On Louisa's Spotlight page, under what she is 'HIGHLY SKILLED' in is:

BALLET
CABARET DANCING
CHOREOGRAPHY
CONTEMPORARY DANCE
JAZZ DANCING
JIVE
OLD TIME DANCING
PERIOD DANCING
TAP

Is it really surprising that she could get a 10 after two days rehersel in the jive?

She's a stage school kid, innit.

you see that why its just not fair it not like peter has done a liitle tango in his past
its just not fair

Is she on Spotlight? I had a look and couldn't find her! I don't think you could say she was a pro dancer actually, that's a long way from being skilled at something. It does seem a bit unfair on the others, but I think the requirement is that they haven't done ballroom and latin dancing before. Maybe it was decided if she has only done Jive, and not any of the other dances, that would be allowed.

I'm not really a big fan of Louisa and Vincent, I didn't vote for them on Sat, probably won't vote for them at all. It doesn't really bother me if she's got a bit of extra experience though, I don't think it helped her in the quickstep (IMO it wasn't that great).

Yes I agree I think the contestants should be more honest as anyone who goes to Stage School (AND Emma went to the same Stage School as Louisa) gets DAILY dance lessons and it is just not fair to have them in a competition with people like sportsmen or actors who have no dance background. How can you cope with someone who has at least ten years of dancing lessons behind them?? I know ballroom dancing is slightly different but it involves leaning steps, movement etc and that ability has been learnt by doing jazz dancing, ballet etc), I felt the same way about Richard Fleischman who won that singing contest when he had won, a few years previously, Celeb Stars in their Eyes!! It was hardly a surprise when he won the SoapStars competition.

If that's right then doesn't OLD TIME DANCING sound like something akin to ballroom, or is it something else entirely. Sorry, complete non dancer here, but if someone said old time dancing, I'd be thinking waltz, foxtrot etc.

If she has had that much training, and considering it's not exactly long since she left stage school, it does seem a bit unfair. Jill Halfpenny did have training, but it was a fair few years earlier.

I'm sorry, but ballroom dancing is more than "slightly different" and because someone has done one dance form it does not follow that they can automatically do all others. Also because someone has had dance training it does not follow they are necessarily any good. It obviously helps in terms of hearing a beat of music, 'feeling' a dance, and flexibility etc. But Emma's time at the stage school was 16 years ago, so I don't think that has a lot of impact now. In Louisas case it may be more pertinent, but so is the fact that she is over 10 years younger than any other competitor and is therefore more able to learn quickly, is more flexible and has more energy.

Old time dancing probably means viennese waltz, military two-step etc. but I admit that is not clear.

Not a louisa fan particularly, so I'm not here to defend her, but I'd bear in mind that a lot of actors cv's contain the odd "exaggeration". So "highly skilled" may not quite mean that! Although i agree that the stage school debate is relevant and it isn't fair for someone who has had dance/performance training their whole life to be pitted against a sports person or presenter or whatever.

Ta for that, it does sound a bit ballroom based, but another point to take into account is how much is an exageration - I'm sure a few of us have slight exagerations on our CVs - highly skilled could just mean, in reality, a few weeks of lessons

I've never actually supported the person who was the best dancer from the get go as I prefer those who start off fairly good and show improvement as the weeks go on.

It is unfair as such that some of the contestants have had dance training before because whilst it's not ballroom or latin there are techniques and skills that can be brought across and give them a base to start from which a lot of the other celebs don't have.

In the end though, when stuff like this is public knowledge, I think it just helps those who haven't have any training. To look at someone like Peter and think 'wow, he can do that and he's a bloody goalkeeper!' is more likely to make people vote for him than people like Louisa and Emma who are almost too polished and have a perceived advantage. It just shows up how well those who have never had any dance training are doing.

Yes, I agree. That's what it's all about.

