It’s that time of year again – dust off your ballgowns, get out those sequins and glitter I know you have, or just get the snacks in and settle down for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. That’s right folks, everyone’s favourite prime-time British TV show is back! No, not Bake Off, the other one – the one where celebrities of varying degrees of apparent “fame” are paired up with dancers who have the thankless task of teaching them how to stop tripping over their feet and actually look graceful instead.
For this year’s Strictly, I happen to be in the fortune position of officially living with a fellow Strictly Come Dancing fan. This means only one thing – doubled-up live-blogging… because just bitching comments to each other verbally clearly isn’t enough – in this technological age, they must be recorded for posterity’s sake. So… that’s what this thing is.
Here’s how it works:
Each week myself and Liz are bringing you a tag-team live-blog of Strictly Come Dancing. We are alternating whose blog it is posted on so if you want to keep up-to-date with our clearly deeply insightful commentaries, then you should make sure you’re following both of our blogs. (/end shameless promotion)
In case you missed it last week’s recap can be found here on Liz’s blog. This week, it’s Musicals Week! Time to dig out even more glitter and show tunes… although, I must admit, my favourite musicals aren’t getting a look in tonight. Let’s get dancing…
Training Intro & Group Dance ‘Musicals Bonanza’ (x)
L: Wow, they’ve really got to pad this out now they’ve only got 5 couples left, haven’t they?
E: I’m really looking forward to the group dance.
L: Is Anton singing?
E: Of course they’ve put Gorka in as Danny Zuko.
L: He looks good though, doesn’t he?
L: Have they just done a fleckle?
E: I HEAR LES MIS MUSIC.
L: Ugh, but they’ve fucking put Giovani in it.
E: Omg, was that Len as the Phantom?
L: NEIL! THEY’VE PUT NEIL IN A LEATHER JACKET.
E: And a musical kick line.
L: Ugh, I feel like something has gone wrong with Tess’ dress. It’s like she forced her head through the arm hole.
Ore & Joanne Foxtrot to ‘Pure Imagination’ (x)
L: I love Jo, I feel like the Cliftons have mastered breeding, you know?
L: Right the background dancers are already pissing me off.
E: It annoys me when the audience applaud mid-way through a slow song.
L: They’re just blocking the dance! Just piss off.
E: I… I didn’t really like that. I don’t think I like foxtrots, it was just a bit…
L: … limp? Just a bit flat?
Judges Comments & Scores
E: Seriously, were we watching a different dance to the judges?
L: I didn’t see the “sway” or the “swing”.
E: I actually didn’t think it was very “glidey”, Darcey, sorry to disagree.
Scores: 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 = 36
E: That didn’t deserve nines, at all.
L: Well it bodes well for people we like. … wait, did I just refer to Ore as someone I “don’t like”, I didn’t mean to!!
Judge Rinder & Oksana Samba to ‘Oh! What A Night’ (x)
L: I feel like this is gonna be awkward, he couldn’t even click in time.
E: Stop doing that with your face!!
L: Samba rolls are hard moves to make look natural.
E: I feel like someone told him to stick his arse out once so now he overdoes it all the time.
L: Omg is that – it’s not – it’s NEIL!!
E: …
L: Awww Neil’s a Jersey Boy.
E: …
L: I cannot wait until Neil gets his own celebrity.
Judges Comments & Scores
E: All of those things wrong with it but … but yeah it was fun so… what… that’s alright then, Bruno?
L: I feel like the gulf is really noticeable now.
E: Seriously, are we watching different dances?
L: I think they’re sugarcoating it, because he’s a bit shit. In their comments there’s a lot of “effort” and “performance” and “feeling”, it’s not about the technical aspect.
Scores: 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 = 31
E: I feel like he’s plateau-ed, like this is genuinely as far as he can get.
Louise & Kevin Quickstep to ‘The Deadwood Stage’ (x)
L: Cowboy Clifton?
E: “what am I doing” says Louise… I concur Louise.
L: I feel like they ran out of gap there.
E: I’m glad she clearly let go of her inhibitions when they were training.
L: That’s brave though to dance on the judges’ table right there.
E: Health and safety must be going mad right now.
L: I quite liked it!
E: I don’t know Calamity Jane, or the song, but I still liked it. It was such fun.
