Part of my annual obsession with who chooses music or dance style has been answered. Tweet from Brendan

" Many of you asking... We do get to choose the music we use but occasionally a certain song or theme is asked of us. quite often I don't have a clue what music I want, so help from Ben (music co-ord) is a bloomin good idea"

Wonder if Wembley was a week where the song choice was asked of him

The tenure of a pro dancer in this programme is rather tenuous, some seem to get dropped for no apparent reason, like Darren and Lilia, maybe the producer at the time thought they were becoming more popular than the "C lister" contestants. So all pros will "toe the party line."

I'm not saying the pros have no input, but the BBC I believe would encourage them to let the public think they have more involvement than they usually do.

You can rest assured it'll be the producer who has the final word over any music selection.

I seem to recall an interview with Natalie where she said that they submit a list of music to the producers and 9 times out of 10, they get one of those songs.

For theme weeks though, I would imagine it's mostly down to the producers.

Its nice that the dancers get their wish most of the time.

It is very strange that a professional dancer would say "quite often I don't have a clue what music I want".

Hardly credible that a dancer can't relate each dance to at least half a dozen pieces of music.

Can Ben, the music co-ordinator, dance? Does he have a feel for the type of music required?

He should be interviewed on ITT every week to explain his choice of music and why he thinks the music fits in with the dance and why it is appropriate for the celebrity.

For me (if not for most) his input is more interesting than the dressmaker. Personally (like most blokes I suppose) I am not in the slightest bit interested in the dresses - especially in how many flying godets they have.

The celebs and pros should choose the music from the celebs MP3 and give the choice to Ben. if the celeb knows and loves the music that will help him or her dance to it. And there is enough diversity amongst the celebs to satisfy the public and therefore Ben.

I like the cut of your jib Henry.

I'd also like to see how a pro trains a celeb to do a certain dance, segment, on ITT. I think it's only been featured once, and it was Karen and Ramps. Would like to see a bit more of that

Thanks.

They have enough material to be able to produce a real "learn to dance" programme that could be shown on BBC2, 3 or 4. A one-hour programme for each dance.

in SCD we get one and a half minutes of dance per couple (12 minutes in total) and the rest if faffing around.

As a lady having two fashion segments a week is rather tediously. I'd much rather hear about the music choices too

I too find it hard to believe that any of the pros would have difficulty selecting music for a dance.

I like to see different music selected than the norm for dances and see how good a job the pros can make of the choreography. Its a lot more important to hear about the music than the dresses.

I agree with others who think it's more important to hear more about the music and dance training than the dresses, particularly the Tuesday so-called fashion "expert". I fast forward through that section of the programme, once was enough.

I really don't see why it's so hard to believe that the pro dancers sometimes find it difficult to choose music, for a variety of reasons:

1) They've only got one pair of ears and there's just no way they can listen to all the music in the world before making a decision. Often DS FMs come up with great suggestions that pros may never have heard of.

2) Longevity makes it tougher and tougher to select music from what you DO know. If I were any of the pros who've been around since before series 7 or 8 then I'd be thinking 'OK, I've used all my favourite and most appropriate bits of music for the tango / paso / jive - where on earth do I go from here?

3) Choosing a song that's got popular currency makes it easier for both the celeb and the audience to get into it (unless it's a kind of 'mood' piece like you sometimes get for the paso or salsa, something a bit traditional with no lyrics).

All of these reasons are why we've seen a higher incidence of repeated songs for routines over the past couple of series, as well as some truly bizarre choices that really should never have been used for those particular dances. Brendan's the worst offender but when you think he's done 10 series and got further than Anton and Erin in most of them, it's no wonder his brain's a bit fatigued.

Hm, I contest your point 3, Lorelei.

I'm 57 and I loathe the 'chart' tracks. Detest them. Mostly. Now it depends on the demographic. But aren't SCD viewers a bit more 'mature' than XF?

I know I'm a fuddy-duddy musically. Anything after 1980 I can live without. Who are these people who like this modern rubbish?

(Thoroughly prepared to believe it's ME who's a dinosaur. But come clean - wouldn't people rather have 'musical' music???)

I like the unusual music choices

Like Aliona's Psycho Killer Tango - although I like most people would have preferred more Tango in hold.

and like this great rendition of I Believe in a Thing Called Love which Ola used for a Paso. would have been more impressive if Chris was a better dancer, but hey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l32jpqzIxU

I'd love it if ITT featured discussion of the music choice - either from the music co-ordinator or from the pros. It could be filmed before the Saturday show, so it could be about why the music was chosen, rather than another postmortem of the previous show. I'd love that to build up the excitement on the Thursday or Friday.

I'd love to have Dave Arch on. There should be so much more about the music.

I agree and the singers - I remember Tommy Blaize was on one episode of ITT yonks ago. It would be nice to another segment dedicated to him and the singers. I know they get a bit of stick on the forums but imo they mostly do a fine job.

Hey, I'm with you - I could do without the more modern dance tracks especially, and quite a lot of the most populist stuff. But we are only two discerning members of a much wider and less sophisticated voting public out there

And to answer your question - as I was born in 1980, some of that modern rubbish is probably in my CD collection

Love the track (original, not that version LOL) but OMG Chris Hollins's Paso face is like Les Dawson

Tango should ALWAYS be in hold.

Will there ever be a day when any of the dances are danced correctly - - as taught at proper ballroom dancing schools? Don't hold your breath!

There haven't been too many high content Tangos - even Kara's brilliant Tango had a 35 second long introduction before getting into hold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnjjeQsPZVU