Episode 53 Strictly - It Takes Two

Tonight, I am joined by an array of incredible individuals.

And we have a man with a sparkly wand looking for a warm-up.

Well, if you want a warm-up Ian, you got it.

Live from London, this is Strictly it takes to. Please welcome your

host, Zoe Ball! CHEERING.

Tonight, Ian Waite takes a first peek at this week's training,

as our couples get to grips with two dances.

Tommy Blaize and Hayley Sanderson from the Strictly Come Dancing band

Plus, Katie and Anton are here to celebrate

making it all the way to the semi-final.

But first, it may be getting cold outside

but this weekend's group dance is bucking

This week's group dances all about being in a club. Not that type of

club. I mean a Latin theme in a club, sorry. This week, we are going

to be dancing to a J-Lo song. It is a routine where we play little

characters, it is always fun to do it all together. It is important to

take five every now and again. We are taking ten every now and again,

let them do all the hard work. Join us later in the week when we will be

breaking down the moves even more. A tasty little tease.

I'd like to book a one-way ticket to Havana, Cuba.

How do you fancy a little peek through the windows

His residency continues, it's Ian Waite!

CHEERING. Do you like the shirt? It is the

closest I could get to a Cuban shirt. And a lovely pair of chinos.

OK, it is the semifinal, can you believe we are at this point

already? It means I am only going to see you a couple more times this

year. Two more dances this week, how difficult will it be? I don't think

it will be, in Blackpool, they learned to dances, their own dance

and group dance, so I think they will cope with its -- learn two

dances. But the energy levels, they must be shattered? It depends what

dances they have. Our first round, Jay and Leona, leaders of the pack,

dancing of the unease walls to Bryan Adams. -- Viennese waltz. I don't

see much of the unease going on but this side-by-side is lovely, it is

lyrical, it is expressive. I love his arms, very balletic, but most of

all, let me just get this out of... Most of all, I love this area here,

his feet. I can't believe how much he points. Even the bustle is

envious. I am not surprised, it looks beautiful. Kellie and Kevin,

an American Smooth to Nat King Cole, an absolute classic. Will this be a

classic? It has a lovely foxtrot flow to it and I always talk about

that Rolls-Royce sort of action. She is releasing her toes, I would like

to see a bit of a longer stride. The judges always say that about the

foxtrot. They have shorter legs than you. But the action makes it look

like you have longer legs. The only thing I can really say about the

technique, because it is looking very nice at this stage already, is

that sometimes she is losing her neck. Her shoulders are a little bit

up, so if she can just lower the shoulders, then the neck will get

longer, so it is about lowering the shoulders. Judges often make

comments like that. Anita and Gleb, one of their dances will be a

foxtrot to New York, New York, Frank Sinatra. Sorry, first of all, Katie

and Anton, a waltz to Pacini, how is it looking? They are just

and Anton, a waltz to Pacini, how is but it is a walled scum are so Anton

will be in his element. -- it is a Waltz. Lovely lunch, if she can just

get that he'll of the floor, -- her Waltz. Lovely lunch, if she can just

front foot on the floor, then she will get her knees together a little

bit more and her hips up. Do you see that? It is just a little detail

which will help her. Now Anita and Gleb and their foxtrot to New

which will help her. Now Anita and it look? It looks quite nice, it is

moving quite well and she has stuck to him like blue, which is essential

in a ballroom dance. to him like blue, which is essential

be? If you stop it here, you can see she has kind of lost her neck, a

little bit like Kellie in that situation, she has sunk into the

arms and she needs to push out to create that long neck. I am lucky

because my neck is probably two and a half inches longer than an average

deck. Yes, darling. Georgia and Giovanni, a Viennese waltz,

unanimously saved in the dance-off on Sunday, this looks beautiful. It

is, and they have a bit of a head start because they did at the unease

Waltz and American Smooth in Blackpool, she will have already

experienced it -- Viennese waltz. She has this lovely cold, I am

really impressed with her ballroom, there are a number of points, she

has that lovely neck and shape in the body, the flower in the bars,

she has her hand the body, the flower in the bars,

and her chest up to him and she has her hips under and look at that

lovely closing of the feed, so all the elements are very good. It looks

very promising. We will discuss the second dances later in the show,

that is your first dose, Ian Waite. Lovely man.

