Week 5 - Halloweeeeeeeeen!

Much excitement! Halloween week last year was one of my favourite Strictly weeks ever!  It's great to have a theme.  Glad they're not doing a theme every week as I do like to see a classic dance performance too but it's great to have them thrown in there.  Well done producers!

Anyway, onto the show.  I annoyingly had to wait til about midnight to watch the show when it appeared on Iplayer and then managed to watch most of it last night before watching the remainder this morning. 

Glad to see everyone taking part in the 'Adams Family' opening though it would have been amazing to have a Pro dance.. perhaps that'll come in the Results show tonight (*hoping*)

Onto the couples...

Russell & Flavia 6 Samba
The samba was not a dance of fear for Russell as it is for most of the celebrities.  He had a great bounce action, was demonstrating actual samba steps and it was just a big shame that he went wrong a few times.  It was a hard dance to do in Halloween week and I wondered how it could still be a 'party' dance but it was.  I throughly enjoyed the performance to 'Better the Devil You Know'.  Well done and fingers crossed for next week.

Chelsee & Pasha 8 Tango
I was with Bruce... I didn't notice the dress malfunction.  I had to rewatch the dance to see what the fuss was about.  I noticed that she started to look less comfortable towards the end but wasn't sure why.  So we'll not talk about that anymore.  the dance was strong and powerful.  It was a bit over the top, dramatically, but I suppose it is Halloween week so they were going for the performance aspect.  I think that the tango loses the tension when you start to really play it so forceful and strong but that's me being nitty-picky.  I would have prefered more subtleness.

Audley & Natalie 6 Jive
This guy does have swing and style up top.  I really enjoyed the performance.  It did look like he was struggling to move his feet fast enough for the steps but he did a passable job and I hope he is voted through to next week when he has more time to train.  It woudl be interesting to see how much better he could actually get.

Alex & James  7 Paso Doble
I loved the costumes.  Alex looked like Christine from 'Phantom of the Opera' and James made a good Dracula.  It was a good performance.  I liked James' idea of Alex using her skirt almost like a cape at the start of the routine though it did go on slightly too long for my liking but Alex may have needed that long to get into the role and get settled into performing alone.  There were some good actual Paso steps in the routine.  Alex still looked somewhat flimsy in some of her actions and nervy but she was really trying to hide that with a more confident performance.  I still believe she has lots of potential.

Holly & Artem 9 American Smooth (Black Swan)
Stunning costumes.  This was a beautiful show piece.  I wish it had been more Ballroom dancing as the opening section was really good but then it just went into a show routine which was fabulous.  A great achievement and I won't continue to moan about the lack of content as it was a great routine.  (However it may have been closer to a 10 if I'd seen more good ballroom)

Nancy & Anton 3 Rumba
I think this dance should have been Nancy's best hope but it failed unfortunately.  The dance steps looked plonky and she looked unfeminine throughout. 

Harry & Aliona  9 Tango
This man is good!  I was swaying between an 8 and a 9 but his small tango section has pushed it up to a 9.  He had the flexed knees, his posture was fantastic and his performance was brilliant. 

Robbie & Ola 8 Paso Doble
Loved the Michael Jackson element in this routine.  Robbie has so much oomph and potential.  He looks so eager to learn and Ola must be working so hard with him.  His walks weren't perfect style for Paso.. I think he needs to pull his posture up some more but I did enjoy it.

Anita & Robin 7 Tango
You can't say this performance wasn't dramatic but I didn't really enjoy it. Anita did do well and achieved a routine with lots of tango elements but I was distracted by the 'devilish' facial expressions.

Lulu & Brendan  7 Paso Doble
I loved their performance.  Great idea Brendan!  Lulu did it with such determination and great performance.  I want to give them more points but I do think her feet aren't as good.  I hope the technique improves each week as her confidence is growing each week. 

Jason & Kristina 9 Quickstep
Excellent routine.  They  both gave us a great finale to the show.  I did suspect Jason had gone wrong slightly but it didn't distract from the routine.  I'd also like his elbows to be lifted to improve his posture some more.  His steps were fluent.  It was a light, 'bewitching' quickstep.  Loved it.  Definitely the couple to watch!

Top Couple tonight:-  Jason & Kristina's Quickstep
Routine I want to watch again (and have!) - Lulu & Brendan
Couple to leave - Nancy & Anton
Best Costumes: - Alex & James (very classic Halloween and fitting to the dance) and Holly & Artem (stunning)
Cutest VT - Audley's daughter being twirled by Audley.