Dance the Night Away

Honey-Lee wrote this at around evening time:

The write up has been completed and posted on the new site - so get over there and update your links!

www [ dot] dance the night away [dot] org [dot] uk.  Come on, you should know it by now!

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Honey-Lee wrote this in the late afternoon:

Ok, so maybe not the Twizzle Sticks! But we FINALLY DID IT! The new website is finally up and live (after 12 months of battling!). We still need to bring across the old articles – if there is anything you want to see quickly please do let us know. However this should be a new and improved website so please do have a browse and let me know what you think. There will be a member’s only area, reviews, articles, polls and the ability for you to add your own thoughts and comments to the blog posts! Plus much, much more.

If you have any comments, suggestions or views do let me know – I would particularly like a few short TESTIMONIALS if you could spare the time!

Of course the BIG NEWS we’ve been promising you is finally here – the band for our 5th BIRTHDAY BASH have confirmed. We are proud and excited to announce that the South London Jazz Orchestra will be swinging the night away with their big band sound. Tickets have gone on sale, we have special workshops for you and the marketplace as always – the full details can be found at:
http://www.dancethenightaway.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=144&Itemid=164

Our popular Christmas Crash Taster course is now half full and the queries are coming in thick and fast. It starts Monday 17th November and you can book online
http://www.dancethenightaway.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=70

We’ve also been asked to do more dates for Bromley Adult Education on 7th February and 28th March 2009. Full details are at:
http://www.dancethenightaway.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=50&Itemid=98

It’s not long until Saturday night when Honey shall be updating the blog with more Strictly news – read it on the new site easily! If you have our previous blog ‘bookmarked’ make sure to update the links! In the next few days Honey will also be putting together a ‘playlist’ of the music that has been used this series.

The next Social Night (just to pre-warn you!) is Friday 7th November and we will have a ‘Halloween’ theme play-list as that was very popular last year. The class will be quickstep – hope to see you there!

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Honey-Lee wrote this at around evening time:

Well I’ll confess that I couldn’t be bothered watching the first half of the show - mostly because I was drinking lots of lemsip trying to reduce the headcold I have acquired over the weekend.

The peice of news that fascinated me this morning was that (according to the Mirror) that both Ola and Andrew danced last night with broken toes after they managed to break each other’s toes in training!  However apparently Ola broke her’s practising a lift and given they can’t do lifts in their routines yet I don’t quite know what’s going on there.

Also the announcement that we will see Tess dancing with Anton for Children in Need.  Should be interesting.

The musical number was a surprising turn in the form of Andrea Bochelli.  Opera in the evening!  Great stuff!  Anton and Erin doing a lovely show dance version of American Smooth/Slow Foxtrot.

So going into the dance off are: Gary & Karen / Mark and Hayley.  Even before the dance off I can state that the judges will keep Mark and Hayley - unless one of the lies on the floor and flaps.

Mark and Hayley up first. Much the same as their first performance - mark stood up slightly more.

Gary & Karen.  Gary knows he is going home, and his head has gone to mush.  It’s all gone a bit flat and he’s not even trying to do the steps and then the whole thing went to peices.

Even on that performance alone Gary is going home.  This is when the dance off works and the worst couple are voted off by the judges, rather than being kept in by the public.  Naturally though that requires the weakest dancer to be in the dance off!

Having said that Gary’s final dance was lovely as he had finally relaxed and there was no pressure.  Brave attempt, and we have seen worse (Quentin Wilson) but the right man went at the right time.  I didn’t call it this week, but I genuinely thought that the public would keep Gary in for another week.  I did however get that Mark would be possibly in the dance off.

Well that’s it for now.  Now I’m going to bed with a hotwater bottle! See some of you tomorrow and the rest of you for next week’s installment.  As always, any comments please do leave them below!

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Honey-Lee wrote this around lunchtime:

Well this week it was the turn of the boys again (next week it’s just the girls so that the numbers will be finally low enough to get them all together the week after!).  The dances this week were Ballroom Jive and Modern Tango.The Modern Tango (as opposed to the Argentine Tango) is very strong, stacato and rigid. Posture and sharpness is everything in this dance, and unlike the other ballroom dances there is no rise and fall (very difficult to do actually!)  The music has a strong march beat, the legs should extend from the hip with clear heel leads and the top line must be high and angular. Ballroom Jive on the other hand is a very light, bouncy dance with very fast music. Kicks and flicks are important, and pushing all the steps though the floor and ball of the foot, rather than the thigh, is the key to this one!  It should appear that the dancer is dancing on an invisible floor just above the real one and any kicks and flicks should be sharp and controlled.  The hands need to be watched on this one or they tend to flop around like fish out of water because the body is moving so fast.  Coiled spring is possibly the key phrase for both of these dances, however in Tango it takes longer to wind and explode than in Jive!Tess kept her series theme alive with an ecru (cream) strapless, empire line Grecian draping dress.  It was a lovely colour on her though I would have liked to have seen a light necklace to finish off the throat line.  I do have to say that this years hair cut is much more flattering than last year’s pudding bowl fringe!  I have to be honest and say that Brucie’s outfit was so non-descript that it completely passed me by.

I was surprised to see this week that instead of the usual “you danced Ballroom last week so you dance Latin this week” we had several gents who were dancing the same style as the previous week (John did Foxtrot week 1 and Tango week 3, and Gary did Cha Cha week 1 and Jive week 3 for example).

There has also been comments that while my scoring is as harsh as ever I am not being as catty as usual – we have another 14 weeks to go guys!  Give it time!

Austin & Erin - Jive
Costume One shouldered electric blue super long fringing with asymmetric hem had an interesting back and lovely movement.  However I felt that the fringing felt a bit sparse when she was moving, it needed to be thicker! 8
Performance A powerful performance despite Austin putting his back out earlier in the week and being on lots of painkillers.  Can’t stop the Beat from Hairspray was a great lively number and Austin performed his socks off (I loved the little solo bit to the judges!) 8
Technique Having seen this weeks training sessions on It Takes Two I had great hopes for this.  Sharp footwork, on time, lively with superb technique.  A lovely routine from Erin added to the polish.  There were a couple of minor mistakes which Austin recovered from.  Good lines but didn’t always finish in his hands. 8
DTNA Score = 24.  Strictly Score = 8 (8,8,9,9)

Mark & Hayley - Tango
Costume A pattered almost flesh coloured bodice (picked up in Mark’s tie) finished with diamante trim looked promising, then the camera panned back to an orange midriff and a Fushia pink skirt which had ruffles up one side making it look like it had got caught on something.  The weighting of the ruffles also made the skirt move slightly strangely for me and the whole thing was just a bit too flamenco. 5
Performance Mark really did try with this one, particularly with the staccato movement – his height not being the greatest of help.  They chose a lovely traditional Argentine Tango in Tanguera but the softness didn’t really suit the mood needed for a Modern Tango.  I personally felt this softened any attack that Mark tried to add – a more traditional modern tango track would have suited this routine better. 7
Technique There were a couple of toe leads on the leading foot, and therefore his leg extensions weren’t quite right.  As mentioned above the routine lacked the drama of a modern tango routine though it was a nice choreography – even though the ‘foxtrot’ section should have been left out as it added dreaded rise and fall!  Mark struggled with his posture slightly – but he is 6ft lots so we can give him a bit of lea-way. 6
DTNA Score = 18.  Strictly Score = 6 (5,5,7,7)

Gary & Karen - Jive
Costume I got the distinct impression that Karen was trying to “pull an Ola” with this skin tight fushia mirror finish tango dress.  The style was completely wrong for the dance.  Gary wore the skin-tight black uniform top with touches of diamante 4
Performance Gary smiled and performed despite nerves.  Lipstick, Powder and Paint is a good solid jive with a nice slow beat giving him lots of thinking time.  He has definitely improved since last week.7
Technique Karen had written a good clear and simple routine perfect for Gary’s level.  However, despite a good performance it was still flat footed, heavy and laboured.  There were a couple of mistakes (apparently Gary has no sense of rhythm but it’s a tough rhythm to keep consistent if you are only just learning)  Again Gary suffered the same as many of the gents – concentrating so hard on the feet that the hands go west! 4
DTNA Score = 15.  Strictly Score = 5 (3,4,6,5)

