Who for you is the best ballroom, latin and all-rounder contestant that has been on Strictly? Mine are:

Ballroom: Ricky W
Latin: Jill
All-rounder: Kara

At the risk of alienating Kara fans - if her Rumba is anything to go by there are likely to have been better all-round dancers than her.

Kara's Rumba imo was absolutely breathtaking. She demonstrated a level of technical expertise I'd normally only expect to see in a professional dancer. But she was like a sackful of snakes, and I suspect that with a few alterations to that dance she would have delivered precisely the same effect had she danced it around a pole.

Artem choreographed that dance for at the end of the competition, for the semi-final. Why did he go that route, rather than opt for a slower dance which would have allowed her to deliver a characterisation one would usually associate with a Rumba? Isn't it supposed to be the only slow Latin dance? Kara was practically a blur throughout most of the dance.

I just wondered if Artem envisaged the same potential problem as presumably did Pasha when he choreographed that AT for Chelsee, and went for a high level of technical content because he wasn't sure that Kara would be comfortable with a 'heavier' characterisation.

Did Kara deliver a really compelling characterisation in any of her other dances?

I think you have made a fair point here. Kara never excited me a dancer but I always loved to watch her dance - if that makes sense.

She was (deservedly imo) forgiven by the public for slightly lacking a touch of emotion and characterisation when she performed because she was the best dancer and a sweet girl. I do think her ballroom was stronger than her latin though.

My personal opinion only:

Best ballroom (male): Ricky Whittle
Best ballroom (female): Alesha Dixon

Best Latin (male): Matt Baker
Best Latin (female): Jill Halfpenny

Best all-rounder (male): Matt Baker
Best all-rounder (female): Kara Tointon

Best dancer ever seen on Strictly: probably Kara, with Alesha close behind.

Thanks. I was severely doubting myself when I offered that point of view. Not a problem one would expect with two celebrities who both make a living as actresses.

I don't think that being an actress necessarily means you are going to automatically 'get' the characterisation perfect of every dance after a few hours training. Some will and some wont. I just think it's down to the individual's personality.

Best Ballroom: Pamela

Best Latin: Alesha

Best All Rounder: Kara (Shortly followed by Jill)

Kara, towards the end, after her Argentine Tango until the final itself, where she was injured, was pretty amazing and excellent in all departments.

Mine are:
Ballroom: Kara
Latin: Kara
All-rounder: Kara

Excellent point. I am a great Kara fan but really it is the partnership that excites me, rather than the woman on her own. As a pairing they had something, each making the other better than they would have been as a solo act. That is not in any way to denigrate their performance - they were sublime - but it was a pairing, not a Kara thing.

Men:
Best Ballroom Ricky W
Best Latin (Latin) Mark Ramprakash
Best All Rounder Matt Baker

Female
Best Ballroom Rachel stevens
Best Latin Kara Tointon
Best All Rounder Jill Halfpenny

Women
Best Ballroom - Jill Halfpenny
Best Latin - Jill Halfpenny
Best All Rounder - Jill Halfpenny

IMO No one has come close to Jill at all

I took the trouble to look at a few of Jill's dances last night. It seemed to me that Jill had more flair than Kara for delivering the characterisation of the dance, and I was impressed with Jill's Paso. But I'll never understand how anybody could view Chelsee's Paso and not recognize that it was in a different league to any Paso in the history of the competition.

Pasha choreographed it so that we could see at any one time which of the three roles the woman was playing. He didn't need to fluff it out with skirt-swishing. The choreography was such that any deficiencies in the technique of the celebrity would almost certainly be exposed.

But he was confident that Chelsee could handle the choreography. And going by the judges' reactions his confidence was not misplaced - I don't ever recall Craig responding in such a manner to a celebrity performance.

So you'll never understand that people have different opinions? And that what people think is a good dance is entirely subjective?

For me it's not the best Paso because she made an obvious mistake. It's good, but not worth the mark it got. Kara still tops the Paso rankings for me, Austin for the men.

I'd agree with most of that except I'd say Best female all rounder was Alesha. Kara's fast latin routines never engaged me in the same way as Alesha's did and I would consider Alesha the best overall dancer on Strictly.

Its called having an opinion how is that hard to understand?

I'd actually rank Alesha above Kara in my favourites, I also find Alesha's routines more engaging, but I think Kara has a little extra finesse that makes her edge it in my overall ability ranking

What I like about forums such as these is that I have the opportunity to learn from others whose expertise is on a different level to that of even people like Len who have been judging Ballroom dances for years.

Even Len missed the mistake towards the end of Chelsee's Rumba which you pointed out - where she had to take a quick half-step to reposition herself.

And whereas many observers undoubtedly will have assumed that in the two parts of Chelsee's Paso where she appeared to be 'lost', she was portraying the transition from Cape to Flamenco Dancer in the first instance, and from Cape to Bull in the second instance - I wouldn't mind betting that you realised that Chelsee really did forget for a moment what she was supposed to be doing.

Best ballroom male: Matt Baker
Best ballroom female: Alesha Dixon

Best latin male: Matt Baker
Best latin female: Jill Halfpenny

Best allrounder male: Matt Baker
Best allrounder female: Jill Halfpenny

Best male ballroom - Matt Dawson/ Colin Jackson
Best male latin - Mark Ramprakash
Best Male all rounder - Matt Baker/ Colin Jackson

Best female ballroom - Denise Lewis
Best female latin - Louisa Lytton
Best female all rounder - Zoe Ball/ Alesha Dixon

Frankly,your conspiracy theory threads were getting on my nerves a bit,but what you've said here,especially the BIB,I wholeheartedly applaud.

That doesn't negate the fact that one's feeling about a dance is subjective.


That proves nothing - as anyone who's danced competitively will tell you, sometimes judges miss things as they simply cannot watch the whole floor, or even the whole of someone's body, at once - if they're concentrating on arms for a second, they could miss a footwork mistake. The judges themselves have said as much on ITT.


If you think she was doing that, that's fine, that's your opinion. I think she stumbled and nearly fell over as she didn't catch her balance properly after a spin - that's what I saw. Similarly, I really felt the emotion in Harry's Rumba, where many others didn't. It's all subjective, and I really don't understand how you can claim otherwise. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, because with opinion there is no right and wrong, but I am saying that it is your opinion, nothing more, and you must surely realise that others will feel differently.

Alesha was far from the best dancer IMO. Her Latin was a bit shocking at times.

I think Kara was probably the best dancer, but her Ballroom was definitely better than her Latin.

I agree. And to this day still holds the record for scoring the most tens

No offence, but that's rich coming from you.