"She has her moments, but she’s not pushing hard enough"
Former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Brendan Cole shared his thoughts on Dr Punam Krishan and her time on the BBC One show.
Punam and her partner Gorka Marquez remain on the show but their performances have been a mixed bag according to the judges.
They were bottom of the leaderboard in week four after their Jive only scored 20.
Brendan Cole, who is currently working with Sky Vegas, said at the time that Punam was the “worst dancer” left on the show after Nick Knowles’ exit.
Week five saw Punam and Gorka score 21 for their Viennese Waltz.
Clarifying his comments and discussing her performance, Brendan exclusively told DESIblitz:
“Punam is not the worst dancer left on the show.
“She has her moments, but she’s not pushing hard enough, or he [Gorka Marquez] is not pushing her hard enough.
“Within a Viennese Waltz, the dance must really move across the floor.
“I was there in the studio – it was timid. The steps were tiny. She is quite petite.
“You can’t expect her to have the stride of somebody who is six-foot.
“At the same time, there is a certain action and technique that allows one to move across the floor.
“If that doesn’t happen, then the very nature of the dance isn’t there.”
After her performance, the judges said they enjoyed the dancing but there needed to be more energy.
Brendan agreed with the judges’ feedback and said:
“I agree with the critique on [Punam Krishan’s Viennese Waltz].
“They all mentioned that it was a lovely story with pretty choreography.
“It was kind of the perfect Viennese Waltz, in terms of a look and feel of the dance.
“The lack of technical aspect of it meant that it didn’t stride out. It didn’t have power. It didn’t have that force which you want to watch, that takes your breath away.”
Punam and Gorka’s highlight on the show came in week three when they became Strictly‘s first competing pair to perform a Bollywood routine.
Brendan was a fan of the routine and pointed out it was technically sound because Punam felt fully comfortable, something he believed was lacking in other routines.
He elaborated:
“The thing with that dance is she was really in it, she was completely absorbed within it because she felt comfortable.”
“She needs to try and feel comfortable with the other dances and try to immerse herself in them, rather than just learning the steps and trying to make a dance look pretty.
“There is a certain technique to every [dance] and if that technique isn’t there, then it doesn’t have the earthiness and the power that makes [a dance] good.”
On what advice he would give Punam in order to better her future dance routines, Brendan added:
“I really liked their [Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez’s] performance. They made the dance look beautiful, they looked beautiful.
“She can be a really lovely dancer, and she showed us that with the Bollywood dance.
“There needs to be more of a technical element driving it, which means that’s down to Gorka. That’s not her fault, she doesn’t know what the technique is.
“She can’t magic it out of a hat – unless he’s telling her, and she’s not listening to it – but I doubt that very much.”
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