Strictly 2022 Thread 2 - Who's your favourite...

[xsquared]

Hello folks,
Last one filled up and I was surprised another hadn't been started for a while.

First thoughts:
I like this year's cohort and I recognise a few faces.

• Jayde reminds me of Dawn French. Wasn't expecting her to be paired with Karen.

• Carlos and Vito will be interesting to watch in their debut. Molly went to Sylvia Young Theatre, so she could be a ringer.

• I've seen Jowita in The Greatest Dancer and she was phenomenal. Hamza looks like he'll be good fun.

• Luba looked amazing during John Legend's performance and it's a shame that neither her celebs went very far. Maybe she's better suited to dancing in the background.

• When Helen Skelton mentioned needing someone who could understand a northern accent, I immediately guessed it was Gorka.

• Ellie and Johannes look good together. She's absolutely delighted with him, and I hope we get to watch them for a good while.

• Matt Goss seems rather subdued, but I think he'll have a good work ethic and deliver a good performance.

Oops, x-post! But I'm still wondering how they'll manage.

It's probably because in most adult and child competitions the adult is either the parent or the teacher, so probably a bit older and maybe more worried about their back.

ELLIE S arms aren't as long or developed as an average 6/7 year old so her reach is different that is why Nikitta will be stopped and he's also 5ft 11. Most of Ellies "height" is her body.

Vicky seems to be upping her game a bit. Not with her blouse though. Washes her out a bit.

Another catwalk-based pro dance? They need some fresh ideas. It also annoys me that the choreographers always think they are breaking the mould by not doing ballroom or Latin. It just means that almost every pro dance is street/commercial. It all gets very generic.

Doing an actual ballroom pro dance at this point would be breaking the mould I'm sad to say...

I agree. The choreography just reminds me of a pop video and I would love to see some classic ballroom or latin routines for a change.

⬆️and so say all of us

Instead of a lame celebrity singing, and the slightly odd pas de deux in front of them, I would like that spot to be filled with a very quiet, pared down set and simple music, featuring a three minute dance by a professional dancer who is an expert in their particular genre: flamenco, ballet, Bollywood, polka, various African dances, tap, ballet and belly dancing for example. It would make a good contrast to all the sequins and glitter in the rest of the show.

That would be fantastic @Fishfingersandwich707 - we need someone at Strictly to read this thread and action as appropriate!

I'd love one like this again. There's probably more tails in this one dance than we'll see in the whole of this series!

Ah, those were the days @PolkadotsAndMoonbeams - that was beautiful! Miss all of those dancers (except Kristina and Brian - not keen on either of those, but so lovely seeing the rest of them!)

Here, have Matt and Nicole instead.

I hate Jason Wilkison's choreo. It's always more posing than dancing. The choreo in the glory days of Matt Cutler, Flavia C, Karen Hardy, Ian Waite.. was so much better.

Sorry Gilkison!

I quite like some of Jason Gilkinson's camp storytelling extravaganzas, but I want a balance between than and some more traditional ballroom and Latin showcases. This one is a nice halfway house between gimmicks and Proper Daaance.

The black and white has reminded me of this one. Look at Karen with long hair!

I thought we were getting a bit short of space with the next show tomorrow, so here's a new thread for when this one fills up.

I loved it when the pro dancers did a jive to Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, possibly choreographed by the Cutlers. Definitely one of my favourites.

This one. It's really good, I love the circle near the end.

I'm sure those dances much have been easier to put together as well — they have a beginning and end, and then each couple gets eight bars to dance something. You actually get to see more dancing as well than when all of the pros are dancing all the time.

Yessssss, it was the best!

That jive was ace. I miss so many of those professionals (including Brendan).

Thanks @PolkadotsAndMoonbeams loved that!

I really wish the Beeb would clean up those videos and put them on in high def.

Yes the Rebel Yell jive is probably my absolute favourite. God I miss Matthew Cutler.

I assume that the music rights for earlier series weren't acquired with YouTube and iPlayer in mind, so that is another problem with sorting out the first couple of series. I can't find most of Zoe Ball's fabulous routines in good quality.