Seeing as Strictly's on at 7pm, lunch is long over by then in my house - we have it before the Queen's Speech.

So yes, to answer your question, people do watch the Christmas Special....

I watch it, although not usually at the time of broadcast. It's my little bit of sanity once the children have finally been confined to their bedroom!

If they are going to drop a dance, drop the standard waltz and tango. The Vienese waltz and the Argentine tango are more difficult and more entertaining.

However, I don't see why they can't learn two dances now - particularly if the less taxing ones mentioned above are saved until the 'two dance' mode.

I've never watched the Queen's speech in my life, but if I'm in and not eating, then my family and I will watch the Christmas Special.

Don't drop any dances - there's no need.

Just get the lazy bums doing two dances earlier like they used to . In series 5 they did two dances from the quarter final onwards and Alesha and Matt did about 15 each in the final. The standard didn't suffer particularly - in fact I think it was higher than it is this series. I don't know, this bunch of pampered, overpaid divas don't know they're born do they?

I think that they shouldn't drop any dances and I'm really annoyed that it is happening again this series. By the end of the series all the finalists should have danced the full number of dances. I think the remaining celebrities could have managed to dance two dances this week (allowing them to fit in all the dances), but the problem was that they have a theme night. I think it makes it harder on the pros and celebrities to have to deal with two themed dances. It is the whole dance versus entertainment argument.
If they must drop a dance then personally I think it should be the Charleston as it has the least to do with ballroom and latin dancing. Given the main aim of the programme is about celebrities learning ballroom and latin routines then for me it is a failure of the concept to eliminate a ballroom/latin dance and certainly a failure for them not to have omitted the same dance for every celebrity.

Edit: I've watched the Christmas special every year. with so many film repeats and other dross on over Christmas I look forward to the SCD special. The only time I wasn't keen was a couple of years ago (can't remember exactly which year) when I felt it was a bit flat and the wrong celebrity won as they were over hyped over a much better dance and dancer ()

Well, given that the salsa/samba/cha cha cha end up pretty much the same dance then I can't see the problem.

Keep the AS and drop the foxtrot (as AS is usually foxtrot-based).

Definitely shove the charleston as it's neither ballroom or Latin.

The waltz is dull. You could ditch plenty. Have them repeat a dance at a higher level and contrast the performance on a split-screen. Lots you could do without having this mish-mash.

Dances still to do:
If there is to be a dance left out, I agree it should be the same one for all the couples but the best we could hope for this year would be for one that four couples haven't danced (VW or AT) but that wouldn't be fair on Jason/Holly for the former or Harry/Chelsee for the latter (arguably the top four celebs)

I think we could dispense with the American smooth in series to come as it is only one of the other dances with lifts anyway. As for a Latin, I like the Charleston as it brings a lightness to the general feel of the show late on in the run but detest the Rhumba (controversial )

Don't think Harry is allowed to do the Paso as he did this in the previous competition with Ola.

Perhaps they should decide there are certain dances that must be done by the final (say 8) then the rest can be pick & choose.

In series 6 they did that too - Christine/Matt left the first week of 2 dances which was the week before the Q Final then Austin/Erin (nuff said )

I agree with all of this.


I have been taught all of these and would argue that is not true. The Viennese Waltz has a lot of rotation but has less steps than the slow Waltz, the latter requiring a lot of control to be danced well. The Argentine Tango is simply very different from Ballroom Tango and both exercise different skills. (Entertainment value is subjective - I find the VW a bit boring except when danced en masse, as it would be at a viennese ball. If you watch an expert couple, say Warren and Kristi Boyce, dance.the waltz, it is not boring, the movement, ground covered, sway etc. being much greater than you would get on Strictly).

I think that the technical concepts in the foxtrot are more difficult to master by inexperienced dancers than the other dances. Many of the celebs on Strictly do not dance it reasonably well actually, although many make a very good attempt given the short time they have to learn it. Nevertheless they often leave out some of the more difficult steps. For most people who ballroom dance the foxtrot is thought as the dance, the one they most want to master and to leave it out would be sacrilege. When performed properly it is simply stunning. When not performed well it can look very lack lustre.

Bascially though you can't really divide dances into easy and hard. That is illustrated by the fact that the Cha Cha, often described as an easy dance, is never performed well on Strictly. Dancing is not a mathematical puzzle where you either get it right or wrong. It is a never ending quest for improvement, with perfection never being achieved. Thus a dance which is commonly thought as easy for a social dancer (e.g. waltz) is still as diifficult to perfect and take to a higher level as one which is considered to be challenging for a social dancer (e.g. samba).

Certainly it has seen off no less than 3 of this year's couples

I thought it wass because Kara last year and Harry this year had already done a dance in one of the specials, and to keep it fair they can't repeat that dance. So Kara didn't do the Samba, and Harry won't do the Paso, with the other pros/couples opting out of one of the dances to make it even.

That seems logical to me, so that's what I believe, although I see why it's not a popular opinion, there's no calling producers idiots or blaming the evil BBC for anything.

Maybe if they get a line up next year of people who haven't done anything to do with Strictly before, they'll have people doing every dance. It's just this and last year they had one celebrity who had already done one of the dances for one of the charity shows, so it wouldn't really be fair if they got to do that dance again given they'd already done it before.

I know - I cited series 5 because more people tend to mention that as one of their favourites (despite the celebs having to do all those dances) than series 6 which is not well-loved .

It may be (as mentioned above) because of the Kara/Harry reason that the dances are being dropped - there is some sense in that.