Haha , yes I agree with you on that one. Big mistake for her showdance, but of course Kaycee means dancing solo in lessons and practice. If you don't know how to dance it alone and on balance, how can you dance with a partner? Great way of course for the teacher to see exactly what the student is doing.

You really do have to keep working at it hard and for quite a long time before it starts to look semi decent. When we taped ourselves at practice in our very early days - we hired a hall so practised alone at times - in my head I was Hazel Newberry or Alessia Betti but goodness the reality was so different. I was very disappointed to see what we really looked like. We often, at that time, had many pictures taken at comps that perhaps were not so flattering . You make excuses such as " he took it at the wrong time" etc, when in reality if the standard was better, the photo;s would reflect the better posture, poise, frame and shape etc.

By watching and studying the tapes seeing what needed to be improved, and practising so much harder ( most days) being 100% disciplined putting into practise what I had been taught, quite quickly things turned around. So pleasing to see great photo;s in action shots, of course there is always room for improvement,

Point is though, an experienced dancer will know what they need to do or what they need to feel when they dance to obtain the look and characterisation of the dance, but the celebs don't have that knowledge or experience to draw upon.

Yes I agree that probably most of the viewers would not like this, but for me, I would like to see less dances each week, say 3 max 4, so it is easier to compare the couples and their dances. I would even go so far to say that I would like to see at least 2 couples on the floor together. Both dance to a CCC, or both to a Waltz etc. I think this would be a good idea to see different choreo compared, perhaps with a required element, different interpretations of the same music. More like a dance comp.

Yeah in theearly days it made sense to have less dances for those of us who had no idea what we were looking for to learn about the dances.

Now I'd get so bored of it was a Rumba week, but 3-4 dances seems sensible to me.

I would really love that! For reasons of comparison but also to guarantee some strong basic steps in each dance.

Both cha cha and rumba have some similar steps such as fan and hockey step (obviously with lock step inserted for cha cha and some differences in technique). Similarly waltz and quickstep have a lot of common steps. Certain steps can be found across several ballroom dances (e.g. Different types of telemarks are commonly used; fallway and reverse slip pivot is found in foxtrot, waltz and tango with obvious differences to suit the dance style).

So you could have a required element and mix it up a bit I suppose, if you broadly explained the differences across the dances.

Indeed, but the main thing is, it would ensure that at least some of the basics were danced ( unlike some of the routines at the moment) and it would hopefully show a clear understanding of the technique required to dance them. I'm afraid I am old school, I like the basics in dances, to me its what gives the character of the dance. I know that I am in a minority of 1, but I was disappointed with Team GG Quickstep last week. It was so very repetitive. Not Georgias fault of course, and she danced what she was given, fairly well, but how many scatter chasses were there......zzzzzz
QS should be littered with so many different timings, quicks, slows ,quick/quicks and quick & quicks. No sign of pepperpot timings, syncopated chasses etc. I know this is SCD and they go for what they feel is the WOW factor.

I used to like it in the early series, when it was just the 2 dances per week and the pro's used tof take it in turns to show what each dance 'should' be like beforehand.

I think this would be a great idea, but I would go further and say it needs to be a combination of steps or elements to be danced in whatever order the pro put together. I'm thinking Giovanni's rumba that contained 2 basic steps, but they hardly made the routine a proper rumba, it needed more.

The other think I would like to see is a limit on how often couples can repeat a step, or element, in any one routine. There seems to be a tendency among some couple to repeat the same move over and over, particularly pivots. A great crowd pleasing step, I know, but really tired of seeing it now.

I don't mind steps being repeated, kaycee and Jennifer. I think some of the less able celebs need that. I do agree that 2 basic steps do not make a dance and so it needs to be more of a sequence.


Gosh, you've got a better memory than me. I don't remember much about the format of the original series, except it was just 2 dances each week. Yes, a demo is just what is required. They could even use a guest couple or one of the troupe, now they have Neil and Katya Jones who could demo the latin, although I wouldn't mind being reminded what the main pros themselves could do, as they don't get much chance nowadays.

I don't mean steps shouldn't be repeated at all, just that they shouldn't be repeated too much - over and over and over and...........

