Strictly Come Dancing 2011 (3) Altogether now "T-A-N-G-O"

[CaveMum]

[sweeps into a contra-check]

New thread, mark your places for tonight's show

Sounds like you've fallen on your feet there .

So the medals are for each separate dance? Are the grades too, or is it a general exam with aspects of all the (5, I presume?) dances?

Yes, yes I heard Zoe say "wolef" Yahboosnubs! Are we hearing things??

honestly, it's from a cartoon that was on when we were kids... it doesn't mean she's an mner. (unless my dead father was an mner).

Ignore me CaveMum, I should stop taking over the thread! I'll have a look on the ISTD website and PM you if I have any questions if that's ok

You can take the medals in all the dances, the different levels being social, pre-bronze, bronze, silver, gold and gold star. The medals only have a bearing if you want to compete in that you can't compete below your medal level. If you were a bronze medal holder you could compete in a silver medal competition but not a pre-bronze one.

The grades cover several dances. Grade 1 Latin is Rumba and Jive; Grade 2 is Samba and Cha Cha Cha; Grade 3 is Rumba and others (can't remember off the top of my head!). Grade 6 is all 5 dances and, so I'm told, is actually harder than the Student Teacher exam!
The main difference between the medals and Grades is the length of the exam. For a medal you just walk in and dance and it's all over in 5 minutes. The Grade exams are much more in depth: you perform a set warm up, then set exercises for each dance, then the examiner asks you to demonstrate 2 or 3 figures solo and then you dance with your teacher. My Grade 1 exam lasted 20 mins and the Grade 6 is over an hour!

My teacher was heavily involved in writing the Latin Grades (it's her voice on the CD of set music!) and said they introduced them to fill a gap the medal system had created. In theory you could call yourself a Gold medal dancer without having danced all the dances to that level, whereas the Grades dictate that you have to work your way up through each dance.

Sorry for the essay!

No, that's great, thank you so much for explaining. It sounds very like the theatre dance set up I did (IDTA). (I did Advanced 1 ballet- don't think I could do it now!)

I'm definitely going to look into it now, I've been flirting with the idea for a bit, but you've given me the push I needed, so thank you

Just watched on iplayer. Not impressed.

I was in the audience at wembley last night and it was AMAZING!!! I would definitely want them to do wembley again last year to give people the chance to experience what we did!

Re. the results show. Does the bottom two mean the two couples with the least votes or does it mean THE couple with the least votes and the BBC rotate the other couple each week in order that everyone has a go and to try and make it better viewing?

AFAIK the surviving "bottom two" couple are indeed the couple with the second fewest combined points (if there's a tie then viewer votes take precedence).

I bet it was great to be there but I thought it made really poor TV.

I was also there! Was fantastic experience - but hands and throat sore from hours of cheering and clapping (we were there from 5pm til 10.30pm!)

Can't tell you who got voted off, but would be interested to hear your thoughts?

I'm guessing it was between Anita, Holly or maybe Russell (unlikely I know given that he is crap but popular). Dunno maybe twill be a right shocker and Jason will go [hopeful emoticon he is just too try hard]

Just seen it ( out last night) I thought on tv it was clear the venue was way too big for the purpose of couples dancing? The urge to 'fill the stage' was over-powering for some, though Alex and James stuck to their routine and did really well.

digital spy - if people want to look, fine, but it does slightly spoil it for others when 'clues' are given. for eg I can now guess who will go, poss. even before the 'professionals' dance interlude IF one of the more-competent dancers are named in the bottom two first.

and Aliona looked gorgeous.

Glad to see Pan's AlionaTintedSpectacles are still working...

Do not get the whole Harry thing at all. He seems decidedly lacklustre. Although he may have been better off with a decent pro, like Flavia or Erin.

I don't get the Harry thing either.

Star Trek: Wrath of Pan - love it!

It's like a normal Star Trek film but the crew are all in Cuban heels.

I font get Harry either as for the bare chest I want to tell him to button his shirt as he get cold ( but then I'm old and ds1 nearer his age. Than me )

Pan - have people really been giving clues on here?! That's bad form IMO. I do appreciate a link to the spoilers but this is where the die-hard strictly fans hang out.

I agree that it wasn't such a good show last night. I definitely think that Holly and Jason's dance would have been better in the normal studio.

I wouldn't know how to find a spoiler if I tried. I got lost on the digital spy forum once and couldn't get out! I came back to mumsnet begging for mercy

TSW - well, indicating the factor of the result means we can guess the less-comptetent contestants are safe, so when someone else is announced to be in the bottom 2 then we will know the result before it's announced.

I've just been over-speculating here.

If the final stages see Jason and Chelsee competing, she has massive advantages. Jason's perfectionist/trying too hard/being all serious won't be conducive to learning two new dances in a week, plus the 'group all contestants' one. Chelsee can do both Latin and ballroom pretty well, and being younger will pick stuff up quicker and def. be less angsty about it all. She won't feel the pressure half as much as Jason.

Ok I won't ever guess, predict or give an opinion again in case it is misconstrued as a "spoiler".

no, no hob - it was someone much further up thread who looked on digispy and then indicated the shock of it. sorry didn't mean yourself at all.