I thought this was relevant as the people I like in the competition are from 3 fields the very good, the very bad and the talented with potential to do something amazing.

I started watching when I caught Alesha's Viennese Waltz and was swept away by her joy, the romanticism, the wonderful dress, it hooked me and I have watched ever since.

I wonder what qualities others look for in dancers.?

For me it must have that feeling of being swept away with joy that the dancers experience.

Both Michael Vaughn and Jay's jive I loved because they enjoyed them so much.

Strictly perfect footwork I can live without but I hate not to know what dance is being performed.

Performance also can't just overtake technical competence, I have loathed many a paso for being all flash and no technique. For me my favourite was Austin's paso, he loved strutting his stuff but that stuff was recognisably a paso

Im not exactly sure what you're asking OP ..but I'll try to answer lol.

Chemistry with your partner...chemistry...and chemistry.

When you see a dance and you are actually swept away with emotions...as if you feel like you are witnessing magic on the dancefloor....I felt that with Jay's waltz and Jive.

I also felt that with Gleb and Anita AS this year and ...for the same reason as well.

I dont know...it's a connection between the pro and celeb/the music/choreography...all these elements coming together.

Sylvie Guillem is one of the best things I have ever seen in my life.

That is my contribution to what I look for in a dancer.

I certainly agree with chemistry or connection which is the way I would normally put it. But also timing, musicality, control, grace and neatness. The last one is a function of those before I guess.

Agree! Though Neatness is not essential for me. Musicality is the most important for me as for me dancing is making music through movement of the human body.

Errrrr that's because I fell asleep pressing post without framing the question thank you for understanding.


The question was:

What qualities do you look for in a dancer that mean you want to watch them?

For me Mikhil Baryisnikov

But I am not likely to see him in SCD.

shall we stick to in SCD?

Though actually that sense of enjoyment in the dance and a sense of danger not knowing what was going to happen next.

It's an interesting question, I don't know how to describe it but I know it when I see it. I've loved all sorts of dances for different reasons - John Sargeant's paso, Kara's rumba, Louisa's jive, Austin's paso (lots of the "bad" dancers like Michael Vaughan or Mark Benton) and most recently Jay's jive - they all convey the joy of dancing, they make me want to learn to dance and I'm by no means a dance lover.

I don't care about right footwork or too much out of hold or if it's technically perfect, that's the judges' job. I just care whether it makes me happy.

I saw him in a two man play with Willem DaFoe a couple of years back. Even in a 1920s absurdist comedy, his physicality is astounding. A lot of the play is essentially high brow clowning and there are parts where the two actors swap characters, DaFoe the actor speaks with Baryshnikov's voice and Baryshnikov the dances moves as if DaFoe. Extraordinary stuff.

Yes I think a certain connection with their partner, to go back to Michael Vaughn's dance,

I loved their jive and also their AS at Wembley. There was never any sense of romantic engagement between them, just that they were great friends who trusted one another.

I agree with timing and musicality without them every movement jars,

But Michael' s jive was anything but neat.

It was wild and free, completely different, Natalie had started doing a straight jive, realised he was completely unable to do one, obviously choreographed a new dance accordingly and both of them could hardly finish the dance without laughing.

Jeremy is anything but neat, he is long limbed and occasional they are wildly out of control, I loved his Charleston. It was recognisably a dance style, he enjoyed himself so much Karen too, and I found it charming.

I don't need neatness but occasionally when its absent it jars, Anita for me just isn't ticking my boxes yet because her lines are too messy. However Alesha never stopped being messy especially in Latin but it wasn't glaring for me, so perhaps Anita will improve to the level when it doesn't bother me.

Kirsty tonight was talking about having her feet right ( they weren't ) but if they had been, and in fact if the majority of her body had been placed right in time with the music, I still don't think it would have been a pleasant dance to watch as it would have been dancing by numbers, as in the difference with an original painting and its counterpart in painting by numbers.

I haven't ever liked any of Kevin's dances as they seem formulaic, forever nostalgic a smile and tilt to the camera here, a twirl to this camera there, the occasional stamp in a paso over here. This year it seems especially bad as Kellie is very happy to follow that pattern of performance and what should have been a sweet and nostalgic dance for her grandparents tipped over into a saccharine sweet and surprisingly dull foxtrot that was incredibly neat, musical but failed to engage me at all.

Pixie' s nostalgic dance with Trent in the red dress was fun and didn't seem cheesy in any way and I loved it.

So for me neatness is an odd thing, I don't seem to require it but in certain people, however it jars if things are too perfect and formulaic, but in others they are too unfinished and messy.

It appear I like a hint of wildness and danger in my dancers, a what is possible anticipation but also want dance steps to be recognisable and if possible done well.

Lucky you,

I once walked behind him in a park, I had no idea who he was but even just walking in a park he oozed a certain physical something and turned that park into his own stage. We arrived together at an ice cream van where I recognised him. He likes pistachio sprinkles on vanilla by the way.

I haven't ever seen him live but adore watching most you tube clips and films of him.

A lot of the dancers I like sweep me away with some emotion, take me out of myself and join them in their emotion.

I have laughed, cried and been incredibly proud with dancers when that certain something special occurs.

Really it is my question, what do others think make that magic moment with dancers that make you love them and their dance so much?

