News and Notices

Instagram…a tribute to Len

I’m sure everyone by now is aware of the sad news of Len Goodman’s passing this past week. Whilst we didn’t know Len personally, we did have a wonderful memory of working with him way back in 2011 which we shared on instagram this week.

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Spring Dinner & Dance

Our Spring Dinner & Dance takes place this Friday 5th May.

This will be in part a celebration of the upcoming coronation so we will have a red/white/blue theme.

We have managed to make an additional 4 places available and final numbers are required by Sunday evening. So book now and join us on another sell-out event!

Bournemouth Discount Deadline

This year’s Bournemouth Dance weekend will be covering Waltz & Salsa from Friday 6th-Sunday 8th October.

You can save £15 per person if you book and pay in full before the end of April (this Sunday!).

To see more details of the break, and book online, check out the details here.

School Closed Over Coronation Weekend

The school will be closed over the Coronation Weekend, Saturday 6th-Sunday 7th May.

We do have our Spring Dinner & Dance on Friday 5th May, in part celebrating the King’s Coronation the next day.

Waltz & Jive Courses

Our current Quickstep & Cha Cha Cha courses are coming to an end next month and making way for new courses.

We will have a Jive course starting from Wednesday 17th May, and a Waltz course from Monday 22nd May.

The courses cost £45pp for a 6 week block, and the courses are extended as long as enough students wish to continue.

Spring Exam Session

Twice a year we hold exam sessions under the National Association of Teachers of Dancing (NATD).

Exams are available for all age groups and abilities, with Rainbows for our under 8s all the way up to President’s Awards.

Our next exam session takes place on Sunday 21st May and there is still time to start working towards your first exam.

Just let us know if you are interested and we can go over all the details with you.

Change to Sunday Workshops

Due to declining numbers in our Sunday workshops we have made the decision to cancel Sunday Improver, Intermediate and Advanced workshops with immediate effect.

Sunday Sequence & Social workshops will continue for the moment.

For the next few weeks both Antony & Denise will open up additional private lesson availability whilst we review what will take place on Sundays.

Read more and let us know what you’d like us to replace them with….

Upcoming

Dance Workshops

• Sun 30th April – Bossa Nova 66 Sequence & Social
• Wed 17th May – start of Jive Course
• Mon 22nd May – start of Waltz Course

Social Events

• Every Monday – Weekly Tea Dance
• Fri 5th May – Spring Dinner & Dance

The post Weekly Update Sunday 30th April appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Your Personal Best Photoshoot

We’re finally getting round to uploading some our photos from the last 18 months of events, and they’ll trickle through over the course of this week.

First up is a promotional shoot we were asked to do for the Your Personal Best campaign – a campaign to encourage over 55s with a long-term condition, such as Parkinson’s, to keep active.

They were hosting a launch event for the campaign with Len Goodman and Arlene Phillips and wanted a dance group of over 50s to perform at the Olympic Park (which was still under construction at this point).

If you want to see the gallery (and the Youtube video!), head on over to our website.

The post Your Personal Best Gallery appeared first on Learn To Dance.

On Monday’s show they featured Anton & Jerry, Craig Revel-Horwood and Louis & Flavia.

What do the judges make of this year’s celebs?

Fern Britton

Bruno: “The nation’s sweetheart”
Craig: “She loves dancing, if you’ve got an attitude like that – you can win”
Len: “I think Fern’s going to do alright”

Kimberley Walsh

Darcey: “Kimberley’s going to be great, she’s got a great little bod, the professional dancers are going to love throwing her around and getting her into the right positions”
Bruno: “Is she going to be the season love machine?”

Dani Harmer

Len: “Kids love Strictly, and kids love Dani Harmer”
Craig: “She’ll be an absolute firecracker”
Bruno: “She has to kind of ignite a sense of fun, first & energy. But remember technique, technique, technique”

Denise Van Outen

Darcey: “She’s got the looks, she’s got the physique”
Craig: “Let’s not forget the glitz and glamour of the vajazzle”
Bruno: “Denise could do incredibly well”

Lisa Riley

Darcey: “Lisa, I think she’ll be a beautiful performer, I’m looking forward to her”
Bruno: “Lisa, 100% woman”
Craig: “You’ve got to use what you’ve got, and if you’ve got it, flaunt it, use it and win it”

Victoria Pendleton

Craig: “Obviously is used to two fabulous wheels going hideously fast around the velodrome, will she do the same on the Strictly Come Dancing floor”
Bruno: “Did you see Victoria’s abs, I’m ashamed, she is fit”

Jerry Hall

Craig: “It isn’t always true that supermodels can dance, they may be able to walk…”
Darcey: “It will be interesting to see if she has the flexibility in that long limbed body”
Bruno: “Jerry, give me that super-glamour”

Len: “You never know who’s going to rise to the top and who’s going to sink without trace.”

