Strictly Come Dancing, week 8

As with last week, each couple would be dancing one style from Series 5’s current repertoire that they had not previously attempted. First up were Gethin and Camilla, opening the show as they did two weeks ago with a ballroom routine — this time, a quickstep. And as before, Gethin set the bar high for his fellow celebrities, with some very confident footwork. Of all the men remaining in the competition, Gethin is the one that best gives a sense of leading his partner round the floor, and while Camilla is in charge of designing the choreography, Gethin really rises to the challenge. For the judges, though, his chemistry with Camilla is still seen as a weak point. While they all praised his technical competence, both Len and Bruno challenged the level of personality he brought into it. While I disagree, maybe Gethin could do with taking some lessons from Camilla’s professional partner, Ian Waite, who excels at bringing personality into his ballroom routines. The judges scored 8 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 34.

Second onto the floor were John and Nicole, dancing a samba. While John is obviously more comfortable with the Latin repertoire, he still has problems getting his arm extensions right, and too often his footwork looks leaden. It was the same here, although his hip actions were working overtime to compensate. It was a fun routine to watch, but lacked the wow factor for me. The judges noted that, rather than looking up or at his partner, John seemed to spend most of his time gazing at the floor. 7 + 6 + 7 + 7 = 27

Letitia and Darren were next, dancing a Viennese Waltz. Over the weeks we have seen Letitia gaining confidence on the dance floor, even if the edited VTs we’ve seen have concentrated on her lack of it in training. Here, while her ever-troublesome shoulders remained down, her footwork was hampered by always being on her toes, rarely putting her heel to the woodwork. Her feet also seemed to rarely close on the third step of the waltz movement, and by the end of the dance her shoulders seemed to have started creeping up again. It was still pleasurable to watch, though, and both Craig and Len were quick to compliment Letitia on her rotation — always a crucial part of the Viennese — and her fleckles. 8 + 8 + 7 + 9 = 32

Kelly and Brendan took to the floor with what was officially labelled a samba, but had more in common with disco. Fair enough, Brendan’s choreography played with the dance moves associated with the song (the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive) but there really wasn’t enough of the samba for me. The samba moves that were in there were, in general, executed well, with some excellent reverse rolls and voltas. But at times, Kelly’s feet seemed to be doing a different dance to the top half of her body. And the ending, with Kelly just lying motionless on the floor for a full bar of music, was just mystifying. The judges had every right to be harsh on the choreography, and would have been derelict had they not done so. Brendan’s temper tantrum didn’t help. All the excuses he came up with — Kelly’s not a professional dancer (which I’m sure he didn’t mean to come out as badly as it did; Kelly’s face was a picture)? Neither are any of the other celebrities. They only had a limited amount of time to rehearse, because they had a group number to practice as well? And just which of the other couples could not say the same thing? I’ve said it so many times before, but it bears repeating — if you answer back to the judges on a show where the public are voting, be prepared to pay the cost. 7 + 7 + 7 + 8 = 29

Two weeks ago, Kenny and Ola showed that the rugby player is comfortable with the grace and elegance of the ballroom discipline, and for the most part they showed the same again with their American Smooth. True, Kenny still has the occasional problem keeping in time, especially when out of hold, but once they are together he has a good line and is great to watch. The Smooth allows two lifts, of course, and Kenny went out of his way to perform some truly Herculean ones. They were spectacular to behold, for sure — for me, though, the only downside was that they disrupted the flow of the dance. I would have preferred to see less of a show of strength, and more a show of elegance. The judges were keen to play up Kenny’s improvement, although Craig did notice that his knees were too bent, and Len was similarly unhappy about the nature of his lifts. 6 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 30

Matt and Flavia put on a superb Salsa, with a frenetic and passionate dance that was breathtaking to watch and left one exhausted by the end. Like Alesha and Matt’s waltz last week, it was so hard to take notes through it because it demanded one’s full attention. Of all the couples, Matt and Flavia have some of the best chemistry together, probably matched only by Alesha and Matthew. Even if Matt hadn’t aimed his shoulder rolls directly at Arlene, I’m sure she would have given him the 10 he deserved. 9 + 10 + 9 + 10 = 38, matching the series record to date…

…but that was before Alesha and Matthew took to the floor with a Cha Cha Cha. Despite the Beyoncé track theoretically putting Alesha into the comfort zone of her native R’n’B music, I thought she looked a little uncomfortable to start with. That quickly dispersed, though, as she and Matthew burned up the dance floor. Confident, elegant, sexy — if it was an exhibition dance performed on the Sunday show by two professionals, you would not have been disappointed. The judges agreed, giving the couple 9 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 39.

So at the end of the Saturday live show, John and Kelly were the celebrities with the lowest marks from the judges. On Sunday’s show, after a beautiful quickstep and Charleston from Anton and Erin which I could have watched for ever, and a good performance from Darren and Lilia which enlivened a rather dull new song from the Sugababes, it transpired that the public vote had gone the same way. The dance-off was to be between John and Nicole and Kelly and Brendan, both dancing (on paper at least) the samba.

I have to say that both celebrities did improve on their second outing. John had clearly taken the notes about not looking at the floor to heart, making a concerted effort to keep his head up at all times. A couple of times this did mean that he lost the timing, but I found it a much more engaging performance second time around. My reservations about Kelly and Brendan’s samba remained, although Kelly’s footwork (which she acknowledged throughout the Sunday show had been at fault the first time through) was much, much better. That ending still looked very odd, though — it was as though Brendan had stopped choreographing the routine far too early and they were having to make something up on the spot.

When it came to the judges’ votes, it was again a unanimous one. For all his bounce and enthusiasm, John Barnes lost out to the couple with more potential, Kelly and Brendan. I do hope that next week, when the six remaining couples will have to dance one Ballroom and one Latin dance apiece, Brendan will knuckle down to producing good dances, rather than chastising the judges for doing their job.