HI

I'm new to the SCD forums but am an avid fan of SCD. I don't think it makes a difference anymore if the contestants have had former training or not, it's the personality of the celebrity and likeable quality - look at Darren Gough!!

mrsjenni

Hi, and welcome to the forums

I think you make a good point there, I highly suspect that if the final vote had been on Saturday the winners would have been Mark and Karen, rather then either Louisa or Emma, and truthfully my bigger bug bear is the bleeding British public and their sympathy votes

I get the impression "old-time" could mean a few things. I flicked through a few pages on the internet but didn't find much, only a book which listed the following dances: Old Time Waltz, Veleta, Lilac Waltz, Fylde Waltz, Boston Two Step, Premier Two Step, Rialto Two Step, Gainsborough Glide, Saunter Reve, Britannia Saunter, Balmoral Blues, Lola Tango, Tango Serida, Tango Solair, Camellia Tango, Mayfair Quickstep.

Supposing Louisa had done something like that, I think she should then be disqualified- I feel it would count as experience, and that breaks the rules.

Having said that, I can't see that she would have that type of experience and be allowed onto the show. I'm inclined to agree that "highly skilled" is probably an exaggeration for the benefit of her cv. My list of skills and hobbies on my CV is completely fictional! It doesn't bother me if she has had dance training before, as long as she is new to ballroom and latin.

I would also like to see this page... as I said before, I couldn't find her on Spotlight when I looked.

Thank You!

I must admit, I don't have a favourite couple yet but alot of the sports men have really surprised me.

Unfortunately the public love a tryer, look at Fiona Phillips last year and that is probably why Georgina and Jan got through.

mrsjenni

Louise may not have done ballroom dancing before, but her background does mean she comes to the show with a fairly good idea that she can dance and will be able to cope. Others don't have this advantage and find out to their surprise that they have a gift they didn't know about - like Darren, and now Peter. I thought that Jill Halfpenny looked like a skilled dancer from the word go, and isn't the competition all about what they all learn over the weeks? Otherwise why have professional dancers teaching them?.

For someone with previous training, she's got appalling arms and shoulders...

Both Emma and Louisa have clearly got a dance base behind them which is certainly an advantage over those who are total novices, but SCD must have been aware of their background before they asked them on the show.

That's the trouble with these stage school kids!

These old time dances, although they have names like tango, waltz and quickstep are really so different from what you see on SCD they can't be said to give an advantage. I completely agree that dance experience helps, I did ballet for 10 years and only started ballroom and latin a year ago and now compete regularly and sucessfully which I doubt would be the case if I didn't have a history of dance training.
I don't think Louisa and Emma necessarily have an unfair advantage as expectations are higher on them.
Whether the public are strongly behind them will show when they get a lower score - at the moment they've been so high up the leader board its hard to tell if they got lots of the public vote or whether their high judges scores kept them safe.

Which 17 year old doesn't have dance experience ?
And if you think it is not fair to all the sports people than you are wrong. The athletes have a different advantage and that is drive and competitiveness, together with physical endurance.
So all in all it doesn't matter, they all have advantages and disadvantages. They also know what they sign up for with SCD.
Let's just enjoy the show eh.

I mean it is laughable. Who cares if you've had dance experience or not? how many girls haven't, i mean most of us all did dancing when young at the very least! I did for ten years but blimey i couldn't do what they do week in week out. Give Louisa a break.

Don't get me wrong i'm completely supporting Louisa - apart from anything else Vincent is my dance teacher and good friend and I know he's fantastic so I couldn't be behind anyone else more (well apart from Jimmy and Flavia before he retired from the show ). He's a brilliant teacher and even if she can already dance he's making the routines really really technically difficult for her so she's working as hard as anyone else to learn new things. If she was dancing basic routines with the dance experience she's got then maybe I'd think it wasn't fair!

Most girls have learnt to dance at some point and although that may give them the obvious advantage of being able to learn choreography it doesn't necessarily mean that can dance ballroom and latin! Depending on how you look at it every competitor has some kind of "advantage"

I don't particularly care if they've done dancing before as long as they and the producers don't try to hide the fact and hope no one finds out. If the public is informed then it's up to them to decide who they want to vote for and why.

Come on if scd banned anyone who had prev dance training that would wipe out the majority of actors on soaps, ex popstars etc and that would mean zero ratings.

And if you do that then surely anyone who is comfortable infront of an audience or with live TV should also be banned as it would be an unfair advantage..so basically make it a none celeb?

On a personal level i agree it is alittle unfair but lifes unfair so deal with it!