Strictly Training Video analysis
So Strictly starts in a little while and all the training videos have now been released.
I’ve decided to analyse them all in one big post rather than 14 individual entries so that you can directly compare all of the pre-show training.
Kimberley & Pasha – Cha Cha Cha
So Kimberley & Pasha are doing a Cha Cha for their first dance. Interesting that Kimberley is wearing trainers in her early rehearsals, I hope they’re dance sneakers and not regular trainers otherwise she’s risking an early injury.
Kimberley looks quite natural in her hip action which is a good sign and she definitely looks like she could perform on the night. It’s also good to see that Pasha is confident enough in her ability to start working on how she uses the floor – those that come to our Wednesday night technique classes should take note at 1.38 to see what we talk about in action.
Overall I’m confident in my initial prediction that Kimberley and Pasha should be one of the front runners early on.
Richard & Erin – Waltz
Richard could potentially do quite well in the Waltz, but he does have to watch his head position, you don’t want to look like you’re trying to listen to your shoulder like he does around 10 seconds in.
Also I’d like to see a bit of rise and fall on steps like his [I think] weave at 47 seconds as he’s completely flat at the moment, but it’s early days and I’m sure Erin’s been working him hard
Louis & Flavia – Cha Cha Cha
I felt in the Premiere group dance that Louis looked a little stiff so it’s good to see Flavia working so hard on his hip action, and it does look like he might be able to get his wiggle on this weekend.
Plenty of beginners that we see are surprised how much muscles hurt that they didn’t know they had after they start learning to dance. As Flavia says, although Louis is a fit and muscly gymnast, dancing requires a different usage of the muscles he has.
Louis does have a chance of doing very well in this competition if he can keep improving from this early footage, let’s just hope his body can hold up!
Fern & Artem – Cha Cha Cha
Fern is looking nice and smooth in her hip action at the moment, which bodes well, and some of these early moves are looking promising.
Shame there’s not really more dancing in this video for me to comment on though.
Nicky & Karen – Waltz
Nicky needs to make sure that his last step of the chasse is toe to flat rather than coming down early and using a heel.
He looks to have good extension in his arms, but I’m hoping that lifts aren’t going to feature too heavily in the routine as that should really be American Smooth territory.
Lisa & Robin – Cha Cha Cha
Lisa needs to watch that she keeps her shoulders down when she’s dancing but it’s good to see her hips are nice and loose already.
She’ll need to watch her facial expressions once she starts performing but I think it could be entertaining, just hopefully not too much disco Robin!
Colin & Kristina – Cha Cha Cha
Thankfully Colin is looking a little bit more comfortable with the dancing than he did during the Premiere. I don’t understand why they didn’t give him a taller partner, Latin won’t be affected as much as the Ballroom – I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a bum sticking out problem when they get the Ballroom side of things.
He still needs a lot of work on his technique but his rhythm is looking good.
Dani & Vincent – Waltz
I’m pretty sure that’s South Hill Park Arts Centre they’re training in as well, we’ve done some workshops in there, a nice little studio.
I’m liking Dani’s movement and her lines at the moment, she might not be looking forward to the Waltz but I think she could do really well based on this video.
Sid & Ola – Waltz
Sid has the same problem as Nicky with his chasse at the moment, using his heel on the fourth step rather than coming down on the toe, so we’ll see if that’s been ironed out by the time they come to perform.
Looks quite good during the pivots, but that is with a relaxed hold, I don’t think he’d be quite as successful in the ballroom hold trying that at the moment.
Victoria & Brendan – Cha Cha Cha
Victoria should have a good training mentality but I’m not sure how ‘Latin’ she’s going to be. Her initial training is looking good though she does need to remember TOTTY (Tits Over Toes Thank You) during those forward lock steps as it’s a bit pelvis first at the moment.
Johnny & Aliona & Ian Waite & Iveta Lukosiute – Cha Cha Cha
Johnny is not going to suit Cha Cha unfortunately I think, he really could have done with Waltz as his first dance. As I mentioned earlier in the week Aliona unfortunately went over on her ankle causing a hairline fracture and putting her out for 2-4 weeks. Ian jumped in to help out whilst the show found Johnny a suitable replacement (see below).
Jerry & Anton – Cha Cha Cha
Jerry definitely has a natural style and I think is actually more suited to the Cha Cha than Anton even! I think she could do quite a good dance, if the choreography does her justice.
Michael & Natalie – Waltz
Michael is going to struggle I think in the first couple of weeks as his balance doesn’t look great, but let’s hope he proves me wrong. If he can maintain a good frame though that will be half the battle.
Denise & James – Waltz
I thought from the first show that Denise showed a great deal of promise, and she’s looking good so far. Obviously needs to work on her top half position leaning out away from James, but they’ve worked on that extensively it seems.
All in all I think it promises to be a good first show and look for my analysis later tonight and tomorrow of each of their performances. Not all of the blogs are going to be live over the next few weeks as we have a lot of dance jobs on, but we’ll do our best.
Who’s got your early vote?
