Strictly Come Blogging: Tuesday Musings: Week 10

Here are my thoughts on Week 10 of Strictly Come Dancing.

The competition is still incredibly close, and it's really hard to see anyone leave.

Mark and Karen waltzed to With You I'm Born Again. I'm fairly certain this song has been used before. The routine was elegant and well-performed, although I wasn't sure Mark was smiling with his eyes, only his mouth. I loved the ending, which was very romantic.

Their jive was lots of fun, especially Mark's Elvis impression to begin the number. I'm not sure why wardrobe didn't put them in blue shoes, as it would have been an obvious thing to do. There were a few noticeable errors in the routine, which was a shame. The ambitious drop was well executed, and his flicks were nice (although not as nice as Matt's in my opinion). The smile looked genuine on this routine.

I had to agree with the judges about Vincent and Louisa's American smooth. It lacked a bit of wow-factor. I'm not sure why the costume department feels we need to see Louisa's midriff every week on the ballroom numbers. I loved the musicality of Vincent's routine, and the flick kicks at the end. Louisa performed the routine well, but the smooth is the chance to do something a bit different, and it was a bit too safe.

The rumba is always a difficult to sell to the audience. It's very difficult to pitch it right, and the chemistry is often an issue. I liked Vincent and Louisa's rumba, but it didn't blow me away. Perhaps their brother-sister relationship worked against them here. I didn't believe it, although it was certainly one of the better rumbas in the series.

Matt and Lilia's Viennese waltz was pretty good. The choreography was clean and understated. I had to agree with the judges that the rise and fall was a bit severe.

Their samba didn't really work for me either. It lacked the excitement and energy of some of the other sambas in the series, although this was emphasised by the song choice which didn't like for me either. And he was on his knees again! I'm sick of seeing Matt on his knees. The natural rolls were quite nice.

Emma and Darren's tango was good, but I wasn't sure about Maneater. I think Emma would have been more impressive dancing to a more traditional piece of music. However, I think it had some of the drama that the paso doble should have had. It was clean and well performed, but still didn't blow me away.

The second rumba of the night went the same was as the first. Emma doesn't always elongate her lines as much as I would like. Again, I didn't buy the relationship between them. Emma seems to struggle with the dances that require a bit of acting. The bit where Darren turned Emma to the front looked a bit laboured. I did like the ending. And Emma has lovely arabesques.
I worry that I am starting to expect too much. I want the routines to blow me away at this stage in the competition, and they just aren't.

It was awful to see the girls forced to do a dance-off. Louisa and Vincent should not have left the competition. In fact, I don't think they should have been in the bottom two.

I like Matt. He has improved so much. He's had an incredible 'journey' (!). However, after spending the mid-stages of the competition voting for entertainment, I now think the best dancers should be the last ones standing. If Matt makes the final, especially if it ends up being a two-couple final, it will make it very dull for the viewers, because I don't think he can win it.

Here are this week's videos.

Mark & Karen - Waltz