And Zoe Ball.
To me, that's always just come under the 'eminently sensible' heading.

Not forgetting Abbey & Dr Hamela...


Not to me - if I were truly a non-dancer, I would embrace the whole spirit of Strictly by going in as exactly that. I would want to get a REAL picture the progress (or otherwise) I would make - regardless of picking up the Glitterball at the end of it.

Taking lessons prior just totally defeats the whole object of entering...

Always denied by Austin.

Jake Wood went to Anna Scher as did Tameka, I don't think that dance is on the curriculum there unlike Sylvia Young's, Italia Conti etc.

Dances danced to perfection would also have to be entertaining. Nobody's talking about robotic, joyless dancing here.

Personally, I don't find stumping through ~~WHACKY~~ dances to be entertaining. I know I look to be alone in that, but I just don't. Forced comedy doesn't entertain me. Now, as Greg was one of my favorites, I obviously don't need perfection, but I need them to actually try the dances instead of falling back on being funny. I didn't even mind Ed most of the time (hell, even the Halloween dance was entertaining, but it was Halloween), but Gangnam Style was where I drew the line. I'm done. That's when, in my mind, he and Katya just gave up. Hell, even that Quickstep that had about 20 seconds of actual Quickstep had more of the actual dance than that Gangnam crap.

I liked Ed & Katya's Quickstep as his dreadful hip action was not so evident. The Whacky element worked for that dance.

Never, ever been a fan of the self humiliation humour of Norman Wisdom. Just makes me cringe with embarrassment. Dances that use this as a vehicle to cover up poor technique never appeal to me. I like to laugh with someone, not at them.

On the contrary, Gangnam had a lot of salsa content throughout. Just danced badly!

It did? It must have been so badly done that it didn't even look like salsa content.

It did, there was a reasonable amount of Salsa in Ed's dance as there has been plenty of basic steps in whatever routine Katya has given him.

Whether he performs the steps technically well isn't really up for debate, he doesn't have the innate ability to do so, but to say he doesn't "dance" and instead performs comedy routines is also incorrect.
Every routine he has been given by Katya has had the necessary elements of the dance he's supposed to be performing to make it recognisably so.

Yes, he has previous stage experience but so did plenty of other celebs in the past yet none are as good as him, which shows he obviously has natural talent in dance anyway.

And also, if it all came so easy to him as some are suggesting on this thread, he and Oti wouldn't be putting in 11 hour training days would they?

Exactly - that's why I think she's so brilliant. She's catered to his limitations, but she hasn't laid Ed open to the same accusations as Will with his Bollywood salsa. All the basic elements have been present in each of their routines, Some ballroom in fact has been played entirely straight. In the salsa, if you look at his face, you can even see Ed counting along aloud to the salsa rhythm. "ba ba ba and ba ba ba and etc." Similarly, there was a lot of jive in his jive. The only one I would say had pretty minimum content was his samba. However, there was some recognizable samba in there as well.

If you look at their "first steps" video, the distance Ed has come is remarkable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047mqxp

As for Danny, he's a WE performer and every routine of his reflects that style. Many other contestants have dance and acting/performance training, this year and pretty much all other years. However, Danny is probably the most ringer-y male we've ever had (we have had equally ringer-y women)

And working in the world of musicals does not make you a dancer, just a good 'hoofer' in a career demands different qualities.

Not all musicals demand brilliant dance skills unless you are doing Chicago and handling Fosse choreography. Or 'Fussy' as Louise refers to him

And, by the way, Lousise did study dance at Italia Conti and even appeared as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance, so what makes her any different to Danny? Apart of course from the fact that he has more actual dance talent then her?

Louise definitely a ringer too (lady ringuh as opposed to male ringuh) - not quite sure of the level of her training vs. Danny's. She certainly doesn't have the same amount of performance experience. Her main problem doesn't appear to be technical ability but that she is unable to "let go". She appears to be under the impression that what this means is to be able to grin like a maniac. It's not, it's about your body and letting movement go through the whole of it instead of being too "placed" (mostly this problem is Latin, or any time she is not in hold. She still dances like a TOTP princess of the 90s. That's why her Paso is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me - it was the first time I have really seen her body "pop" if that makes any sense (not through the whole routine, but in parts). I'm pretty sure that that is what Darcey meant when she was talking about Kevin pushing Louise harder - she wants him to push her through this barrier.

Danny does not have this problem, whether from training or natural talent or both. He is not without his deficiencies either, however. It's just that they are far fewer than the other competitors.

To my mind he wants to please Oti he will do whatever she requires there is a mutual respect

^^ This. Plus the amount of training hours they are putting in each week which makes a big difference. Danny really is putting his heart and soul into SCD so I applaud him for that. He does not deserve the bashing he seems to be getting.