Is it just me or is there more and more faffing about as Len would call it? Patsy and robin seemed to spend an age circling each other etc before finally getting into hold for their Viennese waltz!

I agree especially Patsy and Robin tonight and i was astounded Len didnt moan

They did barely any waltzing let alone VWing!

Have to say I couldn't believe it didn't get mentioned and that they got such a high mark.

There are some couples that are definitely getting marks for achieving a dance regardless of whether its the danced they are being billed as performing.

I agree about Patsy and Robin - I even shouted at the tv screen, asking them when they were actually going to get into hold and dance!

The excess wasting of time by some at the start of their dance's is indeed annoying . I can't remember the two that were sitting down looking at their laptops at the start. What was that lunacy all about

That was Pamela and James. I actually started counting with that one, waiting for them to start dancing.
It feels like people are taking so much longer to finally start dancing this year. I'd blame the introduction props but then there have been dances like Felicity and Vincent's VW where they spent forever walking down the stairs!

I think all the dances in this series have had so much 'faffing' that i personally don't often know which dance any of them are doing!..... except for Kara's tonight of course, a completely wonderful and 'proper' A/tango

I can't understand how they have all got away with it this year!, they all seem to be going for such exagerated routines that by the time they get to the final stages and have to do a show dance they will have nothing left to do...

Robin and Patsy always spend ages faffing about. Presumably Robin doesn't think she's good enough to do much actual dancing

Its one of the few times James has done it this series and at least once they started they did the Cha Cha Cha.

Patsy and Robin had hardly any in hold time and they didn't really do a VW from what I could tell- no one mentioned that aspect or the lack of time in hold or faffing.

It would be nice this series if people were made to do identifiably correct dances- whatever the Beeb thinks some of the audience can tell the difference and most of the others have been watching long enough to tell the difference if not the technicalities.

This thread has touched on my pet hate! I havent been happy in previous weeks about the faffing around in the VW. None of the couples do it properly anymore if you compare it to previous years (Mark Ramprakash or Ricky Whittle). The VW steps are very easy to learn, but it is difficult to dance it at correct speed and to sustain it for a length of time. I'm not suggesting the celebs should be able to dance at full speed, and to be fair, I think Patsy and Robin's VW was a bit faster than some of the other couples', but they could have sustained it for a bit longer than they managed to do.

(Actually I don't think Scott and Natalie were too bad in their VW, in that they did dance for a bit longer, but even that wasn't up to previous years' standard.)
Last edited by Vivacious Lady : 13-11-2010 at 21:42

Stop the faffing about

Drop the props

Just dance!!

Agreed, and most people should agree with that whoever their favourites. All of the couples have been guilty of this this year.

What I want to know is.....is it voluntary faffing on the part of the professionals?.........is it being tolerated because the celebs are, for the most part, below standard this year, or is it the producers idea of 'entertainment' since we might get bored with actual dancing?

And the prize for this I give to Gavin this evening, or whoever created the choreography. It was hard to recognise the quickstep in all the silliness. And I love to watch a really good quickstep.

When I think back to previous series and the amount of "good" couples who came unstuck with the amount of turns in the VW it makes me said when this year's contestants are getting away with so little content.

My favourite ever VW was Camilla and Ray's and I would love to see how many turns they did in comparison to Patsy. .

I am with olive - far too much faff. Props naff.

Back to Basics. to coin a phrase...

Can't say I'm surprised to hear this, the professionals will tell you that they are trying to spice things up.

Maybe, but there's just too much. I think the stairs are some of the problem. Just takes so long to get down them

they are all the same aren't they.

Just dance.

But it doesn't matter. It's junk entertainment for my wife. Not intended for me!

Len has always moaned in the past about faffing around at the start and end of a dance, so I can only assume it's the Beeb who bought in the change for them all to be doing it. Plus allowing lifts in dances that don't usually have them. At least the judges have stopped that now.


My favourite VW ever was Mark and Karen. They swirled from start to finish.

I was getting really annoyed with Patsy and Robin, she did a great job with what she was given, but there was so little VW it was getting on my wick! The faffing in Scott's jive worked with the dance, and I must admit I did enjoy Gavin's QS, despite the faffing about, because I couldn't have imagined him being so animated before.

Props! Faff! Non-dancing choreography!

Sorry, I have suddenly become enamoured with the smiley.

I do agree though. Especially with the Viennese Waltzes.

Sprucing things up can be fun, but I found this VW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAqHtO4Z9Q to be absolutely charming, and very interesting to watch, despite the celebrity not being completely top notch, or it not involving lots of ornamentation. (Hint, it's an Anton masterpiece.)

I liked that one as well but, as Len said at the time Ray and Camilla were like a pair of dancers on a music box. It truly was beautiful and although she wasn't one of my favourite pros, I always felt that Camilla choreographed the best VWs.

IIRC when Len was moaning about Brendans Jive, didnt Brendan mention about it containing the required amount of time dancing. Also IIRC he said something along the lines on ITT, that he timed it specificly to have (again i only remember roughly) the required one minute of dance. This seems to suggest under the new rules they ahve a minimum amount of time for the acyual dance, but have a maximum amount of time they can "faf" about in the routine.

As for the so called "faffing about" i really think it depends on the dance. If it adds to the story and choreography of the dance, and doesnt seem too long, then i have no problem with it. Take Patsys and Robins Jive, alot of people said they took to long to start. But for me i didnt mind the time it took to start, as i think it added to the story and fitted very well with the theme and the story. On the other hand Felicity and Voncent walking down the stairs the other week, for me did nothing for the choreography or story, and stuck out like a sore thumb as a way to reduce the dancing to help Felicity.

As I have said elsewhere, I have a secret desire to dance the foxtrot - or more or less any ballroom dance - with Anton. There's just something extra about him doing ballroom.