I'm not familiar with ballroom dancing so I don't know the demographics of the genre.

Are there many/any ethnic minority ballroom dancers?

I have noticed that the vast majority of the pro's are of European decent/white

Just wondering.........

there are dancers from all over the globe

double post

Bumping to in reference to another post:

If there are ballroom/latin dancers from all over the globe, why have the bbc not chosen any black or Asian professionals?

I would hazard a guess that you need to apply to be considered?

But no ethnic minorities - nor have there ever been.

I've seen hoards of Japanese and Chinese ballroom dancers but never black or Asian, which is a crying shame.

Thing is, most of the brilliant black dancers I know (male and female) favour classical or contempory ballet and jazz, not ballroom.

As an ex dancer (not ballroom except for fun) I totally understand why!

I live in hope though.

There were 2 black couples representing South Africa on Sunday night, they didn't do very well in the professional heats, but there are some better African dancers.

Never seen any Asian dancers, but I wonder if that is because of the rules regarding what women can/can't wear.

So pleased to hear there are some African dancers. I think maybe the lack of Asian dancers is a cultural thing as not all of them have restrictions about what they wear. Maybe ballroom just doesn't appeal given their own dance culture is so beautiful.

I think I'm going to ask my Asian friends what they think.

It is a cultural thing too places like India for instance have their own strong dance backgrounds so Ballroom and Latin is likely to have less appeal, it is huge in China, Japan, Singapore though

Some of the worlds best salsa and latin dancers are obviously from LATIN AMERICA and black - although they probably tend to perform in the actual world heats for their actual dances rather than the ossified UK ballroom version of their key dances. They are still the group that ballroom dancers nick the latest moves off as they are the innovaters in their fields.

If an idiot like Anton can get in the show despite not even appreciating the basics of Latin dance then they have to be able to find a salsa or latin specialist who also has ballroom experience.

Yes they do - and the salsa they do bears no resemblance at all to the ballroom version - they do the real thing

My Cuban dance teachers, the Colombian dancers I hang out with and the Brazilian samba dancers I know, find English ballroom hilarious. Sorry, but it's true.

But there is not a Ballroom version of the Salsa as you say there are 5 ballroom dances and 5 Latin dances end of Salsa and Mambo and Merengue are in another field and have their own specialists

The BBC added in Salsa yes but as is obvious apart from Brian the Professional are not that good at it

Many do. And it does make me laugh seeing the salsa on strictly which even from the "latin experts" is pretty risible when compared to the real thing. But many others have done both. I think bringing in some latin experts from the world of latin dance rather than the world of ballroom latin dance might liven up the show but even without this there are non-caucasians from the world of ballroom even if not so much in the UK where discrimination in the field is obviously pretty accepted.

Salsa - Cuba / Puerto Rico
Mambo - Cuba
Merengue - Dominican republic
Samba - Brazil

And yet some people are seriously suggesting that it would be difficult to find an expert in Latin dance and ballroom who is not white. I mean it is pretty obvious where to start the search isn't it? What about looking for a Latin American dancer from say.... LATIN AMERICA

but you are taking the term Latin American too literally most of the ballroom latin was devised outside of Latin America and really the only connection is that the dances are loosely based on the original dances from that part of the world.

The dances you mention above are not part of the competitive Latin American syllabus the dances which are :

Cha Cha
Rumba
Samba
Paso
Jive

Professionals in the dances you mention would be highly unlikely to have learnt these dances to any degree and would probably not have been taught Ballroom at all.

The professional on the UK show - if they competed as Kids would have been taught both and competed both ballroom and latin - they go together are held in the same competitions - taught together in the same dance school

Who's to say they don't?
Unless they are part of the show itself, we seldom see the experts consulted.
I'd hazard a guess that the true competitive professional dancers - still competing or otherwise would not want to be associated with a light entertainment show, the dance is the thing with them isn't it?

As a dance teacher I take exception to the that - we have black pupils who dance and compete Ballroom and Latin and I personally know black professionals

Your so called Latin experts may liven up the show but would take it away from what it is based on STRICTLY BALLROOM

So it is only Europeans that are willing to prostitute their art before the altar of mammon? That is not really a very convincing argument. I think there are a lot of people that would like a well paying gig over a few months to finance their real passion.

I think that is a less convincing arguement (and that is pretty hard to find) than the one that it is because Latin Americans aren't as good at Latin American (the ballroom version obviosuly) as Europeans who would only have studied a prescribed subset of the moves approved by the UK ballroom danicng association - those are the real experts.

No blacks there then

I would love to see them bring some real Latin Amercian dancers to spice it up. I suspect the die-hard Brit ballroom dancers would be speechless. Can you imagine them watching cuban salsa slide neatly into a bit of raggaeton, or a really good Brazilian samba dancer?

Sadly, it does seem to me that discrimination is rife - and it's 2009 already. Jeez It's all still Penge, sparkles and bright blue eyeshadow

Obviously cos we all know the home of dancing is in Blackpool.

you miss the whole point this show is based around competitive ballroom dancing involving the 5 standard and 5 latin dances of that genre.

So called 'real' latin dancers you mentin from Latin America dance something which is not the genre of the show - there is no discrimination going on and ballroom dancing has dancers teachers and followers from ALL walks of life and many ethnic backgrounds I really can't see what your problem is and object to the discrimination you keep banging on about

You obviously dont know the ballroom scene which was never Penge even for the short time Penge were the NO 1 team in Uk

Bendy do you know of any black professionals who are successful at a national and international level? There must be some.


Personally I don't care what colour a pro is as long as they are good enough for SDC (or DWTS), but I would prefer someone who is at or near the top of their field who can do the dances on SCD.

Im with you and dont care as long as the standard is good have just asked a friend who judges world wide at the highest levels about black dancers on the current scene will let you know what he reports back - when my brother was competing there was some good black dancers around many are teaching with schools of their own now - and of course City of Manchester formation team when in its heyday was captained by a great black dancer