I know it's a very accomplished performance technically but by God that was far too muggy, gimmicky, and over-the-top for me, I'm sorry.

I agree with you, but for a dem which is mainly for entertainment it was full on. Love the energy, but the main thing is that these two ooze everything "dance" from their pores. They can back up the razzmatazz and show with pure technique too.

Please don't be sorry, Monkseal. You are entitled to your opinion and no-one should try and take that from you!

Very well put, Jennifer F.

[quote=Mr Cellophane;80206602]
Yeah- Pixie, Frankie, Simon Webb.

Emma Bunton, Rachel Stevens, Jason Donovan

Oh, wait a minute......

Exactly, Its great to hear all opinions and views. ....I was not trying to take anything from anyone by the way...sorry if it appeared that way, Perhaps I need to put IMHO each time I post

Ha, I do like Derek, I think I just prefer it when he's chained to a celeb to slow him down a bit.

No need for you to be sorry either, Jennifer F, as it certainly didn't seem to me like you were trying to take anything from anyone.

I was speaking generally in that, as you say, it is always good to hear other peoples views; and no-one should apologise for giving theirs. It is to be welcomed.

I like Strictly more than DWTS, huge reason being that Strictly pros aren't as famous as the real celebs. The hoopla around DWTS pros is just too much. How many times have I read how a DWTS pro deserves a win, how it's 'their year'. I also don't like the blatant setting a celeb up to not be liked by the audiences in their VTs.

LOL.

I thought of Derek twice last night. The first time was when Len asked Pasha if he had explained to Carol about not using heel leads in the rumba. This wouldn't have been required of Derek who always makes sure his partner employs heel or toe leads as required; still, nothing less than we would expect for someone who taught at Italia Conti.

I was pleased to see Aljaz put the reverse samba (shadow) roll into his performance with Helen last night as that isn't seen in Strictly as often as it used to be. I appreciate it is a difficult piece of choreography and requires a capable partner; maybe that is why? It again reminded me of Derek as he used to always put it into the routine he danced with his partners.

Didn't rate that at all enough said.

I've seen DWTS as well as the Danish and German versions of SCD. The British SCD remains my favourite.

I watched a series of the Italian Ballando con le Stelle, because I was living there. The show went on for about 4 hours; it was constantly interrupted by the presenter (who was affiliated to Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party at the time) doing random publicity spots; the dancers repeated their favourite dance every few weeks, and when some dancers got voted off they would be voted back on a few weeks later. The band seemed to play a variation the same song at different tempos for each dance. I couldn't be bothered to watch any more series after that one.

yes see where you are coming from though Strictly had some good ones in past with past world rankings (Karen/Cuttlers etc) and today Joanne with her ballroom and Kevin who beat derek in competing days with his partner Anna Milkanova?

Yes I remember sitting in the "Clifton" corner at Blackpool, at 1 particular year at the Nationals. Loved them dancing, very young Kevin and Anna Melnikova. Think they were beaten by Darren & Lilia that year, although we prefered Kevin.
Obviously Kevin and Jo ( world class) are great, there are quite a few that will remain nameless, that should go.

Well, yes, you have a point (a rather solid one, as it turns out,) but I was thinking of this year.
(I have perfect recall for a couple of weeks, but beyond that it all gets a bit hazy.....)

I'm a big fan of Maks and Val and some of the routines can be really different and inventive on there but overall I'm not a huge fan of the show. The recent "rumba" performed by Derek Hough and his partner is an example of the kind of thing I dislike about it. I'm not really stuffy about themes (I actually love a good themed dance when it's well thought out and works) but a lot of the time on there they don't even bother to do the dance at all. It spreads ignorance about what ballroom and latin dancing actually is rather than giving people a way into something they don't know about.

I guess the way american smooth is explained on strictly is an example of our version doing this, but I don't know if you can really dance american smooth over here anyway.

Good grief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had the misfortune to see the German version when on holiday. Goes on for about three hours and the professionals are just coaches with both dancers being celebrities. Some of the celebs were decent dancers, but it was dull.

Truly appalling!

Thirteen seasons ago, to be precise.

I can moan about Strictly 'til the cows come home but it'd have to do a lot to be worse than Dancing With the Stars is nowadays.

I think Strictly is the best.

I like Dancing with The Stars US, they have better dancers but more faffing about.

I saw a Czech version and it's a rather low key affair compared to BBC version, judges are less critical and don't mind showdances instead of straight routines. They do results show live at the same night.

I think that's their version of Stepping Out, which has been a success over there. I saw a bit of it as well and...yeah. No accounting for taste. The host was cute though.

Indeed. Monkseal has this correct. Any confusion is because both series are for RTL and they used the same hosts (the deliciously nerdy Daniel and the dutch tess cheated upon Sylvie) and the same jury (Llambi len-craig hybrid, Jorge Bruno, used to do Heidi's search for a top model catwalk training, and Motsi, Oti's sis).

Let's Dance is German Strictly and compares favourably. Here is my favourite rumba from the show.
http://www.rtl.de/cms/let-s-dance-20...a-1469327.html