So this week the competitors are either performing a Foxtrot (my personal favourite) or a Rumba.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Foxtrot, I think any of the ‘floaty’ ballroom dances will really suit a wheeled competitor.

Up first, Diana Morgan-Hill & Mark Foster – Foxtrot

I’d like to see maybe a little more contrast in the speeds, and Diana needs to ensure her arms are shaped and ‘finished’ when she’s apart from Mark.

Some very nice and well time maneuvers and I think a really good use of the chair in that dance. I think they’ll be easily safe this week.

Paul Jacob & Heather Small – Rumba

Heather really struggled to stay in time last week, I think if she doesn’t manage it this week they could well be going home.

I don’t like their arm movements, they always look uncomfortable, and Heather needs to count in her head rather than evidently.

A nice ending but I didn’t really think most of the dance was that good i’m afraid and early contenders for the dance-off.

Simone Milani & Kevin Sacre – Rumba

The best performance last week, I want to see how Simone copes without being in hold for the majority of the routine.

Kevin doesn’t look as comfortable with the Latin as he did with the Tango last week, and Simone’s hands are actually better than Kevin’s.

Nowhere near as good as their routine last week but still a much better performance than Paul & Heather.

Harry Maule & Michelle Gayle – Rumba

Not a particularly good performance last week, I hope they do better this week.

Some nice moves at the start, it’s just such a shame that Harry can’t sit up straighter in his chair (something that Ade suggested last week shouldn’t be as much of a problem as Harry appears to make it).

A nice performance but still could do with improvement.

I can’t imagine how hard it is for Harry to stay in time with those shakes going on!

James O’Shea & Caroline Flack – Foxtrot

So Caroline almost didn’t show, due to sickness – which would have seen them ejected from the competition and everyone else given a bye – but finally she did show up and let’s hope they do the dance justice.

Ballroom must be an interesting challenge for the man, normally required to lead, when you can’t really get the purchase in the floor to guide your partner.

A good performance and flowed well, though it looked like Caroline had a little slip up in the middle, but probably the best performance of the night.

Overview

I think the bottom two will be Paul & Heather and Harry & Michelle. This’ll be a close one but I think Heather’s timing issue, two weeks in a row, will be a major downfall for them if she mucks up in the dance-off.

It’s interesting to see the interaction between the three judges, considering that two of them are married, but there does seem to be independant opinions being shown.

Dance-off and Result

Bottom two as predicted then, everything on this performance for both of them.

I’m stil not impressed with Heather’s use of her body, it still looks really forced, and she’s unfortunately gone completely out of time again. That I think will see them going home.

Michelle could dance a little softer but it does look like Harry has heeded Ade’s request to stand up better. Michelle does look very uncomfortable and forced in quite a few of the movements though.

Voting then:

James – Harry & Michelle
Ola – Harry & Michelle
Ade – Harry & Michelle

Unanimously then Paul & Heather are sent home 3-0, not a suprise I’m afraid as I do think they were the weakest couple left. Harry & Michelle do need to up their game though if they want any chance of staying in next week.

What do you think of how the show’s developing, and this week’s result?

The post Dancing on Wheels – Show 2 appeared first on Learn To Dance.

I know 9pm is the ‘Watershed’ for programming in the UK but I still think they should have bleeped or edited the majority of the swearing from this program. The day after the show first aired I mentioned it to one of my students and he complained how he’d been watching it with his 11yr old daughter, expecting a Strictly-esque show, to be confronted by a barrage of expletives that forced him to quickly change channel.

But I’m not here to discuss the broadcasting decisions, just the dancing, so let’s begin!

The premise of the show is based around the fact that the UK has never really taken wheelchair dancing as seriously as some of the other major nations, and therefore has never had an entrant in the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships. This show hopes to change that by pitting 6 couples (one able-bodied and one wheelchair-bound) against each other over the series to determine who should represent the UK in the Championships.

Brian Fortuna is the main face of the show and I didn’t feel he came across in the best light in many places, not sure if you’ll agree but I thought he seemed a bit of a shit for the vast majority of the program and didn’t seem to care about the feelings/opinions of the contestants. Granted I can understand the pressure of trying to train a number of couples to have individual routines in a short space of time – I’ve done it myself and it is stressful – and there are times when you just want to say to someone “get on with it and do what you’re told” but then sometimes they’re feedback can inspire the creative process outside of what you might original envisage.

Rant over though and on to the actual dancing itself.

Before I start I think it’s important to understand what could be expected of routines in this genre, and so I did some Youtube research and was really impressed with some of the possibilities:

However I don’t expect anyone to come out of the blocks dancing like that just yet, but I would like to see the potential there from them.

Up first, James O’Shea & Caroline Flack – Cha Cha Cha

So James and Brian had the biggest swearing exchange broadcast, all regarding the lack of innovation and challenge in the routine, but did James have a point or was he just disrespecting Brian’s expertise?

Not so sure on the choice of beard design, and just like Strictly I wish we could see more of the dance and less fancy camera angles and switching back to the ‘green room’.

I’m trying to decide how I feel about this, I would’ve liked to have seen what James’ input into the routine could have produced – given his dance abilities shown in the intro video. For me the whole routine seemed to lack a bit of content but that could be down to the fact that the celebs are also learning at the same time – I’d have liked to have seen the Pro’s partnering the wheelchair users.

Overall though not a bad performance, how it’ll compare to the rest remains to be seen.

Carolyne Underwood & Martin Offiah – Tango

Possibly the competitor with the hardest job, due to being paralysed from the chest down, Carolyne has had to be literally strapped to the chair to help her to generate upper body strength to maintain her frame.

How it’ll affect the dance remains to be seen.

A promising start, if a little lacking in staccato movements but I did find the routine a little boring and falling short in content.

Harry Maule & Michelle Gayle – Cha Cha

Always humorous when you can see someone looking scared and counting as if their life depended on it. Harry could sit up a little straighter in his chair and I’d have liked to have seen a bit of body movement in the initial clapping.

Michelle needs to be a bit tighter with her footwork, and try to skip less.

Harry needs to smile more and could have been a bit quicker in places, especially the New Yorks.

Diana Morgan-Hill & Mark Foster – Tango

Let’s hope Diana’s chair doesn’t come apart in the performance like it did in training, though they would be given the opportunity to either restart or be marked up to that point if it did happen.

Interesting that Brian has picked the same track that he and Ali used in Strictly.

Nice dramatism to start and good use of the wheelchair when Mark kicks it round on the spot. There is no comparison in this routine to the one produced by Carolyne and Martin unfortunately.

A very good routine and showing promise of what a wheelchair user can actually accomplish on the dance floor. So far vastly superior to any other performance.

Paul Jacob & Heather Small – Cha Cha

Brian had these two perform in a London train station to try and get over Heather’s nerves, but i’m hoping the performance has improved since then as it wasn’t the best.

Unfortunately Heather seems to have gone out of time with the music, and seems to be forcing her hips rather than letting them flow through the feet.

Paul seemed a little uncomfortable and didn’t really show any personality or style in his performance.

Simone Milani & Kevin Sacre – Tango

Although Kevin hasn’t been on Strictly he is engaged to last year’s winner Camilla Dallerup, so i’m guessing he probably has been near a dance floor with her in their time together.

Straight away that’s very definitely evident – Kevin’s a surprisingly good dancer and they’re definitely making a better use of the wheelchair than the majority of the other competitors. This does lead me to wish that they had paired them with real professionals though.

Ultimately the best dance of the night and strong contenders to win the whole competition, though it’ll be interesting to see how Simone copes when she has to dance Latin on her own.

Overview

For me the bottom two this week would have to be Paul & Heather and Carolyne & Martin. Out of those two I think Paul & Heather possibly have more potential.

Interesting to hear the comments from Ade Adepitan regarding Carolyne’s control of the wheelchair as this is something that I, as an able-bodied person, wouldn’t have understood.

Dance-off and Result

Watching Carolyne & Martin’s performance second time around, it still lacks dynamism for me but you can see that Carolyn is definitely controlling the movement of the chair.

Good to see Heather managing to stay in time this time round and I think they gave the better performance and so will still stay in.

Voting then:

Ade – Paul & Heather
Ola – Carolyne & Martin
James – Paul & Heather

So 2-1 sends Carolyne & Martin home and breaks their pact of ‘not going home in the first week’.

Has anyone else been watching the show, what do you think? Is it a good advertisement for wheelchair dancing and is there anything you’d change about the program?

Let us know on the comments link below.

The post Show No.1 appeared first on Learn To Dance.

So the six couples (one celeb and one wheelchair user) are the following:

James O’Shea & Caroline Flack

Harry Maule & Michelle Gayle

Paul Jacob & Heather Small

Diana Morgan-Hill & Mark Foster

Carolyne Underwood & Martin Offiah

Simone Milani & Kevin Sacre

All the celebs have either appeared in Strictly, or have dance training in their background so I’m interested in seeing how this develops.

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