Strictly Come Dancing 2012 Thread 4. Sparkly and shiny and MAHR-VO-LOUS!

[AndiMac]

Just starting a new thread before tonight's elimination, as I'm sure we'll all have something to say about that.

Have you put money on your predictions for the next 3 weeks LadyIsabella? I reckon you're spot-on. Would really love to have a big upset of some sort tho' - at what point do the judges have no further say in it?

Dani will be runner up in the final, ppeatfruit.

I was on Betfair recently, and the odds seem to agree with my predictions, Louis, Dani and Denise go to the final and Louis wins. I think it's pretty clear that if Denise is ever in a dance-off then the judges will save her, but once she's in the final and it's only up to the public vote, she'll be straight out.

I like ladyisabellas prediction

There won't be a dance off in the semis, so actually anyone could go out in theory that week - even Louis if he has a shocker and finishes bottom of the leader board, or the top placed person if they get unlucky with the rest of the board. I think that after 10 years of doing this the judges have a decent sense of what ordering will give (for example) Denise the best chance of going through though, so if they really want to they can protect her.

BRAN I can sort of see where you are coming from with the Stockholm Syndrome idea for Karen and Nicky. But she would have to be around to practice the group numbers and her partner dances with Pascha, so I'm not sure how much she would be away any given week.

I don't think the professionals need that much time to learn their dances, I was assuming that a couple of hours on Friday rehearsal day would be enough. They already know how to do the technical stuff, they just need to learn the routine.

Aww just seeing Michael and Natalie on ITT. Suspect that Natalie may be slightly keener on him than is good for her, but I'm sure she'll get over it. (or possibly I'm projecting - if I were single I'd find the sheer niceness of Michael quite hard to resist)

Did everyone know how old Bruno was?

I forgot about the affair, ladyisabella. Still, Mark R is my favourite male Strictly contestant ever. He was ( as far as I know) a genuine amateur dancer yet he was electrifying on the floor. I could have watched him all day.

I read that it was Bruno's 57th (I think) in the paper the other day.

Michael and Nat on ITT - Michael is really nice and very endearing. Nat thanked his wife.

Craig said Danni does not have the length of body, especially the neck to enable the elegant lines and poise to blow him away.

Pasha has a dimple in his chin - so cute - love him!!

whoknows that's whet i read! Thought he was much younger.

Craig said recently on ITT that bruno was 56.

digerd - Craig actually said that about Dani??

Yes.

Tess asked him why he marked her so low in comparison to others.
But Lisa hasn't got a long neck either, and the viewers love her and Danni but Lisa was not mentioned.

Of course taller girls have the longer neck, backs and legs - Natalie for instance. Craig was not being nasty, more being honest with his opinion.

"dani" oops

Being short doesn't rule out having a lovely spine, Flavia is the same height as Dani and she gets beautiful movement in her back and neck so I can see what Craig means. I think that Dani is less perfectly proportioned than Flavia, which does make it harder for her to have good lines.

I was thinking that about Lisa when she was doing the rumba. The judges were tying themselves in knots trying not to say the word 'fat', but the truth is that no matter how perfectly her arms and legs were placed, if all her limbs are joined together with a barrel-shaped torso then she will never be able to make a beautiful shape. I'm not being fattist, I'm barrel-shaped myself. You could tell that she had put a lot of effort into that dance, but if you can't see someone's spine then you can't tell whether it's in the right shape or not.

Craig make a specific remark to her short neck not giving her poise. Did he criticise her spine? I don't remember that.
I thought her last dance was very sweet and cute which suited her, and was clever choreography from Vincent.
Know Flavia is a shorter and gorgeous dancer, but didn't think she was the same height as Dani? Even Vincent said Dani was the smallest person he had danced with.
I wonder if Dani's costumes could have been more flattering to her. That bare midriff one did not do her any favours, many comments about that one. Even in her ballroom dances she never wore a longish dress - dropped waist to make her body look longer and longer skirt to give the impression of longer legs?

Well the neck is a part of the spine, unless Craig has a thing about Dani's throat.

I'll have to wait til ITT comes on iplayer and listen for myself but if that is precisely what he said I think it's unacceptable. It might be someone's 'honest' opinion that only people with the standard number of limbs should take part in sport or that only people who speak with a non-regional accent should read the news or that only stick-thin girls can look good modelling clothes. In other words someone's honest opinion can be full of crap.

If a man who is supposed to be an expert on dancing thinks that natural talent and empathy can't compensate for not being perfectly proportioned then he shouldn't be on the show.

I find that shocking as well, if that's what he said. Surely the whole point of Strictly is to take non-dancers in all their different shapes and sizes and make something special happen?
If we're going to come down to physical perfection or lack of it, doesn't that kind of defeat the object?
And yes, no one would ever use the f-word to criticize Lisa, so why mention someone else's so-called physical shortcomings?
It's not as if Dani has any choice in the matter.

I've probably misunderstood but is this Craig thing from the weekend shows or from tonight's ITT? I'm watching ITT now having recorded it earlier tonight.

Re Dani: Heel turns blah blah

"I'm waiting for that spark, that thing you can't describe, something ..., I want her to go out on an edge, I want it/her (not clear) to be a little bit more dangerous, that's all, that's what I meant by that, you know it's very difficult to explain all that in 10 seconds as you know, but it's a beautiful routine, she's a fantastic and phenomenal dancer, I just want to see her walk the tightrope a little bit more."

Talking about dance fusion now - finished.

He's said that Lisa needs to have a longer neck.

Anyway, my favourite routine from Saturday not surprisingly was Louis and Flavia's.

Has anyone seen the Guardian SCD blog? I'll see if I can find a link.