I'm wondering if we would get a truer picture of the "journey" (sorry) if the show started one week after the launch show? Afterall, the present systems system gives them three weeks to learn just one dance and then they're down to one week.

Any views?

well some of the dances need proper training so 3 weeks is better than just 1 week.

the Jive is a very hard dance to train, it's very fast.

i've been reading Georgia May's twitter, and she's gonna do a cart wheel in the Jive (very technical if it works, so fingers crossed).

Ainsley's Tango to Voulez-Vous should be a good song choice, and Natalie is a good teacher ( better than Gregg last year with Aliona)

i like a good Strictly Journey, Georgia May for example it's a dream come true for her.

a Jive to Meghan Trainor, good choice

i want to see a Paso Doble to Bastille's Pompeii

or a Rumba to the Coldplay song Magic

or a Rumba to Fast&Furious7 song See you Again

I preferred when it was longer than 3 weeks (there was no launch show then) because pros would spend time teaching their celeb some basic dance steps. The idea was that time would prove well spent as the series progressed. The whole thing is different now and it's all about learning a routine in time for the first weekend, with the more able learning two.

no, give the poor mites time to train!

In theory I don't like the idea of having to wait 3 weeks, but there really is no way around it with them needing to learn the dance basics/fundamentals. Also, the last 3 weeks have gone by very quickly, so I haven't really noticed too much of a wait.

It's dragged for me!

No, they need at least 3 weeks. They don't spend those weeks learning just one dance, but going through the basics of several dances, so they have at least some understanding of dances that will follow.

If they delayed the launch show until (say) a week before the main show, social media & the papers would have discovered all the couples and leaked their names, making the launch show pointless.

I Agree with you.

by the way, what do you think of Georgia May's song choice for the Jive?

Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainor

3 weeks is absolutely ridiculous to learn a dance .

I mean if they do 4 hrs a day for 5 days = 20 hrs a week .
For 3 weeks = 60hrs to learn a dance .

If someone was to go to a teacher to learn a dance say 1hr a week that would be equivalent to over a year to learn one dance . Or say if you went 2hr a week =over six months .

We all know most of them are beginners so I would prefer to see what they could do after 20 lessons which is more then ample .

Do you know this for a fact? I very much doubt they all follow this pattern .

AAAARRRGGHHH. I've been avoiding the which music/dances threads

Ah yes, in the good old days when the males all did the same dance, and likewise with the females. Far easier to compare celebs then.

The launch show should be the week before the series starts and only isn't because it allows the show to finish at Xmas, not three weeks before. They tried extending the run with more couples but didn't work. Also, having a launch show in early Sep means TXF doesn't steal as big as march.

I'm Really really Sorry, i didn't know that.

I forgive you

Sometimes when I see first weeks dances, I'm astounded that some celebrities spent that much time to produce an incredibly awful/mediocre dance

I think that it's the happy medium.

It would be interesting to see the footage of their initial training though. Perhaps they could have an interim off shoot programme called "First Steps". It would give us something to talk about anyway!

I think any good teacher will try to teach/ show them basic steps of more than the one dance they are doing.

I think it's probably about right. In commercial terms the BBC want to do the launch show to start the momentum going and, if they didn't then the paps/social media would reveal all the couples anyway. But they need to have enough time training to learn the basics (and some of them will still be doing their 'day' job, Carol for instance has been on all this week on Breakfast doing the weather) before it all starts to heat up and they have to learn a new dance every week.

I do think that maybe a Saturday early-evening ITT-style magazine show, with a few interviews/training clips etc would be an idea, just to keep everyone's interest before the dancing really starts.

Yes, I know this is a fact - at least it is what they are advised, and the sensible ones certainly follow that pattern. If they don't then it can be down to the celeb being totally incapable, or just not putting the hours in.

Well, you know what they say? You can learn a waltz in an hour, but you can spend the rest of your life to learn to do it really well!

and for some of the celebs it might take them that 3 weeks to just learn the basic steps - for others its much easier and they pick up the steps in no time at all

Tony Jacklin for example, who had never danced a step in his life, had terrible trouble remember his steps where as someone like Denise Van Outen, who had danced before, didnt have that trouble

everyone learns as a different speed - some of them can nail it straight away, others struggle

I personally dont have a problem with a 3 week wait but I guess others do

I think that 3 weeks is grand as it gives them time so that they can learn the basics as well as their first dance i just wish that ITT was on during the 3 weeks instead of the start stop approach - it is like it starts twice first with the launch show then 3 weeks later when the show to actually starts

Indeedy!

The show has changed so much though and I quite like all the razzmatazz of the Red Carpet event and the Launch Show. I have even gotten over so many different dances being performed right from the start. Had to, otherwise I would've had to stop watching!

It's just a bit of fluff these days. Long gone are the regular 12 hour training days and meltdowns with the pressure.

I'm fine with three weeks. If I was doing it I'd want that time to develop some feel for dance and get into the zone.