DanceX, week 7 - The final

Obviously the ratings hit that DanceX suffered last week at the hands of X Factor had an impact. Not least that the ‘hero shots’ of the judges/mentors at the beginning of this week’s final even used the same music that the ITV1 show does: Nellee Hooper’s Carmina Burana-like choral prologue to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. An indication, possibly, that the show’s creators have given up denying the show’s heritage as a mish-mash of numerous shiny floor talent shows from the past five years. Still, although the journey to the final may have been derivative in format, it’s still been fun to watch — and, as with all the best shows, the final turned out to be a fitting conclusion to the series.

As with all the live shows, we opened with a combined number (Don’t Stop Me Now). And despite the horrendous tin-foil outfits the dancers were forced to wear, I couldn’t help wishing that the BBC offered a third telephone number to ring, to vote to allow all ten of them to form a huge supergroup.

In a break with tradition, the weekly ‘battle’ came next, adding to the panoply of clichéd song titles with Dancin’ in the Street. Ashley and Claire were on singing duty only. From Arlene’s team, Emanuel and Daniel showed how well they worked together while their opposite numbers, Phoenix and Marcquelle, demonstrated that acrobatic ability doesn’t start and end with Daniel.

With the combined routines out of the way, we were on to each group showcasing their talents. Arlene’s team were up first, with Great Balls of Fire. For me, the highlight throughout was Chelsey, who seemed to give a natural performance throughout. In comparison, Camilla looked forced and Ashley uncomfortable. Daniel’s seemingly obligatory breakdancing was impressive, I have to admit — but as the supposed backbone of the group, Emanuel was the weak link in this dance. In summing up, Arlene revealed that a big lift involving was missed, but the group managed to cover up the mistake well. It was maybe this that led Bruno to note that they could have been slicker, and that for a jive, many had missed their steps.

Next up, Bruno’s team danced to Michael Jackson’s Black and White. And at least initially, I found the choreography to be much less interesting than that given to Arlene’s group (although, to balance this out, I often think that Team Bruno execute their moves better, especially now that Kalvin has left Team Arlene). As the more showy moves emerged, with Phoenix and Marcquelle break dancing and the girls doing some nice chair work, not to mention a perfectly executed lift, the team redeemed themselves somewhat. As the judges summed up, Arlene praised Derek’s choreography, so I guess a lot of it is down to personal taste.

In the next round, song and dance, Team Arlene sang to Britney Spears’ Toxic. Well, I say sang — the backing vocals were so far up in the mix that it was difficult to tell if any of them were actually singing a lot of the time. Dancewise, Emanuel and Chelsey executed a very difficult lift and flip. Unfortunately, Emanuel’s vocals soon proved just why the backing vocals were so high, managing to lose the key completely at one point. As with Any Dream Will Do, I suspect the studio environment is far from ideal for hearing one’s own voice, but certainly at home it sounded dreadful.

Team Bruno followed, singing (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Again, there was substantial reliance on background vocals, but this time they were much lower in the mix. I realise that sound mixing isn’t within the power of the groups on stage, but voters at home really need to hear the people they’re voting for. Here, the mix was good enough to allow the individuals’ personalities to come through. Also, this is where Derek’s less flashy choreography helped, meaning that the troupe could cope with both singing and dancing. Arlene thought the overall sounds was unbalanced, although Claire gave her best performance yet; Bruno praised Marie for taking notes on board. Infuriatingly, there was no hint at what those notes were.

The penultimate round saw each team revive one of their favourite routines from the show’s run. To start, Arlene’s team revived The Rhythm of Life from week 5. Shorn of its Vegas theme (which, if you recall, Bruno expressed doubts about it expressing anyway) it worked as a real showcase for the whole team, although Ashley had technical problems with her mic (or at least, its position in the mix) that was annoying, since she was so good in their first performance of this song. It was briskly followed by Team Bruno reprising Land of 1,000 Dances from week 4. Ironic, really, the both teams picked songs from weeks in which they lost — but this was certainly one of Team Bruno’s strongest efforts and, despite no longer having Daniele in support, this week’s version was just as strong. Arlene may have criticised it on its first performance as not being rock’n’roll enough, but to be honest I could have watched it for another half an hour.

The final performance from each revolved around the single Dancing in Repeat, which the winning team will release. And the groups working on the same material as each other, we got possibly the best means of directly comparing the two teams yet. For me, Emanuel highlighted that his voice does not have the strength that it could have; Marcquelle can be just as acrobatic as Daniel, but is able to blend street moves in with the rest of his repertoire; Claire has a stronger voice than Ashley — or, at least, before her mum starts having a go at me (hello, Joy!), it’s a voice that’s more suited to this type of song.

And so, after a very pleasant interlude from Rihanna (who, if her ankle injury persists, will need a high energy dance act to support her on tour), the results came in, and Team Bruno was crowned victorious. I have to say that, particularly on the performances tonight, that was the right decision — but I do hope that Arlene’s team stay as a five-piece group and develop further. After all, it worked for Liberty X…

• Previously: Week 6 / Week 5 / Week 4 / Week 3 / Week 2 / Week 1

Look out for a follow-up feature (and, fingers crossed, podcast) with the winners of DanceX in the next few days!