John & Christine - Tango
Costume John gets points for his cravat and handkerchief matching Christine’s dress.  However the dress was hideous!  Another flamenco inspired tiered loo-roll cover of a dress made out of some 1950’s curtains and net!  I got the feeling that the fabric could well have been bri-nylon.  Yuck. 4
Performance The band murdered the lovely strong traditional tango Boulevard of Broken Dreams.  John was lovely and relaxed giving a very soft tango – I kept thinking of a teddy bear! Which is not what you want in a tango really.  Points for obviously being comfortable with the routine and being on time though.  6
Technique Christine had choreographed a routine that was bang on her partners skill level with some lovely touches.  It was like watching two different people dance though – the top half of John was a different person to the bottom half!  The bottom half had very good footwork, timing and passable extensions, the top half was far too soft.  I didn’t like the postioning of her left hand either – her wrist looked broken. 6
DTNA Score = 16.  Strictly Score = 5 (3,6,6,7)

Andrew & Ola - Tango
Costume An elegant white dress with plunging front line and no back with decorative black trim along the sides.  An empire line black band was elegant (and it was a shame about the extra band on the back – they could at least have made it black and therefore less obvious!  Andrew went with standard tails 9
Performance Plenty of drama and action with some lovely stern faced acting from Andrew definitely gained marks from me.  However 20^th Century Boy is a JIVE under normal circumstances and the whole head-butting section had me crying for all the wrong reasons (mostly because he tucked his chin under and that really wasn’t attractive!) 8
Technique Excellent staccato and striding out from the hip, however there were several toe leads.  The top half of his body was horrible though – his bum stuck out, he loomed over little Ola rather than standing up straight and he hunched his shoulders.  Finally his left elbow should have been pointing diagonally towards the floor – not straight out to the side, but he did keep it up throughout the whole dance. 6
DTNA Score = 23.  Strictly Score = 6 (4,6,7,5)

Tom & Camilla - Jive
Costume As Austin & Tom go ‘head to head’ Camilla obviously decided to blur the lines further by appearing in a very similar dress.  This one however was gold and MUCH shorter with ‘fake’ boots (they are fabric overshoes guys, sorry).  Again good movement but I would have liked to have seen a thicker fringing. 5
Performance Tom was relaxed and happy throughout this positive performance which gained points.  Using a recent track Black and Gold by Sam Sparrow was a good move,. 8
Technique A lovely clean routine from Camilla meant Tom stayed on time and could concentrate on performing.  The only guy to control his hands throughout the routine, but that control meant sometimes his feet weren’t and some of the kick flicks looked like his foot was coming off!  Lovely solo work, but overall the technique was just that bit flat-footed and heavy. 6
DTNA Score = 19.  Strictly Score = 7 (4,8,9,9)

I did start to wonder at this point if the judges were either watching something else or (more likely) trying to create a ‘fight’ between Austin & Tom – afterall one point between them does make a more ‘exciting’ finish.  While Tom performed very well and definitely had the second best jive of the evening it wasn’t THAT good!

Don & Lilia - Tango
Costume Very traditional black and red tango dress.  I was uncertain about the red belt and the ‘sash’ did strange things to the bust line but I loved the heavy satin of the dress and the flow of the skirt with the contrast lining.  Tails for him! 8
Performance An incredibly well acted and strong tango performance (though I wasn’t convinced by the pushing out of the lips on Don’s face!).  Whatever Lola Wants is an excellent tango which definitely helped with the drama.  Best tango performance of the evening. 8
Technique This was quite a complicated routine with a good mix of steps.  Don had a good hold and reasonable posture (just a slight hunch of the shoulders).  Don’s footwork was good but lacked a little bit of attack and we were missing a lot of the body contact required for really sharp staccato.  1 tiny mistake that Lilia pulled Don through but otherwise a very good attempt. 8
DTNA Score = 24.  Strictly Score = 8 (7,7,8,8)

Final Ranking

Austin & Erin
Don & Lilia
Andrew & Ola
Tom & Camilla
Mark & Hayley
John & Christine
Gary & Karen

Who’s going home?  Well again I wish it could be Gary, but the British Public like to see the underdog achieve so we have him for a few weeks yet.  On the official leader board I think it could be Andrew or Mark that goes home this week.  It’s a very tough call.

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