Saturday Service: Week 10

The quarter-finals. Dance fusion week.

I think the pressure is starting to get to the couples. They are so close to the end, and so keen to get there. But a few things just weren't quite right.

Denise & James' jive/quickstep was going so very well until her little slip. For me, she never seemed to quite recover the performance after that. She coped very well though, and carried on. What is it about jive dresses on Strictly? The choreography was brilliant. It was fast but very controlled. Denise's timing was very good. Denise had the advantage that she had already done a brilliant jive, so in some respects half the work had already been done.

Lisa & Robin's cha cha/tango looked very under rehearsed. Lisa didn't seem to master either of the styles, despite having performed both of them before. She got very lost in the middle, which most of the failed to mention. She plodded around the floor in the tango section. There was no flair. And the cha cha wasn't that great either. I'm afraid that I didn't like it at all. I wasn't keen on the choreography this week.

Poor Nicky. He didn't stand a chance this week. He was dished up samba - dance of death - and American smooth. Neither of which he had attempted before (unless you count foxtrot), which really doesn't seem very fair. The two styles fit together about as well as Sarah & Brendan. Nicky tried hard, but I really didn't like Karen's routine at all. I found it a bit untidy and frantic. The music was too slow for the foxtrot sections.

Dani & Vincent were a totally different story. They were blessed with Charleston and quickstep, which are natural bedfellows. Dani did a brilliant job with the quickstep at Wembley, so like Denise, this was a nice fit for her. And the Charleston wasn't really a stretch after her performance on Let's Dance For Sport Relief earlier this year. For those reasons, Dani & Vincent did a brilliant job with their fusion. It was amazing. Clean, fast, cheeky and brilliant. I loved it, and I was surprised it only got two 10s.

Louis & Flavia did very well. Louis was given two styles which suit his 'moody' persona - rumba and tango. Louis was strong on both sides of the dance. He leads Flavia and presents her beautifully. I really liked the routine. I'm sure Arlene would complain about his hands, which he still waves in a really odd way. But it was a nice performance.

Kimberley switched between smiley cha cha and moody tango really well. She transitioned between styles really well. I didn't like it as much as the judges. It was good, but it didn't move me as much as Dani & Vincent. What I did like about the routine was that despite dancing to It's Raining Men, there was nothing camp about the routine. Pasha kept it all completely straight. It would have been a different story had Lisa & Robin danced to it.

So who should be in the bottom two? Probably the executive producers for allowing this dodgy fusion week to happen... I think there's no doubt that Nicky should be in the bottom two, and I'm sure he should be going home. I think I would put Lisa in the bottom two with him. Lisa wasn't that great this week, while the others were all pretty strong. Next week will be a battle royal.

Here are the videos...

Denise & James



Lisa & Robin



Nicky & Karen



Dani & Vincent



Louis & Flavia



Kimberley & Pasha