SEMI FINAL WEEK ON STRICTLY 2019
What a treat; Antoncan’t believe his fortune this year, his first ever 10 of the whole of hisStrictly life since it began in 2004, and in the semi finale with his lovelypartner Emma. They opened the show with a very passable Cha Cha Cha though Emmawas obviously nervous and had a few balance issues, which resulted in less thanusual hip action. As Craig pointedout, the hip action is produced from the leg action which was affected by thebalance - mostly nerves, but still a good performance, though perhaps rather overmarked to my mind. Their second dance was alovely traditional Waltz with the most beautiful costume and set support. There were lots of basic figures in theirroutine including a whisk and chasse, basic turns and lots of just lovely,recognisable figures done very well. Thething that most impressed Shirley was that they were dancing at the end of thebeat, something which professional dancers aim to achieve, and Emma did very wellwith Anton’s not unexpectedly strong lead. A hypnotic performance.
Preparing and performing two dances obviously puts extrapressure into the proceedings and it was obvious that Karim struggled with hisfirst dance of the evening, the Argentine Tango. This dance is a speciality style and soVincent Simone, ex-Strictly professional and Argentine guru, was called in tochoregraph the number. There was good intensity between the two dancers,however it never really quite took off for me and looked unbalanced on severaloccasions, particularly at the last moment which spoilt the overall effectsomewhat. Mind you, some lovely linesand smooth gauchos. The second dance wasan American Smooth Foxtrot which was much better, though it still felt a littledisjointed to me. There was a bit of acostume malfunction on the final lift which was a pity, but credit to Karim forholding on, and not dropping his partner. Perhaps it would have been better to go for simpler routines that couldbe done exceptionally well, but hindsight is always a grand thing.
Chris and Karen gave us very pleasant Viennese Waltz whichshowed him and his partner in a good light; some nice rotation and footwork butsadly quite a few mistakes. He didrecover well but it obviously impacted the overall performance. His second dance was the Rumba, which isalways a difficult dance for the best of contestants, and I have to say themusic they were given to dance too was not the kindest of choices. I thought it was a very emotional performancewhich drew the audience in, Chris wasgenuinely crying at the end as he no doubt felt the story well. However, there wasn’t much Rumba in it andmost of the dancing work was done by his partner, Karen. Whilst it’s true that the lead in the Rumbais often acting as the anchor and ‘showing off’ the partner, there does alsoneed to be a conjunction of movement, which seemed to be missing. Lovely the costumes though.
And of course Kelvin gave us a fabulously energetic andsynchronised Quickstep, followed by an impressive Paso which was full of greatintent and body lines. Kelvin certainlylooked the part of the Matador and gave a performance that you realty wanted towatch again – though not in the dance off. What ismost admirable is the way he can put on the mantel of the difference dancestyles and personality; as an actor Isuppose he has to do that a lot, but to manage the trick whilst also dancing intime with a partner is an enviable skill. T op of the leader board for semifinal week – very impressive.
Who will win next week and lift that glitterballtrophy? Well, difficult to say as somuch depends on the dance and music given to the couples. Kelvin should be in with a good chance,likewise Karim but statistically Emma and Anton as underdogs who haveconsistently improved could also win, nothing is for certain till it happens onthe dancefloor.