Each week, our Strictly singers provide the musical soundtrack

that carries our couples across the ballroom floor.

But who are the people behind those incredible voices?

# Oh, baby, give me Let's welcome our fabulous live

singers. At long last, will you everyone is so excited about you

coming on the show, you are the heroes of the show, you and the guys

in the barn. This week, two dances, which means two songs and ten

altogether. How has the work been going, Hayley? Brilliantly and it is

the end of the series and everyone is feeling it but we have some nice

songs this week, it is quite fun to learn. There are some classics but

some big belters as well. Tommy, how does it work from when Dave, the

lovely leader, and the boss, gets given the songs by the dancers or

production, what happens from there? We are sent the songs on the Monday

or the Tuesday and we allocate who will sing what song. The songs

normally jump out and say that is your song, that is your type of

song, we all have stylised... We roughly know who will do it. So if

it was quite poppy, who would sing bad? It could be myself, it could be

Lantz. -- it could be Lantz. We all have different sounds. Are you all

quite versatile, there are certainly different styles? You have to be in

this job, it is not just lead vocals, there are backing vocals you

have to do, so the more versatile you are, the better. How do you

prepare for each show? Do you do little warm-ups and stuff, do you do

any lunges, what goes on? I think lots of water, I end up drinking far

more water than ever. Pineapple. What does that keep your vocal

chords...? Yes, keeps them warm. We can hear you doing some lovely

warm-ups here. And Tommy with his keyboard, he gives us notes, you are

very talented on that. I have heard all about Tommy's talents on the

keyboard. So this week, we have pop, rock, Opera, how... Which ones are

you doing this week, Hayley? I am doing a couple of ballads and then I

will say classical, because the word operetta scares me. Are you sinking

the Puccini? I will give it a good go but we should be focusing on

Anton, not me. How is it singing in another language? This one is all

right, it is Italian and my family is Italian but I have had to do

French before and I am terrible at that. You have it written

phonetically? I have to do with that, but with Italian, I know it

roughly, but we get a lot of Spanish and things. The Spanish isn't too

bad, I speak a bit of Spanish, but last year, we had to do Punjabi and

Tamil and we had to get a specialist in case we insulted somebody in

Tamil. Yes, they will have you otherwise. If you are doing a songs

of a certain singer, do you try and emulate them or do you do it in your

own style? You have got not to emulate them, otherwise you just put

up against the artist also we try and keep the arrangement exactly the

same as what the dancers have danced to, they have choreographed it, but

we try and give a bit of ourselves in the style of the song, rather

than impersonate Frank Sinatra or impersonate... Liza Minnelli. How

did you get into the industry, have you been singing since you could

walk? Yes, I started at the age of nine, I will not say when that was,

with my brothers, in a group, and I have just been in bands all

throughout until I moved to London and met Dave and a few of the other

people, before Strictly. It is before it existed, since the

beginning of time. Obviously, Hayley is only 12! You looked well. Any

exclusives you can share about this weekend's show? Are we allowed to?

Well, I Should Be So Lucky to announce that on Saturday, we have

Kylie! We can't wait, give our love to Trevor and Dave and the whole

band, and you will see us out at the end of the show. Let's hear it for

CHEERING CHEERING

Now, did you know that there are only two dances in the history

of Strictly that have failed to achieve a perfect score of 40

They are the Samba and the Rumba. But why are they such tricky dances?

Kevin and Karen Clifton lift the lid.

First up, it's one of the dances Kevin is performing

The rumba has kept the pros and celebs from the illustrious perfect

score of 40 since the show began. It is such a difficult dance on

Strictly because there is so much technique to get hold of and being a

slower dance, it is really exposed, so any little mistake, everyone will

see it. Also, chemistry plays a massive part. You have the dance

with someone you have only known for a matter of weeks like you have

danced with them for years. It wasn't sexy and it certainly wasn't

a barn dance. They almost there but not quite 40 club in their stands

includes Rachel Stevens and Kara Tointon. Craig has never given a ten

for the rumba. I have never done it because it is one of the hardest

dances. It is very, very slow and requires an enormous amount of

technique. So a good partner is always key. He will do. Cheers. The

first step when learning the rumba is to learn how to walk. What we do

in the rumba is walk straight legs and never on the heel, so always go

forward toe first and straight legs, so replace, side, step, replace and

side. And as you can see, never on the heel, toe first. Celebrities

find this really hard to do because in real life, nobody walks forward

toe first with straight legs. The judges will always look for hip

action in any rumba. Their hips are always actually constantly moving

throughout the rumba. So the way we show hip action is by doing a simple

step call the figure eight. Come on, Kevin, move those hips around. He is

going from right to left and move and move and move. You have to

isolate the hips from the rest of the body, so the upper body has to

stay still, the legs straight and the hips need to move around very,

very fluidly. That is very sexy. I will give you a ten for that.

The arms are very important. They need to stay nice and fluid for the

female celebs. You need to learn how to be gentle with your arms.

Finishing the lines and looking very pretty. This is a step called

opening out. Here's my arm. Framing Karen. Two, three, four. I'm shaping

Karen and presenting her as she goes past. I'm going to make sure my arms

are extending and finishing every line to make everything look

effortless and beautiful. Now, let's combine the three and go for it.

Give me that figure 8. Move it more. Hello, so. Ian Waite's rejoined us.

Thank you to Karen and Kevin for that rumba class. I loved that. Two

dances. Let's move on to our second. Kellie and Kevin are doing the

rumba. Kev can do it. How's Kellie's? They are dancing to

Songbird. Eva Cassidy. He's given her quite a difficult rumba. I've

slowed this down now. You see a lovely spiral. Then a lovely settle

into the hip there. There's a - here comes a Rhondda. Another turn into

another spiral. So, there's a lot of swivel in there. Quite complicated

stuff. If she gets it, it could pay off. It could be beautiful. Come on,

Kellie. Georgia and Giovanni were going do an Argentine tango. That's

all changed. They are now going to do a cha-cha-cha. How does it look,

Ian? I'd like to see her straighten her legs a bit more. She's

attempting to do it. Every time she gets on to the foot she doesn't

quite finish off that straightening. You can see, the checks also, if you

look there, Giovanni is straight there. She needs to straighten her

leg there. I get confused by the straightening and not straightening.

Demonstrate. Every time you put your weight on

Demonstrate. Every time you put your straighten the knee. Cha-cha on it!

Does that make sense? Just lock the knee. If she gets her heel down, you

can straighten the knee easier. knee. If she gets her heel down, you

Anton du Beke almost sounded impressed with you doing that.

Almost! Anita and Gleb's second dance is a salsa, the party dance.

These do drama very well. A fun number. How is it going to be? It

is. For me, every time she does the salsa pieces she needs to loosen up

those hips. It will create the actual rhythm. OK. In those areas

where she really needs to... Go for it? In those areas she really needs

to loosen up. Especially doing the salsa pieces. Still early days in

the training room. Katie and Anton are doing a charleston on Saturday

night. Are they excited about it? are doing a charleston on Saturday

They look pretty excited about it. Can barely contain themselves.

They look pretty excited about it. Always a classy affair. How

They look pretty excited about it. will this be? A great number. Too

They look pretty excited about it. all the swivels. All the elements of

a charleston. I hope they give it that fun, vibrant energy and a bit

quirky to make it fantastic. that fun, vibrant energy and a bit

be utterliy brilliant. that fun, vibrant energy and a bit

Aliona just started training too. Also doing a charleston. Aliona said

it will be cool and unlike any Also doing a charleston. Aliona said

charleston we've seen. That worries me slightly. The charleston has that

character of fun, light and energetic. If it is going to be cool

without the expressions, energetic. If it is going to be cool

know, it will have to be good. I think it could be. Could be

marvellous. What are you looking forward to most this weekend? The

two Viennese waltzes. He loves a Viennese. Ian Waite everybody. He'll

be back next week. You should just come in.

Now, she has achieved something that only one other woman in Strictly

Here they are. Congratulations my darling! APPLAUSE

Ho, ho, ho He's so excited, Kating, so happy. Let's talk about Saturday.

Ho, ho, ho He's so excited, Kating, You were hostess with the mostess.

How much of a joy was it to dance? Just another Saturday night. It was

wonderful. I did a lovely foxtrot with Anton du Beke and pretended to

be Liza Minnelli. The frock of the night. Love that Vicky Gill. I

anyhow, can't stop smiling. Did your daughter approve? She's just been in

Cabaret herself? She was incredibly helpful. Helped me with

chairography, motivation and shaping. She was really, really

helpful. She wasn't too embarrassed. With a 15-year-old daughter, if you

don't make them too embarrassed that's it. I love embarrassing my

son, I have to say. You did that lovely thing with the hat. It

slipped off the back of your head. You covered that so well. Here you

go. Little kick of the head. Oh, damn it! Did it throw you? I

thought, me and hats, I don't know. Not a good idea. You have to keep

going. No, you couldn't have stopped. If you were thinking of

stopping, not good. I did throw you one at the end to make up for it.

Which I caught, perfect team work. First of all, hello Anton du Beke,

semi-finalist of 2015. Incredible scores from the judges. And a place

in the semi-final. Anton, you must be cock-a-hoop? I'm ecstatic. It is

really fun. Dancing in December. I can't begin to tell you. I thought

the whole thing packed up after Blackpool. Didn't realise it carried

on. I thought it was something people went and did. Are people

coming up to you in the street aing, this is brilliant? It has been just

joyous. Everyone has been so supportive and so lovely. Just

really enjoying the run. They think Katie is some sort of magician,

really. Which she is, clearly. The two of you together. It was really

nice to see Judy in the audience. Judy supporting you. What did she

think about the weekend? We like very much that Claudia suggested it

was on a par with her sons winning the Davis Cup. Of course it was!

Almost identical. Barely tell 'em apart. Unbelievable. Two dances this

week. We heard talking to Ian there, first up charleston to Too Darn Hot.

Is it too darn hard? Is it? It is. It's fast and furious. It's great.

I'm really enJo Iing it. I wouldn't say it is relaxing, Zoe. I get

chucked around a lot. Looking all right. Pleased. It's going well.

We've been doing it today sort of-the first time to music all the

way through. You build it up as the days go on. When we were putting it

together, quite nice, have a bit of that. Do it to music and, hello,

it's getting a bit quicker. She's up in the air again, I've only just put

her down. It builds a bit. That sounds quite scary. The last third

of it is barely on the floor. Sounds a bit Benny Hill Darcey said she

wants even more from you. Like, please, Darcey. You're giving your

all. What more can you give? I'm doing my best. If Darcey says do

more, OK, Darcey. Extends. More pointy, more stretchy. She was

talking about your toe going up. She had to try to find something to say.

Yes, you're so good. Finds it hard to say perfect. You don't? No. I

thought you were undermarked meself. You said it! It's a waltz as well to

Puccini. I mean, like a dream sequence, Katie. Thislike lovely. It

is such a beautiful, beautiful area. Tommy ain't half going to struggle

with that top note! He's looking anxious. Wear a pair of tight ones.

At this point, do you think you have what it takes to get to the final?

Can't ask questions like that. You can't ask. You answer that. Say

something Fab louse. I have to say, yes. And you say, can't say that.

Can't say that. It is he very exciting. Very close, I'll give you

that. If it happens, fantastic. If not, semi-finals boon. You got this

far. Four of us are going through. Not bad odds. How do you think you

would celebrate if you got into the final? An to -- Anton, what would

you do to celebrate if you made it to the final? I want to be there! I

might try that song. I'll give the top note me full bifta. Good luck

with your two dances this weekend. That's almost it for this

evening my friends. On tomorrow's show, they are out

of jail and on the run. We put Pasha under

our Strictly spotlight. Plus, Vicky Gill reveals

her wardrobe secrets But now, to play us out,

Tommy Blaize and Hayley Sanderson will perform our

unofficial theme tune. Anton

# Two can make that dream so real. # One can talk about being in love

# Two can say how it really feels # One can wish upon a star

# Two can make a wish come true # One can stand-alone in the dark

# Two can make the light shine

through. # It takes two, baby

# It takes two baby # Me and you

# It just takes two

# It takes two, baby # It takes two, baby

# To make a dream come true # It just takes two

# One can have a broken heart living in misery

# # Two can really ease the pain like

a perfect remedy # Oh, one can be alone like a night

when he's all alone # Two can make any place feel like a

happy home #

It takes two, baby, # It takes two, baby

# Me and you # It just takes two

# It takes two, baby # It takes two, baby

# To make a dream come true # It just takes two

# It takes two, baby # It takes two, baby

# Me and you. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE