Layton Williams in Strictly

[Char65]

I am a big fan of Strictly but I have lost interest in it this year because of Layton Williams as he is a professional dance. His CV reads

2007–2008: Billy Elliot the Musical
2008–2009: Beautiful People
2016: Hairspray the Musical UK Tour - playing Duane
2016-2017: Rent UK Tour - playing Angel
2017-2018: Hairspray the Musical UK Tour - playing Seaweed J. Stubbs
2018-2019: Kiss Me Kate - playing Bill Calhoun/Luciento
2019-2022: Everyone's Talking About Jamie - playing Jamie New

He was also in a Michael Jackson show - and I believe Jackson could dance a bit!

To me its no fair to pitch a pro against amateurs though I accept a lot of actors have also done dance at stage school but not appeared in the West End like this guy! What do others think?

I think Craig should have said what he thought was wrong with the dance on the night rather than just saying “A-maz-ing” and making everyone think he was going to give a 10.

The AT is traditionally done between 2 men, so they could have gone ultra trad.

Agree. It's ridiculous. You don't give perfect feedback then give a 9. Sounded like he was told to give a 9 then had to justify it afterwards.

Yes. It was a rare strictly thing…a perfect styling choice!

Agreed ,,

Yes it should have got four 10's. The dance was amazing it was just the awful music I didn't like

Awful music!?

will not hear a bad word against Loreen, absolute Eurovision icon

It's obvious that Strictly is aiming for the first same-sex win. So they've put someone in who, in their mind, can't lose!

Craig explained why he gave a 9.

They've seen ringer after ringer fail to win. They don't think he's a sure fire winner at all.

In the results show yes. I’m sure he’s given 10s to dances that were not as good as Layton’s in the past.

Disagree. There are 'ringers'... then there's Layton Williams!

He is head and shoulders above the rest - because he is a professional dancer. If he had just owned it, said that he does have an advantage as a trained dancer but is enjoying learning a new style and dancing with a partner, I think he would have gone down much better.

It's all the nonsense about how this sort of dancing is SO different, and it's actually harder for him as he has to unlearn what he knows, and how it's all so difficult and stressful that just has the audience rolling its eyes.

Most people who watch strictly want to see someone go from a pretty rubbish dancer to competent. Most actors and stage performers will have had a bit of dance training at stage school but will not have made their living as a dancer and dance tutor. That's the difference with Layton. He will probably make the final, will not win.

He's the best male dancer they've ever had on the show, but he's pretty much on a parr with Ashley. I don't think that previous unpopular ringers would have won if they'd just danced even better.

I preferred Danny Mac and Natalie Gumede's dancing to Layton's, personally. I seem to remember they had a bit of dance experience (and NG in particular was picked on in the press as a ringer and they were both absolutely robbed). Also preferred the pairing of John and Johannes as a same sex couple.

Ashley wasn't even the best dancer in her own series.

I think its unfair that male couples do not have to wear heels, female couples are usually both in heels aren't they? At least one should be in heels to make it fair.

Jayde Adams didn’t wear heels IIRC.

Small heels can be an advantage. A lot of the male contestants look more flat footed without them. I couldn't do Latin without a 2.5" to 3" heel, and it really helps with the heel leads in Ballroom. A very small or no heel for Jive and Charleston would be good, and I think sometimes female contestants are hampered by choosing heels too high for jive.

Yes, he's the ringiest ringer ever. He's a professional dancer and lots of people don't vote for him because of BBC cant possibly think he is a sure fire win at all. They know exactly how the public voting has gone in previous years and can see that ringers aren't popular.

The judges effectively choose who goes into the final but they never pick the winner. Layton may get to the final but he won't win.

He is head and shoulders above the rest - because he is a professional dancer. If he had just owned it, said that he does have an advantage as a trained dancer but is enjoying learning a new style and dancing with a partner, I think he would have gone down much better.

It's all the nonsense about how this sort of dancing is SO different, and it's actually harder for him as he has to unlearn what he knows, and how it's all so difficult and stressful that just has the audience rolling its eyes.

I think this about most of the ones that have a blatant advantage. They all insist it isn't. And I saw an interview with him saying it isn't easy. Learning dances like that won't be easy for anyone and of course he is doing dances with far superior choreography....but he's got a head start in all sorts of ways from someone who's never danced.

It doesn't matter what type of dance they do all of them will include at least some of the same terminology, listening to and counting beats, remembering a sequence of moves, isolations, awareness of the position of hands, feet, ankles, knees etc, how your weight is distributed, possibly working in synchronisation with others, or with a partner as well as a "performance factor" which a news reader or sportsperson might not necessarily have .

We will have to agree to disagree. I don't particularly like the song but used as tango music it was awful

It doesn't matter what type of dance they do...

Yes, just look at his spins and leaps etc and just the general way he moves. All of those things will be infinitely easier for a professional dancer who does it all the time whatever type of dance they are trained in.

Exactly - Krishnan was slated a few weeks ago for counting through his dance 1 2 3 4 all the time - because he HAD to as a non-trained dancer who is not used to moving to music. Any sort of dance training will have taught you the basics of that counting, posture, being aware of what all parts of your body are doing not just the feet.

But again I don't mind his obvious skill as much as I mind them (and the judges) trying to convince us that he is working SO HARD and how it's all so difficult for him trying to unlearn everything he knows. Our heads do not zip up the back. We can see that he has a clear advantage over someone like Annabel or Krishnan.

Tbf, Layton can also do heels and dance in them. 😁 I think he already has hasn’t he? Sure he has… I don’t watch it early on in the series, or it’s on in the background, as I get bored watching the mediocre and bad dancers tbh. So I disagree that people just watch the show to see progress.