Strictly - Semi-Finals

[zico]

Two dances for each pair this week, but maybe nobody will mention how hard this is for them.

Stacey & Kevin (Charleston). Stacey says this is the dance she’s been wanting to do for ages. Rehearsal starts with a Strictly semi-final tradition I’d forgotten, where random members of the people have been encouraged to send messages of support to each couple, complete with “cute” kids, and much use of the phrase “keeeeep dancing!”. This is a very traditional Charleston, very much set in the 1920’s with appropriate music and a silvery short flapper dress and mobcap for Stacey. She looks to be having a really good time, and this is a well-performed entertaining routine, which should get high marks. Very happy judges tell Stacey what a joy she is, with just Craig spoiling the love-in by complaining about her underperforming left foot, so it’s a 9 from Craig to give a score of 39. Stacey promises to sort out her left leg for Craig.

Joe & Dianne (Viennese Waltz). A suspiciously large amount of dry ice to start this routine, so maybe Joe’s footwork isn’t all that it should be. Joe’s slicked-back hair is a good look for him, and this Viennese is quite pleasant and charming, without setting the dancefloor alight. I enjoyed that. Craig says there was way too much rise and fall for a Viennese Waltz and the other judges also talk about rise and fall, being surprisingly critical of Joe, who’s looking a bit sad. Scores are in – 6,8,7,8 for 29!! What’s going on here? The judges are giving Joe’s dance the comments and marks it deserves. This hasn’t happened for many weeks (if ever).

Ashley & Pasha (Paso). In rehearsal, Ashley & Pasha are also looking at a montage of supportive comments from the public, though given her lack of public votes, presumably the interns responsible had to work lots of unpaid overtime to find 8 different lots of people willing to give messages of support to Ashley. She gets quite tearful on watching these, after 2 successive weeks of being unloved by the voting public, and I feel a bit sorry for her. Routine is pretty impressive and sharp with Ashley in a red dress and some cape swirling, but her paso face isn't that scary and I have a feeling I’ve seen most of the routine (and dress) earlier in the season (perhaps as a tango?). Craig applauds her ferocity and passion, but says there was a little wobble at the end, and Pasha claims that was his fault. Darcey says it was too busy and frantic, while Ashley no doubt thinks (oh gawd, not this “too complicated” nonsense again) while Shirley wanted more passing places, oh hang on, more passion in places. I wonder if Pasha is at all tempted to prune the next routine to only include very basic moves, in response to all this weird criticism. Four 9’s for 36 points.

Lauren & AJ (Tango). They dance to the old tango classic “Nutbush City Limits”. This music really doesn’t help Lauren at all, and she looks a bit like a showroom dummy being moved around by AJ, though I think she’s trying for intensity. I like Lauren, but didn’t enjoy this routine. Darcey & Shirl tell her it got messier near the end as she lost her focus. Craig says it was pedestrian, stiff and a bit flat-footed, then thinks that all sounds rather negative so borrows Len’s “what I love about you is that you come out and you give it a go” which coming from Craig only makes it seem even worse. Surprisingly generous scores of 7,8,8,8 for 31 points.

Faye & Giovanni (Samba). Faye is struggling in rehearsal, and is not liking the samba at all. For the routine, they start on a mock-up of Rio’s multicoloured Selaron steps. Faye has a dreadful yellow and orange dress, and delivers a stiff and clinically controlled samba that’s devoid of fun, hips, bounce or party atmosphere. Giovanni is enjoying himself here, but unfortunately, his relaxed performance just contrasts with Faye’s to show all the things she isn’t doing. I think maybe Faye’s style is just too precise and controlled for her to let her hair down. Shirley’s favourite word is “flow” and she uses it again here, telling Faye that more flow was needed, and then damning with faint praise by saying “you did quite well”. Craig wanted more hip action, but says the routine was incredible. Darcey talks about Faye’s incredible technique, while Faye looked genuinely puzzled at these comments, as if she’s thinking “but it wasn’t that good, what on earth are you talking about”. Faye tells Claudia that as far as she’s concerned the samba can just go and jump in the ocean. 9,9,9,10(!) and 37 points thanks to Faye’s superfan, Bruno.

After the first round of dances, it’s Stacey well clear of Faye, then Ashley, Lauren and Joe.

Stacey & Kevin (Viennese Waltz). Dancing to Cilla Black’s “Your My World”. Kudos for the singer who sounds just like Cilla, even down to the slightly flat tone. More traditional stuff for Stacey with a sugar-pink dress. Seems a lot of basic stuff followed by a lot of spinning to me. Nice and sugary, but not wowser by any means. Bruno says her free hand does odd things at times. Craig thought the choreography was a bit of a cheat, as he thought the first half was an American Smooth, and only the second half was a Viennese waltz, though Kevin looks ready to dispute this. Shirley says “exquisite”. There’s a new Strictly tradition as Claudia asks Kevin why Stacey should be in the final and rather than says “because I’ll get more cash and more exposure” he says something about 14 hour days and Stacey coming from absolutely nowhere. 8,9,10(!!), 9 for 36 points.

Joe & Dianne (Argentine Tango). Some untraditional music and a “Peaky Blinders” theme giving Joe a cap, which makes this more a Birmingham Tango rather than an Argentine Tango. This is quite moody and cleverly choreographed by Dianne, who does most of the tricky and eye-catching stuff, and Joe tries his best to look mean and menacing, which isn’t his natural look. Again, not earth-shattering, but I thought he did well, considering his non-dance experience. It’s like I’ve swapped opinions with the judges this week, as they all have a real old go at his performance. Craig says it was too stompy, too placed and he didn’t lead, while Darcey says it was too tentative, and he messed up at one point, but Dianne used her skills to cover it up. His faithful No. 1 cheerleader Shirley says it was a bit stompy but let’s talk about the good bits, then there's a brief interlude while she tries to remember what these were. Bruno says for this dance he should think like a cat and be unpredictable. I’m sure it makes perfect sense in Bruno’s world. Dianne is asked why Joe should be in the final and says he’s gone from zero to dance hero. 6,8,8,8 for 30 points.

