About the Small Business Sunday competition

The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, has over 3,000 winners and supports small businesses in the UK. Six lucky businesses are re‐tweeted every Monday at 8PM and then invited to enter their profile on the SBS website. They are also invited to attend the annual #SBS networking event and take advantage of the networking opportunities. With almost half a million followers it’s a great opportunity to raise a businesses profile on Twitter.

Learn To Dance’s Small Business Sunday Entry

We have previously entered a handful of times (twice in 2014 and once a few months ago). However we weren’t quite catching Theo’s eye it appeared, and so we thought we’d try a different tact this time.

Our entry was sent off quickly, on a whim, during a break in classes and forgotten about!

What’s That Vibrating On My Wrist?

Skip ahead to Monday night Adult Beginner classes and just after the class starts Antony’s watch starts vibrating…and vibrating…and vibrating. A quick check on his watch (once students were practising) sent Antony running to his phone to confirm his suspicion. It only took moments to confirm that, yes, we had actually been selected by Theo as one of his Small Business Sunday winners!

Business and retail entrepreneur and self-confessed Shopkeeper, Theo, re‐tweeted Antony’s message to his almost 500,000 followers. As a result we found ourselves with 100s of likes, retweets and congratulations just within the first few hours. In fact it took Antony over 3 hours just to catch up with messages when he got home from classes!

Antony, on their Small Business Sunday Win

“We’ve been teaching people to dance for over 15 years; but this has been the hardest year we’ve faced, especially with social distancing restrictions. Over the last year we provided free YouTube videos and other streamed dance lessons to keep our students motivated whilst at home.  Even when we were back in person we looked at different ways of entertaining the students, and this is what caught Theo’s eye. It is great to have support from Theo, knowing that he has recognised our hard work and helped spread the word about what we do to his following.”

A Word from Theo

Theo said: “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK.  My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings. The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Learn To Dance every success.”

Theo Paphitis is a small business champion and Ryman Stationery, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue Chairman; as well as being a former star of BBC Dragon’s Den. His Small Business Sunday competition is designed to help small family companies to raise their profile online.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Offering regular live-stream classes, as well as useful dance uploads. You can subscribe on YouTube to be kept informed when new videos are going live. Send us your suggestions of what you’d like to see us release and we’ll do our best!

Looking for more personal tuition? We provide both in-person and streamed lessons and classes. Check out learndance.co.uk/online for more information.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

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So our top three are:

Denise & James
Kimberley & Pasha
Louis & Flavia

Denise Van Outen & James Jordan – Charleston

So a dance that should really have got a 40 at Wembley, can they convince Craig to give them a 10 this time?

I’m not sure the change to the start worked quite as well as being carried in at Wembley, but overall a good performance. The cartwheel lift wasn’t held quite as well this time round.

I didn’t actually feel it was quite as polished as Wembley, a 9 for me.

Craig: 10 “It is simply the best Charleston we’ve ever seen”
Darcy: 10 “A memorable Charleston…a true professional”
Len: 10 “I will never forget your Charleston”
Bruno: 10 “That was world class…technical ability…versatility…you’ve been fantastic”

Total = 40

Kimberley Walsh & Pasha Kovalev – Tango

I’m still not happy with their frame in this dance, and it still doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid. Balance is much better though but I think I’ll give them a 9 this time.

Craig: 10 “10 times better than the last time you danced it”
Darcey: 10 “I so enjoy it when you’re moody…the tension in that Tango”
Len: 10 “You’ve improved your technique and your footwork”
Bruno: 10 “Strictly irresistible…in the last few weeks you really have blossomed”

Total = 40

Louis Smith & Flavia Cacace – Charleston

They really don’t look in time with the music at the start, but Louis has definitely improved his acting. An extra back flip above Flavia certainly got the pulses racing.

An improvement on his previous Charleston but the start seemed out of sync with the music, so I’m going to give them a 9

Craig: 9 “Basically I loved it”
Darcey: 10 “I love that you add the cheeky Louis into your performance”
Len: 10 “I’ve never doubted your ability to dance, or the potential you had…that was a gold medal performance”
Bruno: 10 “Just what the doctor ordered”

Total = 39

So the leader board (my combined score in brackets) stands at:

1. 119 – Denise & James [28]
2. 118 – Louis & Flavia [27]
2. 118 – Kimberley & Pasha [26]

Really Denise should win this, but there’s been so much bad press about her having previous experience that I’m afraid she won’t, it’s all down to the voting public.

The Winner

The winners are Louis & Flavia!

Louis: “I can finally say I’ve won something in 2012…[Flavia’s] been an absolute legend…I have to [keep dancing]”

The post Strictly Come Dancing 2012 – The Results! appeared first on Learn To Dance.