Ok I see your point there - it's not so much about already having the skills necessary for ballroom, but the ability to take them on a lot faster. I actually did all of those dances you listed from 4-15 then stopped dancing for nearly ten years and have been dancing latin and ballroom for nearly two and, in my opinion, I kinda sucked when I first started! I don't really consider my previous dance training as being that helpful with it but it has helped in some ways I suppose, even if it's only knowing how to count music and feel comfortable with the idea of dancing. All my improvements and ability in ballroom I credit to my teachers tbh rather than previous dance training though.

I feel a bit bad using him as an example as I assume he's a really great contemporary dancer! I think he was in burn the floor so the producers must have thought he'd have enough knowledge of latin and ballroom in order to teach. Maybe they realised early on and let him do that pretty shoddy routine for ~drama.

That wouldn't be hard he is a friend with Aljaz & Janette and I remember Aljaz defending that mess of a foxtrot on twitter, I think he (Robbie) danced with Janette on burn the floor

I think the current EE producer has form for giving cast members participating in SCD time off for training (he did for Jake last year) - IIRC Scott, Ashley and Ricky Whittle were all at the mercy of Bryan Kirkwood who didn't do the same.

The LIST was last on page 3 so (anything new in bold):

Ainsley & Natalie - ?
Anita & Gleb - ?
Anthony & Oti - ? (mentions doing lots of kicks on twitter)
Carol & Pasha - ? (poss latin due to pic from twitter)
Daniel & Kristina - Waltz (First Steps video)
Georgia & Giovanni - ? (Georgia described as "shattered", so something fast?)
Helen & Aljaz - ? (Helen has posted video on instagram of Aljaz spinning on a hover board, if it helps)
Iwan & Ola - ?
Jamelia & Tristan - ?
Jay & Aliona - ? (mentioned Tango on twitter but may not be related - has mentioned ballroom shoes on his twitter so possibly tango or waltz)
Jeremy & Karen - ? (poss Jive due to being on balls of his feet as per twitter)
Katie & Anton - ? (poss something fast due to tweet about needing a lie down?)
Kellie & Kevin - Tango (First Steps video)
Kirsty & Brendan - ?
Peter & Janette - ?

Also add in Natalie (though she already left her soap I think) and it does seem that soap starts are more prone to this.

Looking way ahead (without having seen anybody actually dance yet), and in terms of two dances I would say that the likes of Jay, Georgia (the youngsters), Helen (the marathon runner) and Anthony (the boxer) will probably be fitter then her at least. The rest are more of a question mark, though some will probably not have Kellie's hectic schedule.

After Kristina and Kevin, I wonder if the next video up will be either Carol or Jeremy

It doesn't, but that fantastic laugh does warm me to Helen slightly.

Peter Andre will be next today:

https://twitter.com/bbcstrictly/stat...32060675452928

Andre's video is up:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlyc...4-a330861e6244

Probably a Cha Cha Cha

Agreed. She was not the complete carcrash that Ozzie pro was (think a judge told him to take lessons, didn't he?) but in her first season Len criticised her choreo. The official spin being she had been brought in to add twists to classics/bring something new to DWTS in a fusion way but in reality, the lack of ballroom experience showed.
Last season she got Ryker and extra help so it was better but he WAS better trained than she was which was a given as he had been in competition when younger, the ringiest ringer that ever rung (thank you to whoever put this phrase in my head). It is somewhat farcical when the celeb is better than the pro.
This year she has been put with Andy as Peta is out with an injury but that means Peta can and probably will provide much of the choreography.

why do the pros not insist their celebs wear the correct shoes

surely its easier to learn a dance wearing the correct footwear.........

He looks really good there . Yes it looks like a ccc , quite a difficult dance for any celeb first week I think , but he seems fluid and hippy enough to carry it off to reasonable degree . I like the fact that his height is matched well with Janette so they don't look silly together .

Looks good for day 1. I hope he is good enough to bring out Janette's explosive side and carefree choreography I know from SYTYCD.

let's hope Janette puts some steps for him in it rather than dance round him

I know what you mean . I think that doing that is just covering up for a partner, wasting dance time and quite annoying . She might resort to it if he doesn't progress enough , but I hope not .

Currently the Oddschecker betting odds for the winner are (based on favourite first)

Peter -
Helen -
Georgia -
Kirsty -
Jay -
Jamelia -
Katie -
Kellie -
Anthony -
Anita -
Ainsley -
Iwan -
Daniel -
Carol -
Jeremy -

It could be interesting to see if they change based on the first dance training videos.

I wasn't looking forward to Peter on Strictly but now he's partnered with Janette, who's one of my favourite pros, I'm looking forward to them. I think they'll be great

Janette really improved as a pro last series with Jake and I reckon Peter's more of an obvious dancer prior to training etc. so it'll be interesting to see her choreography.

Anita & Gleb - https://amp.twimg.com/v/a563ca63-9a6...7-f92f8b68b272

We see both Cha-Cha-Cha and Waltz, so I'm guessing those are her first two dances.

She actually looks really good in the Cha-Cha-Cha, and her Waltz looks fair. Maybe a Latin girl?

Anita's training is up - initially assumed from start of clip that they have Cha Cha Cha but then could be Waltz because they are then counting 123 and doing large steps.

^ There's also a clip of them doing New Yorkers so I'd say CCC

Unless otherwise noted, all confirmed dances are from the First Steps videos - not definitely stated what they're doing so some may not be 100%.

Ainsley & Natalie - ?
Anita & Gleb - Cha-Cha-Cha (First Steps video)
Anthony & Oti - ? (mentions doing lots of kicks on twitter)
Carol & Pasha - ? (poss latin due to pic from twitter)
Daniel & Kristina - Waltz (First Steps video)
Georgia & Giovanni - ? (Georgia described as "shattered", so something fast?)
Helen & Aljaz - ?
Iwan & Ola - ?
Jamelia & Tristan - ?
Jay & Aliona - ? (mentioned Tango on twitter but may not be related - has mentioned ballroom shoes on his twitter so possibly tango or waltz)
Jeremy & Karen - ? (poss Jive due to being on balls of his feet as per twitter)
Katie & Anton - ? (poss something fast due to tweet about needing a lie down?)
Kellie & Kevin - Tango (First Steps video)
Kirsty & Brendan - ?
Peter & Janette - Cha-Cha-Cha (First Steps video)

to be honest I got more rumba than cha cha and some waltz maybe? what we saw seemed stiff

I'm fairly certain that the week 1 dances this year will be the same as they have been for the last two years - cha-cha, jive, tango or waltz.

Although isn't easy to tell from the early part of the clip whether the latin is rumba or cha cha (as both dances have new yorkers and spot turns and there are no cha cha chasses or lock steps) I think it is cha cha and waltz since in the second half of the clip they seem to be marking out a cha cha rhythm.

She looks like a capable (ie. promising) but slightly nervous beginner.

Anita certainly looks like she will be able to dance Latin with some good shaping.

She looks better than I expected.

That's a hard one to call . A bit of waltz and the hip swiveling ? That's a puzzle
But she is very lithe and very keen and looks really promising . All the VTs so far have the celebs taking it very seriously and getting stuck in , yes this will be a good series .

It's possible that Gleb may have been trying out basic moves from both the CCC and Waltz to get the measure of Anita's capabilities and not actually teaching her set choreography for a particular dance.