Ok, I can do on Twitter, but not on Facebook. If you are, could you please post link? Thanks.

ETA: I'll include Zoe's Twitter aswell, maybe she'll pluck up the courage to tackle this issue on ITT next week.

I rarely post in the SCD Forum these days but am delighted this thread has been started. My pet hate about SCD is the dreadful choice of music most of the time.
I'm old fashioned enough to expect and wish the VW was always danced to music by Strauss, that the Paso was true to its origins and danced to original Spanish music together with the Tango!
Dancing the Tango in a kilt to a song by the Proclaimers beggars belief!
Does anyone know who selects the music, surely not the Professionals?

Just to let everyone concerned with this issue know, I tweeted both BBCStrictly and Zoe Ball on Nov.10th, but so far heard no response.

I don't think they care. As Doghouse Riley says, their viewing figures are beating X Factor hands down, so why should the music change to more appropriate and suitable choices for each rhythm just to please Dance Fans?

I'm so glad that someone else wants to see a VW to music by Strauss (with costumes of the period of the Congress of Vienna but that may be asking too much!)

Love to dance to both the titles you mention - Santa Maria is just as great for ballroom tango as AT. There's nothing wrong with using modern tunes providing they are adapted to the correct tempo. A lot of strict tempo cds include music that has been in the recent Top 10, but it is re-recorded to the correct beat for whatever dance.

I think the production team seems to think that the GBP will not appreciate the more traditional music, but I think are underestimating viewers.

Spanish Gypsy may be bit over played at times, but I'd rather hear that for every paso on Strictly than some of the nonsense they play.

The definition of dance is "movement to music" so it stands to reason if the music is wrong then the dance will be as well.

They just love themes....so why not decades? Could exploit 30s- 50s to the max that way.

Exactly this.

It's not difficult to beat XFactor at the moment because XFactor is on it's last legs and most on the XFactor forum and the rest of the viewers are sick to death of the manipulative Cowell and all the fakeness he brings to the show.

None of his changes with the judging panel has worked only made things worse and I read as a last resort he wants Cheryl Tweedy and himself back on the panel .

I don't really like the traditional music. I think it makes the dance so much more interesting when they use a modern and unlikely song, such as Song 2 by Blur for Fiona and Anton's Paso. I thought that was a brilliant and inspired choice and the anger of that track fitted the dance very well.

I prefer traditional music but think the pro should be given more freedom to chose the track they choreograph to. They also would know if a traditional track or modern one will motivate their celeb.

But it doesn't have to be just one or the other . Some modern tracks from the pop charts works but others are just dire .
All SCD needs is some balance in the music and at the moment its predominantly, if not all modern .

It's an absolute disgrace to have Latin dances and not to have any Latin music .

OK - it seems like I've said this loads in other threads but the ability to match a time signature to a dance does not make for a good choice. Other factors that have to be taken into consideration are temp and rhythm. I'm not going to blame DA & HWWO, I dare say they are given a tune/song, the time in seconds and then have to do what they can.

500 miles does not a tango make. I'm not going to insist that "traditional" music, whatever that is (and I'm a folk musician so be careful) is what is needed. Contemporary music is fine, as long as it matches or its interpretation matches.

But we've seen all these dances so many times now; it's nice when they try something new. I love it when they use a track that you would never have thought of for that particular dance.

It ain't going to happen. The BBC want to achieve a "balance, but slanted towards youth."

So they end up with a total collection that pleases no one.

As long as it fits the dance. But sometimes the music they select doesn't actually fit the steps or the spirit of the dance. That's when it jars and spoils the whole thing. Sometimes, to me, it looks as if one song is coming out of my TV but that they are dancing to a different song in the studio

I've got no problem with that and in fact it gives me great delight in hearing unusual songs/tunes. They have just got to match the dance, that's all.

Psycho Killer. A great song for the tango by the Talking Heads, an American punk/new wave band.

I'm the Man: Joe Jackson, for the Quickstep

Shipbuilding: Elvis Costello, good for waltz.

