Dancing to the Half Way House with a Hole in one for Karim and Amy!

We are at the half way stage with this year’s Strictly and it’s still pretty difficult to predict a winner; though Karim and Amy did a winning Quickstep to kick off this week’s show. Shirley said it was the best Quickstep she had ever seen and even Craig was impressed with him calling the routine "…stunning." It wasn’t just the sharp and crisp technique with great footwork, but a definite swing and sway were also evident. During the video postcard the dancing couple shared their learning foundation, this will sound familiar to our students too:

1, learn the steps

2, learn the technique

3, hold the frame

4, put in performance, and

5, get it right on the night, and they certainly did that.

Karim perhaps has some advantages in that he is obviously physically fit so can manage the leaps and furious speed of the dance; plus, as a children’s TV presenter he is used to performing and being ‘big’ on screen, so selling the story of the dance is something he loves. Nonetheless he is a possible winner for 2019, depending on the dance choices that come his way. A really exciting way to open the show, and a deserving top of the scoreboard. Karim's Quickstep

The other outstanding performance this week was from Michelle and Giovani with their mesmerising take on the Paso Doble. For me, they were also the most impressively dressed in their matching matador outfits, a stunning look. Then the twist in the choreography with Michelle starting out in traditional the feminine cape role, and evolving into a second matador to match Giovanni. That was genius choreography and perfectly carried off. It was a dance with tension, passion and great intent, which made me feel proud for all those ladies out there who enjoy their dancing despite being over 40 years of age, mums and grandmums! Though not as proficient as Karim, I think Michelle and Giovanni are definite contenders for the final, and good crowd pleasers.

Kelvin and Oti also told a very touching story of loss with their Viennese Waltz to ‘Not Giving Up On You’ where the lyrics were so perfectly told through the dance, and indeed say much about the experience of all dancers when learning to move to music because once you’ve got the dancing bug, it won’t give up on you:

‘I'm not giving up,
Not giving up on you
You can say you've had enough
But I won't stop calling
I'm not giving up
Not giving up on you.’

It wasn’t perfect but there was a good amount of rotation, which is essential for the Viennese Waltz and as Shirley said not flying flat – in other words a bit too much rise and fall making it more Waltz than Viennese in places – yet it caught the emotions. You could hear the silence in the room whilst they danced, as if the audience had stopped breathing – beautiful.

Bottom of the leader board this week were the two Emmas, and rightly so as they both seemed to not be entirely committed this week, possibly just dances that are too out of their comfort zones though I have felt that Emma and Alijaz have been under performing overall. Their Samba lacked fluidity and bounce, leaving them with disappointing scores. Emma and Anton’s rumba just didn’t quite hit the rhythm with the 3 steps and 4 beats – unless as Anton pointed out there were syncopations making it 4/4 or 5/4 or any other number of variants, including no steps sometimes. Of course, the dancers don’t get to choose the music they dance too, and that may have been an issue. Often the music choices are very difficult and would challenge a seasoned professional, let alone a keen celebrity; with that in mind they did well, it wasn’t a disaster and the developpe was lovely, but it just didn’t quite catch fire for me, nor it seems for the judges.

Interestingly Mike Bushell’s Charleston was a perfect foil for his lively, musical theatre character and brought the show to a fitting end, together with lovely staging to set off their entertaining and fun routine. I thought he’d have trouble with the swivels, which Katya said he did, but he got it right on the night and gave us a perfect end to the show though interesting got better marks from the judges than I would have expected.

It was sad to hear that Neil, Alex’s pro partner, was still not fit enough to dance having given himself a first-degree strain to the calf muscle 45 minutes before last week’s show, but fortunately on the road to recovery and well seconded by Kevin this week. And of course, Will Bayley has had to withdraw from the competition due to his knee injury last week as well – he will be missed but he’s taken a sensible decision and will no doubt be cheering on the remaining dancers for the rest of the season, albeit from the side-lines.