Sid Owen

Bruno: “We all like a bit of rough”
Craig: “I’m hoping he will come literally from the dance gutters, up, and surprise us all”

Michael Vaughan

Bruno: “Actually cricketers historically have done really, really well”
Darcey: “I think he’s obviously up for the challenge, even though he’s used to the audience and attention, when you get on that dance floor it’s a very different scene, not like a cricket pitch at all”

Richard Arnold

Craig: “Let’s hope and pray he uses his time backstage wisely and doesn’t get involved in too much gossip”
Len: “I like him, he’s got a great personality, he can be a tad camp you know”

Johnny Ball

Craig: “Older contestant ever!”
Len: “He’s clever you know, mathmatic, I hope he can just remember 2, 3, Cha Cha Cha…come on Johnny, do it for the oldies”
Darcey: “He looks very fit for his age”

Colin Salmon

Len: “00 SE-VEN”
Craig: “Will Colin be shaken, not stirred?”
Bruno: “A little bit of Salmon everyday is good for you…sounded filthy”

Nicky Byrne

Craig: “Westlife, what are they famous for? On every key-change they stand up, they very rarely dance!”
Len: “I just hope he comes out and gives it a bit of welly”
Bruno: “He’s not going to have an easy ride, I want to put him through hell, because I like him”

Louis Smith

Darcey: “Louis Smith is going to be a great surprise for us all”
Len: “Hunky dunky doughnut”
Bruno: “If he can only replicate his success in the Olympics, it will be a sensation”

Jerry Hall & Anton Du Beke

Jerry felt her Cha Cha was ok, but was more thrilled with how her ‘working’ it went.

She plans to excite Len with the pushing of her pelvis forward in the Foxtrot. Anton felt they came out of the judges comments quite well, compared with what he was expecting.

They then show a VT of Jerry posing throughout their training before talking about the Foxtrot training – it’s all about the walking Jerry tells us.

Craig Revel-Horwood

“I know from my face and my comments you probably think I didn’t [enjoy it] but I absolutely loved it”

Craig on:
Lisa & Robin – “I love the fact that she has natural rhythm…I don’t know how she’s going to go into the ballroom…watch out for [her posture]”
Nicky & Karen – “Both feet were off the floor…it’s written very clearly in the rulebooks”
Kimberley & Pasha – “I really love her…yes she’s had a bit of dance experience before”
Victoria & Brendan – “Unfortunately when you [mess up] it’s difficult to recover…my advice is to make it up…smile covers everything”
Denise & James – “I think Len was being really picky, but he has every right”
Johnny & Iveta – “[The miming] distracts from the rest of the dance…he got all the steps right, in the right order…the execution I was slightly bewildered by”
Richard & Erin – “His hands end up like spatulas…I don’t agree [that he should have been more camp]”
Colin & Kristina – “Nasty freestyling stuff”
Dani & Vincent – “She needs to straighten her leg [when kicking]…her back is quite loose, lovely curve to the spine”

Why is the dance off a good thing? “Power to the judges!”

Louis & Flavia

Zoe: “How does the pressure compare to the Olympics?”
Louis: “It’s like a fun scarieness”

They show a VT of Darcey practically drooling over Louis throughout his routine, which I think even surprises Louis “I didn’t realise she was licking her teeth”

It’s going to be Viennese Waltz for them next week.

So that’s episode 1 of 55 out of the way, I’m working till 10.30pm tonight (on my week off!) so don’t expect that post until a lot later tonight.

The post It Takes Two – Monday 8th October appeared first on Learn To Dance.

