The reason I believe that dance, rhythm and musicality - to a lesser extent - are innate comes from observing children. Especially children in cultures where dance is just part of everyday life rather than an art form with a capital A. Although pre-schoolers here too seem to have a much more natural sense of movement than adults.

I have witnessed the tiniest tots in the streets of Cuba, Latin America and that Caribbean with a groove that I envy and given that they are barely walking I have to conclude it is built in. They simply aren't old enough to have learned this in any disciplined way. They may be observing and mimicking adults but the romantic in me prefers to believe we are born with an instinct to move to music and beat.

I think the point you make that dance is an everyday part of life in Cuba and Latin America and the Caribbean is the key and very important.

It's not natural or part of the culture over here to dance instinctively. Things have changed.

For quite a few people dance is something you do at weddings, after a few beers. Women love it, but most men would run a mile rather than dance.

You must have noticed the lack of men dancing (AT) tango in the UK? It's no longer cool or hip for men to dance so very few do.

Such a shame because women love men who can dance.

But that is another discussion entirely and I do not want to go off topic

I've only just managed to view his attempt at the Paso and that was just appalling , he didn't do one dance step but had an idiotic face like Karen was giving off a bad smell .

Is Karen going to be another of the pros tha'ts just given up on trying to teach their no hoper celeb how to dance .

Drawing from experience of piano playing, I've been playing for a few years now, and only the last year or so I've really been getting the musicality of it, that little extra between pressing the right keys at the right moment at the right volume, and playing a song. I think that you can defnitely can learn that, as well as rhythm. I've much more rhythm than when I started. Is that something you can aquire in a few months? No, you can't. Will I ever be as good as someone who was always great at it? No, of course not.

Or to explain it differently. You have circumstance and DNA. A corn field often has corn that has exactly the same DNA. Still some corn grows longer than others, because of more favourable conditions. DNA determines the maximum you can achieve. But your surroundings determine how much that DNA is expressed. If kids have really long parents, but they get little food, they stay small. If parents have 'long genes' but had little food when they were young, the children will grow taller than their parents if they get enough food.

Will Dave be as good as Natalie? No. Can he get better? Defnitely.

I think he kind of let slip tonight that he has settled as the comedy turn when, in the Tess pit, he wondered if he'd gone "a step too far" with his antics and was facing the dance-off. I think it showed that he is just going out there now to provide as much ham and cheese as possible without getting too bothered by actually learning to fully dance a routine.

This is what puts me off about some celebs.

Beautifully put.

I think Dave really wants to stay in so that he can get better, but knows he's so bad that unless he provides something extra to make people want to see him for another week, he will be out. So, to get the chance to improve, he has to go out there and be memorably bad.

I really don't think he's a cynical kind of guy. How much this is him, and how much Karen, determining the strategy, isn't clear from the training footage I've seen.

Not only does Dave appear to be the very antipathy of a Man capable of ever producing a dance he actually believes SCD is a joke show

Listen to him and realise that Dave has no intention of learning to dance but simply wishes to enhance (he feels) his off the wall manner of earning very well thank you

I agree 100%.
As for Len and Bruce calling him the "Peoples Champion", thats just ridiculous.

He can barely manage walking.

dave has settled for being comedy dave. he probably could improve, but i see little motivation or intent to do so.

And let's not forget the producers who I'm sure are very happy to package him as the comedy act. If DS is a barometer of anything, he's well-liked and he'll keep pulling the viewers in for a few weeks yet unless he's bounced into a dance-off.

OMG I've just realised I have got muddled up with Mark and Dave. Just realised after watching the results show that Mark is the actor, Dave is the hairy biker. I know they look nothing alike. Mark is the better dancer IMO. Dave is the rubbish dancer but can cook.

True you can't judge what someone is like as a person from seeing them in scd, but you can certainly judge their dancing ability, and on that level Dave is certainly in the Widdy camp.

I don't think Dave is any less innately musical than Julien, Vanessa or Tony - all of whom to my way of thinking shouldn't be anywhere near a dance show if they can't count to 8 and work out what beat to do stuff on.

With that in mind, though, I would've thought that his waltz this week will be every bit as credible as Tony's or Vanessa's efforts were, especially as Karen is smart enough to choreograph a flattering effort. But that's because the waltz, with its extended hold and limited 'flash' appeal, is just that bit more forgiving to the non-dancers. Plus it's less obviously jarring when a celeb can't count to 3 than when they can't count to 8

Obviously that doesn't mean Dave can be turned into a credible dancer. If you're that lacking in intrinsic musicality, it's not a problem that can be corrected with practice, unlike stiff limbs, step memory, an understanding of how a dance should look etc. You will never understand rhythm if you don't have any inkling of it. End of.

Maybe they are exposed to music earlier and much more consistently. My theory is that they are interacting with adults and older children through dance and music more.

It's similar to how children who are engaged with more talk more confidently and pick up bigger vocabularies "naturally".

Little LL is now five months old and I'm testing this theory with her first series of SCD...every weekday I get out our mini-glitterball and let her spin it round while singing the SCD theme tune. She's glued to the screen when the dancing's on and particularly enjoyed what she saw of Sophie and Brendan's Charleston. I'll let you know if the theory pans out in about five years' time

I can't even think about Widdy without wanting to punch a kitten What I found rather repellent was how strictly turned her into this harmless figure of fun, she is a repellent woman and her three minutes of dance should have just been her standing still while members of the public threw rotten fruit at her.

As for Dave I think he could be somewhat decent if he really tried, but strictly now present him as the joke so I don't really think he will get a chance

Interact not watch! If you want to test the theory you have to start dancing WITH each other regularly.

Good for you! Make the bugger hop and squirm -- a good dance for her.

Give it time ...

I have seen people - children and adults - in UK moving in time to music with the natural instinct you mention.

The problem comes when you try and teach them steps and choreography. While some, of course, will relish the challenge and pick it up reasonably easily, others will just freeze and instantly turn into "tin soldiers". Suddenly they'll forget how easy it is to put one foot in front of the other - ask them to walk across the dance floor as if they were walking down the road, and they'll stomp or march so stiffly they would probably snap in 2 if someone touched them with a feather!

Or Dave's biker jacket?

Of course Dave could learn how to dance. In the same way that I could win the Grand National. With a jockey on me back.