Ann Widdecombe to win Strictly come dancing?

[Nerval]

Anybody here ever see Strictly Come Dancing?

The idea seems to be that the public, most of whom know nothing about ballroom dancing, vote for which Celebrity (usually meaning somebody I've never heard of) they think is the best dancer; or even which they like/find most entertaining/want to win for some other non-dancing reason.

Apparently Come Dancing, an old-fashioned program featuring people who could really dance and trained for years, was too hard and boring for today's market, and (even worse) the public didn't vote. So that had to be scrapped.

Some of the Strictly Celebrities over the years, have actually turned out to be quite talented dancers, but they never won. Darren Gough, Mark Ramprakash, Chris Hollins all won, but can't dance for toffee.

Anyway, now we have Ann Widdecombe in the show. She can't dance well, of course, and never will, but does her best and apparently provides entertainment. So it's my hope that she will win the show, despite the judges (one of whom even knows about ballroom dancing).

Won't that be wonderful?

[Saracen]

It apparently has audience figures of between 11 and 12 million people, so it must be doing something right.

There is a distinct difference between this and the old Come Dancing, though, which is that that was about accomplished dancers (ballroom and Latin), and this is about absolute non-dancers and seeing how far and how fast they can progress when given intensive training, often for hours a day over a period of at least a couple of months and up to four or five months, by dancers that are generally in the World Champion league in their own right.

And seeing how they progress can be quite interesting.

And for the male half (and perhaps some of the female half) of the population, the costumes often worn, or almost worn, by the female dancers (and a Celeb or two) can be quite interesting too. I guess the same could be said of the male dancers .... I have it on good authority that there are some men in it.


But it certainly is about the "journey", not just hard-core dance. After all, Auntie Beeb's remit does include entertainment, and Strictly is a popular blend of dance, general entertainment, reality show (with viewer involvement via voting) and even has a touch, a flavour, of old-style stage show (Saturday Night at the Palladium) thrown in.

And despite my remarks about costumes, it seems to appeal to audiences of ages from about 6 to 100, so again, it must be doing something right.


And as for Anne Widdecombe, I must admit my initial reaction was "oh, hell". She most clearly doesn't have the physique for it and she isn't going the be anything like as elegant or light-footed as those half (or a third) of her age, and for their height, half her weight. And I would have described her as buttoned down very tightly indeed, to the point that I was astonished she agreed to do the show in the first place. I can't see how it was ever going to be anything but embarrassing in terms of 'dance' quality. But, much to my surprise, not only did she do it, but she seems to be embracing the spirit of it too, and as it's at least partly about the journey, good on her for it. It does emphasise that you don't have to be young, fit and sexy (and in an almost costume) to be entertaining.

And sure, Anne is playing it in no small part for comedy, but from what I can see, she is training, and putting in as much effort and energy as she can. And, unless it's just my eyes playing me up, has noticeably lost weight doing it. Pam Stevenson and Patsy Kensit certainly have, to the tune of at least a couple of dress sizes, and they're only part-way though. Hell, it's enough to make me think about taking up dancing .... if I could train several hours a day with one of those female pro dancers, that is. Though my GP might have a fit worrying about my blood pressure.


Treat Strictly as a pure dance show, as the judges used to, and a lot of what goes on is a travesty, not least Anne Widdecombe's survival (and John Sergeant's last (??) year) on the show. But treat it more as a general entertainment spectacular about, yes, dance, but also about the "journey" and the general entertainment value of a "spectacular", with the lighting, music, costume and fun-factor, and you'll see why it gets a 11 million-ish regular audience.

[kalniel]

Darren Gough, Mark Ramprakash, Chris Hollins all won, but can't dance for toffee.

Given the role of the male lead in dancing, and the length of time of competition, I think the phrase can't dance for toffee is a little harsh and I suspect they did rather better than most people in the same situation could have. I used to ballroom dance competitively, and I couldn't come close to attempting the kinds of routines they were managing.

[Saracen]

.... I used to ballroom dance competitively, and I couldn't come close to attempting the kinds of routines they were managing.

Could you have if given training for 30 or more hours a week, for a few months, at the hands of a World Champion, though?

That's the "journey", I guess - what can a complete novice do if given intensive, extensive, expert training?

[kalniel]

Could you have if given training for 30 or more hours a week, for a few months, at the hands of a World Champion, though?

We were trained by world class coaches, but far fewer hours (that said, many of the celebs have day jobs too). Don't know if I'd be able to improve much more quickly though - a certain amount, sure, but your body's effectively re-wiring itself and I don't know how much you could accelerate that.

That's the "journey", I guess - what can a complete novice do if given intensive, extensive, expert training?

Yep, and you see the difference in which celebs respond to it and which take longer to re-wire.

[Nerval]

Given the role of the male lead in dancing, and the length of time of competition, I think the phrase can't dance for toffee is a little harsh and I suspect they did rather better than most people in the same situation could have. I used to ballroom dance competitively, and I couldn't come close to attempting the kinds of routines they were managing.

I'm a competitive dancer too, and given full time coaching from a top professional, wouldn't find those routines too difficult. The routines tend to be flashy rather than technical imo.

I think my beef with Strictly is that I'd rather watch professionals who are really good at something than amateurs doing their best. Their "journey" and the human interest angle doesn't do anything for me.

They even seem to be cutting out the pro routines they had on the previous shows, and substituting second rate but flashier stuff like the awful rock and roll routine last weekend.

But I do like to listen to Karen Hardy on the BBC2 show in the week. She knows her stuff.

Sadly most Current TV now features celebrities (i.e. people famous for being famous) trying to do something they're not particularly good at (and as like as not being voted for), or enjoying some paid-for experience which normally involves exotic locations, where more emphasis is placed on watching the celebrity having a good time than on the thing being experienced.

Must be getting old, but I don't think TV is the better for it.