Sparkle Sparkle Strictly 17 Thread #4

[xsquared]

Shiny new thread.

Normally I'm not bothered by ringahs, but I feel for people like Alex and Chris who are trying and improving but stand no chance next to sylvia young alumni like Karim, as much as I like Karim.

Jay's jive made it obvious he'd danced before.

I remember someone at the time saying that the spins that Jay did during that jive showed that he'd had quite a lot of dance training because he was spotting perfectly and also doing a flick within the spin. Both things that are nearly impossible to teach in just a few days.

Just stopping by to place mark. I've nothing to add because we haven't yet reached the stage in the contest when I can even pretend to remember who's who. I'm somewhat gutted by Anneka's early departure because she was one of the two celebs I actually knew. The other being whats-it from the BBC Breakfast sports bulletin (who I don't properly know on account of I always fast forward the sports sections, but at least I recognised him).

Apart from that I'm glad to see Oti has a partner who's in it for the long haul. Can't remember his name but presumably a ringer if he's dancing that well already. Hooray if it keeps Oti in as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad soppy Darcy's gone and I like what I've seen of Motsi so far. Also very pleased that Neil has a partner.

I'll be back in a few weeks (normally around Blackpool) once I've begun to remember who everyone is. Till then... keep daaaancing.

Whatsisname who won a few years ago with Aliona (did that Pulp Fiction jive), he turned out to be from stage school, which was kept very quiet, didn't he? We all just thought he was out of a band...…...

I'm pretty sure at the time he was known to be a bit of a ringah, but lacked confidence. I was glad he won.

Speaking of Jay, does anyone else fondly remember the time he spoke about bagging up a toddler and kicking them on ITT ?
He clearly didn't mean it the way it sounded, but it was just Aliona nudging him after and Zoe looking baffled.

Jay has been doing west end shows and dance shows after strictly so must have had some dance training other than SCD.

Didn't Louis Smith tour a dance show too, possibly with Jay, so having a tour isn't necessarily an indication of previous dance training.

Jay, Harry, Aston and Louis all did a show together - two fingers and two talented newbies with transferable skills.

I do covetting because his stans at the time (and I liked Jay and wanted him to win but come on) were claiming it was a local phrase Nope. I know Newark and nope.

And it was actually one upmanship on a grand scale from Aliona's wanting to squeeze the toddler to...I want to cut his hands and feet off, squeeze him and put him in a bag and kick it. That very popular Newark phrase of endearment!

He's meant to be doing well atm in Big the musical with Strictly alumnus Girls Aloud Kimberly.

I had a cats bum face the entire time Jay was on, cos of the ringahhness. I got right up on my high horse about it. I found his "aw shucks, I'm dead shy and vulnerable, me" routine absolutely infuriating.

I do have suspicions of ringahhness about Karim. He practically flies across the stage like he's been doing it for years.

Whereas Kelvin I think is just an unusual combination of being very strong and suprisingly elegant for a man. He can do a lovely arm waft and we all go "ooooOOOOOoooohhh!" But I'm not sure he's all that great from the knees down.

As for Michelle being able to Vogue. Yeah but she was an old school club kid, back in the old days when Vogueing was really rigid and just jutting your arms around. There's a video of her I must post. It was very much the style at the time but now it looks.....fairly crap. Based on that? I have about as much advantage! 😂

m.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOfj7heNx4

TA DAAAHHHH!

God people were easily pleased in those days. She's just doing semaphore, lol.

Suspicions of ringahhhh about Karim? He went to the Sylvia Young stage school and has performed in West End musicals. He couldn't be more of a ringer if he was Quasimodo

😂😂😂

aw bless. Everybody...

Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine
Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air
They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katherine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you
Ladies with an attitude
Fellows that were in the mood
Don't just stand there, let's get to it
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Seemingly there isn't. I don't see Michelle Cara the face in there either

I genuinely think people forget how hard the ringers eg Danny Mac train for. That's a huge difference imo between those doing it for the cash/5 minutes cough Jerry Hall cough and those really giving it their all...Kelvin, Karim and Michelle are also putting in the time.
I really really wish they'd put up the number of training hours totalled.

Not saying that with 5000 hours and a groundhog day happening, I'd still be anywhere beyond basic but I do think work ethic combined with talent is the thing...Emma B is talented but has not got enough hours in the day to perfect her routines whereas presumably the others are doing more, at least Michelle and Kelvin are. Don't know how long Karim has to film for for cbeebies but EastEnders it ain't.

Yes - wasn't Danny training for 12-14 hours a day or something mad like that?

They used to show hours trained on the screen but I think several contestants complained about the pressure

@ElspethFlashman that video reminds me of the early days of The Tube with Paula Yates. The stuff we watched!

Does anyone know who the lady in the gold dress just behind Claud is? She was really prominent in the balcony bits but I don't recognise her at all.

@HettySunshine she is the new female pro, Nancy.

Ah, that makes sense. Many thanks. It was bugging me not knowing.

Just had to cut and paste a bit of Monkseal's blog here; I know he refers to Digital Spy threads in it but it was definitely one of those "I read this and thought of you, MN" moments 😂

Shirley closes by saying that she saw four of the seven rumba walks, and she liked the mix of contemporary and rumba, because if everyone came out and did the same dance it’d be boring. You wanna read those Digital Spy threads where everyone’s all “AND EVERYONE SHOULD DO THE SAME DANCE WITH THE SAME CHOREOGRAPHY AND THE SAME OUTFITS AND THE SAME SONG SO I CAN PROPERLY COMPARE THEM IN FINE DETAIL WITH MY BALLROOM EXPERTISE!!!” Shirley. Or not.