What does dyslexia have to do with dancing?

I don't really care any more about celebs with previous training, although I would like them to be upfront about their experience and not dismiss it as not relevant. Personally I don't think someone who trained to be a professional dancer should be on the show, but I'm not going to stop watching if it does happen. By 'training to be a professional dancer', I mean someone who as an adult was trying to pursue a career as a dancer.

As far as I'm concerned, the judges give their scores and then it's up to the public to vote for them or not. We all know that there is no guarantee the best dancer will win.

It's much more important to me that the judges do their job properly and give scores and comments that reflect the wide range of experience we see on the show.

At the risk of being shot down in flames , it is widely known that Natalie trained as a professional dancer, it was only due to her back injury, that stopped her pursuing that career.It wasn't ballroom or latin training but a pro dancer nonetheless. I do like her dancing and she applies herself well to whatever she is given.

And she was smart enough to be up front about it. Abbey forgot the training she had with Brendan as part of Britains Next Top Model.

Natalie was honest about her training, but she has still been crucified because of it.

You can't compare formal training with the kind of 'training' someone on a show like Britain's Next Top Model receives! It's like saying that someone who learns to do a dance for a wedding has been trained!

I like her and love watching her dance. She is clearly loving the whole experience (apart from the injuries obviously!) and works very hard to get the routine right. That said, I don't think she should be on the show.


I didn't know about that. She's a natural dancer though. Bet she wished she was paired with him.

Oh, I don't think she'd swap Aljaz for anyone .

You're right, they're not comparable, but I think the point was about honesty or openness. The fact that it hasn't been mentioned allows doubts to creep in and for people to roll their eyes at the judges when they say 'For someone with absolutely no training, blah, di, blah...' and so on. I don't think her 'training' is of any significance at all and think she is a natural, but it still would have been better to have mentioned it, if only because people will fill any holes in the story for themselves.

Was Susanna's chacha mentioned for CIN or whatever charity it was ?

I think it's unreasonable to expect them to mention a couple of hours/days training for something which is hardly comparable to years of training.

Not now I agree, I meant before the partners were announced.


Every couple is on ITT every week and it would just be nice if past experience came up in the conversations with Zoe. I noticed how easily Patrick mentioned he'd been in some musicals and played Danny Zucko (at school I think). Celebs need to realise a lot of people won't mind them having past experience nearly so much if they bring it up themselves.

For example, how nice would it have been if Pamela had said she had been interested in dancing all her life and gone to classes like any one else would for a hobby? Or instead of an actor friend saying it, if Jason had admitted how hard he had to work in his previous roles to get the dancing right because he was not a natural dancer?

We are lucky here in the UK to have ITT. DWTS doesn't have a dedicated partner show and the forum discussions (not DS) on the subject of ringers are red hot.

Talking casually about their past experience on ITT is the ideal opportunity to avoid tabloid speculation and risking alienating voters - and we might like them all the better for it.

I don't mind the celebs having danced before if it is attending dance school on a saturday or had a bit of training for a day or two for tv prog like Abbey's model thing - but Natalie trained for years was good enough to win a place for pro training at Italia conte at 16 and only gave up and took up acting after an injury - just a tad too far imo

Exactly so. Plus the constant referral to Abbey never having had any training before by Bruno, glosses over a small bit of ballroom training done by Brendan.


Precisely. Whilst it wouldn't stop the DM making all sorts of false accusations, at least it gives the individuals a chance to put their side across. How much value that has for those who pre-judge anyway would be impossible to know.

And yet the fact that Natalie was open about her training right from the start - she made a point of mentioning it in her VT on the launch show - hasn't saved her from the storm.

Perzackerly. Others have said this before but, riding in on their coat-tails, I do think that the ringer tag is only part of the reason why Natalie is unpopular on this forum. Kara was initially lumbered with the same tag but won people around through sheer force of personality (oh, and the romance with Artem, natch) until the only people still grumbling about it were Matt Baker's diehard fans.

