Think it could only have been the chasse that I saw first time around. This time the camera angle was better in the DO and yes, he did close his feet. Ore danced it much better in the DO and I thought it wonderful. Quite rarely, the music, costuming, brilliant choreography, the characters they brought to the dance, all came together and it really special and magical. I loved it in the show, but Ore stepped up in the DO. Very classy indeed.

This is not really Strictly related but I thought it might be of interest to some. I gather Luca Baricchi has a new partner. Anyway he is posting his training and demo videos on social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram) and they are stunning. Really worth following.

For example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSGe0Te8eGA

I don't know how old he is now but he is still pretty good!

Luca is FABULOUS - he still has it! That clip is beautiful. <3

I just had to share it!

I'm glad you did! I watched so many clips of Luca when learning - the male celebs should take note!

Yes, I've watched loads of clips of him and Loraine in the past. I also think he is one of the most interesting people to listen to on technique. He talks about ballroom dancing more as an art form and less as a set of rules to be followed.

I love foxtrot. So romantic!

It looks to me like their feet almost never actually leave the ground - certainly not when going backwards. Or are the steps they are taking just minimally off the ground?

Precisely! If only we could get someone like Luca on the panel...

Ideally in FT they shouldn't leave the ground.

I know.....sigh...it would be great! Would probably be a waste of their skills though!

So attach some dusters to your feet and it can be a very romantic way of cleaning the floor!

No wonder the FT is so difficult for the celebs. I didn't know that about the footwork. Very lovely, though.

I agree that feet must not leave the floor at all. This will be the same for all of the dances with the exception of Tango where the feet are placed. It is slightly different in QS as there are various groups where you do lift the feet woodpeckers, pendulums, rockets that may have a leap/jump in them, Charleston style steps, but we were always encouraged to stay in contact with the floor other than that.
Luca and Lorraine are one of my favourite couples from yesteryear.

Daria is his fiancée,and doesn't compare to Loraine in my opinion. Thanks for the clip Ann.

Just as it should be, a couple should be able to express themselves artistically through the music whilst still applying the correct technique. Of course there are "rules" that must be followed and cannot be broken, but I think its the couples artistry that makes them more appealing and unique to me. I love to see couples who listen to the music as they dance and add in little bits of choreo to suit at the time, who change their choreo or change the timing to complement what they are dancing too. Mirko, for one, was always great at this, Alessia always had to react so fast to him.

Always stroking the floor...I like to think of the floor as the canvas and my feet are the paintbrushes to paint a beautiful picture. All dancers should think not only of the footwork but the way they use their feet and work hard on that.

Yes, I agree with all of that. However, I think Luca takes it to a different level when talking about body movement etc I think you mention my two favourite male dancers there: Luca and Mirko, whose style I prefer to the more conservative, although competitively successful, style of Arunas. Not that I don't appreciate Arunas and Katusha, but I'd like to see them being a bit more exploratory given that they have nothing to prove any more, because it always feels like more of the same, admittedly beautiful, dancing.

It would be difficult for anyone to compare with Loraine. I know it was one of the most difficult break ups, to put it mildly, but I do think it is great to see that he still dances beautifully and is still very contemporary when he dances. And Daria is still very good.

As Jennifer says, all of the dances except tango require constant floor contact. I think that what makes FT difficult is:

1) Complicated footwork. In Waltz and QS particularly there is a more consistent pattern.
2) Keeping the movement going. You don't collect feet together in FT. You need a continual gliding movement of feet with weight correctly distributed between feet and with the body moving in synchronisation.
3) Different types of rise. No foot rise (NFR) is achievement of rise from ankles upwards. Foot rise is achieved through going up on balls of feet. Both types of rise are there in QS and Waltz, but NFR really comes to fore in FT, especially for the follower.
4) Use of heel turns and heel pulls in basic steps. Again they are there in other dances, but they are avoidable whereas you have to learn them earlier in FT
5) I think the swing and sway (also present in waltz and QS) is more difficult to achieve. The basic feather step is just a linear step but it is very difficult to achieve the swing and sway and to keep the body correctly aligned to the partner because there is a side lead and rotation of body as the lead prepares to step outside the follower.

I am sure it is very true when they say that the Feather is the most "expensive" step as all couples will work tirelessly - and pay for many, many hours tuition - to create a fabulous, powerful, smooth action with linear swing, also working on the control of lowering out of it, so as not to look as though they drop. Love this dance, its so beautiful.

Instead of all the guff in the main show, I feel that sometimes they could spend the time better by showing the professionals dancing a basic routine ( one couple to dem) the basic actions to show the characteristics of the dance with the correct technique and what the dance should look like, both for ballroom and latin. I know I would be in a minority here

Totally agree with all of this. Even the basics are hard - compared to waltz, quickstep and even tango where learning the very basic foot patterns to get you round the room are pretty easy. I remember when my teacher first introduced me to foxtrot - I thought I'd never get even the simplest stuff!!!

I also find it the hardest one to demonstrate isolated steps without a partner since so often the last step of one step, will be the first step of another. Bit of a new years resolution to tackle this. I'm normally pretty good at learning steps, and the names of steps - but with foxtrot I don't retain it as well.

They do seem to make it a bit easier on the celebs in FT on strictly as it seems to be a big deal to the judges if they do any heel turns which as you say are normally unavoidable in FT. I think it's the FT routines that generally suffer most on actual ballroom content and steps.

I agree with you jennifer, I would like that too. And I think it would actually be quite well received. I've noticed people really do pick up on things the judges say, rightly or wrongly, and repeat it back and watch out for it. Strictlyisms crop up a lot (maybe it's a thing but I've never heard of "double bounce" in samba other than in strictly. I've heard "bounce" I've heard "tick" but not "double bounce.") So people do want to learn what to watch out for! They're just not getting the right info right now.

I'm quite certain there is no such thing as the "double bounce" Ellie...just another Darceyism, and there are plenty of those. She really should not comment on the technical side, leave that to Len that knows.

|Thanks for the confirmation.

Craig too! He always bangs on about double bounce. I prefer Bruno to Darcy and Craig in that he will generally comment on whether he liked the overall mood of the dance rather than spreading misinformation about the dance technique. Still not that insightful but at least he comments on what he knows. I find myself wincing at what Darcey says about the ladies toplines sometimes. She's essentially encouraging the ladies to injure themselves. I learned ballet for about ten years so she's a bit of an icon to me, but I would not take her advice on ballroom dancing!

Agreed! I've the utmost respect for DB - as a ballerina. I don't mind when she comments on deportment, or extension (and do, fundamentally, believe that ballet is the strongest core dance skill you can gain), but when she comments on 'double bounce' in Samba, and goes on about retraction in Jive...it's frustrating!

No, me neither, thats for sure.

I often wonder what goes on in the minds of the pro's listening to a lot of the bad advice and mis-information, when stood there with their celebs....they just have to smile, but through gritted teeth probably !

Totally agree about having the pros dancing a simple routine and describing more of the technique.

Actually, I have heard references to the double bounce in samba outside of Strictly and so I don't have any problem with Darcey referring to it. if you divide the bar into 8 counts (quarter beats) for counting out a Samba whisk, say, it's just a quick way of describing how the legs straighten over counts 3 and 4 (as the RF foot crosses behind LF) and 7 and 8 (as the LF foot pushes of to move the RF to the side).

Yes of course, but that is the normal / usual Samba bounce action so i would not refer to it as a double bounce. Its just a bounce action. I suppose teachers may have different ways to teach but I can say that none my latin teachers never refered to it in that way.

Yes, in the technique book it is simply referred to as the samba bounce action.