I sort of mentioned this on another thread, but some years ago Darren Bennett & Jill danced (among their other dances) a jive and a paso doble that are still (at times) spoken of affectionately now.

Both were authentic dances. Good costumes, good look, great music, and terrific routines - well, that was my opinion anyway!

Now though nearly every Strictly routine borders on the "showdance" with long intros often involving props; being more out hold than in it for the ballroom; a lot of 'faffy around' as Len would say; inappropriate fancy dress (such as in Thom's foxtrot); etc etc.

Which sort of made me wonder, would you preferr the 5 ballroom & 5 Latin routines to return to the more authentic type, like Jill and Darren danced, keeping the fun element for the non-standard dances such as Charleston, salsa, AT?

yes agree Kaycee put the show stuff in the fun dances and leave the standard dances to be done properly - even in these times of all the faff those done with minmum faff are the rembered ones - Sunetra's smooth for example stood out for all the right reasons.

For all Len says he does not like faff he can ignore it when he choses to, irrespective of Frankie's lack of straight leg (not the only one who did that last night ) that cha was a cha cha with the minimum of faff AND appropriate outfits

Loathe all the faff. Want to see whether the celebs are learning to dance, that's all. The showdance is the place for faff and fanfare and we'll look forward to it all the more if the other dances are 'pure' in intention and delivery. Otherwise it seems to detract from the point of the whole thing not add to it! How many people like the crazy camera angles either ? Last night they switched shots part way through one of the dances and cut off the feet ( I think it was Caroline or Pixie) - and this is DANCE!!!

I agree completely.

I agree. I think strictly has lost it's way. I used to love the dances when done to the right music and the dancers wearing the right costumes. and as for props, cant stand them. The programme is becoming too Americanised. I turned over last night to watch The X Factor

I think that any prop is a prop too many, even in the show dance. They add nothing.
I want to see the dance, not the faffing about with chairs and stairs and teddy bears.

(Poetry! Cor! Go me )

I entirely agree with all you have said.

100 percentage agreement

I completely agree, so glad other people do too.
I hate the silly dances and costumes, every week its like fancy dress. I hate the judges prancing on, its embarrassing. I hate all the he faffing about, I want to see people learn to dance!
Oh and I really loathe the training clips at the moment too! Used to be clips of them actually learning to dance and now it's all ridiculous skits and set ups. Aarghh.
They're trying really hard to ruin what was my favourite show

No need at all for faffin abaht, silly costumes and props - or even lifts. How many lifts do you get at a wedding dance? Surely that's about learning to dance?

Hey hang on a cotton picking minute. Nothing fun about AT - bloody hard work it is.

100% in agreement!

You obviously haven't seen some wedding dances. Wedding couples can get quite carried away with the choreography.

But yes, I agree. No faffing about. Dances with recognisable steps and technique.

As a fan of Rachel and Vincent, I still hold them up as the example of how good the show can be.

Looking through their dances makes todays show look very cheap.

I do think there does need to be an opportunity to also do something different, as even top quality can become samey and it is an entertainment show which has to appeal to non-dance-purists too.

Definitely . For the 10 dance dances just the couple on the floor dancing to the (appropriate) music please. Even better to save Salsa, Charleston, American Smooth and Argentine Tango until later stages altogether.

You watch back a dance from series 6 or whatever and you find you appreciate even the bad dances as there was a higher level of dancing attempted.
Last edited by Smooth84 : 19-10-2014 at 20:39

.... exactly ! It's what I enjoyed most about Brendan & Sunetra last week - 'proper' dancing my granny would have called it

Indeed it is, as are all the dances if they are to be learned properly!

I simply meant that as with the Charleston, salsa, American Smooth the element of fun comes from being allowed to do tricks and lifts (or in the case of Anton & Judy chucking your partner across the floor to see if she bounces!!!) which are not (or shouldn't be!) part of the 10 standard dances.

Agree 100% the props are just too much nowadays, Caroline's dancefloor was so cluttered with a load of fairground crap.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes, yes, yes, 100 times yes!!!!!!

I hate the props, I dislike the fact that the 10 "main" dances border on a "showdance" I long for the days when a couple come out, get into hold and just dance a pure ballroom or latin dance

I would also love the AT to be saved for the semi final or even the final and for the American Smooth, charleston and salsa to be done in the later stages of the competition - I dont like a charleston being done in week 2, it borders on the ridiculous IMO

Yes there is a lot of that stuff on youtube.

And so Effing Bitchy.

AT Bitch 1: "Is that all you are going to do?"

Me: "I see you have been dancing for quite a while"
AT Bitch 2: "I see you haven't"

OTOH I love Milonga style and Vals. Smiling is allowed.

Besides I am pretty good at them . {Or to be more precise think I am good so that makes me more confident so I dance better]

With AT you can dance for a couple of years and still be crap - and then it suddenly clicks a bit and BLISS! AT is much easier for women.

Oh no lifts in AT and 100% in hold and chest-to-chest and cheek-to-cheek. That's the point innit? 12 minutes of lurve without buying 'er a drink or even listening to 'er

[Just borrowed "12 minutes of Love: A tango story" by Kapka Kassabova from the library.]

I knew really I was just teasing.


Yes it can be ... I hesitate to say bitchy but a bit dominated by needless( to my mind) airs and graces.

BIB - Why is it easier for women?

Without wishing to commit either way to this argument (I'm not really against props etc. but I don't like them being used as an excuse not to actually, y'know, dance), can I just suggest that insisting everyone adheres to non-gimmicky routines makes it difficult for (particularly non-dancing) viewers to remember one mediocre bit of work from another, which turns the vote into even more of a basic popularity contest than it already is?

This was, IMHO, why DOI died the death it did; there were only so many ways you could dress up the basic moves and in the end it seemed like the same routines were being skated by different people for about 3 seasons.

My other thought was that in earlier series, people danced one of two dances per week, making it a lot easier to compare performances on a purely technical level. Now it's almost impossible to make direct comparisons between dances done in different weeks. When DOI had the 'required element', that made it a lot more interesting, because how well people performed it was a differentiator. Now that everyone does different dances in any given week I think it'd be next to impossible to introduce this into Strictly, but it might make for intriguing viewing.

Sorry. Very correct to pick me up on my self-centred observation. It is just different.

A leader has to create and implement choreography on the fly with due attention to traffic and deliver clear and unambiguous leads; but a follower has to interpret ambiguous leads as well as implement them. Split-second body listening is difficult. I very occasionally do it.

Beginner / improver males can get intimidated out of dancing at milongas for fear of getting snubbed. Now that I am finally brave enough to dance non-stop I try and encourage beginners and improvers.

Well every year they have authentic Barely Dancing on ...