Blackpool Magic on the Dance Floor

Strictly was in Blackpool this week, the home of ballroom dancing with it’s magnificent Tower Ballroom and Winter Gardens where hundreds of champion dancers have strutted their stuff. The ballroom is huge and of course the dancing needs to be big enough to match, which is why this week we see more professional support dancers on the floor with the celebrities. This year’s Strictly family of dancers has given us a really high standard of dancing and it was interesting to see how they coped dancing with a team of professionals as opposed to just their own partner and in a new environment.

Chris kicked the show off with an energic Salsa with a good measure of hip hop thrown in. I wasn’t sure I liked the fusion because it made it a bit too much like a show dance than a Salsa, but he did keep the momentum going. What was impressive was the way he fitted in so well with the dance team; if you didn’t know better you would have thought you were watching a stage show of professionals.

Emma and Anton followed with a glossy, glamorous American Smooth Foxtrot to ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance’ with some beautiful picture lines. Glorious old fashioned glamour which gave Anton his first ever 10! With 17 seasons of Strictly under his belt, he was obviously over the moon to get such a great result, and in Blackpool too. Craig said he felt Emma has a bit too much of a china doll face and I would have to agree, it was the one thing that stuck out a bit for me, though Shirley said she felt it was right for the choreography – just personal opinion, and no one could say it wasn’t a grand piece of dancing.

Then to change the feel entirely we had Alex and Neal’s Paso Doble which was a real girl power variation and looked stunning. Alex worked with the team of professional dancers as if she had been doing it all her life; we really saw her not only in the dance, but leading the pack. Just loved the costumes, hair and make up for their Paso and pleased to see some excellent footwork and shaping too.

The judges seemed to feel that Karim and Amy’s Charleston was the top notch performance this week, with Shirley saying, "It was flawless..." and Motsi saying it was worth "…more than a 10." It was good and showed great performance skills, but for me the best dance of the night was Kelvin and Oti’s Jive. Kelvin was awesome and looked like a professional; flicks, kicks, retraction and pendulum swing that were mesmerising – a real bit of Blackpool Magic and well deserving a top score. Motsi said that dance "...made my life" and earned Kelvin and Oti the highest score in the series for a Jive. It was one of those dances I had to watch again; I think we could have seen a main contender for the final Glitterball with this performance.

It’s really hard to say who may be in the dance off this week; to be honest, everyone upped their game but I think possibly Michelle – their dance was perhaps one of those that you either get or don’t, and maybe Saffron with their Cotton Club Quickstep which didn’t quite get there for me. Nonetheless, they were all excellent so it’s really hard to now choose a favourite, and it will be sad to see any of them go.