A reminder to the Englanders...

H

Heather2007

New Member
...as well as to anyone else that has live BBC access to Strictly.

Next week Saturday is the Argentine Tango :rolleyes: Semi-Finals. Which means in a fortnight my Saturdays in front of the Strictly box will come to a sad end :(

Londoners: don't forget the array of Chrimbo milongas lined up sadly, not cheap (one is even charging a £45 entry fee...). The Dome always proves a winner as does Negs. Brace yourself for the Crypt and take a inhaler as the two organisers come together to make what is always very packed, very claustrophic albeit good night.

p.s. Oh yes, Flav and Vincent did a wonderful AT display tonight on Strictly...try and catch it on the the BBCi

Enjoy.
 
Heather2007 said:
Then I suspect you'd consider the Nureyev documentary on BBC4 the other night...too...jump-heavy ;)
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Yeah, but just because you can do lifts in fantasia doesn't mean you have to - at least, not all the time.

She spent way too much time in the air for my tastes; which, considering they'd just been going on about close hold and embrace, was pretty silly.

Looking at it again (starts at 5:10 on iPLayer):
  • There's a weird neck-drop art 5:20 - no idea where that came from
  • They then run across the floor for no readily-discernable reason
  • It only starts being actual AT around 5:35, with a lovely set of rotating sacadas (I've been working on that recently myself, they're bloody difficult), then Flavia does a giro with Vincent enrosque-ing...
  • Then there's another bleein' lift to ruin the atmosphere
  • The leg wrap Flavia then does is clearly unled - no free leg motion there - into a carousel. Which is nice, but her leg is still wrapped unnaturally around him,
  • They do some nice basic ochos and giros, but Flavia decides to let go of him with her left hand and just wave it around for a while whilst doing them - around 6:00 - what's that all about?
    confused.gif
  • Fair enough, once they actually get into close hold - around 6:30 - it looks good. Some nice ganchos and a lovely leg slide motion around 6:44
  • After that, the rest is pretty good - although the endings a bit too lift-heavy also - but the first minute and a half is just a bit weird.
Vincent needs some new moves - he did all that stuff with Rachel last year.

Don't get me wrong - I love that it's the premier dance of the series, with such a high profile. But I didn't like that performance much.
 
Just seen a sneak preview of the AT for Strictly tomorrow night and must say, they all look good. A source/friend of mine who reports for a national tabloid tells me one particular couple has actually "got it together"...so if they bring what they do out of office hours to the dance floor hours they should be onto a winner.

And for the anoraks (yep, you know who you are :rolleyes:) it's the BBC. It's live TV. It's an entertainment programme. And so lifts are allowed.

Enjoy.
 
I'm of the belief that AT should not be part of these shows. Ballroom dancing has a such a different feel to it and requires totally different body movements. So every time they do AT it looks like a weird version of Ballroom Tango. They lack smoothness and connection. Otherwise the choreography is great.
 
DoraTheExplorer said:
I'm of the belief that AT should not be part of these shows. Ballroom dancing has a such a different feel to it and requires totally different body movements. So every time they do AT it looks like a weird version of Ballroom Tango. They lack smoothness and connection. Otherwise the choreography is great.
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Check out Ricky's AT - pretty impressive and more connection than all the electricity that powers all the houses and milongas of the world...which probably isn't a good thing considering what's going on (or rather, isn't) in Copenhagen right now :rolleyes::mrgreen:
 
Dave Bailey said:
Interesting article from Vince Cable here.
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Thanks for that DB and couldn't agree more with the article. Chris was good but Ricky was brilliant and most definitely should've won (check out his AT with the marvelous Natalie from Downunder - whew).

And just when I thought DFers were passionately critical about their dance, along come those on Strictly's Forum who went one better. Those chaps/chappettes put a whole new meaning to the words "anger issues". The British at their evil, scathing, fire-breathing best - ha, ha, ha. I shall miss it.
 
Heather2007 said:
And just when I thought DFers were passionately critical about their dance, along come those on Strictly's Forum who went one better. Those chaps/chappettes put a whole new meaning to the words "anger issues". The British at their evil, scathing, fire-breathing best - ha, ha, ha. I shall miss it.
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I'm going to hang around the DS forum for a few more days, until after the Xmas special, then I'll log off for 8 months as normal.

I may be on too many forums :)
 
You know, I'm open to tango in all it's forms and I enjoy Fantasia very much. However, I really do think you need to have the technique of AT to do it any justice (say, off the top of my head, Miriam Larici). Vincent and Flav just do BR technique with a few standard AT fantasia moves thrown in... it brings me in mind of Ted Heath trying to speak French :rolleyes:

And on the topic of the representation of AT on telly - why oh why do V & F trot out the same horse muck about it being all about prostitution and how it started in the bordellos :mad: 1 out of 10 for effort, guys! Way to go to earn £60K or whatever it is.

My favourite AT was Ricky and Natalie's, then Cola's, then Ali and Brian (painful to watch). I liked R & N's better than V & F's, R was more earthy.. the least enjoyable aspect of V & F's AT is their walk.. they use the floor in a BR way - totally different from AT, like they're gingerly stepping on hot coals or something, at times V looks like a little boy afraid to put his feet down. Also, simple things that are easy to lead (like a molinete and so forth they clearly don't lead/follow, it's done by rote)...Sorry, but if you watch the top placements at Mundial, they put V & F to shame. At least they've had the good grace to stop claiming to be World Champions in AT.. I believe someone asked them directly and then the epithet mysteriously disappeard from their website. Notice Brucie only said 'World Champions' - he didn't specify in what - haha!

Sidenote: I thought Cola were the worthy winners that night :p
 
I've finally stuck my head in the viper's nest and watched the Semi Final performances. Isnt it funny? The least painful for me was Ali & Brian :rolleyes: At least they were trying to be musical. Just because she acted like a dazed pony doesnt take away from that fact. The others on the other hand just seemed to be sticking in complex moves for the sake of it. As if it were a 10 metre diving competition or something. I loved Ricky and Natalie's lifts - could he get any closer to her knickers? lol :mrgreen:.

I also watched F&V first with the sound off - just for a laugh. And it was a laugh. Now I actually really liked the first time they danced AT on Strictly - it was a great piece of fantasia and they were better IMO than Giraldo and Mr Kliksberg. But here? Same tune (Re Fa Si), some of the same moves, but it was .... just downright ugly. Just wrong. You're so right - it's like they've gone back into some sort of ballroom version of tango. There's also that moment where they almost run across the floor - I was going, tango is not a 100 metre dash, nooooooo ..

I just need a quiet room to calm down in now 8)
 
I’ve not moved out of my darkened room for days!!! :mrgreen:

Hehe, funny :rolleyes: – we’re looking at it from opposite ends of the gender continuum, you find Juana Sepulveda mesmerising with Chicho – to me, she seems overpowered by him, like little red riding hood dancing with the wolf.. I’d love to see her with someone her own style. Anyway, the dazed pony (hehe – great description) was just wetness personified, her leg action was so laboured but limp; okay, musical but no dynamism, at least the ballroomies give it some wellie, girls!! Not helped by the fact that Brian is even less butch than Vincent (plus he hasn’t got a Scooby about AT).

I actually liked Brendan and Lisa Snowdon’s AT routine last year. But Brendan is one of the best.

But back to F & V – yup, looking back, the Libertango piece was rather good! This was pretty ugly in many parts, I do agree, esp the lift where he holds her foot – that’s just icky! My non-dancer friend who loves SCD felt the same. But the thing that really drives me crazy is the way they walk! :mad:!!!!!!! Was quite impressed with Natalie and at least there was some fire in ze belly and they got close to each other… knickers notwithstanding hehe!

Anyway, who cares, Team Cola won and made my weekend! :bouncy:

And if any non-Englander gives a rat's whisker what we're chuntering on about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbkLEtLJ5To

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgieOrejLhY
 
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