Strictly Come Dancing 2016/ 2017

I meant that since this year the finale would only be between two contestants, and if they end up being Danny and Louise, people would not be able to complain that one or the other are THE ringer since both have equivalent dance education and experience.

Regardless of scores, AJ redeemed himself. Beautiful choreography and performances. His & Claudia's dances were my favorites. Danny correctly performed the extremely difficult choreography that Oti threw at him but the salsa lacked soul (we call it "sabor"). The song they dance to literally is about the need to laugh & dance and our dear Danny did not smile once. After the looseness and joy that he showed in the samba, I was expecting a more joyful salsa. It seems that the choreography was so complicated that he had not internalized it enough and was too focused on getting the moves right and not the emotion he needed to convey. Their American Smooth was better but still too fast for the emotional aspect of the performance. Given that the main criticism of Danny is that he is technically excellent but too robotic, Oti has to simplify the routines to allow Danny to really master the emotive aspects of the dances.

Claudia's rumba lacked some hip action but it was gorgeous, and she looked stunning. Her quickstep evoked Hollywood's golden era, and despite a larger height difference, she kept a better frame than Ore.

Was not a fan of Ore's dances this week. The QS had a promising start, the costumes were great and he has splendid stamina but it paled in comparison to Claudia's. His AT did not capture the essence of the dance: he was a bit hunched and the choreography did not give him many AT moves.

Louise had the misfortune of bad costumes and performing a traditional samba after Danny's. Her samba dress and hairstyle accentuated her upperback hunch. The dress color was also not the best choice to highlight samba moves. Her tango dress was not very forgiving either, but she was able to convey the joy in that dance that I was expecting to see from Danny's salsa. Both of her performances exhibited the energy and commitment that I was missing since her American Smooth.

As for the scores, it's obvious that the judges want Claudia in the dance-off, and their nonsensical comments about lack of chemistry with AJ (bulls...) are laying the ground for her elimination. She is the only one of the semifinalists that did not sign up for the tour, so this production decision makes sense. I hope that the public saves her.

SPOILER ALERT: Keo just congratulated Oti on making the finals.

Sweeping in to remind people that on Strictly, external choreographers provide the salsa, Charleston and Argentine tango choreography (unless it's a specific specialism of a pro themselves). 

Whatever criticism you have of Danny's salsa or Ore's Argentine tango, the choreography criticism should go to Jonathan Platero (Oksana's husband), rather than Oti or Joanne...

I did some research on Strictly's choreo policy, LeaLianna and it seems external help for AT, Charleston and Salsa is often the norm. Not always but frequently. Interesting. 

On DWTS people get all bent out of shape if a pro avails themselves of outside choreo assistance. Lots of outrage at Peta for not doing all her own choreo with Nyle.

DMD - perhaps not, but AT and salsa aren't standard international latin dances. Even the greatest international latin dancer of all time wouldn't necessarily dance salsa or AT to the standard of being able to teach or choreograph it (if they ever danced it at all).

External choreographers are often used for DWTS as well byt they often are ghost choreographers (similar to ghost writers) that are paid by the pros and not the show & do not work directly with the celebs. The problem is that these choreographers are not officially credited & if the routine is nominated for an award (e.g., Emmy) the ghost choreographer(s) is not included in the credit. There were some rumblings when Witney was Emmy nominated for one of her routines with Alfonso and she didn't credit her ghost choreo. I believe this is more problematic than the open use of choreo help like Strictly does or DWTS pros like Peta (Nyle freestyle) or Gleb (who gives credit to his wife).

Also the pro is the one that knows the strengths and weaknesses of their celebs and generally have to adapt an initial choreography when the celeb has trouble with certain elements in it, so they always have to receive at least partial credit for all the choreographies.

There were a lot of reports of voting problems last night. Since the voting window for Strictly is so narrow those reports are troubling and may have affected Claudia the most (since she had a lot of terrain to gain to escape the dance-off). For Danny his first dance-off may have been a blessing in disguise because the stress associated with it may have better prepared him to handle the nerves of the finale. The quality gap between Danny/Oti and the rest is great. I hope the judges dont try to interfere much, that the BBC handles the technical issues with the voting system promptly, and that Danny/Oti will end up victorious.