Oh it’s gooood to be BACK!!! I fell off the horse with my Samba but I’m back in the saddle after a nerve-wracking week! And what a week it’s been… Grant and I obviously took a knock after being in the bottom 2 the previous week, and I lost a bit of my confidence.
I was shaking before going on stage… last Thursday was the most nervous I’d EVER been on the show, because now we know that ANYONE could be going home, it’s all in the viewers’ hands! Literally. What you do with that cellphone in your hand determines our fate!!!
Our Viennese Waltz didn’t go quite as well as planned because of my nerves. Just before we had to go on stage I hit a complete BLANK. Nothingness. My mind was a vacuum. Like one of those seal-easy bags that have had the air sucked out of them.
I panicked and desperately asked Grant what the first few steps to our dance were. He didn’t have time to show me so I literally went on stage not knowing what I was going to do, but thankfully, when the music began my muscles started working on autopilot.
Muscle memory is the greatest thing, because you could be scared out of your tree, imploring your brain to give you something, ANYTHING, that you can work with, but even if it doesn’t, your muscles somehow remember what you’ve trained them to do.
Because of my nerves, the dance was a little shaky and I missed some steps, so I’m thrilled that my technique was still good enough to get us top marks again! Despite the good score, I think this week is the one that I least want to remember out of the whole show. Out of all the dances, the Viennese Waltz is probably my least favourite, and going on stage with no confidence is really a kak feeling.
The GUMBOOT dance, on the contrary, was just a lekker jol!!! I’m sure you could see the fun in our faces as we made noise with a messy melange of, I must say, the most COMFORTABLE dance outfit I’ve ever worn! Hallelujah!! SO my style!
The highlight of my night was having Judith back, doing what she does best, while the dancing pros showed us how it’s done! I didn’t know where to look, between Grant, Mary, Hayley and Brandon dancing their awesome Cha Cha, and Judith, who was glowing. Loved her ululating!!
So this week we have to learn not one but TWO dances, the Waltz and the Rumba. I’m leaving my personality at home and going to our training sessions with absolute focus on the job, because we now have twice as much work to do while our bodies are feeling half as capable!
I’m super-excited for these dances because our songs and choreography are awesome, so no more nerves this week… just pure determination!
Thanks so much to those of you who’ve been voting for us, and PLEASE keep it up!! SMS 3 to 34766, for these last 3 weeks of Strictly Come Dancing!