As a lover of having Traditional music for the dance,I was wondering what everyone else thinks.
Personally i think having rock tracks to a paso simply doesn't work.
For me it distracts from the dance.
This can also be said of the other dance styles.
I love SCD but the music at times grates on me.

So what are your thoughts on having Traditional? Modern? or a Mix of the two? Thanks.

For the Tango and the Paso i like and prefer the traditional music, for the AS and the Quickstep i like old show tunes but for everything else i dont mind modern or traditional

I do prefer traditional.

I've thought about this before and all I can say is I can't break music down to traditional, modern or mixed - the music just has to be 'right' and that will be quite a personal thing.

Mostly I prefer the traditional tracks, however there are some exceptions (for example, I thought Thrller made for a great paso track when Colin and Erin danced to it).

I think Darren made an interesting point in series 5. Some people might prefer traditional music, but picking a contemporary track for Letitia Dean allowed her to connect to the music and perform in a way that a more classically "acceptable" piece didn't.

Whatever allows the celebrity to perform to their best capacity basically. That said I think Zoe Ball said her paso/(tango?) music reminded her of crappy circus clown music and that turned out fine so...

Yes, I think that was her Paso. She could have done an even better job with a more intense track though IMO.

I agree with Camino; on the whole I prefer traditional music for Pasos and Tangos. Some odd choices have worked in the past, but a song that is very inappropriate will put a contestant (and the audience) off.

A bit of both for me. Generally I prefer traditional, but sometimes an inspired choice comes along, like Mark and Karen's use of Goldeneye for their Argentine Tango, and you couldn't imagine any other tune for that dance!

I like traditional for the paso and tango but really liked when the pro's danced to I Predict a Riot so I can be won round.

I agree Buddy!

Although I have to say I do come down on the side of modern!

I love the ingenuity of some pros when picking music. I think Darren, Lilia, James, Ola, Vincent and Flavia are particularly good at picking modern music to suit the dances really well.

(Anton - not so good!)

generally I prefer traditional, especially for the Foxtrot, Quickstep and American Smooth, but there's always exceptions, which work when you really think that they wouldn't

I much prefer traditional, but if they have to do modern, then none of the ultra-modern stuff please. And as has been pointed out, there will always be exceptions where modern works just as well.

Traditional music. It fits the dances better. Also the timing is much clearer for the celebrities to pick out in the music and there is a great range to choose from.

Having said that, a few modern tracks have worked really well with certain routines.

I much prefer traditional music and personally I like it without vocals, but that is just a personal preference as some vocals mask the beat.

I have found myself a CD with no vocals and all strict tempo dance music it is really fantastic. I love it so much that I have persuaded my dance teacher to use it for my lessons, dont usually get a choice but using it has helped me so much, especially with Tango I have been allowed to have it.

I think that the celebs might find this kind of music useful as it really gives the flavour and the timing of the dances so helps with expression as well as rhythm.

For the Tango & Paso definitely traditional, there have been some modern song that have worked quite well but most of them have been dire.

I've found the choice of some of the music doesn't fit in with the style of the dance, but I couldn't tell you which ones they were.

As others have said, traditional for the Paso and Tangos and big band numbers for the Quickstep and Smooth. Normally I would have added the Foxtrot there but that was an inspired choice last year by Camilla.

The rest - as long as it suits the dance (or vice versa) it's fine by me.
One thing I didn't like was them changing Elton's 'Don't Let The Sun....' from 4/4 time to 3/4 to suit the dance - if it's not a Waltz tune, don't use it for the Waltz

Just broken off dance practice for a bit of lunch. Found this inside my Tango CD Case -

" A Tango only truly happens when the feelings in the music move you and your partner into its realm."

I guess that sums it up for me.

I generally prefer 'traditional' music for the dances...but sometimes you can be listening to a modern piece and think, "oh, that would make a really good quickstep', so at the end of the day it's probably about how suitable each individual tune is!

I am usually anti-modern especially for latin dances. I enjoy tangos done in the old fashioned way with brooding and edgy music.

I also like jives done to good old fashioned music contemporaneous with the jive.

Yet again, Buddy, I agree with you!

My only beef this year is the unimaginative use of disco tracks for cha cha cha and samba routines. The samba especially has a 'bounce' that the likes of Boogie Nights and Give It Up just don't have ... And of course you can cha cha to Shake Your Groove Thing - but it's so fast, it's no wonder we didn't get enough hip action from Chris.

Camilla used to be good at picking music - maybe some of the pro's could call on her for a bit of inspiration!

I'd love to see a VW done to The Blue Danube...in fact I'd just really really like to dance that myself, in a ballgown, in a ballroom in Vienna.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I'm sick of hearing disco songs for the Samba for instance, but think that hip hop and r&b can work well for cha cha (Alesha and Matthew, Matthew and Aliona's dance on sat). And for the foxtrot and AS I think that show tunes work best.

Definitely prefer traditional music for tango and paso. And hate the disco music for samba.

I fail to see how anyone can't "connect" to a classic popular ballroom dance tune. They must have heard it at sometime in their lives.

I find a lot of the contemporary tunes they've used, tuneless.
If you can't "hum a long with it" it's likely not going to be a good dance tune.
Whatever they use you need onr with a "strict tempo," some seem so indistinct.

Traditional every time. I spend my life NOT listening to pop-music. It very rarely (never say never) suits the dance.