Musicals Week and the Final Five Competitors Raise the Roof!
Musicals week started with a great opening number involving the professional dancers and all four judges. We were treated to song and dance from Anton and Kevin, Shirley and Motsi danced beautifully and the icing on the cake – Craig in drag to Hello Dolly! Obviously in rehearsals for panto, Craig made a very good Dolly and it was a real pleasure to see all the judges taking part in the dance; perhaps reminding us of why they are, the judges.
First out of the blocks for the competition we had Chris and Karen dancing a Foxtrot to ‘Consider yourself’ from Oliver. A real musical theatre interpretation which highlighted Chris’ fun personality and set the standard for the evening. The Foxtrot element felt a little safe, but overall a very entertaining piece which got the audience to their feet from the start.
Alex and Neil followed with a hip hop street commercial style Samba to ‘Joyful, Joyful’ from Sister Act. The dance split the judges with Bruno feeling it was too hip hop street, therefore lacking bounce and hip movement, but Craig unusually liking it because it was a fresh interpretation! I also felt it lacked the Samba bounce but really enjoyed the performance element from Alex, who has come into her own on the dancefloor.
This was followed by a fantastic Viennese from Kelvin and Oti with Kelvin playing the part of the alpha male Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Kelvin’s characterisation of Gaston was very impressive. There was a definite improvement in his technique from the first time he did a Viennese, with much reduced rise and fall, a beautiful top line and good rotation. He managed to get the audience and three of the judges to their feet with his table top fleckle and chandelier swinging routine – a-ma-zing and a well-deserved 39 in total on the paddles.
Anton and Emma gave us a really classic 1920s style Charleston to ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’. Bruno said it was a ‘….thoroughly delicious Charleston….’ and Craig praised Emma’s swivel action giving her a ‘Fab-u-lous….’for her high class flapper act and the couple a score of 39.
However, top of the score board with a full 40 marks we have Karim and Amy who danced a professional standard Jive, in fact as the judges said ‘the best Jive ever on Strictly…’ and we’ve had a few great ones in the past. Personally, not sure it was better than Jay McGuiness’ Pulp Fiction routine which I had the joy of seeing live at the O2, but it was certainly great! Karim’s athletic ability came to the fore, perhaps reinforcing the idea that he excels solo rather than dancing with his partner. Motsi got so excited she couldn’t sit down and having been in the dance off last week one has to be admire Karim’s mental tenacity to come back in such force. It was certainly one of those dances that makes you just want to get up and join in – awesome.
So, who will make the semi final? Surely Kelvin and Karim will be there, but the other two – well could be a close call as the audience don’t always vote for the best dancers – it is afterall an entertainment programme. I think Alex and Chris should be in the dance off, but nothing is set in stone till the votes are in. The standard is so high now, it’s going to be a difficult and exciting semi final.
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