The facts as I stated them are still right .. the routine was fine ... the correct steps were in there (or most of them) .. but Chris didn't do them correctly .. when he mirrored Ola with the swivelling feet action he was so flat footed .. his ankles didn't rotate at all .. and it's what Len picked up on (take it up with him if you like).

You are so quick to get on your high horse.

Len was talking about the hands across the knees movement as much as anything.

As for high horses - I couldn't possible compete with yours!

I am surprised that Chris and Ola are allowed to dance the Charleston - which is definitely not a latin dance, but I don't think it will make much difference - I'm sure Ricky will score with the judges in every dance, then it will be down to the public: entertainment and popularity v dance technique and a recently much more lively personality.

Of one thing I'm certain the pros and celebs will take it all in good part - but see the forum after the show - especially if you enjoy a bit of fire and brimstone.

Yes, it does seem a bit cheeky, doesn't it?

Fair enough, if the Charleston were in the dancesport set, it'd be classed as Latin, certainly (non-progressive, out of hold).

But it's not one of the five Latin dances.

I'd suspect the rules have been bent, because their Charleston was a crowd-pleaser. Chasing ratings again...

No.

In Ballroom dancing, "Latin" dances are a group of 5 dances which have in common "not being ballroom dances". So, Latins are non-progressive (mostly) and not in ballroom hold.

It's a dumbass classification system at best; Jive is not exactly a cousin to Samba, and Paso is nothing like either of them. The only two properly-related Latin dances are cha-cha and rumba.

And the obvious example of the stupidity of this system is Tango. Both AT and it's rubbish cousin, ballroom tango, are progressive dances. So they're not Latin dances. Right. That makes sense.

Maybe I'm being slow but couldn't you argue the same about the salsa? It's not one of the five Latin dances but Ramps was free to dance it in the final of series 4 with no one complaining. Though like I said, maybe I'm just being a thicko.

That's an interesting point.

When the salsa was introduced though, I think nobody was in any doubt that it was "classed" as a Latin dance. Likewise, when the American Smooth was introduced it was obviously "classed" as a ballroom.

Problem is, when the two new dances were introduced, there was no information given about what, if anything, they were categorised as. We just got some general guff about the Charleston having its roots in the QS and the R n R having its roots in the jive which seemed to indicate that the Charleston was more allied to ballroom and the R n R to Latin but with nothing very clear either way.

Now the final is upon us, suddenly it's perfectly legitimate for the Charleston to be chosen. Now why is that?

Is the Charleston classed as a Latin dance?

Is the Charleston not is any specific category and are the rules simply that both dances chosen for the final cannot be from the same category? Has this, in fact, always been the case but the couples have only had Latin and ballroom to choose from before?

Could we have some clarification bbc? And sooner rather than later so that it doesn't look like you might be making it up as you go along? Could this be a general request and apply to other rules? It's too late for this series but something to think about for next year? Please?

Mmmm.... maybe.

I agree it's a good point. But it's a real stretch to call the Charleston a Latin dance. Swing dances aren't Latin.

If the Charleston's Latin, then so's WCS, ECS, Lindy, Balboa, you name it.

I suppose Salsa has a very Latin feel to it, so I can understand why that'd be classed as a Latin dance. The Charleston in no way feels Latin at all.

The BBC should have clearly classified when they introduced it but it feels like they've just given up on this series.
For me, I would view Charleston as a latin dance but that's because I don't know that much about dance so I just assumed it was latin. I'd hazard a guess many other viewers are the same so it's a shame that the BBC didn't bother to inform us.

I think Charleston falls under the 'swing' catagorie - which in turn is under the Latin umbrella

Hope they are not going to use an umbrella thats a prop and they are definately not allowed

OMG if this is true its a total fix by the BBC for Chris to win. No recognised latin dance. What a total farce. I feel so sorry for Ricky and Natalie.

Those are the dances they are doing

Charleston is derived from the QS. Why didn't they do that as their ballroom and pick another latin dance? That would have made more sense. You know why? Because Ola's no dumby. She knows that Chris hasn't produced one good latin dance. I'm not saying it's cheating - the Beeb allowed it, it can't be cheating. But it is just one more example of how limited Chris is. Even his partner is afraid of him doing a latin dance.

Strange that everyone is happy to call Jive a Latin dance, but not the Lindy Hop or Charleston.

http://www.modernjive.com/history/history2.html

From looking it up on the Internet, most opinions seem to be that the Quickstep was developed from a fast Foxtrot with a bit of Charleston added.

It was the other way round with me, I actually reckoned it was a different type of dance all together but if you had asked me ballroom or latin I'd have said ballroom due to the link with the QS.

Which just goes to show how confused we all are

Did someone use a chair once or have I made that up?

Me too. I'd have said it was a nightclub dance and that to ask whether it was Latin or ballroom was like asking whether hip-hop dancing is.