I don't understand all the contraversy around lifts. Just allow them and let the competitors take their chances.

they dont allow lifts because it isn't fair on the male celebs, as they are'nt competent enough in the beginning to compete with the male pro dancers.

It goes against the rules of ballroom, they can be dangerous for novices and most of all the above reason - it isn't fair on the male celebs, as it is much more difficult for them to lift the female pros correctly than for the female celebs to be lifted.

If you had lifts all the time it would make the dances all turn into freestyles rather than the traditional dances.

At first I also wondered this (but could never be bothered asking) because we're allowed lifts in any of our dances.
I can understand why they don't use lifts though and it kind of puts the men & women celebs on a more even playing field as the women are the ones more likely to be thrown in the air.

Plus it kinda makes the lifts a bit more exciting/special when you actually do get to see them!

Then why do they allow lifts in certain dances. The American Smooth is allowed two lifts and I think they allow them in one other one.

These dances aren't part of the traditional 10 ballroom dances and so have different rules and traditions. They are also used in Strictly as special "one-off" dances where the couples can have more freedom in their expression of the dances. Personally I think the American Smooth is done much too early in the competition due to the other reasons mentioned against lift work. It would be better if they did it later giving the couples more time to practise lifting over the weeks and also when everyone involved is more confident with dancing etc overall.

I would agree with you there from a saftey standpoint. However, later in the competition why not start allowing some lifts in dances? Lifts don't have to be dangerous. Some are quite simple.

Well the first time American smooth was done it was quite late in the competition and all the couples did it at the same time. I think it was far too early this year. Same with AT last year, everyone did it in one of the last weeks.

From the point of view of allowing it later in the competition, I disagree because at that stage not everyone is doing the same dance, and those dances will have been danced earlier in the competition. So you would have a situation where say, a quickstep, for example, was danced in week2, with no lifts allowed, but then if someone did it in week 7, they could put in lifts? Bit messy. And also, I like that they keep it to the competition rules.

I appreciate there is a safety issue here and also a discrepancy in difficulty between the male celebrities lifting and female celebrities being lifted but the lifts we are talking about pale in comparison (in terms of difficulty) to some of those performed on Dancing On Ice.

Don't know if many of you watch it but some of their lifts are , far more dangerous and far more difficult for the male celebrities (as they are carrying their pro partner whilst precariously balanced on their skates). As far as I am aware they don't include any restrictive rules on lifting. Just a thought.

Lifts are not allowed because the dances are meant to be based on the 10 dances as danced in the ballroom. A.Smooth is an exception, as is the Freedance that the 2 last finalists get to dance.

The reason for not allowing lifts in all the dances is that, as already said, it would give the female celebs a real advantage from the word go, and because the viewing non-dancing public would have a tendency to be 'wowed' by the lifts, instead of watching for dance ability.

Mind you, the results being as they are, I don't know that it would make a lot of difference.....

the reason lifts arent allowed in the 10 formal dances is because they aren't allowed when performed in competition - to lift makes it showdance for which there is a separate section

tbh it doesn't really matter why not does it?? the fact is they're not allowed other than in American smooth and the freestyle show dance at the end.

you may as well ask why aren't footballers allowed to pick up the ball and run with it or why aren't rugby players allowed to pass the ball forward. The fact is they're just not because it's against the rules.

Because taking the stairs is much better for your health.

lol

very droll.

Absolutely - the amazing thing is that all the male celebs have done superb jobs with lifts so far.

Doing aerials properly is extremely difficult, and indeed they're quite dangerous - that's one of the few things that "Dirty Dancing" got right. To practice them properly, you need mats, spotters, and so on.

Most social dances that technically allow lifts, have banned them in social dancing, simlply because of the danger. A good friend of mine got dumped on her head earlier this year - she suffered conscussion, hospitalisation, tests, weeks off work, and she couldn't dance for several months.

I would hate it if they allowed lifts, There needs to be compulsory elements in order to judge different abilities otherwise the crap females would just be thrown about constantly to avoid them putting their feet on the floor, Lilia would just have her partner throw her about to detract from their inability to dance (this is what she does in the free dance in the last two finals) and the larger ladies who could actually be more talented (e.g. Jill Halfpenny) probably wouldn't stand a chnace of winning because they wouln't wow the audience with their acrobatic stunts, which hav nothing to do with dance ability!

Leave it the way it is and disqualify the idiots who continually flout the rules!

That is cute. Very clever and funny

Der Chef says

Its not so much an advantage to the female celebs remember Colin Jackson the first year of the American smooth did great lifts despite Erin getting the timing slightly wrong and Colin was still strong enough to wish her off her feet dead weight stylie.

No if an inexperienced male celeb was say to drop his female pro in training it could potentially wreck her career.

Before you say I am exaggerating look at footballers damaging medial or cruciate ligaments falling from a lesser height on a soft grassy football pitch

Ohhh Yeah

Totally agree. It should be one of the "specials" and treated as such, like the AT last year and like the AS had been in previous years.


But they're not ballroom dancing, they're ice skating. I agree some of those lifts are scary and I'd have my hands over my eyes watching them. But just because they do it isn't any reason for it to be allowed on Strictly.