Exuberance, obvious pleasure in, or understanding between, their partner and conveying they're loving that moment of performing. A base level of technical proficiency is all that's required- but they don't need to be brilliant. But all of those qualities are diluted without great choreography and music that -whilst maybe not brilliant or "traditional"- is at least appropriate to the mood.

What got me watching was Colin Jackson's American Smooth. Spine-tingling stuff. Harry Judd's VW makes me moist-eyed. And Zoe's tango was electrifying. All of them kept me glued to the show whenever my interest was in danger of waning.

For me it comes down to two simple things-

Quality of the dance and passion and emotions that are outwardly expressed. For me it's the person that gives me a sense of joy when you watch. Makes you want to get up and dance with them.

Imo Pixie was the perfect contestant I know not every connected with her emotionally but I loved how she never held back and just gave it her all on the dance floor!

First and foremost it's musicality for me. An awareness of the music they're dancing to and how it relates to the choreography and the movement and rhythm of their body is absolutely paramount.
Second is confidence. The confidence to just do the dance without thinking about it too much and, more importantly, not to show that they're thinking about it too much. Jay's jive, Kellie's foxtrot and Jamelia's Charleston all had this quality.
Good technical ability is an added bonus, but if the above points are in place the absence of this is less noticeable.

Conveyance of emotion, showmanship etc are of no importance to me whatsoever and can often detract from my enjoyment in fact.

I can't see a great dancer not being able to show some emotion or gave any showmanship for me.
I think without emotion a confident dance becomes mechanical. I could appreciate Kellie's foxtrot was technically really good and confident, but I found is dull and not memorable. Possibly sterile is the word.

She has been criticised ( by me included) for being too over the top, however the one week she pulled it back a bit, it was saccharine sweet but surprisingly dull.

Louis didn't connect with dance for me, he couldn't express the emotion, if he was really excited by the dance I wasn't seeing it.

If we're talking Strictly here, my definition of a "good" dance is saying to myself I'd love to have done that (regardless of whether or not the technique was correct)

So Vaughan's jive, Holly's Swan Lake, Sophies Charleston, all come to mind.

I'd also had loved to have a go at Lulu's Bat out of hell routine. Flying, fake wings, Brendans bum, what's not to love?

A good Strictly dancer for me is someone who has natural rhythm and musicality and does not look awkward. Dancers who naturally know where to place the weight of their feet particularly in Latin dances. Bonus, if they can do clean spot turns. Someone like

Gumede, Madsen, Kara T, Whittle, McGuinness, Pixie, Van Outen, Flack, Halfpenny, Anita, Kellie Bright, Helen, that Tom guy who won before, et al, et al, et al...

Agree. She is extraordinary. I have watched her dance at the ROH and heard the audience gasp at her incredible strength and the beauty of her movement. Unbelievable talent and determination.

Steel and velvet

Baryshnikov is my all time favourite male ballet star and Sylvie Guillem is a my favourite prima ballerina.

Both brilliant (in the true sense of the word) , creative, adaptable, curious, daring, confident, utterly focused and musical beyond imagination with the technique to do any movement, whether complex or simple, with sublime beauty.

I had forgotten Holly's AS, I Think that was her dance of the season for me and like you I would have loved to have done that,

As with most of the above including Jays jive this year and Kara Tango. ( I could so have kicked that chair over&#128527

Not Lulu flying I could have done that dance better. Almost anyone could.

Okay in SCD massively entertaining (eg John Sergeant - it didn't come as a surprise to me to read that he was a comedian before he was a journalist) or highly charismatic (that is going to be individual).

I'm actually not that wowed by the dancing of the celebs (though I like to see a good pro dance) if they're not entertaining or charismatic. If I just wanted to watch good dancing I'd go to the ROH or Sadler's Wells. I don't want the telly for that.

I can't put it in words to be honest, it's totally an emotional thing for me. The most technically brilliant executor of a dance could be performing but if I can't connect with them it won't mean a thing.

I've been lucky during my career as a journalist to see most of the big name dancers on stage from ballet, tap, contemporary etc as well as having an extensive collection of musical films full of great dancers.

I think if I had to pin down my favourite dancers of all time it would be Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly.

My favourite ballet dancers would probably be Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, only just edging out Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev who I was so very very lucky to see as a young girl in one of her final performances at Covent Garden in the late 1970s on a school trip. Even at the end of her career I was utterly captivated by her on stage.

I would have killed to have seen Maya Plisetskaya dance live and I also rate some of the dancers at Northern Ballet Theatre, as it was in the late 80s/1990s, among the best dramatic artists I've seen.
Jayne Regan as Mina in the 1996 premier of Dracula alongside Denis Malinkine. (This is some black & white footage but not from the prem). I've never been as blown away by a ballet production in my life as I was for that, directed by Chris Gable with choreography/direction by Michael Pink, set design by Lez Brotherston and a score from Philip Feeney, it was so good I paid to go back and see it again two days after the Press Premiere

I also loved watching Joseph Cipolla and Miyako Yoshida at Birmingham Royal Ballet and the O'Hare brothers at the same company.

Honestly I could go on for hours about the amazing dancers I've seen over the years

Dedication and commitment is what I look for in a good dancer.

In terms of strictly, aside from the obvious like musicality, rhythm, body awareness etc I look for the understanding that it's a dance partnership, rather than dancing independently with somebody else there as well. Particularly in the ballroom dances - it helps SO much to have that communication with a partner and it just looks right.