Strictly Come Dancing - fab or flop?

[Divissima]

Apologies if there's already a thread on this. I tried to find the old threads on the show but couldn't track them down (a week away - so many new threads to catch up on!! )

Did anyone else see the show on Saturday night? If so what did you think?

I thought the calibre of the professional dancers was pretty amazing. I hope at some stage they let us see them dance a whole track with their usual partners. I have a big soft spot for John Byrnes, but I feel he was rather misrepresented in the interview snippet they showed.

As for the celebrities, some of them were pretty good, given the limited time they've been dancing. I think the ladies are at an advantage, with a competent lead!

I didn't care enough to vote, I have to say. But I'll be watching next week. It was a shame I didn't see the BBC3 follow-on show - I'd love to hear more about it from anyone who saw it.

So a little poll, just for interest (and because I've never posted a poll before and like a late-night challenge).

[TheTramp]

I watched it for 5 minutes. Saw one bit of dancing that I thought was very good for 6 weeks practise, but then had to listen to Brucie being... well.... Brucie. Coudn't stand more than 2 minutes of that. So I turned it off. Won't be watching again....

Trampy

[spindr]

The BBC3 follow up, was a recap by the hippy in the BeeGee suit. They showed the competitors their dancing and basically asked them how well they all thought they'd done, and about the judges' comments.
Plus a few bits of recap, from the previous weeks of training -- mostly a sort of "you've been dance-frame'd"

Be interesting to see who gets through...

SpinDr.
P.S.
Yes, I think the guys definitely had the more difficult job -- Martin Ofaya was definitely the best!

[Paul F]

I was pretty gutted to be honest with this show.
I kind of hoped to be able to tune in to see some dancing but never mind

Looks like its more of a game show now. I realise they are trying to get away from the stuffy view many people had following the original come dancing but Im not sure this works.

I too wanted to see the professionals go at it so to speak.

Watching one of the guys (think it was a young lad) doing the Cha cha cha (well at least thats what they said it was) was a bit like listening to a bloke playing the trumpet.......a bloke who has absolutely no idea how to play the trumpet.

Dont get me wrong , I guess it was entertaining if your more interested in the entertainment side of it. I suppose I must have just watched it for the wrong reasons.

Dont think i will be watching again. If its just those same people dancing some more then I cant see the point.


......and dont forget "you have noone to beat" B.Forsyth 2004

[Daisy Chain]

Originally posted by Divissima


Did anyone else see the show on Saturday night? If so what did you think?

When I see dancing on telly, I expect to say "WOW!" but I was disappointed and still have a full set of wows waiting to be uttered. To be honest, I see better dancing from Joe and Mrs Public at a standard Ceroc night. Wouldn't it be nice if the BBC could do a series about proper dancers? I'd even settle for the original Come Dancing format especially if Terry was the compere.

Also, the camera man needs lessons from the one who shot the Jive Masters video - too many partial body shots. I was desperate to see what the rugby player was doing with his feet whilst spinning with his partner. I suspect he was trotting round with umpteen little steps like a worried penguin on a slippy ice floe but I'll never know because the camera only showed me his top half.

I'll watch again just in case they slip in some proper dancing from the Pros or from the Ceroc Champs.

Nice frocks though - I can see me in the little blue sparkly number or that sequinny green shimmy dress.

Daisy

[foxylady]

Originally posted by Daisy Chain

Nice frocks though - I can see me in the little blue sparkly number or that sequinny green shimmy dress.

Daisy

I'd love the green shimmy dress !!

Dissappointed with the show, but liked watching how some of them got to grips with learning to dance...
but all that nonsense about rules and stuff, reminded me of the film strictly ballroom, and how nonsensical that all seemed...

The plonker presenting the BBC3 show is the same guy that danced at the champs, and is even more of a w**k**r that he seemed then... Where did they find him ?

[spindr]

Originally posted by foxylady
...but all that nonsense about rules and stuff, reminded me of the film strictly ballroom, and how nonsensical that all seemed...

I suspect the "lift" was added to try and inject some controversy -- they actually showed clips from Strictly Ballroom when they were discussing it -- *before* the competition on Saturday! Personally, I thought it was an extremely brave move -- I'd have certainly checked the floor for splinters if I was going to be led into that

SpinDr.
P.S.
BBC3 has Stricly Ballroom on tomorrow, after the daily Come Dancing recap.

[Bigger Andy]

Strictly Come Dancing - fab or flop?
===========================

I thought that the BBC missed out on a great opportunity.

The camerawork was poor. There were too many shots of the singers or the band while people were dancing.

The pictures of the people dancing were not very good in that it was not possible to see much of the footwork.

I thought that the chat with Bruce and the girl back stage was poor and trivial.

I also thought that the Judges were set up to provide controversy as first one and then another made some disparaging comment about one of the couples. Again, this has the effect of trivialising the whole thing.

As for the "Bee Gee" on BBC3, he would stop me from watching that part again.

From a dance viewpoint, I felt that it was unfair for a Waltz to be judged against a Cha Cha Cha. Surely they should all be doing the same dance at the same time ?

