No Spaghetti Arms here! (Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life
Date:	08/11/07 (801 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really really enjoyable TV

Disadvantages: Nothing whatsoever

The show started on Living TV on the 17th of October and is on every Wednesday at 9pm. Filmed at the Mountain Lake Resort , Virginia (aka Kellermans from the film) it started with 16 British hopeful dancers – 8 boys and 8 girls – who had auditioned and got through eventually to be in these final set of eight couples.

They did not know each other at the beginning and in the first episode the girls were instructed to pick a boy to be their dance partner for that weeks dance off. They had to choose based on what they could see physically and the brief “get to know each other meet” they had engaged in prior to the partner pick. I think some relationships were borne from this original pick and some of the couples just clicked with each other and have gone on to pick each other again in the following weeks. For others however this pick and future ones have been disastrous as potential partners have been picked by other people leaving couples to dance together who have no compatibility.

Once partner pick is out of the way they are shown a piece of choreography that they have to include in their own choreographed dance based on that weeks theme. For example they are all told the theme this week was “Dirty Rock & Roll”. This is basically Rock & Roll with a Dirty Dancing feel thrown in. They are shown a small section of choreography that has to be included in their own piece and are left to work it our for themselves and practice all week, ready for the Dance Off when one couple will be sent home each week.

The show needs judges as do all these competition style programmes and I am actually really comfortable with who they chose.

Jennifer Ellison is trained in Modern Dance and Ballet and with her Liverpudlian accent she brings a bit of normality to the show. It is all big and bold and Ellison, although coming out with some cheesy lines quite frequently, is a really likeable girl who gets emotionally involved with the contestants, really trying to help them out.

Sean Cheesman is a world renowned choreographer and has won many awards so he knows what he is looking for when he judges. He is the tough one and I suppose he is meant to be the Simon Cowell of this show, but to my joy – he does not slate the contestants simply for a reaction and good ratings. He criticises fairly and he does not overdo his speeches. I really like his personality and his dedication to the show and the choreography he teaches the contestants is amazing.

Lastly, Miranda Garrison, who is also a choreographer but more importantly for me played Vivienne, the sultry man eater who tries to bed Johnny Castle, in the original film. She is really lovely too and gives the contestants some much needed praise and encouragement, even if they were awful and fluffed it up, she has something nice to say but not in a patronising way.

So far, I am totally addicted. The show is on for an hour and about a quarter of that is taken up with the Dance Off at the end. I love watching the outcome of the dancer’s hard work and seeing them in their costumes, working hard to give the best performance of the night, is really exciting for me.

I like the fact that they don’t rely totally on how the contestants are getting on together and you only see small snippets of footage that is not based around rehearsals or practice in some way. There are certainly arguments and obviously love matches and these are good to watch but it does not focus solely on this aspect of the experience for them. It is reality TV but I would not be happy if it went down the Big Brother route and we saw footage of the dancers clipping their nails! Not my idea of fun but the balance they have shown so far is perfect.

Another aspect I liked was the fact that it started straight away, with the 16 finalist already in place. We didn’t have to watch loads of audition episodes, which whilst may be funny at times, the elimination of them made it feel more grown up for me and not out to just give people a laugh. Sure it is entertainment but not in the same vain as X Factor or other signing shows.

I have totally become involved with all the dancers now and do feel jealous of the way they can move. I am not exactly Mr Bean on the dance floor but these guys and girls are amazing and I really wish I could dance like they do. They have all been trained by various dance programmes as they have grown up so the majority of the choreography comes easily to them, but they still have to work at it and it’s not always a piece of cake, especially if you end up with the wrong partner.

I have my favourites already, although they decided to experiment with different partners this week and almost blew it. Thankfully they were saved and I am happy for another week, keeping my fingers crossed they manage to pick each other for the partner pick next week. I find this a really tense part of the show, as the outcome relies on this so much. They have to do a challenge each week, from cleaning duties, to army manoeuvres and the winning couple get to choose who picks that week – girls or boys – and then everyone has to stand in line based on where they came in the challenge. The couple at the end of the line have no choice in who they end up with as all the picking has been done by the girls/boys in the line ahead of them. It is embarrassing obviously for whoever gets left in line till last but I guess someone has to be.

Some of my favourite challenges are the ones where they recreate scenes from the film and the best one was the lake lift. If you have seen the film you will surely remember Patrick Swayze trying to lift Jennifer Grey above his head in the lake. The contestants had to recreate this and whoever managed to stay in the lift for the longest won the challenge. That was really good and they have also done the log balance one.

This week was the first time I felt sad to see someone go home as I didn’t think they deserved it but then the dancers left in the competition are all excellent dancers and the prize of a year long dance contract with top dance agency Bloc is open to every one of them to win. I know every week will be sad from here on in for me. However I do like the fact that it is not a public vote and it is purely down to the judges.

This has to be my favourite TV Show on at the moment. In the age of reality shows and competitions this is above shows like the X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing in my enjoyment zone and I will be sorely disappointed when it ends.

I’m having the Time of my Life watching this!

Summary: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED x