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Louise. Lou. Loulabelle. Loulabelle44. Louby. loulabelle44@outlook.com.
Proudly blogging about Strictly Come Dancing ALL YEAR ROUND since 2006. Always spoiler-free.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Sunday Service: Week 12

It's the semi-final, which means double the dancing. Which quite often in the past has meant two mediocre dances per couple, instead of one belter.

Katie & Anton went first with their Charleston. It could have been brilliant, but it was littered with errors. It's like Katie momentarily loses concentration, but those split-second lapses lead to noticeable mistakes. I liked the lifts in the routine, although they were way too telegraphed. The one where Katie was attached to Anton's leg was great. She also did really odd things with her arms, they kind of flailed around. And they were so out of time at the end it was ugly.

They didn't really redeem themselves with the waltz. There was a huge mistake in the middle. Katie looked as though she was racing the music toward the end. And of course, there were lots of pivots. I'd be doing quite well if I had a pound for every pivot they have done this series.

Jay & Aliona's first dance was the Viennese waltz. I loved the slow fleckerl at the beginning, it was a bit different. Jay's pirouette was very nice too. They told a lovely story. I did agree with Bruno about the lack of drive in hold, though. It could have been even better.

I didn't really see the point of the Doctor Who theme for Jay & Aliona's Charleston. That aside, it was a great routine. Jay showed more performance than before. He had lovely kick turns. He did seem to get tired toward the end of the dance - the lifts started to look a little messy.

Georgia & Giovanni's cha cha was a little jerky and lacked Georgia's usual fluidity. It was pretty basic too, which is not a bad thing, but showed how their rehearsal time had been impacted by Georgia's illness this week. It was well-performed, but just not very interesting.

It was a similar story for their Viennese waltz. It was simple, but so well performed. There was a fleckerl, which came straight after pivots. A difficult move, but Georgia made it look effortless. She's such a pleasure to watch.

Antita & Gleb's foxtrot was a nice, traditional, glitzy routine. Anita's footwork was hit and miss, but she did a nice heel turn. It was a great performance, and Anita showed her usual great musicality and understanding of the music. The death spin was joyful, one of the neatest from a celebrity female we've seen. Perhaps it was out of hold a little too much, but for Len to mention this in the semi-final seems a bit pointless. Has he not seen any of Gleb's other routines?

Their salsa was not very much like a salsa, but it was a bloody good dance. The choreography was brilliant. Anita's popping  and body rolls were very good. I just love watching them. I don't really understand why Gleb was dressed as Freddie Mercury, though.

Finally, Kellie & Kevin started with the rumba. It was always going to be a difficult dance for a semi-final, as it doesn't have the wow factor of a Charleston. I found the rumba a bit dull. It wasn't very sexy, or romantic, it was just technical. And Kellie stutter-steped a couple of times. It was a bit like watching a brother and sister dance. Which would make sense when Kevin grew up dancing with his sister.

They definitely got more romantic with their American smooth. It was pure Hollywood, with lots of nods to Fred & Ginger. I loved how they traveled around the floor. The lifts were clean and well-executed. The whole thing was effortless, and I really enjoyed the performance.

So, that's the final five. The one I would send home would sadly be Katie. She has improved over the course of the competition, but the others are stronger than she is. She made mistakes in both of her routines last night, while the others all did well in both numbers. It's time for her to go. My fear is that Anton's fans will have voted them through to the final, and someone deserving is going to be knocked out.

Here are the videos...

Kate & Anton - Charleston



Katie & Anton - Waltz



Jay & Aliona - Viennese waltz



Jay & Aliona - Charleston



Georgia & Giovanni - Cha Cha Cha



Georgia & Giovanni - Viennese Waltz



Anita & Gleb - Foxtrot



Anita & Gleb - Salsa



Kellie & Kevin - Rumba



Kellie & Kevin - American Smooth

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