I also thought it was unfair to compare the male and female celebrities. After all, it must be a lot easier to follow someone who knows what he is doing, as was the case for the female celebrities, than for a male celebrity who hasn't got a clue to try to lead a lady who knows exactly what she (should be) doing.

I thought that the bloke who danced with Natasha Kaplinski danced as though it was he who was the centre of attention and I don't feel he provided her with enough consideration.

By contrast, I felt that the guy who danced with Verona (Holby City ?), although he did an illegal move, made the dance look more balanced by making it appear as though she was an equal partner in it.

I think that the favourites to make an early exit are David Dickinson and Jason Wood.

I think that the current favourites to go all the way are Lesley Garrett and Verona (Holby City ?).

I have just realised that I have nominated men (leaders) as the first to go and ladies (followers) as the most likely to win !
Is this because the ladies are better dancers ?
Is it the fact that it is easier to follow than lead ?

[foxylady]

Originally posted by Bigger Andy

I have just realised that I have nominated men (leaders) as the first to go and ladies (followers) as the most likely to win !
Is this because (the) ladies are better dancers ?

YES

Originally posted by Bigger Andy
Is it the fact that it is easier to follow than lead ?

and YES (its easier to learn to follow a good strong (meaning clear) lead, than it is to teach someone to lead)

[Forte]

Originally posted by TheTramp
I watched it for 5 minutes. Saw one bit of dancing that I thought was very good for 6 weeks practise, but then had to listen to Brucie being... well.... Brucie. Coudn't stand more than 2 minutes of that. So I turned it off. Won't be watching again....

Trampy

I think you should ... there are some good moves to pinch now and again... and you could do all of them!
p.s. (when did you become a forum legend... how many posts did that take?)
You can always turn the sound down when Brucie is on...

[Forte]

Originally posted by Divissima
I thought the calibre of the professional dancers was pretty amazing. I hope at some stage they let us see them dance a whole track with their usual partners.

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Forte
p.s. (when did you become a forum legend... how many posts did that take?)

Ummm. I think it was around the time that I got twice as many posts as anyone else...

Trampy

[Jayne]

Look what I found!

J

[Divissima]

Oh. my. god.

How cool! I'll see you on there, Jayne!

[bigdjiver]

Fessing up - I watched a bit of the prog tonight. They had a psychologist on trying to give some insight into how the couples were relating, and she had great difficulty getting a word in because the **** **** presenter was shooting off his mouth with a buch of irrevelancies.

It was interesting to see how the married dance partners adopted precisely the same body posture whilst sitting, and the subtle change behind the frozen smile when hubbys involuntary pelvic thrust was highlighted when with the celeb (Lesley Garret?)

I was disappointed to find that the BBC discussion room involved one-on-one conversations only, if I understand it right.

The BBC list of local dance organisations did not include any local modern jive, swing or salsa organisations, just our local ballroom class.

[Daisy Chain]

Pity Strictly Come Dancing wasn't created by Simon Cowell. What a wonderful programme it would have been if it had been filmed in the same format as Pop Idol with all the wonderful non-professional dancers from the length and breadth of Britain taking part.

Sort of like Jive Masters for everyone.

Anyone got Simon's phone number?

Daisy

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by Divissima
As for the celebrities, some of them were pretty good, given the limited time they've been dancing. I think the ladies are at an advantage, with a competent lead!

........

Finally got round to watching the tape. Considering all the bad press here, I thought it wasn't bad.

But Div's right, the female celebs were at a huge advantage with the pro guys leading them.

Thought the male celebs dancing cha cha cha were pretty pants, they didn't really do much at all in the way of footwork, just step-step a bit and a bit of flamboyance to make up for the lack of actual dancing. Some of the judges spotted this and reflected it admirably in their votes I thought.

However, the real stars IMHO were the waltz guys - the comedian and the rugby player. I thought they did pretty well considering how little time they'd had to learn it. And if the pro ladies were actually leading them, they hid it amazingly well.

Chris

[Stuart]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that David Dickinson just appeared to be standing there doing nothing.

I agree with the other people who said that the female competitors have a built in advantage over the males in not having to learn how to lead.

Having said that I have heard from my brother (a regular on the London Broncos RL website) that there are plans afoot for a voting campaign for Martin Offiah, who happens to be one of their former players!

[Jive Brummie]

Watched this at the weekend...... Must admit, was really quite impressed. Natasha Kaplinski was first on with her partner and she was fantastic. They did a quick step, something i'd not seen before, and were brill. Some of them are rubbish, but for people who've never danced before they're all doing pretty good. Defiantely worth a watch i'd say.

[Daisy]

I thought they did well on the whole....although David Dickinson makes me cringe.

Actually saw one or two moves in the Rumba dances worth keeping in mind.

I'm loving looking at the fantastic dresses.

Has Bruce Forsyth been dipped in femaldahide/phemalderhide (not sure how to spell that). He looks like a specimin out of Madam Tussauds! Tess Daly is also fairly c**p too.

Next weeks jive should be interesting.