We’ve reached the halfway point of Strictly now, and I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t a themed week… I feel like they’ve loaded the front half of the series with a lot of them this year but it was nice to have a week where no dances were held back by having to meet theming requirements. I also thought the outfits were all pretty nice too so well done to the Wardrobe team. Jaime wasn’t in the show this week due to injury and I do hope she can come back soon as she is a good dancer- however I still thought this week was enjoyable.

First up were Will and Dianne with a Quickstep, and I really liked the traditional theming here, I liked that they ballroomified a Maroon 5 song (This Love), I liked the outfits, I thoroughly enjoyed the way he travelled around the floor, it was just an elegant classy dance that wouldn’t have been out of place in Len Goodman’s time. If I was being very hypercritical, I felt it lacked a bit of speed about it for a quickstep… I think it possibly needed a little bit more on that. His energy 100% started flagging towards the end in particular, and perhaps a pet peeve here but something that was really noticeable. He danced with his mouth WIDE OPEN the whole way through? It looked a tad strange, though that’s minor- overall, I’m impressed- this is what happens when you’re not being held back by gimmicky themes. You end up with pure traditional dances like that. Very happy with this. It’s an 8 from me. Judges went 6, 8, 7, 8 for 29 which seems a bit low, especially compared to how the rest of the evening went.

Next up were Lacey and Vito with a Rumba. I liked Lacey’s styling for this Rumba, her dress, her hair, her makeup etc were all very understated, and I actually felt the look enhanced the dance- it sounds bizarre but it made it feel more real than it would if somebody was dancing a rumba in a crappy wig. It was a more lyrical rumba than a raunchy one, but I don’t mind that, I do think a more lyrical one can sometimes bring that connection out of a couple more- as for this dance, I’m half and half on the connection part- I actually think their connection OFF the floor seems way stronger than their one on the floor- I wonder if Lacey struggled with a romantic dance considering she’s married to her teenage sweetheart so maybe dancing romantically with another man proved a tricky task. I thought it was enjoyable, the softness of it all. She was fluid throughout and had some impressive arm movements and beautiful spins, BUT her leg action looked pretty poor to me from what I saw (other than that leg extension that Josh tried getting Emma to do) and there were quite a few moments of hesitation on her face, maybe when she realised some of the leg action wasn’t quite 100%. It wasn’t a bad dance by ANY means but there were some very noticeable flaws. My score is a 6 for this. The judges went 6, 7, 8, 9- 30. Weird spread of scores, but I don’t mind that every once in a while.

Then we had Delta and Kai with a Cha Cha Cha, and the performance quality of this was EXCEPTIONALLY strong. But the performance quality is not the same thing as the technical quality. Sometimes you can have utterly SHIT dances technically being sold by a strong performance. This again wasn’t a bad dance, but I thought she looked really stiff and tense in the upper body throughout (and Motsi briefly touched upon this), and also there was one REALLY noticeable timing issue- it only lasted about 2 seconds if that, but I did see it happen. It didn’t land for me compared to Delta’s usual standards, but she CAN sell a performance and channeled the character of the Cha-Cha extremely well. Also, to discuss the judges, I felt Anton was rather rude talking over Shirley when she was giving her comments- I’m glad she put him in his place with “do you want your turn?”. Anton doesn’t really give that much in the way of critique, does he? I wonder if Delta’s rib injury from a few weeks back is still healing hence some of the flaws in this dance. It’s a 7 from me. Better than Lacey, not quite on Will’s level. Judges went 7, 8, 7, 9. Like I said earlier, I don’t mind the judges’ opinions being dissenting, even by a large margin, but there’s absolutely no way this dance was worth a 9.

Up next were Bethany and Nancy off the back of a dance-off last week hoping to bounce back, dancing a Foxtrot. There was something there in the concept of this- I quite liked Nancy’s creative vision with the umbrellas at the start- I actually thought that was rather clever and enhanced the storytelling a lot, but unfortunately there was just a lot of wafting about in this dance, lots of open work. If it had stayed in closed hold for the majority, it could’ve been incredible but it kept going back and forth. I liked that the lead didn’t flip-flop this week and Bethany was leading it the whole time. It’s a shame there wasn’t more in hold because the bits that WERE in hold were very very good to me. It’s the usual problem with Nancy’s routines though- she gets too lost in the storytelling to the point that the actual important technical elements get lost. And I think this week she maybe tried a bit too hard, in an attempt to make sure Bethany didn’t land in the dance-off again- I would struggle knowing what to score that to be honest because I thought all 4 judges made pretty valid points on this one. I THINK I’d go a 7 for that but this has been the most difficult dance to score this series. It was a very good, if lowkey dance, but it wasn’t so good if you’re considering it as a pure foxtrot. Judges scores were all over the place here- 6, 9, 7, 8 for 30… and BIZARRELY, that’s the mark that resonates the most with me this week. I can understand where they were all coming from.