1: 7 Denise & James
2. 6 Michael & Natalie
2. 6 Nicky & Karen
4. 5 Colin & Kristina
4. 5 Fern & Artem
6. 3 Victoria & Brendan

The judges and I aren’t quite seeing eye to eye just yet, but it’s early days and I’m looking forward to seeing tomorrow night’s show.

Hope you enjoyed the first show tonight, remember if you want to ‘Keeeep Dancing’ you know where to find us!

The post Week 1 Leader Board – Day 1 appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Coming up on tonight’s show: Kara & Artem; Len Goodman’s Dance Clinic; Ian Waite with the midweek report; Matt & Aliona

Kara & Artem,

They loved the dance, though Kara felt at the start of the week that the music was slow and boring.  She’s scared by the fact that even with letting go it wasn’t enough, so where can she go from here?

Kara isn’t naturally very competitive but Artem (as any professional dancer would be) is very competitive (just ask any of my friends!!!)

I think they could perform a very good Paso Doble this weekend.

Karen Hardy on Paso Doble

Karen makes a slight error I think in saying that the Paso originated in Spain, although the music is Spanish the dance itself originated in France.

However the rest of her VT and tips are great.

Ian Waite and the midweek report.

Paso Doble

Jimi & Flava: Should be no hip action in Paso.  Needs to bring some shaping into his arm movements, curving the arms round above his head.

Gavin & Katya: Poor cape usage, looks like a dishcloth.  However could be a great dance for him.

Ann & Anton: All the steps are correct…though she looks like she’s treading through mud.

Jive

Pamela & James: Looks like she’s done some dancing previously, an inner sense of posture and finishes her hand movements.

Patsy & Robin: Similar character as the Charleston so should be good for Patsy.

Viennese Waltz

Felicity & Vincent: Their beginning is all about Felicity’s acting skills.

Scott & Natalie: Brilliant, free-flowing movement.  However needs to keep himself upright rather than tilting his head towards Natalie.

Argentine Tango

Tina & Jared: Need to be closer in the top half of their hold.

Len’s Dance Clinic

Where should I start learning to dance?  Latin – Salsa, as you can then move onto Rumba and Cha Cha Cha easily; Ballroom – Waltz.

Why do you keep knees flexed in Tango?  The Tango is characterised by the stalking of prey. I also think that it allowed the Gaucho to get closer to his Lady of the Night.

How can I make my dancing more flamboyant? Upper body – the lower body deals with the rhythm, the upper body is the affectation of the music.

 Matt & Aliona,

Over the moon to have upped their score from 31 in the first 3 weeks.  Previously Aliona felt Matt was not expressing the dances as well as he could, up until the Charleston and that’s why they got such high scores.

We’ll be seeing Argentine Tango from them on Saturday night.

The post It Takes Two – Wednesday 27th October appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Hi Antony. One question after Saturday. Why did Len criticise Chris Hollins’ hand movement for the New York in the rumba?

He said that for men, spreading the fingers and pointing the middle one down is “not a good look” and that they should keep the outer 3 digits bandaged together.

Thanks, Maggie



Personally I learnt the middle finger down, I teach guys to hold the middle two down – I don’t like the look of the three fingers together.

The Walter Laird technique book shows the middle finger down in the pictures, but there is no guidance other than that.

I would say that Chris’ hands were really good myself, and like with most judging it really does come down to personal preference once you get past technique.

However if you watch any of the male professionals from Saturday night they all have one or two fingers down (not at right angles but say around 20 degrees) so I think Len is wrong to criticise this – especially as it’s effectively criticising Ola as Chris’ teacher.

The post Good question appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Think both couples were unfortunate to be in the bottom two and thought Martina had more promise than Rav, but that’s life I suppose.

Wish I could lip-read what Matt and Martina are saying to each other during their last dance!

Oh well, here’s to next week and the remaining 8 celebrities.

Although I’ll mention now that this blog won’t be running live next Friday night due to our practice session on 25th September, but i’ll blog per dance after we finish.

Hope people have found this interesting to read and i’ll try and update during the week if anything interesting catches my eye!

By the way, if you want to apply for the ballot to get tickets for a special Strictly recording at Blackpool Tower on Saturday 7th November then please visit http://shows.external.bbc.co.uk/help/shows/Strictlycomedancing to apply before Sunday 27th September 10pm.  Only one application per household though!

The post The result appeared first on Learn To Dance.