In more innocent times, St Jill of Halfpenny denied she'd had any previous dance training, despite having attended Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, First Act Theatre drama school and the Reavley Dance School (thank you, Wiki). Her mother even taught dance! But she still won. Kelly Brook also trained to be a dancer until she was side-tracked into modelling, but we only remember with regret that she had to withdraw from the competition when her father died.

And yet Lisa Snowden (who taught dance and yoga), and Denise Van Outen (who sat on a chair as Roxy in Chicago) were vilified as DIRTY RINGAHS and didn't win.

Natalie hasn't impressed with her personality, or won us over with cute babies, dead nans or a convenient showmance. We've only had injury porn, and that added to her troubles rather than garnered any sympathy. It's a shame, but I think she will follow in the footsteps of Lisa and Denise rather than those of Jill and Kara.

Sorry but what is the difference between pro training and the normal courses that the upcoming actors go through?

According to her Wikipedia entry she did a 3-year acting and musical theatre course at IC. Is this not accurate, or does that course have equivalence with a professional dance qualification (if there is such a thing)?

I'm just going from memory, but didn't they make Kara start her training for SCD a week late because she'd done that Sport Relief(?) thing with Mark Ramprakash? This may well be a figment of my imagination.

IIRC they did, which was why I was surprised the same did not apply to Susanne.

I would love to know how many people bleating about Natalie's training (which some seem to think started virtually from birth) were Kelly, Jill or Kara fans?

***waves***

I think that might be because for many Natalie is on the wrong side of the line over previous experience, plus the culture of moaning about any previous experience a celeb might have.

If it became the norm for celebs to be upfront and actually talk about any dancing experience the have, there might be less negativity attached to it. That said, it would be replaced by something else!

there seems to be a mis conception re professional -

as a dance teacher to me professional is a dancer who preforms and is paid to do so end of - then there is the professional who competes and the prizes are monetary and amateur competitor who competes but accepts no money - the rules of BDC state that if dancers have an equity card or manage a dance hall etc disqualifies them from holding amateur status

The course Natalie did at IC was the musical theatre one and only accepts people who can already dance and trains them for west end performance those people normally have equity cards and have taken part in shows like pantos etc so they are classed as professional

The only PROFESSIONAL qualification as you ask if for dance teachers also within the rules of the BDC for ballroom and latin dances to compete in Pro comps the couple must hold at least an Associate exam in teaching

to be honest if an actor is on the show it is near impossible to find one these days with no form of dance experience so think it is ok for them to have some experience - think Nat just has a tad too much - though I do appreciate her excellent dancing each week

That's exactly how I feel too.

Completely agree. If past experience was addressed in a relaxed, conversational manner on ITT, I think there'd be much less paranoia around the issue. It would just be an interesting thing to know about them.


No, but as others have pointed out, it isn't the only issue on which people make judgements. I have to say though, that for my own part, it does make a difference. Whilst acknowledging that her experience is the wrong side of the line for some, I care not a jot about Natalie's 'prior', but I think if she'd tried to minimise it, I might have cared more. I didn't mind DVO last year (and certainly wasn't bothered by her having been in musicals) but she and James irritated me in the way they handled the issue.

That how I felt and again, I loved watching her dance (I like her too). She may have been advised to handle it the way she did, but I guess everybody makes mistakes.

I'm not sure she was that open. She did indeed share with us the fact she trained to be a dancer, but she stressed she had no Ballroom training.

Two things. Firstly, I am with bendy and Buddy, I feel the amount of training Natalie has had has crossed a line for an amateur competition/show based around people learning to dance.

Secondly, her statement re: no Ballroom training bothers me a little too. In the context that the show is 50:50 Ballroom:Latin American and Natalie is trained in LA, stressing she has no Ballroom training smacks more of deflection than openness. Further, according to wiki (another thanks) Ballroom dance traditionally refers to "the five International Standard and five International Latin style dance", so if we used that definition, then Natalie wasn't just deflecting, she was lying.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and stick with deflection as her intent, but I don't think she covered much more ground between lie and truth than DVO did.