SCD '24 #4: The first live show, all 2.5 hours of it! (SPOILER FREE)

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Bums numb yet folks? I'm enjoying it though.

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Spoiler thread if you like to indulge.

IMO Alex mainly got that far because Kevin had to step in for a couple of weeks when Neil was injured - she seemed to do a lot better with Kevin.

I watched ITT too and was gobsmacked by the anti-chemistry between Neil and Toyah. It seemed like she really did not like him, with good reason. It was like they were not communicating together at all. He was quite odd, I am not surprised he rarely gets partners. I felt quite sorry for Toyah.

Neil could do the most spectacular job ever and people here would still hate him.

I agree.

Probably, because Kevin was great at always getting the max from his partners but wasn't hugely popular on MN. But in Neil's case he hasn't managed to push his celebs to the very furthest point they could go, whether that is bad luck, poor communication, bad teaching or inability to adapt his choreography/teaching methods to suit novice dancers I don't know. But I can't imagine him being put with a disabled celeb because I don't think he has the ability to figure out methods to teach someone with unique learning requirements.

Truth is, we don't know whether it is because Neil is a bad teacher or that his celebrities are just not good students.

I don't think you can really speculate whether or not he has the ability to work with a disabled learner. I'm not sure about now, but he did used to run dance classes at his dance school that he owned with Katya when they were married, so he can't be that bad!

He is probably great at teaching 'dancers' but he doesn't seem to have a plan B when faced with a celeb who doesn't respond as experienced dancers do. For some pros that is done via creative choreo, other pros seem to be able to teach anyone (Otti springs to mind). Neil doesn't seem to have the tricks to get less talented celebs to progress, that could be because he's had total duffers who no-one could teach i.e. bad luck or it could be a lack of adaptability on his behalf. We will probably never know for certain.

I cannot fathom Neil deliberately choreoing 11 head snaps when
a) she couldn't really do two staccato
b) it looked weird
This wasn't Tony Beak saying "two more" to Katie Derham in their VW.
This was self-sabotage.
He should have at least owned it on Saturday.
The slebs are not responsible for the choreo.
Take that up with Nancy and Neil, not their partners.
Neil put up the dress rehearsal on his insta - it wasn't much better tbh.
He loves jive and nearly won at Xmas with it - I hope to God they can pull something out the bag Saturday or it's First Boot again.
I could imagine getting jive out the way for an older lady and potentially tango if you got kicked out on it last time (Jojo went for ccc early doors last year) but to do both tango then jive is a risk.

I don't think either Nina Wadia or Alex Scott were duffers or poor students.
That said, I would like him to stay in for a bit.

Neil is undoubtedly a good dancer, he was world champion. But being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good teacher.
A good teacher, I would think, chooses choreography to match his student. Neil doesn’t seem to do this.

My theory on the head shakes is that Neil detests her and is trying to get her chucked out.

Toyah seemed quite deflated and Neil didn't seem to even try to buck her up.

I said on a previous thread that I didn't like the pairing because Toyah has always been genuinely unconventional but Neil is someone who wears wacky novelty ties.

I couldn't work the multiple head shakes out! It looked crazed.
I don't think it would look right even if she could do it well.
Was that definitely his choreography?or did she just go off on her own thing, which is what it looked like

He choreographed the head shakes.

I'm really surprised he choreographed them because I thought that - in the interview in the Claudiatorium - Claudia mentioned them and Neil said something like "I didn't know what was going on either".
I've obviously not remembered it properly but, at the time, I was definitely left with the impression that Toyah had improvised a bit.

I also thought Neil was off with Toyah.
Like he won't be adapting his teaching and that's it.
I felt the head shakes he put in because of her hairstyle and the fact Toyah is OTT or weird?
He seems to not understand her at all. Which makes for a terrible partnership.
Its like he doesn't care that they got such a low score and is over it.
Gorka is often like that and Karen sometimes, they just don't go out of their way when they get a very meh partner in their opinion.
Where I think you should make more of an effort with those ones that need lots of teaching and for the public to like them!

What we do know about Neil is that he very rarely gets partners. There is no other dancer who has been on the show long term and is benched almost every year. There must be a reason for that, and the best interpretation is that he is not very good at teaching amateurs.

(I didn’t know Kevin was not liked on MN, I wasn’t reading the threads back then. I really liked him and was sorry when he left.)

I liked Kevin. He may have been a bit too fond of the camera but he was a great teacher and choreographed to the ability of his celebs.

I wasn't watching when he was on it, but he did some of choreography corner on ITT last year and I enjoyed that.

Kevin appears to be one of the few pros who has had some success after leaving Strictly, so safe to assume he has skills and is probably easy to work with.

I saw Kevin in Singin' In The Rain at Sadlers Wells, he was good in it.

Does anyone watch ITT?

I liked Kevin with Susan Calman. I loved their Singin’ in the Rain (her wife’s favourite song and their wedding song I believe). She looked so joyful to have pulled off that dance. She was clearly well taught because she wasn’t a natural dancer or athlete but she performed it beautifully.

As for Toyah, if she really is unhappy that’s a shame. I felt the same about Ritchie, who didn’t have a great SCD experience because of a lack of chemistry with his pro. I always feel sorry for the September/early October boots, but at least they’ve usually had some fun.

Bring me sunshine?
Singin' in the rain number was Ore and Joanne.

I thought he was OK, but very much overshadowed by Adam Cooper and Faye Tozer who filled the stage with less effort.

The problem IMO was that everyone's expecting his big number, and everyone knows the big stunt at the end, which you can't do live for eight shows a week, and so they made do with a joke which was never going to live up to one of the best loved moments in all film musicals. Unfair I know that five seconds of let-down diminished a full show's worth of work but them's the breaks.

@EvilRingahBitch im being thick which big stunt at the end?