How will Strictly 2019 pan out?

In just over an hour Strictly 2019 will see the celebs take to the floor for their first dance so how do people think it will go and who will they be rooting for?

For me I think Karim Zeroual is my tip to go on and win it. The contenders will be Catherine Tyldesley, Alex Scott and Emma Weymouth.

As for who I will be rooting for well I tend to go for those who I see will have the steepest learning curve so that will probably be Mike Bushell, James Cracknell, David James and wish Kelvin Fletcher well and he could be a dark horse as snippets of him in training and he looks like he has good quick feet. Also will root for the two Emma's.

As for the first to exit I think it could be between James Cracknell and David James.

Just give the glitterball to Kelvin. What a week 1 Samba

I don't think i saw what other people saw with Kelvin. I saw messy stuff with Oti on her back clutching his legs so he could barely move. I saw decent hip movement but no overall fluidity where the movement goes right the way through the bidy in an undulating way. Its early days but he is no Danny Mac. However, he is already super popular and has a very good chance of going all the way - especially as he has the divine Oti who people feel deserves a win (she did - with Danny Mac).

I agree with Sid - Alex and Neil were the best tonight. And she had one of the best dresses.

Karim and Amy were the next best (but Amy drew a very short straw on the frockage - hideous neon yellow job)

For me I dislike seeing a Jive, Tango, Cha Cha, Charleston in the first week! I would like to see half do the same dance week 1 re Ballroom say A Waltz or American Smooth and week 2 a Latin maybe Rhumba. . Too many dances to compare and felt James May have fared better. You can't judge a Jive, Tango, Charleston against each other in week 1 in my opinion. I like the more difficult dances mid way when we have sorted through a few couples and basic skills are improved and we can see the improvement.

saxonsiren wrote:For me I dislike seeing a Jive, Tango, Cha Cha, Charleston in the first week! I would like to see half do the same dance week 1 re Ballroom say A Waltz or American Smooth and week 2 a Latin maybe Rhumba. . Too many dances to compare and felt James May have fared better. You can't judge a Jive,  Tango, Charleston against each other in week 1 in my opinion.  I like the more difficult dances mid way when we have sorted through a few couples and basic skills are improved and we can see the improvement.

I don't disagree Sax - it's what they used to do in the first few series of Strictly - a Waltz or a Cha x3 then swap round the following week. I think a Rumba is one of the insanely difficult dances so I wouldn't reommend that in the first week or two! (Also, I hate it with a passion - all that writhing and wriggling and push me pull you 'I love you, no I don't, yes I do, well maybe, oh yes I do, no no you must go, it cannot be, oh come back, no go, I hate you, no don't leave me, you are my life, oh it's all too much, my legs have given way, I am in a dramatic heap on the floor ...')

What confuses me though is that according to the pros, EVERY dance is difficult. So a Waltz is REALLY difficult; a cha x 3 is one of the most difficult dances ever.... Yet those are the ones usually chosen to set a beginner off on their ballroom and latin journeys. It is obvious that a Foxtrot and and Argentine Tango are more complex - but I think a Samba is on a par with a cha x 3 and a salsa arguably easier (since it is not one of the five included in Latin competition and so there are less rigid rules). A waltz and VW must be similar to learn and a Paso and a Tango just a little bit harder once you have practiced your scowl in the mirror. Which isn't to say they are easy, just... no more difficult than each other.

I imagine in the real world of dance tuition there is an agreed progression through the dances in order of technical difficulty. I wish it were so on Strictly eg, Week 1 Waltz and Cha x 2; Week 2 swap around; Week 3 Tango and Samba; Week 4 swap around; Week 5 Paso and Jive; Week 6 swap around - and so on and so forth. I would suggest Argentine Tango and Foxtrot come near the end (but as I am not an expert, the order of the other dances may need to be re-rodered according to technical difficulty and amount of learning required...)

Anyway - lovely to hear from you Sax!

Diamonds great to hear from you. I follow your twitteratti posts. I dislike the Rhumba but couldn't think of an alternative Latin at the time. It's a weird dance to watch and I guess to perform too. Must be weird to be so close and portray intimacy without being intimate . Guess like taking a Cold Pilchard to bed and pretending it's a fabulous hot Cod Loin . I'm sure the term I hope nothing pops up runs thru the m8nd of the celeb male!

saxonsiren wrote: Guess like taking a Cold Pilchard to bed and pretending it's a fabulous hot Cod Loin . I'm sure the term I hope nothing pops up runs thru the m8nd of the celeb male!

Love it!

My pet hates are seeing the American Smooth and the Paso in the first few weeks. I think some of the contestants fare better with the more freestyle dances like salsa and Charleston where there is less technique and more room for improvisation. I think I'm in the minority in that I like the rumba and I like that it is a challenging dance for the celebs - but I think, (as they have done with the salsa to a certain extent) SCD has taken the rumba and turned it into something that it isn't really - the 'dance of love' and all that stuff! The rumba is taught in dance classes up and down the country and they aren't all slobbering over each other - the basis is a slow cha cha and yes it is very difficult to get right - particularly for the celeb males (probably the worst dance for the male ) and you rarely see a good one on SCD - particularly when the judges change the goalposts all the time about what they are looking for and expect it to be almost X rated and with the ridiculous floor sweeps etc etc etc...……..

mauveangel09 wrote:

  Love it!

My pet hates are seeing the American Smooth and the Paso in the first few weeks.  I think some of the contestants fare better with the more freestyle dances like salsa and Charleston where there is less technique and more room for improvisation.  I think I'm in the minority in that I like the rumba and I like that it is a challenging dance for the celebs - but I think,  (as they have done with the salsa to a certain extent)  SCD has taken the rumba and turned it into something that it isn't really - the 'dance of love' and all that stuff!  The rumba is taught in dance classes up and down the country and they aren't all slobbering over each other - the basis is a slow cha cha and yes it is very difficult to get right  - particularly for the celeb males   (probably the worst dance for the male ) and you rarely see a good one on SCD - particularly when the judges change the goalposts all the time about what they are looking for and expect it to be almost X rated and with the ridiculous floor sweeps etc etc etc...……..

I think you may have hit on why I don't like it. (Although, some of the pro competition rumbas can also be quite writhey and slidey and slobbery over each other... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSuu0FBNVcc) As you say, it is rare to see a good one on Strictly, particularly if the s leb is male and is leading. Because of the balance required it can be harder to do a dance very slowly, so a cha cha cha slowed down can make the best of us wobble about like we're on a wobble board.

And yes, the Strictly Salsa is just a sort of disco samba/cha cha cha fusion rather than a Cuban social dance which doesn't overdo the armography and is loose and fluid... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMm3lt5xkF4 (ignore the first bit of bum-wiggling at the beginning!)

Whilst agreeing in the main with the above, what the true rumba is , and what the contestants understand it to be (who probably have no real knowledge or care of it) ie, what the pros' teach, is how they see it. In short, choreography is a sort of grail quest challenge to the pros, and can we even imagine them sticking with basic rules? A studio under a spotlit glitter ball and an orchestra, is a far cry from a moonlit sandy beach, conga drums voices and guitar.  As a dance it's latin and thus "hippy" (as in the waist area) and thus again, romantic, sexy or whatever you like to call it. The pros are well aware of this and that's why I'd imagine few really like dancing it with contestants. It's sort of the "curse" dance of the show purely because of its content. It's hardly the hokey cokey....