Judges Comments & Scores
L: There was no “but” there from Craig, wow.
E: I think Darcey is right with saying “assured”, Louise is definitely so much more confident of a dancer now.
L: See I feel like that isn’t going to get any more than Ore’s but it was so much better than his.
Scores: 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 = 37
L: Yep, Bruno had his 10 face on!
Claudia & AJ Salsa to ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ (x)
L: He’s quite a cute lion.
E: Let’s be honest, she should have got a 10 last week, but was robbed.
L: She might be good here though because with salsa you can do tricks and lifts and stuff. I’ve got quite high hopes for this, I’m not going to lie. I love this song!
E: He does look about 10.
L:He looks really cute! But like boy going on a fancy dress party cute.
E: How..
L: That lift just defied gravity.
E: Yikes-
L: Ah! I thought he was dropping her there!
E: That was really nice, it was so in time to the music and entertaining.
L: I feel like because they were playing like lion cubs this week they didn’t need to have adult chemistry or anything because they were cubs.
Judges Comments & Scores
L: I kind of want them to get to the final because I want to see their show dance. But I also need Danny and Louise to be there.
E: She’s “clean” and “precise”, Len? That’s literally her job.
L: She’s a gymnast, that’s what she does, perfect moves and do them so they don’t go wrong.
E: Aaah I don’t feel comfortable seeing that far down AJ’s shirt!
L: No, no, do up some buttons, AJ.
Scores: 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 = 37
L: I feel like if it was anyone else I’d think they were definitely screwing but they’re too young to even know what that is!
Danny & Oti Tango to ‘One Night Only’ (x)
L: Ohh Neil’s in it!! That little smile Danny gave Neil.
E: That was very self assured. Are they meant to smile in a tango?
L: Jesus it is quick isn’t it?
E: It’s indecent when he looks at her like that.
L: Hahaha, Neil, tangoing with them.
E: You know what, this feels like they listened to the comments that their Argentine Tango was “too aggressive” and made sure this wasn’t as aggressive.
L: That was good though, that was seriously good.
E: That was so quick.
Judges Comments & Scores
E: “That little smile on Bruno’s face”… yeah “little”, sure, he’s smirking constantly when Danny dances.
L: He commands the background dancers as well, like there’s none of him hiding behind them, he commands them as well.
E: The judges are just so genuine when they see Danny dance because he’s so good, genuinely.
L: Yeah Danny, you thank Neil, Danny!
Scores: 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 = 38
Group Dance ‘West Side Story Medley’ (x)
E: I don’t really like West Side Story so… not got high hopes for this.
L: I’d back the side with Brendan on to be honest.
E: I’ll be honest, I’ve mostly been staring at Pasha’s legs in skinny trousers.
L: Yay it’s Aljaz and Janette!
E: Aljaz is doing that cute smiling, but it’s also the smiling my dad thinks makes him look a bit… dim.
L : I think I’m now supporting the people in red because Natalie’s on the purple side I think.
Closing Remarks
L: Ore was overmarked. And his crying is starting to do my head in – it used to be endearing, it’s now a bit irritating. The gulf between Judge Rinder and everyone else is now too big.
E: I agree, it’s past Judge Rinder’s time I think. For me, the problem was just because Ed Balls stayed in the competition for too long, there aren’t still slightly less “talented” dancers left to be in the bottom along with Judge Rinder, they all left before Ed did, so now Judge Rinder is the one who is really bottom.
L: Neil and Dave Arch did sterling jobs again, as usual.
E: Overall, I felt this week was slightly… disappointing. Nothing was stand-out amazing.
L: Yeah I don’t think when we rewatch dances on YouTube that we’d look at anything from this week.
E: That’s exactly it. And I also feel like a lot of the musicals chosen to dance to for this week aren’t particularly… big musicals? Or at least they aren’t like… Les Mis or Phantom or Grease or Wicked or something, they are more left-field ones slightly (except The Lion King I guess) so there wasn’t anything AMAZING this week because I’m slightly more biased towards other musicals. Which isn’t Strictly‘s fault at all but, yeah, I wasn’t nearly as excited about any of these dances as I was on Movies Week way back in week 3.
That’s it for this week, folks. And, until next time… keep dancing!
The Terror of Knowing 
One response to “Strictly Saturdays | The One At The Musicals”
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