I do. I really enjoyed them and they were part of the appeal of Strictly for me. I saw them as a rest from the competitive side of things. They also allowed us to see how well (or not) the ensemble had bonded.

Take this example from Series 3 which, incidentally, was my FIRST-EVER experience as a Strictly viewer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bPz...42D7BD&index=6

(Apologies for the poor quality of this clip - its the only one I could find)

You can see some real friendships here and it looked like everyone was actually having FUN! I do feel that dynamic has been lost in recent series.

Would you like see pro/celeb group dances featured more heavily?

Yes, I really liked this one

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fBIX8NAf5mI

As you say, you could see the fun and friendships, which I think has been lost a bit since with most of them training such long hours and the increased competitiveness. I'd quite like to see a cap on training hours for the couples, then maybe they could do things like this again.

This was another good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFiYRr02KP8

I think I prefer the current style of group dance,
In that old style of paired group dance it can expose weaker dancers who can look uncomfortable when it's not going great.
I think the new style ones look more fun for the celebrities where the are just getting down with less focus on comparing technique plus I like seeing them dance with different pros.

The 2007 female group dance was one of the first I really noticed, that series was great for group dances:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hsPG3SxLgIg

Including their Dirty Dancing tribute:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=peGcnue2kiA

You beat me to it! Even Kate Garraway looked decent in this

Truly...and loved Bruno's comment about her!!!

From more recent times, this is probably Strictly's most ambitious effort and will take some beating...

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

And this was was quite a spectacle too...

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

My favourite!

For the celebs that is just male celebs waving their arms and female celebs twirling while others dance around them.

They knock out a few of that kind of thing every year so I'm not sure what you are claiming to be missing or how the "dynamic has been lost in recent series."

Last year they had Launch Night Group dance, Halloween Week, Musicals Week, Blackpool Week, Final Show group dances that I can remember.

The group dances these days tend to be the pros doing most of the dancing then the celebs come out for a few seconds and pose at the end. It's not the same as some of the posts above where they had to train to learn a routine and we saw the training beforehand then it was commented on by the judges afterwards.

Yes, which I why I find it odd the thread starter gave an example of that Blackpool dance as the best when it is very new style.

Yes, admittedly, I kind of veered off the original idea for this thread, turning it into "a trip down Memory Lane". Allow me pull back focus with a few of the type of routines I began talking about: Here are four from Series 6 in which there was very much a "Girls vs Boys" theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egOIeirN-fc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AhVQXs-upU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OANavnEOff4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up6Iu5F4cbU

And here is that season's opening group dance featuring a record (till now, I think) 32 individuals on the dance floor at once

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whn21swrA0M

I dont

That's my absolute favourite. I'm sure the uniforms had nothing to do with it. At all ...

Loved this one, girls Mambo Series 4 (looks such fun ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6dcMaoL24

And this one, boys Merengue Series 6 (John Sergeants face cracks me up ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AhVQXs-upU

Never seen this one before Daisy. It is brill - you're right, it does look fun!


Already posted this one above.

My favourite too. I wasn't a big Gethin fan, but put him in a uniform and......!!!!!!

Here's another I have never seen before (starts at 0:48)

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