Completely agree, the show was absolutely brilliant. Well worth the money and head and shoulders above the Celebrity tour for me .

All of the professional dancers are outstanding .

Add to that James and Ola's rumba and you've got my top 3 solo dances too - all 3 of them total perfection!

The professionals are all outstanding, and I agree with Laura, much better than the arena tour!

I've written a very, very long rambling report on Flavia's thread if anyone wants to read it. I might post it here tomorrow, or edit it down a bit - there are a lot of spoilers!

Couldn't agree more! Everyone should see this wonderful show!

I find it fascinating to read everyone else's views and to see where our views differ.

I too loved the AT (a new thing for me as I'm not normally a lover of this! ) but my other two favourite solo's were Matt and Aliona's Jive within the group Jive and much to my surprise Brian and Kristina's salsa! Those choices shocked me as I could have predicted that I would love a Cutler jive BUT as I said not an AT girl usually and Brian and Kristina my least favourite couple of the pro's. I did however really enjoy James and Ola's Cha cha too. I expected to love Ian and Natalie's ballroom and while I really liked it, it didn't blow me away.


Beats Pro/celeb hands down!


It's lovely reading reports, whilst we all have our favourite's which obviously cause bias most of us have been surprised by loving something we weren't sure we would and there is a general agreement that the whole show was stunning and each and everyone of the Pro's has danced their butt off for us!

My FIRST live show in 3 years. ABSOLUTLY BRILLIANT, and reportedly much better than the SCD Celebs tour.

If you havnt bought a ticket yet, get on line NOW and get one.

I cant recommend it highly enough!

JJ

My semi review of the night:

Highlight dances were V&F AT, J&O Rumba, I&N Waltz (my surprise favourite of the night). Some of the others were quite disappointing though- Brian and Kristina really shouldn't have done Rumba for example. They really have zero chemistry next to J&O. J&O cha cha I could see what they were going for but wasn't really my thing.

Of the group dances none is really sticking in my mind apart from the Jive, which whilst I liked it, the costumes were awful. It's a tiny bit distasteful to cavort around in glittery army uniforms IMO, although I accept this is commonly done in Jive/Swing routines so I'm not picking on the pro dancers per se. But the uniforms minus the skirts were also quite ugly and unflattering! I got quite distracted at one point!
Also felt a bit sad as the Jive should have been a knockout routine which it wasn't really.

I thought it was a mistake to have the dancers filling the spaces between routines. Some worked ok- James was good, as was Natalie... the forced comedy of some of the others grated a bit.

It's funny reading such raving reviews of the show because I thought it wasn't really that great. Some people will know I'm a big fan of the Bennetts, so probably wasn't ever going to rave about it, but just judging from what I expected, I felt a bit let down. I'm surprised really because I would have thought it could have been breathtaking, but I guess they tried a bit too hard.

Fantastic show all the pros are outstanding,brilliant,amazing,just insert any positive description here

We all might have "favourite" pros on SCD but for me it dosen't matter in a show like this...they all combine to produce a wonderful few hours of entertainment.

Anyone hesitating just go and buy a ticket.......i fail to see how anyone could not enjoy themselves.

One telling for me was how the time flew by.......i couldn't believe the show was over i was enjoying it so much.

Completely blows the pro/celeb tour out of the water (not that i don't enjoy that but given the choice i'd go to this),to see the pros at full speed with such varying,complicated, sometimes long routines (compared with SCD and the tour) really shows you what the pros can do when both themselves and their creativity are truly let loose

It was an absolutely awsome show. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I thought everyone was fantastic.

I wanna go again!

All 5 of us girls who went to the matinee tried to persuade Buddy that she wouldn't enjoy herself and should just give her tickets to us - all at different times! The spoil sport said she'd take her chances.

We were tempted to hide in the loo and sneak back in for the evening show!

Wasn't that just the best show EVER? Saw it in Brighton and it was way, way better than the celeb tour - no judges, no silly innuendo, just pure pleasure.

