Strictly Come Dancing 2009

[spanglechick]

ok - just caught up with both shows back-to-back.

I liked rav's tango music too - aliona looks great fun, that dress with the
butterflies on the back was lovely.

loved all the pro dances, but hated katherine jenkins - the visiting celeb is always so dull.

i had to watch ali bastian's waltz again, as i hadn't paid any attention, and she got all these good comments. I thought it must've been cos i was so distracted by the abortion of a dress she was wearing (stretch lace and a grey net ra-ra skirt?) but then i watched it again and i ended up switching off before the end. she's sweet in training, but very boring to watch - and i drifted out again in her rumba. tbf - both pretty dull dances to start with - but she doesn't have much sparkle in herself.

Kalzaghe was comically awful - sshades even of john seargeant - but how steamy is some of their rehearsal footage??

I couldn't work out which female pro had gone - other than Karen and Camilla. It was hayley holt - whonow? exactly.

speaking of camilla, i suddenly got a lump in my throat when tom started dancing. Brought it all back.

i thought the right person went - martina hingis seemed like rather a cold fish - tho am sad to see matt out so early. do you think alesha voted to save him out of partiality?

i thought alesha was alright, as it goes - and not given to those awfully tortured alliterations like arlene - so i shall not be missing la phillips.

next week richard dunwoody will go. he's utterly out of his depth and i doubt there is any public affection for him. ricky whittle might have been a good dancer, but he's already irritating me, so i hope he is shit at ballroom or something. natalie cassidy looks like she's going to go for it. good lass.

over on digital spy, they reckon anton will replace bruce forsythe next year. that'd work - the old bloke is keeping it going, but the jokes are wearing thin.

 

[London_Calling]

Lynda and her partner and Joe and Kristna should have been in the dance off imo.

But she knows her market and plays to it for all its worth. She'll be around for a few weeks yet, I suspect. Doesn't she work the camera well though. It's clever.


I'm suddenly working out this is about demographics as well. No Jocks, no Irish, so Calzaghe will be around for weeks with (a) the Shagometer already already dangerously near the red and (b) the whole anti-English/Celtic vote.

She must be totally up for it after John Sergeant - bless her.


Love these East European women . . . my Ggggggggoodness!

 

[Stobart Stopper]

I only watch this programme to see Ian Waite, he's one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. I love the way he moves.

 

[Dovydaitis]

i missed the last two votes on the dance off, i take it Martina has gone? i liked Rav better but i dont think either of them should have been in the bottom. Joe was crap

 

[felixthecat]

I only watch this programme to see Ian Waite, he's one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. I love the way he moves.

I'm another Ian fan Tall, elegant and cheeky with it

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Ooh I like Jade's yellow dress

Mr. QofG's thinks Ola is wearing too much

I agree with Mr QofG

Not enough focus on the dress by the director either...

 

[London_Calling]

I also wondered about the direction occasionally but then remembered it's a totally live show. Very dif game. Having said that you'd think it wouldn't hurt to spend a few seconds with each dancer giving her the up and down. Or longer.


You probably know all this but it's interesting for me; Anton du Berke is almost a local lad:

He left school at 16 to follow an amateur dancing career. At 17 he decided to specialise in ballroom. And whilst he danced during the evenings and at weekends he had a day job as a salesmen in "The Bed Post" in Petts Wood Kent.

Heh. Rubbish shop.

 

[nightowl]

calzaghe was so embarrassingly bad it was almost unwatchable. almost as much fluid movement as a shop dummy. must be the welsh block vote.
aleesha was pretty awful. saying to the audience 'what do you think?' when asked a question revealed that she's just out of her depth. it's all very replacing 'veteran' women with supposedly more aesthetically pleasing ones when all they have to do is read an autocue but you're really exposed when you do it in a situation where they have to know they're stuff.

 

[belboid]

alehsa's one dance related comment was always something along the lines of 'you need to control your arms more', not really that insightful. And with one of them, I'm sure she said that their second dance wasn't as good as the first, but then gave them a higher mark! After the other judges had said that no, actually, it was better. Arlene at least knew summat about dance.

harsh on Martina to get knocked straight out, she was obviously better than Joe or Lynda, and no worse than Chris or Ricky groves. Rav did a darned good performance for his dance off tho, and she was only pretty average, so.....

The annoying thing about the direction isn't not showing enough of the dresses, it's not showing enough of the feet when they're actually dancing.

 

[BlueSquareThing]

The annoying thing about the direction isn't not showing enough of the dresses, it's not showing enough of the feet when they're actually dancing.

Actually, I agree.

Except perhaps when it's Ola doing the dancing, OK?

 

[fen_boy]

I like Ola, I hope she stays in for a long time.

 

[nightowl]

while i feel kinda sorry for aleesha, i'm happy to see anything that helps to put a spanner in the works of this ridiculous tv notion that only younger, aesthetically pleasing women should be allowed to have a prominent role - especially on a programme presented by an 81 year old bloke!

 

[London_Calling]

I'd also feel sorry for her if she hadn't take a job paying many thousands to offer advice she's ill-qualified to give. Money for old rope. Bank, laughing, etc.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Aleisha was slightly better on the Saturday show - though as Belboid said earlier she did say someone's dance was worse than the night before then gave them a higher mark - however she still isn't qualified imo to be on the panel.

