Strictly Come Blogging

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

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Saturday Service: Week 12

It's the semi-final, which means two brand new dances for the remaining couples. The pressure of two dances seems to have tripped up some of the celebrities.

Joe & Katya's American smooth wasn't as Hollywood as I had hoped it would be. The ending lift was good, but some of the others were a bit hard going. His arm lines were a bit dodgy in a few places. It was a lovely performance, but I just wanted a bit more.

Their Argentine tango followed a similar path. I really wanted it to be better. It was a bit laboured in places. There were a few stumbles, and it lacked finesse. There were some good lifts, and he had the mood nailed. I really liked the end lift. It was good, but not good enough.

Alexandra & Gorka's Viennese waltz took too long to get into hold for my liking. Otherwise, it was elegant and controlled. Unfortunately, it just didn't stop my heart and excite me.

The salsa, on the other hand, was a completely different story! Amazing Alexandra stole the show. Their salsa was hot, hot, hot. Fantastic lifts. Showstopping performance. Great armography. It was everything a semi-final performance should be. Totally worthy of four 10s.

Mollie seemed to be channeling her inner showpony during her samba. She seemed to trot around looking at AJ, rather than dancing. She looked gangly and awkward. There were a couple of errors in the routine, which left her on the wrong foot. It was just all a bit wobbly and unconvincing.

Their waltz was much better. It was a very magical, romantic waltz. She looked confident and serene. And AJ used Anton's old trick of 'if in doubt, pivot'. There were rather a lot of them. 

Gemma & Aljaž's rumba was enjoyable to watch. It was calm and understated. Her legs were nicely controlled, and had a great mood. But as the judges noted, it just lacked a bit of feeling. She needs to use all of the music.

Their tango was much better. Despite a very dodgy song choice in My Sharona they performed very well. It was staccato, it had attack and mood. Gemma's frame was lovely and she held it well. A lovely routine.

Debbie & Giovanni's jive was definitely one of Debbie's most awkward dances all series. She was still a bit straight-legged for me and she did really awkward things with her arms in places. But Debbie throws herself into every routine so much that it was still fun to watch, even with its awkwardness.

Their foxtrot was lovely, lovely, lovely. It was pure foxtrot. Well, it was until they went out of hold at the end. It had the kind of Hollywood vibe that makes a good foxtrot. So gorgeous. Everything about the routine made me smile, including the confetti cannons.

So who will make the final? There's no question that Alexandra should be there. Her salsa was the dance of the series so far. I think it's clear that Mollie isn't in the same league as her fellow competitors, and if she is in the bottom two, I'm convinced that the judges would save the other couple, no matter who they're up against. I really don't want to think about a bottom two that Mollie is not a part of.

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