Strictly Come Dancing - Controversy in Week One?

In reality the controversy over Strictly Come Dancing started long before anyone saw a dance floor this year! Accusations of ageism in the BBC, scheduling wars with ITV and we'd not even started with bad public voting!


Week 1 set off with some surprises, not least that the celebrities are largely at week 3, 4 and beyond level and having to do 2 dances straight off. You may recall every other year they have put many weeks in before tackling 2 dances and been told how difficult it's going to be then!


This year has high lighted to me that no-one should now get voted out in week 1. They should all get chance to do 2 weeks before anyone goes. It is such a tight competition, and many people have been willing Joe to do well it seems, and he suffered with nerves the most. He did however show potential and I think the public saw that. However, if it was purely on this week's performance he probably should have been out.


Some forums have people complaining about Len's decision to save Rav Wilding this week, but I agreed with him that Rav really improved in the dance off, and Martina Hingis didn't. Len was spot on there. Yes I may have preferred looking at and watching Martina, but Rav was a better dancer. He had more control, and generally better technique, performing what is arguably the hardest latin dance for the male celebrities.

Strictly Come Dancing News

I was very pleased to find out that Strictly Come Dancing will be filmed from Blackpool Tower on 7th November, for the 1st time in 5 years! As with many BBC shows, there is a draw via the website, with limitations on tickets. As you may have guess I have entered myself into this draw!

As the BBC website says, Blackpool Tower is the spiritual home of Strictly Come Dancing, as the original Come Dancing was filmed there too. It is also a fabulous location for dancing, boasting a huge floor, as well as a magical you will only ever understand if you dance there. Sitting in an audience is great but when you actually take to what many say is the World's best dancefloor, you can begin to realise what they mean.

I will keep you posted as to whether or not I manage to get tickets to this. There will apparently be 9 couples remaining at this stage. Maybe one day they will film another final there too, as they did in 2004. Having never danced on the BBC studio floor it will be hard to say, but the Tower Ballroom has a very unforgiving floor and it will be interesting to see if this will affect the celebrities, especially at a relatively early stage!

Paso Doble Video from Evening of Dance

I have now posted the third and final video from an Evening of Dance, due to a couple of requests. The Paso Doble is the only other dance I filmed that James & Ola performed.

I am looking forward to see what they do in Strictly Come Dancing this year, as I don’t think we’ve ever seen the best of them! If you watch the Paso Doble video, you may agree!

Personally, I love the passion and the drama of the Paso Doble and it’s a shame so few couples perform it. Having said that it is one of the hardest dances to perfect in terms of the performance and look of it especially if you don’t feel the music. Yes I love Paso Doble! It still maintains a slight air of exclusivity about it when you dance at socials too as very few places seem to teach it. I do thinks that it’s a dance that formerly playing rugby really helps too! You have that bit of aggression, mixed with passion that is required to really carry the Paso Doble.