I see James is tweeting this morning about the possibility of a dance tour by he and Ola and asking people to tweet or message Arlene Phillips if this is what they want?
Desparate or what? What do you think?

I can't see this happening. Whilst he was on Chris Evans's radio show as a guest with Anton and Flavia, he was asked why he didn't tour like they did. He replied it was because no-one would back them because they aren't a big enough ' draw ' to make a tour viable. I think they've done the Donahey's dance weekends like the some of the other Pro's do though.

Why is it desperate? Several pros have toured with their own show and the SCD Pro Tour was brilliant. The pros do 'an evening with' type shows all over the country. Or is this another Jordan bashing thread?

Not that they could give two hoots what I think, I should imagine I'd rather see them having a post-Strictly career out of their actual skill than the sleb RTV route, so if that's what they want to do I hope it comes off for them.

Unless it's a hook to hang an RTV show off, in which case - not so much

The desperation is the tweet Arlene bit. Sounds like selling the idea to Arlene is hard work.

Why would they need the backing of Arlene, though? I saw Katya and Pasha on their tour of the provinces and as fab as it was, it wasn't a high budget production - unless they had the backing of the Strictly name to fall back on? In which case James might be finding he might just have cut his nose off to spite his face?

Arlene was one of the producers of Midnight Tango. I don't know whether she was involved in Dance Till Dawn. Having her involvement in a tour wouldn't do any harm to the Jordans.

I certainly wouldn't pay to see the Jordans.

I have paid to see V&F, Pasha & Katya and i've seen Brendan's tour.

Great idea if they want to perform to an empty house every night!

I saw an advert in one of the papers the last few days for an Ola and James show. Will go look but think might have already recycled.

you couldnt pay me enough to sit and watch and James and Ola show

no thank you!

I would pay to see the Jordan's, imo they are both very talented dancers.

Me too - and having met James, I think he is very nice and was kind to me.

I don't know what the problem with the Jordans is. Yes, James is cocky and sometimes arrogant. But that's life. He's a good dancer and so is Ola (in my opinion - with no dance background). Don't know why people are so down on them.

Arlene is not involved in Dance Til Dawn.

However the question of a tour by James and Ola - I don't see why it wouldn't work although perhaps on a more economic footing than say Midnight Tango. Like someone has said, perhaps a tour can be organised like Katya/Pasha. One off evenings at smaller theatres over a 2-3 month period. All they would need to do is pitch the ticket price at the right level.

I agree - I'm not a great fan of James' 'mouth', but they are both talented dancers

I think they would have to be prepared to slog it in less glamorous venues and towns (where there is less competition for market). The only two really successful Strictly pros who have toured on their own repeatedly are Anton & Erin and Flavia & Vincent (I don't think Brendan still does, does he?) and they both have very clear products to sell. Anton and Erin tapped into the old-fashioned variety show with dancing for all the family years ago, and have built up a very clear image that can now sell out huge venues like the Royal Albert Hall (Anton's detractors on DS never seem to get how calculated and successful his 'brand' is). Flavia and Vincent have also worked hard to build on their AT expertise as shook for a show with broad contemporary appeal which can attract good (and repeat) audiences. I'm not sure I want to think what James' USP would be!

Brendan was in Scunthorpe recently and he's coming back in March next year, I think it is.

Asking their twitter followers to tweet Arlene is just cringeworthy! If they want her to be involved in their dance tour, they should contact her themselves (or get their management to). It's very unprofessional effectively getting their followers to swamp Arlene with tweets.

I dunno. As a complete newbie to twitter (I haven't tweeted yet ) it looks like a world where that kind of flurry is normal. If nothing else it makes an audience get behind a thing from the get go and involvement is mobilising. 38degrees and Avaaz do the same kinds of things for political and environmental concerns. I like the grass-rootiness of asking people to have their say.

yes, Brendan is successfully touring on his own and has been for a few years now, he has a brand new tour called A Night To Remember starting in Jan 2015

I agree and James seems to be a bit of a twitter addict.

I stand corrected. It's a few years since I went one of his and he tended not to do London venues at the time - whether through choice or lack of promotion, I don't know. However, I think my point still stands, as Brendan is another pro with a very strong identity to sell. I suspect that along with Anton he is the best known pro by the general public. When I last saw his show his 'chat' section played up to his SCD persona with quite strident criticism of others, shall we say.

Which is where they are reaping the benefits of actually being on Strictly. For a profession with a short shelf life (for want of a better way of putting it) and limited chances for recognition outside of the dance world, they've probably doubled the length of their career and more than doubled their earning potential. The name recognition that comes from being on the show must be worth its weight in gold.

(Similar, but different , was watching the World Road Race cycling championships at the weekend where one of the commentators was Rob Hayles - Team GB medal winning cyclist, world champion in a number of events, with a long, distinguished career and he was talking with some glumness at the wages of pro cyclist now as compared to when he was under contract Just because you are a world champion and well known in your own field doesn't mean the money automatically follows. It needs something to get the participants into being a household name and for dancing that something seems to have been Strictly).

It was a full page advert in the Sunday Mail.

James & Ola will be hosting two - week long dance workshops at a Sandals resort in Jamaica, during April/May of next year....

Good luck to them - although, I doubt many of us will be in that neighbourhood, at the time