professionals v comlete novices.

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Ann_Dancer

25-09-2016

Originally Posted by BMLisa:
“I like a mixture of fab dancers who smash it week 1, journey dancers who suddenly become your fave around week 5, and the genuine never danced before and likely won't last long contestants. You need all to give the show the depth it needs otherwise it's all a bit samey.

However I do feel the scales have tipped slightly too far towards ringerdom this year.

I thought best ever first week ever from the point of view of talent, but actually I think I may get a bit bored of watching the best ones scrap it out week after week.

Fingers crossed for Naga, Laura and Greg and Robert getting good enough to kick some butt!”

I agree BMLisa. I don't mind a few ringers but it does feel the scales are being loaded slightly more in each series towards the ringers. In my view Strictly reached its peak a few series ago when they got the balance just right.

Originally Posted by IvanIV:
“I like beginners with a potential, like Greg. He gave it all and it really wasn't that bad. And judges' words gave him a boost to try and do better. You could tell he did not expect such a positive feedback. I see a J-word in his future ”

I too prefer beginners with potential. To be fair they are more difficult to spot when signing people up.

Monaogg

25-09-2016

One thing that does get missed the first week, is that they have 3 weeks to prepare. How the professional & celebrity have used that extended training time, will be shown in the weeks to come.

Next week will start to separate the wheat from the chaff.

David Waine

25-09-2016

It's ringer time. The annual moan. For the record, many people in the entertainment industry did go to stage school, but that is no guarantee that they will have competence in all of the disciplines. The pop singers will have some dance experience, but will that help them in the Waltz or the Argentine Tango? I think not.

Ringers give the show quality in its opening weeks. The journey contestants grow to match them as the no-hopers are eliminated. Then the real competition begins.

Based on what I saw this weekend, the overall standard is unusually high, leading to questions about the number of ringers - although I don't think anybody has said 'Fourteen ringers and Ed Balls.' Actually, I didn't think he was the weakest. I thought Melvin Odoom was, making him my favourite for elimination next week unless he manages to improve radically.

I can't remember the scores off the top of my head, but I do remember thinking that they seemed pretty generous at times. How much room for improvement does that leave? I expect they will be marking harder from next week.

Miriam_R

25-09-2016

Originally Posted by Mystical123:
“Go and look up the definition of "professional" in the dictionary and you'll find that none of the celebrities are professionals in ballroom dancing. So you might want to make the title of your thread more accurate.
”

This is so true, no celeb in any year of Strictly has even been a professional Ballroom/Latin dancer. Danny and Will have actually studied dance (to some degree), but neither have had any noteworthy experience of Latin/Ballroom specifically. Obviously anyone that has done some form of dancing in their life (actor, pop star, gymnastic that dances in floor routines etc) is no novice, but that doesn't mean they're anywhere near being a professional dancer, let alone a Latin/Ballroom pro dancer.

Dance has many disciplines, and skillsets, and we can't underestimate the lifetime it can take for most professional dancers to perfect their skills from childhood start to end point of their pro-competing career. To say a singer, actor etc is a pro can in some way be quite insulting to the pro dancer that has worked years to get where they are. Plenty can dance well (generally), but dancing a certain technique to pro level is something else. On last weekend's evidence, Danny, Will, even Louise are not going to be winning a Latin/Ballroom comp any time soon.

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