Thank you for this, it explains a lot

Well said, you two. I totally agree.



Why? It was Cherie's best dance - a middle aged lady not bonking James, a married man.

Colin Jackson was a gay man not bonking Erin - one of his best dances.

Rachel was a married woman - not to Vincent - another beautiful dance.

Keep it in, when done well, it's a great dance.

Exactly, two excellent examples of how to do the rumba . It doesn't have to be smouldering sexy .
Of course it helps greatly when you have the correct Latin music .

I agree, keep it in and I do like the rumba but I have always liked it because it was sultry and sensual. I didn't like Sophie's because it wasn't.

Rumba does not have to be be sexy but it does have to have rumba action and technique or it is more like contemporary

I get fed up with Bruno saying he likes a raunchy rumba - he even said it to Gladys Knight and Tristam McManus on DWTS How can you do a raunchy rumba with someone whose old enough to be your mother/son

Also another thing to bear in mind is some amateur/pro dancers dance with their siblings, I remember Derek Hough saying in a VT that he's had to dance the rumba before with his sister. I very much doubt in those cases they'd be doing 'raunchy rumbas'.

I don't mind Bruno, I quite like him but he really does talk out of his arse sometimes!

Well different people perceive different things.
I have watched it several times at 720p resolution and I find it lovely and moving. Sorry.

Yep.
Always look to the professionals to see how it's really done.
Absolutely perfect Rumbas and the dancers were hardly looking at eachother at all.

I always wonder what would happen if a couple on Strictly presented a rumba exactly like that.
Even if it was technically excellent and faultless would the judges mark them down for " not telling a story" ?
If these couples in your links presented these exact dances to the judges, would they dare to criticise them?

Len would like it but the other three would want a performance of what THEY think a rumba should be - just wrong

To be fair Bruno didn't say that Rumba had to be sexy or raunchy, he said that he likes his to be that way and as a judge he is entitled to his opinion

Just as some of us and Brendon are entitled to disagree with that opinion especially when the song and couple dancing are not suited for a 'raunchy' type rumba.

The choreography for sophie has played to her strengths which are she has long arms and legs - unfortunately no sense of rhythm or hip rotation - she tries hard but sorry can't dance

Well they might well divert from the actual technical performance and suggest a lack of chemistry (although interestingly I believe Sergey and Melia are married . Lucky Melia )

I agree with bendymixer. Len would probably like it, the others not.

This clip of Sergey and Melia's Rumba here is only from a teaching video - so the only purpose of it was to demonstrate the basic steps and their timing rather than being anything about the performance behind it. Their actual show dances always have more than enough of a story behind them, and heaps of chemistry.

I was in Hong Kong over the weekend and watched them dance a show there yesterday (amongst many other of the top couples in the world), and they truly have the most captivating Rumba I have EVER seen! So intense and dramatic and full of emotions. Unique.

Just watched Kara's Rumba again. That girl is a stunner & a beautiful dancer. I know she was in love with Artem but I think she would have been good with anyone. Nobody in this series is close to Kara & that includes Natalie for me who is probably technically better than Kara but doesn't bring her soul to the dance floor which Kara did.

That Rumba was also not 'filthy dirty' to quote Brendan it was romantic & sensual which was sadly missing in Sophie's by comparison. BUT very few celebs can pull off a good rumba it's the dance I would get rid off.

It's hard to fake passion for some people, especially when you're in a relationship.

Incidentally Brendan would class this as a "dirty filthy dance"

I've danced the Rhumba with many different men - I don't see it as the massive issue some seem to - you're mostly not in a close embrace even.

The music and steps help to make that connection and I always felt it was romantic and connected rather than 'too sexy to dance'.

And it's just a bloody dance, I don't get why it's soooo oooooh scary.

Kara Tointon is amongst the top 10 'good' dancers who were utterly dull. Easily Artem's least appealing partner, and that includes Fern Britton.

My favorite rumba routine on strictly without a doubt but I beg to disagree with you OP.

All dances are open to interpretation; there's no right or wrong way of doing it . It seems like the judges only want their rumba or paso to be a certain way but I don't agree.
Sophie and Brendan rumba was good for what it was; not the best rumba I've seen but I liked the concept of it.
Just like all paso don't have to be like Susanna & Kevin paso but can be like the one that Abbey did this Saturday (a bit balletic, nice shapes and more modern ....)

Safe to say that I didn't really appreciate the judges comments over Sophie & Abbey dances !!!
It seems like they have a one dimensional way of looking at certain dances !!!

Yet she performed a perfectly acceptable QS for someone who can't dance

It's not looking hopeful

By my very rough calculations there must have been over 1000 pro/celeb dances performed on Strictly, and Brendan has performed, say, 100 or so of those dances.

Of the remaining 900+ dances, there HAS to be at least ONE by another couple that even Brendan's most ardent supporter would admit to finding rather good: Jill's jive, Mark and Karen's AT, Matt & Flavia's salsa, to give a few popular examples of well-regarded dances. And by the same token, of the 100-ish dances Brendan plus partner have performed they cannot ALL have been the best dance ever. In series two, his paso with Sarah Manners didn't come anywhere close to those of Jill or Denise, and no one could reasonably argue otherwise. Ditto Lulu and Fiona Philips ~ they hardly set the dancefloor alight,

Lots of people have favourites, of course, an expressing a liking for something performed by another pro/celeb doesn't mean that your favourite is any less your favourite. But a blanket refusal to say a good word about any other dance ever performed on the show is something I cannot fathom at all.

Still, I'm wasting my time here, aren't I?

I don't think the Cherie/ James Rumba has ever been topped.

Sensuous and romantic without resorting to Craig pleasing "filth" tactics.

Kara Tointon left me cold. And her showmance with Artem didn't help me warm to her at all.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^exactly.

Shame, SMH.