We have really been enjoying this year's seaon of Strictly Come Dancing. Here's our review of week 4.

Ellie and Vito - Samba

This was a lively performance including some fancy tricks. It was a complex routine which was well danced. We would have liked this more if Ellie had spent more time perfecting fundamental elements of Samba including foot action. 

Adam and Luba - Waltz

We loved this classic waltz routine which was beautifully danced.  Adam looked light on his feet and performed some excellent footwork. We were really impressed with Adam’s improvement this week. 

Jody and Jowita - Salsa

Unfortunately this was not Jody’s best dance. We thought he did a good job of keeping his weight forwards but he looked a bit too tense in his upper body.  His arms felt a bit robotic. This could be improved if the actions of the arms were led by the body. We were impressed by the ambitious lifts, making this a fun routine to watch.

Amanda and Giovaani - Foxtrot

Amanda looked like she really enjoyed this dance. This song wasn’t the best choice for a foxtrot but it was well danced. We were impressed by Amanda’s fancy footwork and poise, especially on the rotational figures as this is difficult to achieve. We did notice that Giovanni needed some better dance shoes as they looked a bit stiff. 

Krishnan and Lauren - Paso Doble

Krishnan had the intensity of the Paso Doble, however his upper body was too square on for this dance. In Paso Doble, the upper body should be rotated away from the hips to create more shape and allow for more continuous movements. 

Zara and Graziano - Viennese Waltz

Fabulous storytelling and facial expressions from Zara this week! Zara needs to work on her posture for the ballroom dances. Her hips were too far back which made her upper body look tight affecting her ballroom frame.  We do think Zara is capable of perfecting her posture for future dances. 

Annabel and Johannes - Jive

Annabel did an outstanding job of keeping her weight forward throughout this dance. She showed some great flicks danced from the knee. She could improve this further by straightening her legs more. We thought Annabel danced the chicken walks extremely well for a beginner. We were impressed with how in sync she was with Johannes throughout the performance. 

Eddie and Karen - American Smooth

This dance showed us eddies personality and brought out his playful side. Eddie does a really good job of holding his body weight up, however there are times his shoulders almost come up to his ears. If Eddie can focus on pushing his feet through the floor he will look much smoother in the ballroom and smooth styles. 

Layton and Nikita - Cha Cha Cha

This was another fantastic high energy performance from Layton. Layton is a fantastic dancer however he relies a lot on his previous dance training and does not always adapt to the dance styles each week. He has the opposite problem of the other pros, often over dancing his upper body where we feel he could pay more attention to the legs and feet and use more Cuban actions in his hips. - very brave to use Shirley’s signature move, “the pot stirrer”. 

Nigel and Katya - Salsa

No one puts Nigel in a corner! We wanted to join in with this excellent party dance. Nigel had clearly worked hard on his body actions in training which paid off throughout the performance. Despite having to make time to practice that impressive lift, the basic salsa technique was still danced well making this a well rounded performance. 

Angela and Carlos - Viennese Waltz

Angela is a beautiful dancer but she did have a few unfortunate mistakes in this performance. When she took frame she had quite a respectable ballroom position however her performance seemed quite contained this week, especially compared to her lively Charleston from the previous week.   As Shirley pointed out that the footwork becomes really important in the Viennese Waltz to achieve soft and smooth movement around the floor which we hope Angela will improve upon. 

Angela and Kai - Rumba

Angela has very impressive flexibility and control over her body and showed an extremely classy Rumba. Kai really worked on making sure she used her legs through the floor and she did a fantastic job of standing over a straight leg. A bit more cuban motion in the hips would have made this performance perfect to watch. A very impressive dance. 

Bobby and Diane - Tango: 

Who chose the music this week? This song was not great for the Tango. We thought Bobby displayed a fantastic ballroom frame. Keeping the knees bent is fundamental to dancing the Tango, which Bobby did well. We would like to add the bent knees in this performance was nothing to do with the height difference as we saw published in The Metro. 

In summary, we saw some absolutely amazing dancing again this week. We have some very talented celebrities this year which will make for some stiff competition. It’s going to be hard to see contestants leave in the coming weeks as so many of them have lots of potential.