As for the OP, no, I don't want a return to Come Dancing.

But I'd very much like to see more televised coverage of existing dancesport competitions; classifying them as athletics and showing it on - say - BBC 2 for the big competitions. Same sort of thing they do for golf, cr cricket, or other sports.

Like all sport, it'd be cheap to cover (the competitions are being run anyway). Also, it'd capitalises on an existing base, and complement Strictly.

Great minds

I'm surprised they don't televise the comps like Blackpool on freeview. When I was living in Australia, they would (and still do) broadcast the Australian Dancesport Championships on xmas night. It was great, after a day of stuffing my face, to sit back and enjoy the dancing.

From the much tangoed dancers, ghastly costuming, boob mishaps, collisions on the dancefloor to some great guest performers...it was always good fun to watch.

... that's a really, really great idea. I'd even pay to watch it on sky sports.

I'm surprised that the Beeb haven't done it already, really, it's an obvious possibility.

There are very occasional dancesport comps televised on satellite - there was one last winter I recall. But it's few and far between.

Come Dancing..back to the days of Sylvia Peters and Peter West ?
Would they have to make their own dresses ? Doris from Derby in a pink chiffon number, she hasn't been to bed for a week, busy sewing on the ten thousand sequins ?

As long as it doesn't include "Wiggy" Wogan again, in his ever-present dark green velvet jacket.
He was a smug so and so even back then!

Hi Tim's tango partner,

In social dancing at the local palais or church hall, most people concentrate on synchronising steps with partner without falling over, so there is not much to see in a setting offering not much atmosphere.

I would prefer private lessons on body weight and limb management more so than steps. Once a dancer is comfortable with the vocabulary and grammar of body language his movements can become spontaneous, expressing genuine emotion in response to partner. For me it is better to dance with feeling, so what if a heel lead is missed, than to repeat choreographed steps like a money drilled by an organ grinder.

The Empress Ballroom with theatrical ceiling and tasteful overhead lights provides a romantic setting enhanced by superb music, CD by day and orchestra by night. This ambiance would be spoilt if the audience turned up in grey street clothes or jeans as they do at the local church hall -- not in Blackpool Festival. Even I got a skilled haircut, turning up in my best shirt to please women. Being well turned out is not misrepresentation, because in his heart everyone is goodlooking or wants to be.

As for the Beeb televising Blackpool Festival, Kaycee described how BBC would demand to take over from Mrs Wilson, like I also saw in Bournemouth. Stop-starts to suit filming, long waits, faked announcements, steadicam guy running rings round dancers, plus no doubt standing ovations on cue from the organ grinder. Worst of all, slick announcers with ££££££ not art in their hearts fronting the show, with frantic bonhomie matching Las Vegas props and lights.

I have 2 DVDs coming from Dancesport for £100, 100 minutes each for Blackpool latin 2009 and 2010. They will have excellent sound and picture, some interviews with divine champions, and not a trace of The Generation Game.

Like others have said, I wouldn't be interested in Coming Dancing, but I would like to see top level competitions. It would be like certain other sports for me, where I'm only interested in watching the European or World Championships, or somehting like Wimbledon, etc.

Watching the best compete would be great.

How can you not like 'The Wogan'?

In my experience I would say absolutely, when you see 80 or 90 people turn up for a beginners class in January when previously you might have 10 or 20. I would say that's pretty conclusive. It might well be different in other areas but where I am it is the case.

As for it building since the 90's I would not say so. That again is my experience. Come dancing was so well followed that it was axed suggesting decline rather than growth.

Hi Soulmate61!

The nearest I come to 'watching social dancing' is when I watch the other people in our class, and it is normally one big car crash! It's entertaining, but Ann entertaining Now we've progressed a bit, I am geting a bit annoyed with the focus on routines, I would prefer to learn technique and new individual steps so it doesn't get so samey!

You're probably right, the BBC or whoever probably would interfere massively with the competition, but I'm just saying that, if they could manage to do it without disrupting everything, I would love to see it! I don't see why the audience would start turning up in jeans etc, I assume the same people that always buy tickets would be in the audience, including of course, your good self!