As for having top dancers doing a demo - a few years ago they had Michael and Joanne on, who were the then World Champions. They danced a cha cha, but were not terribly well received. Don't think it was anything personal, it's just that what top couples dance in "real" competition bears little resemblance to what viewers are used to seeing in Strictly. That isn't a dig at viewers, by the way.

Now that ITT is on for an hour on Fridays, perhaps some of that time could be used by a couple of the pros demonstrating a dance, and explaining what is important and what are the main elements of thaty dance. How would that go down, do you think?

We usually get that when the couples have decreased - but seeing as how ITT is currently filling time with a Foot Whisperer and a Golf Buggy there's probably somewhere it could be slotted in now!

Karen and Ian did a series of <comedy> VT's explaining the history of each dance the other year and Len used to do his slot with Claudia as well.

Len and Claudia lol! Couldn't make up my mind if she was really so dreadful and clumsy or was it just part of her put-on TV persona?

A bit of both maybe?
(The one where they recreate James and Cherie's rhumba is still on the sky box. It's hilarious).

I used to enjoy Len and Claudia, but those shoes Claudia wears got in the way a bit! Zoe would be actually better although she still wears daft shoes which can make her look clumsy. Ian does do some mini demos with her. He could do more I guess. Maybe Len may be able to do more if he recovers from his knee op.

I do agree that Michael and Joanne were very badly received (as were Michael and Lorna Stylianos when they came on ITT to comment although I quite liked them; they were a bit too old school I guess). In Michael and Joanne's case some of the objections were more to do with overall image i.e. She's not very soft and feminine, when she's dressed up to perform. I think she looks much nicer in practice.

I agree that a demo by the incumbent pros would be better received. People like Karen's choreography corner and so I suspect they might also like more explanations of the dances.

Ha ha! I'm imagining something now like those Geoffrey Hearn training videos. "And now we have Matthew and Nicole dancing an amalgamation of steps starting with........."

I love Michael and Joanna - I think it's a shame they didn't go down well on strictly (I wasn't watching it much then and never saw them) but I guess people tune in to see newsreaders and soap stars making a good fist of it rather than top quality world champions in dancesport. I do kind of wish strictly viewers were more interested in competitive dance, but I understand it's not for everyone... I just wish they wouldn't slate it just accept that it's "different courses for different horses." Maybe they should have a ballroom couple demo at some point, maybe people would appreciate it more than latin?

Brilliant idea - why haven't they thought of it already?! Some of the pros who have already gone out could dance it. A proper filmed segment in a proper space. I think people would love it!

I feel that, with no disrespect meant to non dancer viewers, they don't fully understand and appreciate how great these dancers are. We can see how fantastic they are and realise how difficult their choreo is, and how easy they make it look. The speed and balance that Joanna Leunis has is beyond incredible.
Years ago, SCD actually had a dem by Tim Howson and Jo Bolton......FANTASTIC.....breathtakingly beautiful, but once again, don' t think this went down too well. Once again I don't think the viewer will appreciate the quality softness and smoothness of the movement. The exquisite footwork, beautiful frame, body and headlines etc. It was a classic beautiful Foxtrot .

With proper music.....

Yes with proper music!

I think appeal is more of a styling issue. Certain dancers are going to appeal more than others. Low key dancing of top level quality should appeal to most I think.

With all the great dancers that are resident in the UK ( and others that visit) I really don't why the BBC do not feature any in dems...

I can recall after the Tim/Jo dem years ago, people at work actually said it was boring! Unbelievable..........It is because they do not understand technique applied and cannot recognise the sheer beauty of top quality dancing, especially Ballroom.

Does anyone have a name for the running step Helen George did in her quickstep? It was a bit like a zig zag which alternated between promenade and closed upper body positions. It's at about 1 1hr 22 on I-player.

I've watched it a couple of times and can't really see where you mean,,,,..at 1.22 on BBC site, just looks like a variation of promenade runs so not sure if this is what you mean. Upper body positions are closed.

I think I know the bit you mean, Italia, and can see why you referred to it as a zigzag, as the body action is similar to the first part of a foxtrot zigzag (promenade to closed). Looks like a type of run. I don't know what it is called though!

I have just read this again and realised I misread it last time, I thought you meant 1 min 22 seconds into their routine whereas I see you mean 1 hour 22 mins into the whole show !
Will try and look when I have time but sure Ann has covered this perfectly in her reply.