i know i rambled on about strictly yesterday but i haven’t had my fill of dance blogging yet (if you have, i apologise…)

on saturday i watched (recorded; cos of all the ads) dancing with the stars aka. US strictly, which i’m only an occasional watcher of because in the past i’ve found it a very pale imitation of SCD (fewer judges, fewer contestants and often the celebs get much nicer remarks than they would over here). but this was the semi-final, and it was FABULOUS!

there’s never been a semi that good in the british version, ever. mel b’s viennese waltz (WATCH IT!) was the best ballroom dance i’ve ever seen (made both me and my mum cry*), and of the two shows, second only to jill halfpenny’s jive. who’d have thought a viennese waltz could ever be interesting, let alone feisty and sexy and fun?! her paso was again incredible, although i could have done without the erm, whip. and her outfit was godawful. i loved helio’s performances, especially the foxtrot (but more than that his partner, whateverhernameis, is breathtaking. no wonder she won last year, she doesn’t really need a partner).

i also loved jennie’s amazing cha-cha, which was just brilliant. but marie… i’m not so bothered about. her quickstep was good, but there was a massive gap between her and her partner, which = bad and her mambo was entertaining but a bit messy. (the words lucy ricardo sprung to mind). but there must be a huge wellspring of osbornemond support (who knew?) ‘cos she stayed in and jennie was out. FIX!

anyway, i’m crossing my fingers for the yorkshirewoman to win: come on mel b! please, no-one with inside knowledge give away the result, i want to wait until after my florida trip to find out who’s won. (which might be hard/impossible considering i’ll be in the US from wednesday night, but hopefully i can have something of a news blackout, or something). and when i get back, i’ll have about four hours of dancing to catch up with - i can’t wait.

*though to be fair, when it comes to dancing that isn’t hard.