I dance 2 or 3 times a week - line dancing. Good exercise & good for the brain trying to remember the steps

I've been dancing since I was 4 and do advanced ballroom and latin classes Im not that brilliant but i do really love it!
I love watching Strictly because I have a passion for dance and I do like to point out the technical things and what someone does really well / isnt that good but Im just like an average viewer in that I can be slightly bias towards the ones I like (Scott, Gavin, Kara etc) and only pick out the good bits of their performances whereas Im really harsh on people I dont like (Felicity and Patsy) :P
But hey, im only human and Im not on the judging pannel so it doesnt matter! :P
On the topic of Ann, i do normally laugh at her performances as she is a great entertainer but I thought last week's dance was just awful! I do hope she goes soon before she knocks out one of the really good dancers (If Scott goes before her I will not be responsible for my actions )

I've been dancing ballroom and latin since 2004. I started about a month before SCD first aired, but I was aware of the dance style before that from other family members. I used to compete on the uni circuit, but I don't have a partner currently so I cheer on my friends dancing. I've danced the odd open circuit comp in the past and I've watched the odd medal comp too.
I absolutely love dancing but wish I had a full time partner as I would love to get back out competing again. However a job and some money for the dance lessons would also be nice!

I'm an armchair judge of SCD and get very vocal about the dancing and will shout at the tv at good/bad routines, ridiculous judges comments etc

me too, I've been doing line dancing for 12 years and ballroom and latin for over 25 years last year I did a course of Bollywood dancing which I loved

I'm really unfit and unsporty and always have been, so the efforts of the celebs and the pros on SCD are incredibly impressive to me. I love to see people being so courageous, determined, athletic and coordinated, it's totally alien to me, and I'm just lost in admiration!

Vaguely in-time 'dancing' to a DJ is all I can manage, but I've been hooked on SCD since Series 1 Ep 1.

I admire them all for learning a new skill (to varying degrees of success) and trying to entertain the nation.

Quite an even split of dancers and non-dancers so far. Really interesting stories too - thanks for taking the time to reply.

Thanks Elizabethjo - I'm now going to look up dance classes in my area

I danced the usual ballet, tap, jazz stuff from about 3 until about 17 and then I changed to ballroom/latin and made my boyfriend go with me. We've been doing the classes for about 9 years now, once a week not including the dances and it's so much fun. Dancing - ANY kind of dancing - really is one of the most enjoyable things you can do with your body (minds out of the gutter please!)

I too did ballet, modern and tap as a child. On going to university I decided to stop ballet and take up... some other dance form. I ended up doing ballroom and Latin, in part because my mother did it for a long time when she was young and in part because it was the first "taster" session that came up in Freshers' Week. I loved it and ended up competing on the uni circuit 2004-6 and then again 2007-8. I've also danced salsa for a couple of years (mostly in France) and have at various times tried rock and roll, swing, English country dancing, contemporary... I'm not sure what else. I'll try pretty much anything when it comes to dance (a fact that various friends have taken advantage of when they needed moral support at a new dance class!) At the moment I'm taking Latin lessons again but am thinking of returning to salsa, if I can find a rueda class.

It's really interesting reading what everyone dances
I have started going to ceroc( my daughter dragged me along) which is good fun and suitable for all ages. Unfortunately I've had to give it a miss for the last few weeks due to torn shoulder muscles hope to get back to it soon

I used to watch Come Dancing back in the day and wanted to learn to dance like that, but no dance teacher would take me on because I was "too old" and "too tall" ... One thing SCD has shown is that you're never too old (or too tall - hello Jodie Kidd!!) to learn to dance ...

I don't know of any dance places around here

Yes, I reguarly attend ballroom lessons.

If you mean by ballroom lessons, you mean twirling around your front room like a constipated gorilla/penguin/poodle hybrid and crashing into your ornamental coffee table and bruising your inner thigh, meaning you stupidly whinge through the main show and randomly shouting OUCH for attention during Gavin's dance, as all my companions are transfixed by his pecs.

Yes, great thread lila, thanks for starting it.


I'm going to start calling you franglepam

Since 2003 I've rumba'd, cha-cha'd, samba'd and salsa'd and now I'm bellydancing.

I am epically crap at all of the above but it's huge fun and there's a bar that sells cheap doubles.

I do have some sympathy for her random dance hopping, I admit. What can I say? I'm a fully fledged dance geek and always have been. Though as my username is taken from a term my friend and I coined to explain the only language we were capable of speaking after spending half a year in France mostly with German exchange students (francais, anglais, allemand), I'm concerned that your new name for me makes it sound as though I speak fluent "pam" when I'm pretty sure that's one language I really don't speak!

That reminds me, I also regularly do cheesy 70's dance routines in the front room just to amuse the cat. *hustles off*

That's a very interesting username, thanks for the explanation.

I dont speak "pam" either

To anyone who thinks they are past it, I can tell you you are not, just go and give it a go.

I'd done ballet for a bit as a child, and a bit of ballroom at Uni when it was sequence dancing like in "old" Come dancing

When I saw Julian Clary dancing I thought if he can do so can I, but it took several years of persuading Mr F, but we have now been ballroom dancing for just over a year.

We are some of the youngest in the class. There are couples learning or relearning in their 70's, with bad hips, bad ankles, they just do the moves more slowly, no problem with that, our teacher is very understanding.

Havent yet cracked the tango or the foxtrot. It's given me an insight into how hard it is. Even the "bad" celebs are doing a really good job

Also a message for the men, in my class they have all been dragged along by the women, but they absolutely love it, especially when the teacher says "go into reverse" they all started walking backwards

I did some ballet and ethnic dancing as a child and teenager.

Then had a large gap and started doing jazz regularly as an adult and really enjoy it.

I thought I was too old to start learning ballroom or latin until I realised that the 'young' people on Strictly are in their late 20s/ early 30s. I've been to a few lessons in ballroom as a result of Strictly but didn't really like it.

Maybe because I'm a beginner and can hardly do any steps whereas in jazz I can do quite a lot more?

I used to dance years ago. I even remember going to competitions that Ian Waite was dancing in - then as one of the top amateurs rather than the pro he is now I gave up when I left uni and had to go to work . Viennese waltz was my favourite and it really upsets me to see how the slebs murder it by mucking around in it

I have watched SCD since the very first show. Most of the time Its great entertainment. Some of the slebs end up being able to perform at an amazing level but I am always gutted when we end up missing out on what could have been fantastic performances because the GBP vote through slebs who just can't cut it just to spite the judges . Gabby Logan going so early was a real shame as she could have been really good

I just watch but I want to learn. I'm finding it a bit difficult to find classes for adults in my area (Portsmouth way) it all seems to be for kids. Anyone know anywhere?

I really want to, but I'm waiting for an operation on my ankle. Been struggling for years, even to walk, and finally nearly got a diagnosis. *crosses fingers*

Hopefully I'll be able to wear heels again soon, I'm stuck in trainers at the moment.

I did some ballroom/LA in my early teens, and used to dance in Spanish clubs while I lived abroad. Great fun.

Can do only the waltz, the foxtrot, cha cha and Zorba the Greek dance from start to finish including the very fast end. Have also danced traditional wiggle dance on a few tables, ( sober) surrounded by circle of flames, in Greece at request of local villagers, who were very happy to see a sober, tourist. I was given a free watermelon. The Strictly judges would be appalled by all of it can't say I'd blame them.
Would love to be able to do the tango and the Argentine tango.

Ouch, sorry to hear that.

That said, AT is primarily walking whilst in a hug; if you can walk, you can Tango. Don't think it's about the lifts and kicks and other such rubbish.