Ashley & Pasha (American Smooth). They do a foxtrot and then a lot of tricky lifts, including one unusual one where Ashley gets lifted, then leans forward like a ship’s figurehead. Great routine where everything looks spot on, and the routine is full of tricky content, so that’ll probably be criticised again by the judges. But not this time. Judges are happy and Craig doesn’t comment but just claps, so there’s obviously a perfect 40 coming. Ashley says nice things about having total trust and confidence in Pasha, and Pasha answers the “why should she be in the final?” question not by saying, “to spite the public” but by telling us how much Ashley loves to dance. She should have made a career out of it, oh hang on, she has. Perfect score of 40 for Ashley. She’s got her mum in the audience this week, who only looks about 2 years older than Ashley herself.

Lauren & AJ (Samba). Latin dances with short skirts tend to not go well for Lauren. They do have a helpful song for the samba with a nice off-beat “Rock the Boat”. Lauren manages to relax and has a fair bit of samba bounce, but there are a couple of places where she goes wrong. Enjoyed that though. Shirley goes to town on the mistakes, saying there were simply too many. AJ’s pitch for the final is to say how Lauren has shown him the importance of ability, not disability, and she’s an inspiration for disabled kids everywhere. 5,6,6,6 for 23 points, which is pretty harsh for a semi-final score, which means Lauren is dead last, unless Faye knocks herself out at the start of her routine.

Faye & Giovanni (Argentine Tango). Traditional music and dress. Great timing and precision, but for me, there wasn’t any real drama or passion. Craig talks about a clumsy moment, and Shirley teases Giovanni telling him “I’m in love – with her feet” then praising Faye’s precise footwork and toe-pointing. Giovanni’s pitch for Faye is that she delivers great performances every week. 9 from Craig so it’s 39 for Faye.

Faye is top of the leaderboard, followed by Ashley, Stacey, Joe then Lauren. Strange week where the judges suddenly stopped overmarking and overpraising Joe (no idea why they’ve changed their tune), while Stacey seems to be benefiting from official BBC support, being giventhe best dresses and music, together with oodles of positive comments from the judges. I reckon it’ll be Ashley and Lauren for the dance-off, but hoping for Joe to be out this week, although it would be great fun to have a competitive dance-off between Faye and Ashley. I like everyone that’s left in the show, but would like Stacey to win overall (which would also give Kevin his first-ever win). She's had the best dance Journey, and also seems to be a genuinely nice person from the bits we've seen of her supporting other celebs in the rehearsals.

[zico]

Results show kicks off with pro dancers dressed in red and scattered on red sofas while red petals fall from the roof and someone sings a song about blood. Ah, the joys of contemporary dance. Since the last show, Craig appears to have nicked Bruno's flowery jacket.

Results are in - first Joe who is mildly pleased, then Stacey & Kevin who scream and run around as if they've just scored the winning penalty at the World Cup final. I say, steady on chaps. No surprise at all that Ashley is back in the dance-off. Darcey tells her the audience is lucky to get the chance to watch her routine again.

It should be time for a music interlude, but instead we get Little Mix, who take it in turns to provide random notes with no discernable tune whatsoever. They do break up the monotony by having a brief dance with 4 female pro dancers, who have managed to learn all of Little Mix's dance moves. Come back, Andrea Bocelli's son, all is forgiven.

Last place in the final is between Faye and Lauren, and it's Lauren for the dance-off, where all she has to do is provide a better dance than Ashley's perfect 40 dance and she's in the final. Faye gets all emotional and then jumps all over a slightly alarmed Joe for a group hug. Joe is reminded of his vow to dye his hair the same colour as Dianne's.

Ashley's routine isn't as good as first time, but it doesn't matter a jot, even though Lauren's routine is a lot sharper second time round, so Ashley is through to claim last place in next week's final. Lauren is happy to have got this far, and says she's really enjoyed the experience. Their final dance is to Whitney Houston's "Didn't we almost have it all" which seems a bit pointed.

It has seemed inevitable from very early on that the 4 finalists would be Faye, Joe, Stacey and Ashley so no surprises there. Personally I hope Ashley wins as otherwise it'll seem a bit silly for the weakest dancer of the 4 finalists to win, but it seems almost inevitable that Joe will win thanks to his huge young YouTube fanbase. Apparently people who haven't even watched Strictly are setting up multiple accounts so they can give lots of votes to Joe.

[TahiPanasDua]

I'm a bit disappointed. I was so looking forward to your slant on the final. I so enjoyed your coverage of the heats.

TP2.

[zico]

I will get round to doing a write-up on the final, but I've been a bit busy with other stuff recently, so it might be a few days more before I get round to it.

[dionaeamuscipula]

I'm a bit disappointed. I was so looking forward to your slant on the final. I so enjoyed your coverage of the heats.

TP2.

You'd be surprised how long it takes, which is one of the reasons I don't do it any more.

DM

[TahiPanasDua]

I agree that such writing can take an inordinate length of time to produce.

In previous existences I had to write extensive prose. One was of a quite different nature.(specialist technical and legal subjects). In another, I had to demonstrate, set and appraise creative writing by others. (teaching adult classes)

Writing tasks are rarely easy but very satisfying........when finished. Such knowledge only adds to the enjoyment of reading anything done well.

TP2.