. Some great hip movement in there. Just needs to learn to hide the
concentration showing on her face! It would be nice to see Rachel let herself
go a bit; go wild Rachel pleeeeeease.
Scored | 27 |
Our Score | 7
|
Mark & Iveta
American Smooth to ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness
Mark has
already proved he can dance, and is more than a comedy character. It took a few
moments to get into the actual routine, but once they did, it was pretty good.
Some of his footwork could be sharper at times, and he needs a little more
drive. Mark plays the character of the dance so well and he is a fabulous
story-teller, Iveta certainly knows how to make the most of this skill when
choreographing their routines.
Scored | 26 |
Our Score | 6
|
Ben & Kristina
Rhumba to ‘’To Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele
We didn’t
have high expectations for this dance going on past performances but boy were
we proved wrong. Easily the surprise of the night. There really was so much to like about Ben and Kristina’s
Rhumba; his swivelling hips and fluidity, the intensity of the performance and
their overall connectivity - in the words of Craig Revel-Horwood I thought it
was, “A-H-M-A-Z-I-N-G Darling”. His best dance by a clear mile. Has Ben found
his form? Is this the start of his rise? We shall see.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Sophie & Brendan
Samba to ‘All Night Long’ by Lionel Richie
The
Charleston was always going to be a tough act to follow but they certainly
tried. the choreography
was fantastic and Sophie coped tremendously well with the vast amount of
content Brendan had included, which showcased many of Len’s favourite dance
steps. Although Lionel Ritchie’s ‘All Night Long’ belted out by the band really
helped create the romantic ‘party’ mood, Sophie failed to provide that carnival
vibe – it was all a little on the calm side, excellently described by Bruno as,
a “Cool Chic Uptown” Samba. The samba rolls weren’t all perfectly executed, and
she seemed a little shaky in places – but in general, a brilliant effort.
Scored | 31 |
Our Score | 8 |
Julien & Janette
Jive to ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’ by The
Blues Bros
After being in the bottom 2 last week, Julien
needed to show big improvement this week. The start of the dance showed
promise, but as usual it went a little sloppy in the middle. There seemed to be
a lot of posing more than proper full-on jive content – but maybe I’m just used
to watching pretty manic jives! His posture has much improved, he played the
part well and had bounds of energy which is just what’s needed for the Jive.
There were however timing issues throughout the routine, but I have to applaud
Julien for the hours he’s putting in and for all the work he is doing, it is
noticeable. It was still his best dance, but does that say much?
Scored | 22 |
Our Score | 6 |
Susanna & Kevin
Waltz to ‘Annie’s Song’ by John Denver
Its no
secret from our tweets that we have a slight crush on Kevin and once again he
didn’t disappoint. After
a hyperactive jive, and a mean and moody tango, now it was time for Susanna to
show her graceful side. Their Viennese Waltz was stunning – the footwork, the
movement – everything! Her only criticism was she must drop her shoulders to
improve her frame. Nonetheless, Len “loved it” and stated that it was the “best”
he’d seen tonight! A real winner with all the judge’s this week. Well done
Susanna!
Scored | 34 |
Our Score | 8 |
Vanessa & James
Tango to ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ by Abba
Loved the
start to this fiery ‘Tango’; James chatting to a horde of girls, Vanessa
scaring them off and telling them to ‘leave her man alone’, it was fierce and
fun to watch. The routine had content aplenty and James was praised for not ‘chickening
out’ on that front. Sadly, Vanessa’s head movements let her down this week as they
were not determined enough for the Tango, however she really did ‘attack’ the
dance. It was missing that snap and staccato that you would expect but Craig’s
score seemed very harsh.
Scored | 20 |
Our Score | 4
|
Ashley & Ola
Samba to ‘Love Is In The Air’ by John Paul Young
Last week
we called Ashley a ballroom boy but this week he proved he’s also a Latin
lover. After raiding Artem’s wardrobe Ashley really showed us that he has great rhythm as he
moved around the whole of the dance floor [great use of floor space Ola!] and
he did cope well with a very difficult dance, only getting his feet in a tangle
a couple of times! What really topped it for me though was unfortunately not
part of the performance itself but, the comment from Craig whereby he stated as
bold as brass, “Those hip rolls were ‘FILTH’, we couldn’t agree more Craig.
Work on his arms is
needed, but otherwise a wonderful, fun dance.
Scored | 31 |
Our Score | 8 |
Natalie & Artem
Rhumba to ‘Love The Way You Lie’ by Rihanna
From near next to nothing, to a cow onesie, the
Russian god really can pull anything off. The synchronicity of Natalie and Artem’s body
throughout their entire Rhumba was amazing to watch. The routine was
beautifully danced throughout; it was expressive, meaningful and extremely
graceful. Natalie’s ability to tell a story through the expressive form of
dance is commendable; the entire routine really was stunning. I totally agreed
with Darcey’s comment that Natalie is able to “speak with her whole body”,
hence the effortless storytelling. We could go on and on about how much we
loved this whole routine but just three words can cover it… Romantic, dramatic,
passionate.
Scored | 36 |
Our Score | 9
|
Deborah & Robin
Quickstep to ‘Higher and Higher’ by Jackie Wilson
Deborah seems to be improving week on week, and although
their quickstep felt a little awkward in places (well to me anyway), overall it
was another fab performance from these two. Light footed, plenty of footwork
and strong in hold. Deborah’s love for Strictly comes through when she steps
out in to the ballroom.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Despite a love overload it was another fantastic
Strictly marathon show. The overall level of talent this year is astonishing
with almost every couple receiving huge scores for so early on in the series.
They might need to come up with a score higher than a 10 at this rate!
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