Thanks for that. Interesting. I'll look at it again.

and so did yungathart, I loved it .so intense,I felt like an intruder ,who should not have been watching .

Much appreciated analysis. Now to see if I can spot these in Patrick's dance.

BIB: On a personal level I would never dance a choreographed dance. Some AT schools have an end of term class performance. I avoid such schools. For SCD the show must go on of course. It does take a few viewings of the action replay to spot the nuances of the dance anyway - especially for those who have little knowledge of a particular dance.

Abbey was shown centre-screen stroking the head of the beautiful baby Sophie was holding.

Hush now, before you give the producers a new idea for a theme week

Franglemand, I absolutely agree. Usually when dancing as a follow the priority is to follow the lead (if I know they are experienced, I might chuck in some footwork embellishments or change up a rhythm to better hit the musical phrase without disturbing their lead*) but if it were a performance situation** and my partner froze then hell yes. I'd be back leading like mad hoping to jog their memory, or cover up the problem.




* if I were dancing with a good friend I might hijack a move, or steal the lead role entirely and have them follow me for a bit, because while I believe leading and following is a conversation it is sometimes fun to not give the boys the final say!

**Unlikely because I avoid such things as much as possible, most recently humiliating myself with a Tap performance to the theme from Footloose. Shudder!

For AT I presume you mean, rather than dancing in general?


My most hated public performance was having to do a tap routine to the irritatingly twee England Swings (although our version sang London rather than England) while wearing a sort of bastardised sailor girl suit

Teehee! Feels cathartic to confess though, huh?

Dancing in general. I couldn't possibly remember a 90 second dance as per SCD never mind the 5 minute efforts in group dances. That's why I dance AT. So I can pretend I have changed my mind or better still that I had planned the unexpected when in fact I have had a brain fade as to what I was going to do.


Girls can have the last oh so cutting laugh. Nothing more painful than a snigger when your lead goes astray - or "Is that all you are going to do? Don't you know anything else?". Or even frown or a grimace.

The snigger is the other side of leading.

Does that count as child abuse?

Oh God yes! I hated it with the passion of a burning sun (as the saying goes ) and it was twee beyond measure.
One of my favourite routines though was a contemporary one to the Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov, it involved a hell of a lot of leaping around in bare feet and loads of lifting with some seriously sexy blokes (who went on to dance for Phoenix and the Northern Ballet Theatre as it was back then)


I can see your point, I've done both and I find I tend to prefer it when there's a loose structure to the dance with set choreography but still with freedom to express individual moments, contemporary dance works best for this. Although, having said that, perfectly choreographed dance, no matter what the style, which is performed with emotion and passion will always get me.


Very probably! Although possibly not as much as having to dance dressed as a hen during a production of Michael Hird's Pop Cantatas including Jonah Man Jazz and Rooster Rag. The big difference being I absolutely loved the song (Chanticleer) in that case though and enjoyed every minute of it.

See? The universe took care of you and redressed the balance

I had a horrible festival routine to 'Scarlet Ribbons' when I was about 8. Nearly 30 years later I'm still cringing.

Aw, Henry, I would never do that, in fact, I have a carefully considered stash of encouraging words for leads that are kind, yet truthful

And I always say thank you after a dance. Always.

I've always tried to help when men freeze or go wrong. I have been told though, on occasion 'don't lead, I know what I'm doing', when they were out of time as well as hopelessly confused.

I think it made them feel all manly and in charge.

Most of the time, the men either don't notice or are silently grateful I get them over a blank moment or ten seconds.

It ain't easy for the girls either.

I was incredibly lucky, I was just the right age and a teacher at my middle school was friends with the amazing Nadine Senior who had started running dance classes as part of her PE lessons for kids who went to Harehills Middle School in Leeds (incredibly deprived area of the city). She was inspiring and to see all these kids (from ethnic minorities, mixed race, etc) who had been utterly directionless before her suddenly become interested in dance was a privilege.
I danced with her for two years before she left the school to go and found the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (and around the same time I discovered boys and a love of rugby league so dancing started to take a back seat )


Poor Betty (hug) that's a sickly sweet song too (although I love Harry Belafonte's voice).

Thanks. Love you both.

I can imagine it is terrible not being asked for a dance.

In AT Milongas I have had the odd snigger but seldom a refusal. I'm thick skinned anyway.

well, I thought their AT was wonderful

Stay strong, and you've got far more women to choose from than we have men.

Dance with the nice ones

I'd dance with you Henry, although as I'm now 43, at least six stones heavier than in my dancing days (thank you five-year-old son) and have torn the ligaments in my right ankle twice, you might want to politely turn me down

Both BIBs

You have heard this Harry Belafonte recently.

Harry Belafonte - Unchained Melody (1956)
http://youtu.be/iObOFnO5Qoo

And then this ... let's do sitting down samba now ..

Harry Belafonte - Angelina (1961)
http://youtu.be/xuSEl-gG6mw

I love Angelina

Speaking of Harry Belafonte, I'd love to see someone dancing to either The Banana Boat Song or to Jump In Line. I don't think either of them have been used on SCD.

I'd Love to dance as well.

Better do something about that weight (13st 6lbs now? ).

I thought I was well overweight at 82Kg in January this year now down to still overweight 73Kg. I phoned a friend this afternoon and he had suffered a heart attack earlier this month. He is 43, 5ft 6ins and 95 Kg (15st) down from 105 Kg (16st 8lbs) last year.

Christmas is not good for weight control.

Indeed it isn't. Every lead is unique and each lead ever so slightly different. Henry imagine going to say a networking event and spending 3 minutes talking to each of maybe 20 different people all of whom were speaking English but each with a different accent. Now imagine some of those accents are so broad that the English is barely intelligible, then add some stutters, stammers, a few uhhmm and errs and you will have an appreciation of the instructions we are getting. Instructions we are expected to interpret and respond to instantaneously.

And don't even get me started on the guy who gives a lead, changes his mind and tries to withdraw it. . Or God love em the ones that, sticking with the metaphor , quietly mumble their lead and when the follower mistakes it and delivers something else, rather than pick up from what she did rather than what he wanted her to do, makes her go back and do it again or stops and waits until she does what he had in mind. LOL. Meanwhile of course the musical moment has been and gone.

Each and every one of you is wonderfully unique and its all part of the fun but don't be under the misapprehension that following is easy babe. x

I wish (and how kind of you ) and I know I should but, you know what, most of the time I just don't care, it's come through enjoying life I know it's not healthy but nine times out of 10, it doesn't affect my daily activities.
What I need to do is go swimming for a while to get myself a bit fitter and slightly more in shape and then go find a local dance class that won't be too bad for the old ankle.

I go Boris Biking (as fast as I can) in Hyde Park every day. That has spared my knees if not the jaywalking tourists ...

Surgery comes to everyone and you don't want to be overweight under GA.