There has been a lot of talk about the celebrities going on “a journey” and I’ve been wondering what this means to you and what different people understand by “journey“.
I may be wrong but I believe that this angle started with Darren Gough and his amazing success in SCD3. However I always believed that it was the emotional connection he made that captured people’s hearts. Darren fell in love with dance and dancing with Lilia; his delicate footwork was a joy to watch because it was obviously such a joy to him; he became almost evangelical about and is still connected with dance today. I was delighted to hear that he will be on the Christmas Special with Lilia and am looking forward to seeing his ballroom again.
In SCD4 it was Mark Ramprakash who, for me, went on this “journey”. To see this shy, quiet, easily embarrassed man produce by turns fun, cheeky, sexy, and always entertaining latin dances, and in the AT a dominating yet sensual performance that I still remember to this day, was a revelation. In my opinion there has not been one male celebrity this year who has produced a latin dance of the calibre of Mark’s - an honourable exception being Kenny who at least evoked the spirit of the Rumba.
Like Darren, Mark fell in love with dance, especially latin, and his close relationship and obvious chemistry with Karen created a fantastic and enduring partnership.
Fast forward to SCDV, my bank balance and my redial finger are both fully recovered, my heartbeat is back to normal and I settled down to watch, certain that this year I could be objective - not a chance!
I always knew that I would like Alesha, I felt she would be good, simply undisciplined and untrained and, like Mark the year before, would excel at the latin dances. I was not prepared for Alesha’s journey and her joy and emotional connection with ballroom. I have always loved latin dances; I could appreciate and enjoy ballroom dances but preferred latin however Alesha’s performances have made me fall in love with ballroom because she so obviously does. Again it is the joy of the performer that creates the joy of the performance. I actually hold my breath when watching her and Matthew, to me their dances create a scene or a story that makes the rest of the world fall away, they are not merely dancing in a studio.
I guess that for me it is the love of dance and its power to create emotion that represents the journey of a celebrity for me, and not necessarily a technically correct performance.
What do you think?
I may be wrong but I believe that this angle started with Darren Gough and his amazing success in SCD3. However I always believed that it was the emotional connection he made that captured people’s hearts. Darren fell in love with dance and dancing with Lilia; his delicate footwork was a joy to watch because it was obviously such a joy to him; he became almost evangelical about and is still connected with dance today. I was delighted to hear that he will be on the Christmas Special with Lilia and am looking forward to seeing his ballroom again.
In SCD4 it was Mark Ramprakash who, for me, went on this “journey”. To see this shy, quiet, easily embarrassed man produce by turns fun, cheeky, sexy, and always entertaining latin dances, and in the AT a dominating yet sensual performance that I still remember to this day, was a revelation. In my opinion there has not been one male celebrity this year who has produced a latin dance of the calibre of Mark’s - an honourable exception being Kenny who at least evoked the spirit of the Rumba.
Like Darren, Mark fell in love with dance, especially latin, and his close relationship and obvious chemistry with Karen created a fantastic and enduring partnership.
Fast forward to SCDV, my bank balance and my redial finger are both fully recovered, my heartbeat is back to normal and I settled down to watch, certain that this year I could be objective - not a chance!
I always knew that I would like Alesha, I felt she would be good, simply undisciplined and untrained and, like Mark the year before, would excel at the latin dances. I was not prepared for Alesha’s journey and her joy and emotional connection with ballroom. I have always loved latin dances; I could appreciate and enjoy ballroom dances but preferred latin however Alesha’s performances have made me fall in love with ballroom because she so obviously does. Again it is the joy of the performer that creates the joy of the performance. I actually hold my breath when watching her and Matthew, to me their dances create a scene or a story that makes the rest of the world fall away, they are not merely dancing in a studio.
I guess that for me it is the love of dance and its power to create emotion that represents the journey of a celebrity for me, and not necessarily a technically correct performance.
What do you think?


) giving us rip-roaring Latin performances. Matt's journey has been more up and down, Gethin's journey has been slow build. I guess it depends how the audience emotionally connects with the dancer as well as the dance.
so I am not ignoring anybody's posts, just a bit distracted this afternoon!