Then we had John and Katya with a Salsa that was the epitome of “meh, it’s fine”… I liked how they arranged Get Lucky here to give it more Latin rhythms… unlike the times they’ve used it previously (Rachel Riley and Jason Bell for their respective Salsas, both of whom ended up eliminated on it- Salsa to Get Lucky has a somewhat cursed energy). But his technique was nothing special- he has rhythm I’ll give him that, but it seemed all a bit devoid of hip action. He had some impressive lifts and was in sync but to me it looked like he struggled with remembering his steps and he was somewhat freestyling. I’m somewhere in the middle of the road on this one. It’s a 6 from me. Craig was awfully moody on this one though- saying it “looked like a 3 year old having a tantrum”- it didn’t. There’s been plenty of dances over the years that had, but this was not one of them. Judges scores were 4, 7, 7, 8. I think Craig’s 4 was ridiculous for that but I also think Anton’s 8 was ridiculous. It averaged out about right at 26 (which could be 2 6s, 2 7s). I know some people will say “how can you give a 4 and 8 for the same dance” but I actually don’t mind the judges giving wildly different scores from each other to prove they’re not being swayed by a hive mind and can think for themselves… but I can’t see the rationale for a 4 or an 8 there.

Next was Graeme with his Couple’s Choice, an emotional storytelling lyrical/contemporary piece about him having had a stroke in 2019. Again I liked the understated tones of his dance this week, I enjoyed the song, I thought he danced it very well, I actually don’t have any criticisms of his actual dancing ability, he has great chemistry with Lauren, but I don’t know, something was just missing from this dance that I can’t put my finger on. It didn’t quite feel like the “moment” I expected it to. I may be another 7 on this one. Judges went 5, 8, 7, 8. I have no idea what got into Craig to be in a mood all night.

Then we had Tabby and Mark with a Paso and I loved this- it was a traditional recognisable Paso done to traditional music. Her shaping was fantastic, her skirtography was fantastic- definitely a massive bounce back from being in the dance off last week. There were a couple of little wobbles here and there and her facial expressions need a bit of work. It almost looked like she was smiling through the dance at certain points which doesn’t quite match the character of this particular dance- she didn’t really keep up her paso face the whole way through. But I would be between an 8 and a 9 for this dance this week. I’d maybe lean more towards a 9 especially as it’s been a rather strange night. The judges went 7, 9, 8, 9 for a total of 33 and honestly? Fair. The 7 is a tad stingy.

After that was Cach and Maddie with a Waltz. The VT was rather insightful pointing out lots of the required technical elements for a waltz…. Only for the dance itself to lack that. I am warming to them as a partnership but this really didn’t work. He was sat down for a good chunk of the beginning (being the pedantic person I am, I timed it- 18 seconds to get into hold) and once he got into hold, he didn’t stay in there the whole time. Again, it’s a shame because his hold was VERY VERY good. This was more of a Viennese waltz (and an American smooth style one at that, with shades of rumba) than a pure slow Waltz. The actual Waltzy bits that Maddie choreographed were really elegant and Cach’s posture was great- Craig did say he looked hunched over Maddie but I disagree there- I think it’s just that there’s a bit of a height difference between them. Again his Waltzy parts were good, it’s just that there wasn’t really enough of it. I don’t agree with Anton either about mixing the old with the new… because classics are classics for a reason. Don’t try to make your art form something it’s not. It’s a 6 from me here. Judges scores were 4, 8, 6, 8. I don’t find this quite as egregious as some might. I find it fascinating though because it proves they’re all looking for different things and marking different elements. If Motsi and Anton were only looking at the pure waltz parts, the 8 makes sense, but Craig and Shirley were looking at the bigger picture, of the overall dance that’s been LABELLED waltz. They’re a bit more nitpicky. I don’t know if it was quite a 4 but I could understand a 5.

Dani and Nikita were next with an American Smooth and BIZARRELY, this felt more pure ballroom than any of the actual ballroom we got tonight. It was elegance personified, this dance wouldn’t have been out of place in a 50s film- very Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers style, it was lovely to watch and it’s great to see Dani finally coming into her own after all these weeks. I also really enjoyed the banister trick at the start. You can add new concepts into dances on Strictly without deviating from its core, and I think Nikita understands that the best. This was great- almost felt like it would make a perfect Showdance. She still has some minor frame things to work on but this is a 9 through and through, judges went 8, 10, 9, 9 which again, is fair.

I do have to wonder if there’s ever been an episode where the judges were so un-unified in the past? There’s definitely been some discrepancies with individual dances in the past but not too sure it’s ever happened with so many. It kept everybody on their toes though I guess, though Craig was in a horrible mood the whole night, he really was quite rude to most this week. Glimpses of 00s Craig were back this week.

As for the dance-off, it was Bethany and Nancy vs Cach and Maddie (Jaime’s bye week meaning we avoided the Bethany v Jaime DO most expected), and I completely understand that. The public at large don’t like it when a dance deviates hugely from what it’s supposed to be, and I wouldn’t have guessed either genre accurately if I was going in blind this week. Interestingly it was a split decision with Craig and Motsi going for Bethany and Shirley and Anton for Cach. Shirley had the casting vote therefore Cach stayed but personally I feel the wrong decision was made this week. I felt Bethany’s dance was way more fluid and that she acted the dance better, but at the same time Cach probably has more to give so swings and roundabouts, but overall I think I’d have sent him home this week.

In conclusion, a weird episode, in terms of both scoring and the dance-off being a split decision, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I prefer the non-themed weeks as you can see if that person’s handled the basics well that way, and you can’t when it’s masked by heavy theming.