They all just seemed so young, so lovely, so happy, so relieved to be dancing instead of bottling it all up to showcase a celeb. Just wonderful - and no matter who your 'favourites' were before you started, it seems the joy has crossed boundaries: which is no bad thing.

While watching though I did wonder - if they can fill an arena like this how could the BBC even consider sacking them? Has the BBC any idea how popular they have become?

Then my friend said - perhaps this is their 'testimonial', their final payday, like footballers have when they know their time is up?

So were they dancing their socks off to save their bacon or is this their final farewell? Whatever, they left themselves on the floor out there for us (boy, how haggard did some of them look at the end of it?) and I can only agree with the poster who said "beg, borrow or steal a ticket, but see it." You won't regret it.

Phoebe, the fact that they showed Len, Craig and Bruno talking between some of the dances makes me think that this lot of dancers could well be in SCD this year.

I fear for Darren and Lilia, and somehow don't expect to see Anton and Erin back.

This post may well come back and bite me in the bum come September, but I can't help but think that the Beeb were kind of 'endorsing' this crop of dancers by getting the male judges to film their contributions. (Does that make ANY sense?)

I totally agree - I think it's quite clear some of the dancers on tour are almost certainly coming back (Vincent and Flavia at least, judging by their popularity on the tour, and quite probably the Jordans and Ian and Natalie as well) but I'd be surprised if any of them got cut.

The ones not doing the tour are missing a great publicity opportunity, and I agree with you about the VTs - especially with the judges talking about what they like about each of the dancers on tour!

I totally agree. Although I would have preferred not to have the judges' contributions (although they were all very glowing about the pros) I think that all those on the pro tour must be safe - their popularity is huge if the sales so far are anything to go by (and yes I know some of us are going more than once .... or twice ........ or three times (naming no names ))...

As i put on another thread, I really think it was a professional misjudgement on the part of the others (Darren and Lilia and Brendan especially) which may well come back to haunt them. [I have a feeling like many others that Anton and Erin won't be back but after seeing the tour (and then comparing it to Latin Fever last year and the celeb tour in general), this show is in another stratosphere (sp?)

I just have a feeling there is going to be a HUGE shake up come later this year .... I hope the shake up includes the presenters and judges too but I cant just shake the feeling that there is going to be some decimation of pros...

I think your right Sara I think there is going to be a major shake up, I think those that have never done the pro/celeb tour and chose not to do the Pro tour will be first for the chop.

As a massive D and L fan it pains me to say it but I think your right ! I would be very surprised to see them back this year with the amount of reports saying they're for the chop

As I've said elsewhere I just hope the bbc have the decency to actually tell them and not just ignore them like they did with Nicole and Hayley. I know they are under no obligation to do so, but I just think its common courtesy to two people who have done a great deal for the show for the past six years, especially as the bbc know the dancers keep their dairy free just in case.

Agree with this. Before the pro tour started I was completely wondering if it was a good idea but now having seen it (and it having the obvious BBC endorsement of the judges and basically the free hand of the wardrobe facilities) I cant help but think its the best thing for these pros since sliced bread and all of them are winning over other pros fans too... (as can be seen by the frequent visiting between appreciation threads in the attic).

On the subject of Lilia (loosely)... anyone think that Natalie was wearing Lilia's yellow samba outfit (with Julian) for the group salsa (along with Flavia's headband from her salsa with Gethin)....???

Completely agree with this, those that haven't flown the corporate colours stand much less chance of returning to the show.
This tour has to have the backing of the BBC as it has the logo, theme music and as has been said the judges comments and even clips from past shows.

Oh and whoever said - just go and get tickets, I completely agree!!

I'd be most gutted not to see these back, and I'd have to add Matthew.


I agree with this, although it looks as if Anton & Erin's show has done pretty well around the country on it's own. Not so sure about Latin Fever or Brendan's show.


I would tend to agree here too. Some have done all the tours, like Ian and Matthew. But that view may be too logical for the BBC. I'm not sure loyalty counts for anything with them, but I do hope they see these people as assets as much as we do! They'd be stupid not too. Or is that tempting fate?...