Also I think televising it would give the UK competition scene a big boost in this country: Strictly may have inspired many people to take lessons, but I read somewhere most of them just stay at the social level, if they do keep it up at all. It does not appear to have increased competitor numbers. And as you know, very few British couples are doing well at the international level at the moment.

DavidJames [tips hat smiley] I thank you, although you put it into words much better than I did!

Tangos

We see this swell in beginners at our school after Strictly. However the class is normally shut 6 months later because most have stopped coming.

Probably the strongest formation team ever was the Cleethorpes team with Russel Vale second to them and later the Peggy Spencer (latin) team
When Latin formation was allowed to compete against ballroom teams it allowed the latin teams an edge with so much of their routines walked (in style)
My favourite "other team" was the Slough old time team who were a top team in their class and always fun to share a stage with

I would love the return of COme DAncing. I have very fond memories of watching it as a child and being utterly transfixed by the whole show ( and our TV was black and white!).

THe phrase "and she sewed all her sequins on herself" has gone down as a family favourite in our house. Used when someone is showing off.

Kaycee explained that every new Strictly season brings a new wave of beginners into dance schools, but this interest is not sustained to medals then competition level. The weekend comps circuit comprising mostly of older dancers is dwindling to the lowest level ever, so that any couple entering is almost guaranteed a runner-up medal. I wonder if this fallaway of interest is due to partnership problems: either O/H is not interested, or a sympathique regular partner cannot be found, so that each week a nondescript partner arrives via pot luck, if he or she arrives at all.

Despite low UK interest Blackpool with its superb venue and tradition remains the centre of the dance world -- but for how long? As for the BBC broadcasting dvd's made by Blackpool Festival the way German TV channels and Sky Sport transmit their own compos, this looks doubtful. BBC execs are territorial. They sell Strictly to 31 countries. Would they tacitly concede that Blackpool can make better DVDs than BBC? Do they believe there is even a 3-million BBC2 audience for Blackpool, seeing UK dancers make up only 7% of the Festival?

I like the sound of that!


That is brilliant!

Three couples who are friends with us, but don't know each other, all decided in their 30's to go to dancing classes (in the time that Strictly has been on TV). They all went for one reason - they wanted to be able to do a 'proper dance at weddings, etc'. They learned to waltz and do a simple Salsa, but once they cracked those dances they stopped going because that's all they wanted to learn. They were not interested in competitions. They look good on the dance floor and I just wish my husband has some rhythm and we could have done the same thing.

post moved to
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...8#post46024238

Good question Soulmate61.
I would love to spend more time dancing than the one group class a week I manage, but I simply cannot afford to go dancing more. I have no partner and there is a serious shortage of men going into dancing which means that I frequently dance as a man (though I already know lots of the female steps so I'm interchangeable according to how many people are present).

I would love to get back into competing but as I explained above, I don't have the money and don't have much chance of finding a partner whilst there is a lack of men. Also once you start competing there are even more costs on top of private and group lessons: costumes, travel costs, entry costs, governing body membership....
I started dancing whilst at uni and have experience competing on the uni circuit, but it is so different to the open circuit. Uni comps are loud and joyful: everyone cheers for their team mates and friends (often even if they are from a different uni team), but by comparison open circuit competitions are staid and quiet. They mostly seem to be full of older retired couples who have saved up their money, and already come as a married couple partnership allowing them to devote the time and money to dancing. (Obviously there are the childrens comps too that run before the adults arrive, but a lot of the children seem to give up when they reach a certain age)
Open circuit comps also mostly run on Sundays and some run late into the evening. that may be okay if you have no ties (e.g. retired) but hardly ideal if you have to get up on a Monday morning for work/school and first have to travel home from half way across the country. Uni comps are run on Saturdays, which i find much more practical.

i think something needs to be done at dance school level to address the lack of competitors coming up through the ranks in the under 35 category, but I genuinely don't know what it would be *coughs*too many dance related politics*coughs*

i'd love to see more real comps televised, but I can't see it happening for practicality reasons: as soon as tv is involved then the tv companies start dictating how the comps should be run, in order to get the best televisual experience, which was one of the issues with Come Dancing. The comps need to be run in their own way really.

Edit: this was in response to the most above which has been moved. I shall copy this post to that thread accordingly but leave the answer here too.