Does anyone else miss the dance demonstrations they used to do in the results show? Sometimes the pros would perform a particular dance and sometimes they'd get guest experts in. In my memory it was the first time we saw Vincent and Flavia, though I could be getting that wrong. I like the pros dancing for the music guests, when it works, but it's not the same as the whole focus being on the dance. I can't think when was the last time we had one?

I haven't ever seen that but it sounds interesting - and would be better than some of the pro dances we've been getting lately. It would be good to see how a specific dance looks when done by experts.

I remember those, and really enjoyed them, as it helped me to learn what some of the steps should look like.

I think it was back in the days when more couples danced the same dance in a week, for example : "next week couples are dancing the tango, and this is what a tango should look like".

Didn't a pro partnership once dance a Cha-Cha-Cha (the lady had short blonde hair), and because they danced across the beat/music rather than accenting every beat everyone said they were atrocious dancers, despite the fact they were world champions? That was fun.

Michael and Joanna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUBq_RP_EEQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB3atWymvS8

Ahhh, the heady days when pro routines actually resembled a recognisable dance style...

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be, especially when it's choreographed by Jason Gilkison.

The more I see "proper" ballroom and latin routines the less I like it. It feels so unnatural, so artificial! I for one think its actually a good influence the hybrid routines of some of the BTF alumni. Though I wish some of them knew their basics well.

Unlike the proper AT, which the more I watch the more I like it!

I very much would like to see demonstrations, and of course they don't have to be done by Strictly Professionals.

Yep, that's the couple. I spent a solid week laughing at people saying their Cha-Cha-Cha was awful because they didn't stick 100% to the basic Cha-Cha beat; it's called "syncopation", people, look it up.

(Just watching Joanna's spins is making me feel motion sick, I keep expecting her to take off like a drone and Michael to take out a remote control to guide her in for a safe landing).

She was/is fabulous, "retired" from competitive dancesport now of course. I seem to recall that the CCC they did, was more of a show CCC rather than a competitive one. Brilliant all the same.

I miss the dems too, though enjoyed Joanne and giovanni on Sunday was one of the best for a while

I enjoyed that too - I'm surprised, or maybe I shouldn't be with SCD, that they don't make more use of Jo to do this sort of thing. With all the rest of the carp that comes with this show, non strict tempo music, themes, props, naff costumes etc, you would think that they didn't want us to enjoy great dancing in addition to the pro/celeb aspect.

No maybe you shouldn't be.
In another thread I made a similar point, about recruiting a world champ. and then giving her an absolute duffer the first year and no one at all the second, and Monkseal replied by saying they have form in that area, having done the same thing with Iveta and someone else in recent years!

[Incidentally, I think Joanne's neck must be constructed differently from most of us - it seems to bend through about 100 degrees without any problems! Great to watch though.]

Indeed, but that comes after many many years of lessons and above all practice, starting at a very young age.. As you say, great to watch.
In October, London is flooded with hundreds the Worlds top competitive Pro's and Amateurs, here to compete for the International. You would have hoped that SCD producers could have asked at least 1 of these couples to demonstrate....from what I gather on these forums - aside from the very differing opinions - what everyone wants to see is good dancing, so why don't they have a regular spot for guest dancers, or even the pros they have on the show. Beats me.

It wasn't quite that recent - I was thinking about Hazel Newberry in S2 , who was three times world ballroom champion and an MBE and whose only Strictly dance on record with a celeb is Quentin Wilson's cha cha, which scored 8.

Exactly, Hazel is one of my favourite lady dancers. I recall from the opening titles at the time, Chris ( Hawkins) featured with her, but they never had them on to dem. Unbelieveable.

So that cant be blamed on Jason Gilkinson.

I think the program believes that proper ballroom champs don't come across that well or that they are not main stream entertainment. Or something.

BIB I completely agree that everyone wants to see good dancing, but I strongly believe that you can have beautiful great non traditional ballroom and latin that engages a broader audience, more so that completely traditional/competitive ballroom latin.

Lets put it this way, only a very small percentage of viewers are actually knowledgeable and fans of the "proper" Ballroom/latin. If week on week was all about traditional stuff, a big chunk of the population would get bored. They have to go for a happy medium, which they are, more often than not, getting it wrong for some with the pro dances.
However much we dislike the pro routines, they are not badly danced at all in absolute terms, though they may be in traditional Ballroom/latin. (I dont like at all a particular female dancer, which I think she never dances beautifully but that is just me maybe.)

I also think that they they are budget restraints regarding booking outsiders for demos on the show. I am sure that is a major reason for the lack of demos. (I mean I am sure some professionals would do it for free for promotional purposes, but it would not be fair for people who make their living like that and it may be against some professional code of conduct).

Oh lordy, this is why I loathe competitive pro ballroom. You take a great dance and turn it into an over-exaggerated, extreme, unnatural, gurning cartoon of itself. It's no longer dance, it's a charicature!

Makes me want to weep

I thought so too. Great routine. I'd love more demos from the pros. People need to see what it should look like.

I'm guessing the show being in it's 13th year people generally know by now what each dance should look like and if not all the demos are available online anyway.

You can have literally 10 couples dancing side by side, dancing the same dance and each of those couples will make it look completely different, All dems are different too, and I don't agree that all are online.

Yes, I agree - and that's what makes it so interesting. I don't want to watch endless videos. I want to see demos on Strictly - and no, not everyone has seen the huge variety of ways one can dance a foxtrot, or a samba.

I am sure the pros would love it too.

I do not want to watch half-baked, sometimes truly awful pro routines by dear Jason. I am really not a fan

Lol