Absolutely! If you can that is, most venues seem to be virtually sold out. Which is great. Unless you happen to be trying to get tickets...

Oh the basis of doing all the tours you get all the pro tour dancers back apart from Vincent and Flavia, who I think are practically guaranteed to get an invite.
So there's the 10 of them anyway - if we get all of them back I'll be happy

I don't think it's tempting fate due to the large amount of BBC footage there is in the pro tour, and the fact that they're using official logos, commentary from the judges and the same format of band. The BBC wouldn't let them do that if they didn't wholly support the show

I'm sure Darren, Lilia and Brendan knew what they were doing... if Vincent and Flavia were so aware what the consequences of not doing the tour might be, I'm sure those that made the decision not to do it were equally if not more aware. I very much doubt they did it blindly without considering the consequences. Perhaps they have the feeling that they don't need Strictly so much that they're willing to put aside their own plans for individual tours over which they have complete creative control, to play a much smaller role in a tour with all the other pros.

My view is that if the BBC value any dancer so poorly that they don't want them back unless they sign over 80% of their working life to Strictly and its associated tours... there's no point in that dancer returning because they're just going to get lumbered with with the worst celebrities anyway.

I agree the pro tour is in a different stratosphere from Latin Fever, but in the opposite direction from what your post implies

Surely the fact that the BBC is willing to allow so much footage and judges' commentary to be used on the tour is an endorsement of how much they value the dancers on it, not a signal at all that they value them poorly - after all, Vincent and Flavia didn't do the celeb tour! I think some of the others needed to do both to be asked back, but it's the fact that this show is getting such rave reviews and has an unexpected level of BBC footage in it (and thus an unexpected level of permission given from the execs endorsing the tour) that makes it seem like a misjudgement on the other dancers' part. It won't necessarily make a difference to all of them, but it's more pertinent given reports have already been circulating about Darren and Lilia (and Anton and Erin) possibly not returning.

It's an endorsement of the value they place on dancers who fall in with the BBC demands to take part in the tour (I'm not suggesting any of them didn't want to, but by all accounts they were made aware that not to take part could have consequences). Whether they value the dancers who did not fall in with these demands remains to be seen. My view is that Darren and Lilia are already undervalued by the BBC, they are not given decent celebs even though they are excellent choreographers and teachers. If the only way they can retain their places on Strictly is by giving up their own success outside Strictly to take part in the pro tour, it indicates again that they aren't especially highly valued. So why give up a successful show so that they can play a minor part in the pro tour and get a bit of the reflected glory? Even this wouldn't guarantee them a place in the new series, and in the meantime they've given up a bit of their credibility outside Strictly.

It's only a misjudgement not take part if a) Latin Fever and Brendan's tour are not successful, and b) they did not know that the BBC might not take kindly to them not doing the tour.
a) is unlikely, Latin Fever sold out last year and did well enough to commission a second tour.
b) is to our knowledge not the case.
The fact is that the dancers who chose not to take part had good and valid reasons.

Are there any SCD hoodies on sale at the show?

Just T-shirts and mugs as far as I saw, and programmes (beware of the prices though, they keep changing!)

Many thanks, looking forward to saturday!

Pfffft!

I was surprised to see just how much 'SCDness' was included in the show and I must admit that it crossed my mind that those who didn't do the Pro tour would be first to be replaced. It did seem to imply to me that it was a sort of official spin off of the show.

Darren & Lilia in particular may be popular, but both have been knocked out in the early stages in the last two series. I heard Anton has already announced he won't be back, so that could make Erin vulnerable (may be she'll decide to start a family?). I also think Brendan has been in danger for the last two series. I would have said Ian was too, but I think he's got a new lease of life with Natalie. Matt's partnership with Aliona on the other hand, doesn't seem to be as successful to me.

Unlike a lot of you I have no absolute favourite(s), but I do like certain pros more than others and they were all dancing on Saturday night, so I hope they return in September.