Someone called Claudia Connell has an article in today's Daily Mail called Strictly no dancing please, chaps (you look more like John Sergeant than John Travolta) ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar....html?ITO=1490 ) in which she is very critical of men who try to dance, insists that most women don't want their man to dance, reckons most men look ridiculous when they dance and therefore shouldn't try, and then takes a swipe at modern jive from a position of scant knowledge.

I rather feel that the article says more about the men in her social circles - and her social circles per se - than it does about dancing. She clearly ignores the popularity of SCD.

I happen to dance modern jive rather well, but I only believe this to be true because I've frequently been told so by many partners.

I know that the primary purpose of Daily Mail writers is to provoke, so I'm not letting her pettiness and statements of "taste" bother me. However, I thought responses from some of the female board members would say more than a mere man such as I could, especially if they were added to the end of the article.

If you plucked a 17 th century puritan out of time - probably whilst they were going about their cheery business pulling down maypoles to stop people dancing - and dropped them into today which paper do you think they would prefer? My bet is The Mail.

Good old Mail. Might as well have said "Men dancing...it's a bit gay isn't it?"

It makes me laugh that if a popular BBC personality had "spouted" that all men can't dance etc etc then the Mail would be in outrage calling for so and so to be sacked for some strange "dancist" reasons.

All I know is that I don't broadcast the fact that I can twirl a bit but when a girlfriend finds out she tends to be quietly impressed.

And then there a woman in my local who when she gets drunk (this is Essex mind you) insists (and I mean INSISTS) on dancing with me. And telling me she really LOVES (but louder than that) me cause I can dance. I really love it when I walk into the pub and she's there (and she's spotted me before I can escape )

But this article has absolutely nothing to do with ballroom dancing, more dancing socially at parties, etc. So not really anything to get offended by, as far as I can see.

lol indeed

personally I love it if a man can dance well and I don't meant trained ballroom etc but everyday dancing. Personally I think that if a man can be co-ordinated on a danmce floor that can bode well for...other things

my husband can dance and I love it that when he gets up at parties or whatever that I'm not going to be dancing opposite someone who looks like a frog in a blender

The author of the article says,
"It’s a sad fact that 99.9 per cent of the male population has all the natural rhythm, timing and allure of a drunk trying to find his way home after closing time."

No dear, there's nothing factual about that. It's a number you've made up to go with what you obviously believe to be a witty comparison.

The classic Mail "Article about s*d all" to fill the paper.

Maybe the article says more about it's author than anything else .

at this article.

This woman clearly has no clue about equality.

The Mail. Again.

She does appear to possess a near-invincible level of ignorance, doesn't she?

I strongly suspect she can't dance, jealousy oozes from every sentence in that article. Or possibly she doesn't get asked to dance much.

If it's in the Daily Mail, it's not worth considering. I sometimes wonder if any journos ever end up there because they can't find anyone else to employ them, or if it's because they all truly want to be there. Either way, I wouldn't spit on them if they were on fire.

The Daily Mail

My husband is a terrible dancer (he does know this) and can't even clap his hands in time. But he gets up and has a bop and I wouldn't dream of telling him not to! I'd love it if he could dance better though and love being asked to dance by men who can at least keep the beat! A couple who are friends of ours have taken dancing lessons in the past and I just love watching them on the dance floor together - nothing flashy or old fashioned, just doing some nice moves easily together.

The article writer is definitely way out of touch. Since Strictly started men and women all over the place have been learning to dance and how many couples now take lessons to dance a 'real' dance at their wedding?

We have enough trouble getting men to dance as it is - this article will just confirm what men have always though i.e. they should just prop up the bar!

What surprises me is that she actually doesn't want men to dance, she seems to think they're genetically incapable of it or something.

I wonder what the reaction would be if she'd made similar remarks about an ethnic minority?

In fact... hmmm, I wonder if we can complain to the Press Complaints Commission about this?

Do people still buy the Daily Mail?

From The Mail? *yawn*:yawn:

What's new?

It would seem so...welcome by the way!

Worryingly, yes. And some of its readers' online comments have to be seen to be believed.

That said, there are many posters on DS who sound remarkably similar.

John F Kennedy used to say, bad news fills newspapers because bad news sells newspapers. Perhaps controversy also sells newspapers where consensus does not. In this case there is a genuine gender angle.

With one eye watching women's libbers and ready to run, I shall say that women are more comfortable about being ogled, men less so. Women paint their faces, spend hours on hairdo, fortunes on colourful dresses, and lavish care on deciding cleavage line (I'll get my coat). Men do not. This difference is somewhat reduced on the competitive ballroom and latin dance floor where peacock partners peahen, both contributing to entertainment with one going forwards and the other going backwards on trust.

Singles Dances with a view to pairing up are not short of men, reflecting the demographics, but ballroom dance classes are notoriously short of men who presumably do not see value there. Turning around the DM premise that men dance worse socially, I would suggest that men have forgotten what they felt as young children, that dance as self-expression is fun and natural -- "Dance like nobody is watching."

Over 5 years Strictly has done something to reawaken that enjoyment. Then over two short months Kristina's simple, imaginative, fun routines while beaming encouragement made non-dancing males smile nationwide beyond count. Then 4 witch hunters stepped in.....

My husband's a better dancer than I am - although admitedly this is not difficult. Surely the whole point of dancing is to have fun - it's always been my mentality at clubs I'm not dancing for others I'm there to have fun and if I'm rubbish so be it. I'd rather have someone who goes for it then the usual bloke who needs a few pints in him before he even considers going near the dancefloor - which hubbie is like - it gets tedious waiting for the bloke to get drunk enough to lose his inhibitions before he'll dance and that may explain why a lot of blokes aren't that good.

So what should men do at a social event/party then? Just sit at the bar and get sloshed out of their minds? Or maybe the writer of this puny article would prefer to see them go outside for a good round of the old fisticuffs?

This article writer needs to get into the real world and look up the word TOLERANT in the dictionary. Besides which, some "Dad-Dancing" is hilarious, and is what makes a party worth going to!!

KEEEEEEEP DARRRRRRRRRRNCING - ALL YOU GUYS! Don't let anyone tell you to stop.

For the record-I think "some" could have appeared in the first sentence to be a fairer statement, and also, whilst you are sort of right-the reason women tend to spend more time on their appearance IMO, is because generally they worry about it more-ie, aren't very comfortable with being ogled at all!



Of-course men can dance, should dance, and do dance?

There are all sorts of styles of dance anyway-and men seem to excell in many.

What a load of pants. :P

my husband can dance - it's incredibly sexy and (as usual) we have a Mail journalist talking out of their arse

Typical daily mail - sometimes the daily star seems quite classy in comparison

But if the man can't dance he gets no second chance

Well, the Mail is clearly doing nothing to add to its readership. Good.

It occurred to me later than I wouldn't even be here (or anywhere) if men never danced...