Strictly Come Dancing 2020

[redfiona99]

(possible flashing lights warning)

Nicola Adams and Katya Jones were paired together in this year's Strictly Come Dancing, as the first same-sex couple on the show*. They were, of course, fab and adorable. Unfortunately they had to drop out early on due to Katya being in contact with someone with COVID.

The only upside to this was that I didn't have to listen to Shirley Ballas finding new ways of saying that Nicola Adams didn't have "feminine lines" (whatever the expletive that means), because I was worried that if that did happen, I would have a rage embolism.

Nicola and Katya came back for the finale for a one-off performance (see video below), and it looks like Katya was also expecting that, and choreographed around it.

Watch on YouTube

It turns out that Nicola Adams is a stronger lead than any of the male celebrities and as good at lifts as several of them.** This does not surprise. Despite my terribleness at latin and ballroom dancing, I know that at the heart of being a good lead is confidence, and in boxing (and all fight sports) you have to convey a sense of being confident even when you're not, which helps enormously.

I was team Bill Bailey/Nicola Adams/Jason Bell/JJ Chalmers. Which meant I was down to team Bill/JJ remarkably quickly, in between Nicola Adams's removal due to COVID protocols and JBell being done up like a kipper by someone*** deciding to make him dance a paso doble to the Star Wars theme. Yes, that's a "need a strong beat and to count to 8" to the Star Wars theme.

Done up like a kipper.

I was less surprised than most people that Bill Bailey was competent, mostly because you can't be that good a musician and be a completely incompetent dancer, but I was surprised by quite how good he was.

Watch on YouTube

(Yes, I am biased because Oti is my favourite of the female dancers)

Given my usual involvement with Strictly is reading who has been paired with whom to answer the question of "has Anton been given the lemon?" with the almost inevitable yes, there has been more Strictly in my life than usual. (One day Anton will retire and someone else will have to learn how to choreograph for lemons. I think it will probably be Johannes.)

I am very happy with Bill Bailey winning.

*because I lack joy, I still think it's a gimmick, because if it wasn't a gimmick, straight celebrities would be in same-sex pairings too. It would make life easier for some of the shorter men and taller women.

** I completely understand Bill Bailey not wanting to do lifts, because I think he's more aware than some of the youths about the damage that could happen if he dropped Oti, and lifts are something you shouldn't do if you're not confident.

*** I know the someone wasn't JBell or Luba, his dance partner, because she'd never seen Star Wars before.

Comments

[ioplokon]

Oof yeah. I watch Battle of the Blades (where hockey players learn how to do pairs figure skating; it's kind of cool bc basically everyone involved is an elite athlete so you have a better baseline than if it was random celebrities) and the women's hockey players are at such a disadvantage because of the judging criteria around figure skating & ballroom dance and how heavily gendered they are. Plus obviously, as in dance, like99% of the injury risk is taken by the woman in the pair. I dunno, it's better than gymnastics, but I have a like, bad feeling about sports/athletics that basically require - because of their rule system - women to be as small as possible, take large health risks, and essentially ban them from wearing any kind of protective equipment for aesthetic reasons...

But anyway, for the celebrity competitions, at a minimum, surely they could let go of the 'women must perform femininity' shit and judge based on personality, strength, rhythm, etc. when appropriate? Like, you know, it's not the world championships just fuckin chill out?

[redfiona99]

I mean, it's like, I actually have more respect for Bill Bailey for not being willing to risk Oti's health and safety.

I am so with you re: not the World Championships, especially as feminine lines, as far as I can tell, is something to ping female celebrities over 30 on, when they're not willing to shake it like a polaroid picture in the latin dances. I notice, with great rage, that they never ping the male celebs for not being able to do the kick wiggle hip twist thing that Gorka does. (The lovely Gorka does it best, I choose to celebrate him.)

[ioplokon]

Ah man, that sounds even more like bullshit than I thought. I was thinking 'feminine lines' was more like, porte de bras & épaulement (something which applies to both parties in a dance, even if judges on these shows rarely critique a male celeb's arm/head positioning) and not like a more ambiguous 'feminine' movement.

But yeah, you're right that the men definitely don't get as much critique on their movement/delicateness (at least on Battle, they are pretty much always telling the guys to be more emotionally vulnerable and to improve their skating finesse). The other thing I think gets overlooked is how much the lifted partner actually contributes to the lift. Sure, it's possible for someone who is very strong to deadlift someone up but a big reason most of the guys on these competitions can get someone up is because she's helping with her core strength and control.

[lilacsigil]

We had a ballroom competition show in Australia about 10 years back - professionals and dedicated amateurs, not celebrities - and they had same-sex couples from the second episode on. It was great! They also had women who lifted men, two pairs with one of the pair in a wheelchair, and one pair with the male partner on elbow crutches.

But now it's celebrity dancing and it's all back to the "traditional" stuff so I don't bother watching.

[redfiona99]

I just about remember the old 'Come Dancing' which was dance teams from around the country competing. No special effects, lots more footwork.

Occasionally the celebs are UK paralympians but I think the programme organisers wouldn't know what to do with someone dancing in a wheelchair (given the conniptions people were having over Nicola Adams having a clause in her contract saying "no high heels").