Kelvin and Oti
So the 'Venice Beach' theme is basically early 90s neon? Alfonso-Fresh-Prince-tribute-itis had better not spread to the whole show. I don't know what it was, but I found this routine a bit 'meh', all the bits were there in the right order, but it just seemed a bit box-ticking rather than exciting. I can see why they're throwing the party latin/hips/groin at us, but I'm ready for some more classy ballroom now. Preferably without a clunky denim jacket that may have been boiling him alive.
Part of me thinks that Kelvin has done a Jay McGuinness and already won it with one dance. This was good - as to be expected. His body movement is extraordinary. I didn't think it was all that stiff - top professionals are very staccato in their cha chas. However, I am desperate for a proper latin salsa with proper latin music from these two. If he gets some poppy nonsense I will be p*ssed.
David and Nadiya
I never thought David would take to the jive, and well, just call me Mystic Meg. As Craig said, he does seem more comfortable with the idea of dancing, and I really do think he's come on since week 1, but we are talking a low bar here. He seemed to be hanging on to Nadiya quite a lot, who seemed to be wearing her nice new shoes while she had the chance to show them off.
He is improving and this could have been a heck of a lot worse. I have to confess I got a little bored whilst watching this...
Catherine and Johannes
They hyped this up to be a hilarious, camp, melodramatic tango - with feathers! I loved this, yes there was a theme, but it was appropriate and jammed packed with actual tango content. With a fairly appropriate song, oh my stars and garters. Catherine is also now totally committing to her dances, after being a bit apprehensive for the first couple of weeks, plus she's now getting some of the BEST costumes. A wee bit undermarked in my opinion, are they overcompensating for last week?
So Johannes is clearly the breakout star of Strictly 2019 (and we all thought it would be Neil!) These two are a joy and I think they could be dark horses. Props for Catherine's dress too which I am calling out as the best of the series so far...
Amy and Karim
I know it's 'who let the dogs out', but I honestly think we've had worse salsa song choices. Plus I saw some actual basic salsa steps in there, which Karim seemed to take in his stride. He was confident in the lifts too, especially since we've not actually had too many lift-heavy numbers so far. I agree with Craig that he sometimes hits things a bit too hard, which you sometimes get with people with previous dance training. I know I shouldn't have liked this, but I did! Cue Clover...
Pffft. I have no words.
Michelle and Giovanni
Michelle always has such a weight of expectation on her, and also had the challenge of coming after Kelvin's epic turn last week. I actually thing the judges were a bit harsh on this, they were going for subtlety rather than raunchy. She still has great lines, and I thought the backbend was pretty impressive too. Also, and I mean this in a nice way, I barely looked at Gio during the dance, he knows he's there to show her off and put together a great routine.
Another great dress, and I loved the routine. Her body action wasn't quite right though - that standing leg just needs to lock. I reckon that's something Michelle can easily address however - I still wouldn't be surprised to see these two in the final.
Emma and Anton
Ah the paso, Anton's latin saving grace. He brought us a brilliantly melodramatic routine, with plenty of smell-the-fart acting. I do agree that Emma and Anton don't really connect, but I was seeing proper luvvie commitment to the degree that I think that made up for any so-called passion in the dance. Not the greatest paso I've ever seen, but not the trainwreck the judges claimed it was.
Emma has talent and potential. At no point should she be standing there whilst Anton prances about. Contrast with Giovanni above who created a routine that showed off his partner; this was typical Anton. BBC, if you're keeping him, just give him the comedy characters. He's wasted on decent dancers.
Alex and Neil
This was a cracker of a dance, Alex just suddenly came alive and looked like she was enjoying doing a routine for the first time ever. The swivel was there, the moves flowed well, and it all just came together for an all-round package. She didn't just dance it, but performed it. Ok, it might not give her much help with ballroom or latin, but it will hopefully be something that gives her more confidence.
Yaasss, perky and cute and my favourite of the night because it was so beautifully unexpected! It was technically decent and she was performing. Alex, there's a dancer in you yet!
Emma and Aljaz
The VW was always going to be a better fit for Emma than the jive, and they just glided through this number. The song and great Aljaz choreography added a lot to this, and Emma's topline was pretty good too. I would assume this will save them from the bottom 2, especially with those scores from the judges, but they definitely worked hard for it.
I'm struggling to warm to them as a couple, and that's unusual for me, as Aljaz is such a darling. This was good - she is a decent dancer - but something missing. She is all kinds of stunning though.
Mike and Katya
Is basing your dance on someone from a 90s TV show and copying moves from DWTS which no one in the UK is going to have seen really the best way to get popular appeal? The zombie-fied samba roll was quite disturbing, but I would still liked to have seen some more actual samba rather than just random gyrating. Mike's schtick is starting to wear thin.
Bored now.
Will and Janette
Ah Couple's Choice contempo waft, your contribution to the show is...wafer thin. It was wonderful to hear Will's story, but I just can't take much away from contemporary.
My feelings about this are more about couples' choice than Will personally but I just can't seem able to count it. Will is a true inspiration, however, and that needs to be applauded.
Chris and Karen
These two always put a smile on my face, their fun is just so infectious. I thought the outfits were odd, until I remembered it was Prince, and then it was just Karen genius yet again. He's not really done enough ballroom yet, so it wasn't the most technically achieved performance. A fair bit skippy, but they'd clearly worked on things like gapping and hold. Keep it up guys!
I actually enjoyed this more than most of the dances this evening because it was fun and had energy. Quickstep is my fave ballroom to watch on Strictly and I was expecting this to be far worse technically than it was. I like Chris for clearly enjoying his time learning to dance but no taking the whole thing really seriously.
Saffron and AJ
This was one of those routines that took me by surprise, it all just came together! Cracking song, actual foxtrot choreography, super-glam dress, and a marked progression. She's building on that natural talent and keeping up with AJ, which a lot of people struggled to do with their partners tonight. Fair play to him too for putting together a routine that balanced foxtrot and razzmatazz.
Much like Emma and Aljaz, I have been struggling to connect with these two. This, however, was a mighty cracking routine and I think anyone would find it tricky to dislike it. It oozed class and for the first time it was good to see some real progression from Saffron.
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