Strictly Lost It!

Once again I have been left wondering what I have just watched after watching the recording of last night’s Strictly. Craig should almost certainly be gone after that performance again … not Craig Kelly either, no, Craig Revel Horwood! A judge shouldn’t be affecting people’s opinions by being overly personal and massively underscoring contestants, which Craig evidently does. I like to think I am a pretty mentally tough person, but when he laid into Ricky Groves I had to think that I wanted him to stay because he had been so badly under-marked. Once again Len Goodman hit the nail on the head in that rumba is hard for a male celeb as you tend to either be too masculine and stiff or too feminine, basically because you overcompensate.

It is hard to say who should have been in the dance off because so many couple were so close, and the ones who weren’t as good in the judges eyes were under-marked, or like Craig Kelly, had made a massive leap forwards. There was another couple under-marked. Ricky Whittle and Natalie Lowe should have had straight 10s, especially after Craig’s comments that bandy legs and pigeon toes hadn’t stopped Brendan Cole becoming World Champion. I think he may just have lost a bit of touch with reality. Out of the 2 couples in the dance off I would have chosen Zoe and James to stay. Once again James has gone far too soon, I don’t know what he has to do to get further, once again he’s had a great partner. Maybe the judges were right with the bottom two. But Craig certainly doesn’t encourage sensible voting from the public!

This is turning into a bit of a rant over one of my favourite TV shows! Yes, I was left less than impressed by the professional group too! They didn’t quite look as polished as you might expect for much of the routine, but particularly in the lifts! And poor Aliona’s life must have flashed before her eyes when she nearly went flying over Matt. The situation was redeemed though by their excellent demo when they were left alone, which seemed like it may have had the hours put into it. Even the BeeGees took some warming up, and Robin was never quite on the note!

There were some real positives too though. The standard of dancing was actually very high, and overall the judges scores did reflect the closeness of the pack. Then there was Ricky Whittle’s quickstep which was probably the best quickstep I have ever seen by a celebrity, and one of the best dances overall. Craig? 9? What? I would like to see you do that routine better! So in summary I really enjoyed the show but the result and pro group dance were an anti-climax, and Craig should be sacked!!

Salsa!

After a good 12 months away from salsa, I decided to have a second crack of the salsa whip! I had a good 12 months at it previously but found it got monotonous and fell out of love with it, whilst I was learning step, I wasn't retaining them too well, which the normal salsa practice of partner swapping doesn't help. I also found at 27 I was one of the youngest at the lessons and a lack of young partners also affected my attitude towards it.

However, on Friday night, complete with a new salsa partner, we took off to Copacabana in Manchester. Having never danced salsa together before, and both having a considerable time away from dancing salsa, we took a basic lesson which was actually very good as the teacher really focussed on foot and weight technique, which I've never experienced at the start before. He also only went through the very basic salsa steps, which I'd never covered particularly thoroughly before either.

Much to my surprise I really enjoyed it! It does help having a partner who is close in age though and ability, oh who can remember steps very quickly too! That always lets me down with dancing, remembering steps quickly. I tend to get the com,plex ones but get baffled by simple ones.

I'm now hoping that we will be able to salsa together regularly as we got a comment from the teacher about our good movement ... yes it caused the odd giggle!! I am going to look for a salsa class where you don't have to switch partners as I find it much better to learn with the same one until you have a lot of experience (and so does she). Many people prefer swapping partners at salsa, because if one of the couple gets it they may be able to help the other, however after having the same partner for ballroom and latin for over 3 years, I am rather used to not changing and like it that way!

I think this time round I may be able to reach my potential at salsa, which never happened before, admittedly because I lacked a lot of confidence at it, but learning simple steps from the beginning and with a much more suitable partner good salsa things could happen!

Ballroom Dancing at the Muni

What:	Ballroom Dancing
When:	Saturday, August 22, 2009 8:00 PM to Sunday, August 23, 2009 12:00 AM
Where:	Colne Municipal Hall Albert Road Colne, Lancashire BB8 0BP   UK

We will be dancing at the monthly ballroom dancing night on Saturday. These nights include ballroom dancing, latin dancing and sequence dancing. There’s always a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at these popular dance events. You tend to find you get dancers of all ages from children right up to grand parents attending, all at different level but all who love dance.

Being so friendly, no-one is afraid to get up on the dance floor either and join in. With some of the sequence and social dances you are encourage to join in, as there are a number that 1st timers could quite easily pick up. There is also free parking on a decent sized car park round the back of the Colne Muni which is really handy with a lack of on-street parking. You don’t always want to have to walk too far after a few hours of dancing!

This is one of a few regular ballroom dance nights that happen in Lancashire and I will post details of others when I get them. There is a dance night in Lower Darwen every fortnight on a Saturday that we need to try yet. But it’ll probably be a few weeks off until we make it to that dance.

Wedding Dance

Although this isn’t anything like ballroom dancing or latin dancing, it is all about fun! Dancing should always be fun and if you can do something special for your first dance at your wedding then everyone will smile!

Please watch this & pass it on, the happy couple having fun in their first dance. Please also categorise it under wedding dance.

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Ballroom and Latin Dancing Intro

The Ballroom and Latin Dancing blog is the view of dancing from an amateur!

I have been doing ballroom and latin dancing for 4 years now, taking exams through UKA. My partner and I like to help beginners along the way too, as it is a very daunting experience dancing for the first time, especially if there are more advanced dancers in your class! I have found however that dancing classes generally have friendly people in them that understand that starting to learn dancing is a tricky step to take. Ballroom and latin dancing are particularly so as they are structured forms of dancing, I.e. each one has certain set moves that you will learn, and the timing is strict.

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