Flight of the Bumble Bee: Rimsky Korsakov for the Jive

Cry Me a River: Julie London for the Viennese Waltz

China Girl: David Bowie for the foxtrot

Teardrop: Newton Faulkner for the rhumba

Some Cities: The Doves for the Samba

Goodbye Mr A; The Hoosiers for the Charleston

Ghost: Bombay Bicycle Club for the Cha Cha

Who's got a Match: Biffy Clyro for the Salsa

It sometimes can work. I can remember "Pretty Woman" being used as a Tango (Nicole and Derek) on DWTS when I heard they were using that song I was like WTF but it it was genius in the end.

I think the best way to go is traditional, golden oldies and modern current hits. What we definitely don't want to happen is for SCD to become like Dancing on Ice and use the most generic overplayed songs imaginable. I can't watch that trashy piece of crap show for that reason.

Innovation is key and they shouldn't be afraid to use traditional/instrumental music where their dreadful singers aren't required.

I'm sure that much of the problem with Deborah's fatal waltz was that it was in 6/8 so acquired an unevenness which broke the flow. Well, that and the table!

The singers are asked to replicate, "at a moment's notice" ...(oh, all right then, they get nearly a week, but they'll have nigh on a dozen other songs to learn at the same time), the voices of recording artists who could have spent days doing it with all sorts of digital enhancements, with cutting and splicing of their "best bits" and the benefit of auto tune.

Yeah.. "Dreadful" aren't they?

Given some of the daft tunes that are used, I think they're fantastic.

They're also often required to try to sound like the original voice.Quite how Tommy managed to come anywhere close to approximating Damon Albarn on Saturday (and he did) I find astounding.

It think a lot of the pros would try and pick modern music where possible, especially those with younger celebs. They might relate to it better for some dances. Meanwhile others gave more of a feel for music and a track designed for a particular dance might help them.

Yes.
I've always said it and I don't care who argues against me on this point...Crazy In Love by Beyoncé has NOT got a cha cha rhythm.I never rated that supposedly perfect dance because of that fundamental issue.

Especially as contemporary Latin music is still being produced... You can have tracks which are contemporary and also designed for the dance.

For me, music is at least half of the dance. If I don't like the music, I am really not going to enjoy the dance. I know it's subjective but my main criteria is that:

The beat and tempo is appropriate for the dance.

The MOOD is also appropriate.

Now, I'm not asking for Espani Cani for every Paso (oh go on then) but you don't need to stick to that. There is a wealth of traditional Spanish music that has never been used. The same applies for the Charleston, yes I like Cabaret, but it is not strictly speaking a Charleston song. What about the many fantastic songs that were written in that era, the 20s, that have hardly been touched? Laila and Anton's was brilliant to Yes Sir, That's My Baby, and there are so many more to use. Chelsee's Paso to Malaguena was spine tinglingly wonderful and nobody can convince me that it would have been as equally effective had it been to a boringly repetitive rock number.

Now, some pop tracks can work IF they are as said, the right beat and mood. One I can think of is Darren and Lilia's Paso to Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood which has a definite Spanish flamenco beat and had the right mood in the lyrics. Another I liked was last year with Victoria and Brendan's Tango to White Wedding. I cannot remember the artist, but the mood and beat were great and contributed to it making it her best dance. Let's Get Loud is a great cha cha, and there have been lots of others.

So I am not averse to pop tracks at all IF they are carefully chosen. I do have an aversion to Queen which has been done to death on SCD, and usually not well. But Patrick and Anya's AS would not for me have had that impact had it been to a generic pop tune, the fact is, songs from that era, stretching from the 20s to the 50s, were designed to be DANCED to, (and performed to) when many pop tracks you really really cannot with the best will in the world, ballroom dance to. Because they are not written with that in mind. It surely cannot help the celeb either, if they are struggling with a dance to try and dance it to a totally inappropriate song. If they get criticised for timing, it may not always be their fault!

What frustrates and saddens me is that there is a wealth of wonderful music which SCD would be the perfect vehicle for, to get to a wider audience, and it is so little played on the radio, excepting a few specialist programmes.

Too late. That is where we are now. They just shoehorn the dance onto any track they think might be interesting rather than innovate.