Strictly Common Sense!

What a difference a week makes! Whether it's because Strictly Come Dancing came from the most famous location for ballroom dancing in the World, or whether people have woken up to reality, but the outcome was right! And for the 1st time in 4 weeks, the 3rd place couple weren't in the dance off! A-ma-zing!

I still haven't watched the full programme yet, but I have seen some of the dances and the results! Although Ali and Brian's Viennese Waltz was excellent, I couldn't see that it was better than Ricky Whittle's Quickstep last week. But it is hard to create the same level of impact from a Viennese Waltz as it is from a Quickstep. Technically, yes it probably was perfect but I felt it lacked some of the emotion whereas Ricky Whittle's Quickstep really captured the fun and spirit of the dance.

I was pleased for Chris Hollins too who made the toughest ballroom dance look rather easy with his best performance of the series, and a showcase of his real ability and potential. The fear of going wrong seems like it may have left him too as he didn't make any mistakes. Once again Jade Johnson proved her all round abilities by performing a lively and light jive with good flicks and kicks. It can't be easy at her height, but she made it just that. I am hoping she will make it to the final.

Everyone I have seen so far seems to have enjoyed the larger and more vocal audience too. And just seeing the magnificent Tower Ballroom in all it's splendour makes you just want to get up and join in! Oh how I love the Tower Ballroom, there is nowhere more magical, and no better buzz than dancing at your best on that floor! Though it does seem they may have loosened the springs for Strictly Come Dancing as normally when I have danced there you can't tell it is sprung until there's 100+ people on it!

Strictly Lost It!

Once again I have been left wondering what I have just watched after watching the recording of last night’s Strictly. Craig should almost certainly be gone after that performance again … not Craig Kelly either, no, Craig Revel Horwood! A judge shouldn’t be affecting people’s opinions by being overly personal and massively underscoring contestants, which Craig evidently does. I like to think I am a pretty mentally tough person, but when he laid into Ricky Groves I had to think that I wanted him to stay because he had been so badly under-marked. Once again Len Goodman hit the nail on the head in that rumba is hard for a male celeb as you tend to either be too masculine and stiff or too feminine, basically because you overcompensate.

It is hard to say who should have been in the dance off because so many couple were so close, and the ones who weren’t as good in the judges eyes were under-marked, or like Craig Kelly, had made a massive leap forwards. There was another couple under-marked. Ricky Whittle and Natalie Lowe should have had straight 10s, especially after Craig’s comments that bandy legs and pigeon toes hadn’t stopped Brendan Cole becoming World Champion. I think he may just have lost a bit of touch with reality. Out of the 2 couples in the dance off I would have chosen Zoe and James to stay. Once again James has gone far too soon, I don’t know what he has to do to get further, once again he’s had a great partner. Maybe the judges were right with the bottom two. But Craig certainly doesn’t encourage sensible voting from the public!

This is turning into a bit of a rant over one of my favourite TV shows! Yes, I was left less than impressed by the professional group too! They didn’t quite look as polished as you might expect for much of the routine, but particularly in the lifts! And poor Aliona’s life must have flashed before her eyes when she nearly went flying over Matt. The situation was redeemed though by their excellent demo when they were left alone, which seemed like it may have had the hours put into it. Even the BeeGees took some warming up, and Robin was never quite on the note!

There were some real positives too though. The standard of dancing was actually very high, and overall the judges scores did reflect the closeness of the pack. Then there was Ricky Whittle’s quickstep which was probably the best quickstep I have ever seen by a celebrity, and one of the best dances overall. Craig? 9? What? I would like to see you do that routine better! So in summary I really enjoyed the show but the result and pro group dance were an anti-climax, and Craig should be sacked!!

Dancing through injury!

I started dancing over 4 years ago now, partly because my mates had better moves in the clubs, partly because of Strictly having gained fast popularity and also because it was recommended as a way to improve a foot injury. In December 2003 I was at rugby training and my right foot gave way whilst running on it. The pain was pretty intense, and I had to pull out of the exercise for a while. However I was enjoying myself a little too much, and when the pain went, I joined in training again. After about 5 minutes running, my foot went again, but this time I could barely walk on it. I sat out for the rest of training then went to hospital later for an x-ray fearing that I had broken something. The nurse told me it was likely to be ligament damage, gave me treatment and sent me on my way. After a while, I went to my GP because it wasn't improving, who advised me that it might benefit from physio but there was a 6 month waiting list, not saying that without this it wasn't likely to improve at all.

Moving forward to around Easter of 2005 and I took up a ballroom and latin american dance class, and low and behold, some of the pain started to ease as my foot gained some strength back. All was going well until the cold and damp weather set in, when my foot started playing up again, and swelling. This was a recurring problem anytime there was dampness in the air, be it cold or warm (England doesn't get hot!) but I stuck with it, taking some supplements and aspirin. I started taking glucosamine sulphate at first, which had a slight effect on my foot, with it's natural anti-inflammatory properties. This still didn't help on dancing exam days though where my foot was pretty much guaranteed to swell!

The next supplement I added was Devil's Claw, a natural pain killer and anti-inflammtory and once again there was further improvement. I had been taking solely these two until earlier this year, when I was introduced to alkaline water. At first I was very sceptical that changing the water I drank would make a difference to my foot (as you would be), but Paul invited me to try some, and to my amazement you could really taste the difference between the alkaline water and tap water. As time has gone by I have moved from 8.5pH to 9.5pH water as gradually my foot has improved, and weeks where I have drank purely tap water, that pain has come back! Many scientists have tried to play down then benefit of alkaline water, and as a non-scientist I can only speak for the experience I have had of it, which when I have taken it in conjunction with my supplements, there has been a vast improvement in my foot.

If you research alkaline water online, you will no doubt read scientific reports suggesting that it is a placebo effect, and that there is no evidence to show that alkaline water has benefits. However before I drank alkaline water my foot used to physically swell and become painful to the point some dances I had to stop, however I have not had any swelling since drinking alkaline water and the pain has been cut down to a minimum! Physical swelling I'm sure, cannot be affected by a placebo! I would suggest to anyone else who has an injury to ligaments etc that they try alkaline water. The water ionizers aren't cheap, but may well be worth the investment.