If she was there to comment from the point of view of being an ex-contestant/winner when fine but otherwise get Arlene back or someone who knows about the discipline of dancing.

As for Ola - you boys! - though i have to say I probably would too

 

[Me76]

The weekends are enjoyable again and it looks sooo gorgeous on my new HD box!
I think Aleisha is being picked on sliughtly unfairly as it isn;t as if she was the one who sacked Arlene. Every time she opens her mouth though I just think 'what do you know'. If I was one of the professional dancers I would just be ignoring everything she said as they have more knowledge in their little toes than she does.
What kind of fish faces/Mick Jagger impression was Ricky doing on his Saturday night dance?? Very amusing.
I am glad Martina wenjt as although she wasn't the worst dancer she was the most boring.
It will be interesting to see if anyone can compete with Ali next week.
Looking forwward to spending the evenings with Claudia again too.

 

[London_Calling]

I'm just trying to get a sense of the scale of the show. I was thinking particularly about the wardrobe people and also the band and singers - approx. 20 toons a shift atm. I don't even know how many outfits given even those not actually dancing this week were involved in the group thing. I did think the por singers stretched a bit too far for comfort on that Beyonce number. Still live music !

It's a proper juggernaut, this show. I'm was talking to myself after the first sentence, wasn't I . . .

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I'm just trying to get a sense of the scale of the show. I was thinking particularly about the wardrobe people and also the band and singers - approx. 20 toons a shift atm. I don't even know how many outfits given even those not actually dancing this week were involved in the group thing. I did think the por singers stretched a bit too far for comfort on that Beyonce number. Still live music !

It's a proper juggernaut, this show. I'm was talking to myself after the first sentence, wasn't I . . .

It Takes Two - the weekday show does quite a few "behind the scenes" reports and it is fascinating.

The costume designers and makers are amazing - all the work they have to do. The costumes are such constructions, especially the the ladies ones which have to be 're-inforced' to provide support but also flexibility.

The singers have come in for some criticism but I like them - they have to adapt to very different styles and I think they do rather well. Though I agree there were a few strectched notes in one of the numbers

 

[London_Calling]

Ah yeah, I do remember that show from the end of last time. It's all very clever of the BBC, isn't it . . . thanks!

 

[May Kasahara]

I'm another Ian fan Tall, elegant and cheeky with it

Aye, he is rather nice

Just watching show 2 on iplayer. Agree with spangles' comments on Ali Bastian, she has beautiful lines but she's so wet. Serious personality infusion needed.

I love the new girl pros - Katya is stunning, and so quick!

Hingis was all wrong in her rumba. Flicky arms, prancy legs, no tension or line at all.

 

[May Kasahara]

Blimey, Katherine Jenkins is AWFUL. Get a tuning fork love.

 

[felixthecat]

. Agree with spangles' comments on Ali Bastian, she has beautiful lines but she's so wet. Serious personality infusion .

She reminds me a bit of Rachel Stevens - dances well but is as bland as sliced white bread. Maybe she'll develop a bit.....

Wardrobe wise I think that whoever designed Ola's latin costume should get an award for innovative use of electrical tape and ladies hankies.

 

[DRINK?]

I thought Aleisha was allright....generally concise and to the point, comments made within her limitations (i.e no attempt to stray into technical areas) from the perspective of a competition insider who has actually won the bloody thing.....As opposed to let's try to shoehorn some asinine alliteration (see what I did there) into my every muttering whilst getting a wide on over (youthful) male celebritie's torsos.

I watched it chiefly as I was hoping Joe would stick one on the beak of that idiot Revel Horwood

 

[London_Calling]

Bring on Darcey Bussell!

 

[Me76]

Bring on Darcey Bussell!

So how is that going to work then? Will they have 5 judges towards the end?

 

[London_Calling]

Yep. Some might argue it will make 4, plus Alesha. Oooooo controversial . . .

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Loved Phil Tufnell, he has got a louche charm which I thought was great but Ricky Whittle was very good.

Though Aleisha was much better tonight as well.

 

[bouncer_the_dog]

I thought the backing band's rendition of Bowies 'Lets Dance' was truly excellent.. too busy listening to it to notice the old lady stumbling around in circles...

 

[spanglechick]

well - my exhaustion-week at work has actually spoiled my strictly experience, and i fell asleep during tuffers.

i shall have to watch the last iplayer tomorrow - but anyway, other impressions:

loved laila - it actually felt like a tango. good aul' anton.

thought natalie cassidy cam across really well - likeable, full of personality, and they didn't stitch her up on the dress.

 

[London_Calling]

I really wanted Natalie to do well but it was difficult to like her feet, just seemed a bit inelegant. Tufnall, on the other hand, surprised with his elegance – he had so much time and space.

I don’t know this Laila but she is smoking hot, as is that redhead from Kazakhstan, can’t keep my eyes off of her.

Could be an epic struggle between three couples, Laila and Anton du Petts Wood, the new Aussie bird and Ricky Smooth, Ali and Brian the Shiny Tuna.

Has Bruce got 13 weeks left in him?

 

[nightowl]

aleesha seemed much improved last night... almost too much. wonder if she was getting any prompting?