Tony Irving An Englishman in Sweden

Each week in Lets Dance is a completely new competition.

We do not have points which roll over from week to week.

This means that when the couples dance each friday we start with a clean slate.

As judges what they have done the week before is forgotten and what they present on the day is what we have to judge.

This can mean that an individual can win the judges votes for  7 weeks in a row and then on the 8th week not get the best marks from the judges.

This is also reality. No one is perfect.. Ofcourse you can have a bad night. But as a judge thats not my fault..

BUT

The rules of Lets Dance are very clear.

in the choreography the dancers are allowed 15 seconds in the beginning and 15 seconds at the end of their choreography to interpret the music and dance as they see fit.

The remaining 1 minute in the middle MUST follow the character of the dance.

NONE of the couples dances,with the exception of Rock and Roll,have lifts or acrobatics .

As a rule we say that the lady should have one foot on the floor at all times.

There are 2 exceptions to these rules.

1. The themes i.e film theme

2. The showdance number in the final.

Now we have seen and tolerated week after week couples breaking the rules for cheap gimmicks to please the audience.

And it works.

However my job is to judge the quality and make sure they follow the rules.

I can not give good marks to couples that do not follow the rules. and that when they are within the rules the quality is not up to par.

Next week we go in to the semi-final and it would be nice to see 3 couples that stick to the rules and not resort to cheap tricks just to win points with the viewers who may not always understand the rules.

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One of the most commonly asked questions regarding the tv show Let's Dance is:

" How would the celebrities perform against REAL dancers at a competition?"

Well to be honest with you they wouldn't survive the first round.

When we judge at a " normal" dance competition we have a basic judging criteria which is structured around

Technique,Characterisation,Timing and Musicality,Performance and presentation, ( Posture ,Balance and Control are also obvious ,simple judging points).

As we look at these, we also look for  the quality of these principles in each couple. We also evaluate individual interpretation of the dance ( Artistry)

At the same time we compare the couples with each other and choose which should go further to the next round , quarter finals,semi final and once in the finals we rank them 6th place to 1st place.

In the TV show we have the same BASIC judging criteria.

HOWEVER we judge the celebrities against their own individual perfomances,development and abilities.

We only compare them in the group dances. ( In these dances we can see who is best in just that dance on just that night)

When we give  a 10 in the tv show, this means that in the perfect scenario of what is possible for a celebrity if they maximise on one weeks training then this is the best they can do in their circumstances and it is the best we can expect.

This is not the same as a perfect mark for a finalist at a professional event after 20 years of training,

This does not mean that the dancing is not good. Exactly the opposite. it means that the tv competition based on how good can I be after 1 weeks training is another form to the normal competition dance world and although the judging criteria is the same . The demands on the competitor are adjusted to suit the situation.

This is exactly what we do in the REAL dance world.

We have different levels of competitions ranging from beginners, medalists ,novices,Pre-champs , Amateurs and Professionals.

When we judge at each of these levels we utilise the same BASIC judging criteria ,however we adapt the requirements within them to suit the level and our expectations at the level we are judging.

This means that it is possible to find a good dancer on a social dancing floor , it is possible to find a good dancer on a novice competition ,on an amateur competition and even on a celebrity dance show.

Dancing with the Stars or Let's Dance as we call it in Sweden is one of the biggest hits in Tv around the world.

It is amazing that a TV show which is in its essence based on forms of dancing which had their peak in the mid 1900's can still today thrill people.

What is it about the show that makes it so unique?

Its that little bit of everything for everyone.

Celebrities that offer blood, sweat and tears.

Its the music that is so mixed with new and old mostly mainstream remixes.

Its the clothing that most people only fantasise about wearing.

Its the dancers that bring the story to life.

Its the presenters who thrill us and guide us on the journey as we follow the stars through their trials and tribulations.

In the case of Sweden its also that David ,( the male presenter) is Swedens Mr funny. A bit like Britains Bruce Forsyth but 60 years younger .

The judges .One with a heart, one with a mind and one with no heart and mind -Thats Me;) 

Put all these things in a bag . Shake it up and then whats left is Lets Dance.

But what is it that makes us feel so personaly involved with the Celebrities? why do we feel for them so much?

Possibly because we see them naked for the first time. More human ,real. More like the rest of us. Normal just trying to do a good job.

But what happens when the show is over?

It seems like the whole world has become part of the show.

We discuss it in the playground. We discuss it in the bus queue. We talk about it in the office and on the subway. The kids have even made up games to play at school.

The new papers cover it as though it is a major national event.

And everyone one has become an expert. opinions are rife...

All these things together make Lets Dance the success it is.

Its funny how things can turn around. When we first started showing Lest Dance I used to get a lot of criticism for my clothing and hair.

There was even an online game ( Prank) about find the right hair for Tony.

Now things have turned in completely the opposite direction. This season I have had many reuests for information regarding my shirts and accessories .

ALL my shirts, ties, Bow ties come from the same company.

A43 which is also part of Atlas Design.

I think they are amazing.

http://www.afortythree.com/about-a43

They have a new Designer Henric Dahl and from the Autumn collection they are also doing jacket ,trousers setc

I have seen their new Autumn collection and it is unbelievable....

Go in and check them out! You wont be disappointed.

One of the things that fascinates me in the dance world is that everybody and I mean EVERYBODY is unhappy with the situation that competitive Ballroom dancing is in.But nobody seems able to do anything about it.

But what can we do about it?

Well first of all its to look at the associations and see what can be done about them.

The basic structure of the associations is democratic in principle but a dictatorship in reality.

For instance.

I vote at the yearly meeting for my representative for the national association.

They then run the national association based on a plan that has been presented at the same meeting. If we are not happy with the job that they have done then we can vote them off at the next yearly meeting.

This same national association then sends representatives to the international yearly meetings where they can then elect people to run the international organisations. The same principle then applies . They run the organisation from the guideline set out at the yearly meeting decided by the members.

They are responsible and accountable to the members.These just happen to be the National associations. Which just happen to be you.

This means that if we use the democratic process in the dance system then we can change things from the bottom up.

(Strange as it may seem this is how the 2 Swedish associations work and it works reasonably well on a national level. However the international system puts the breaks on for us and limits our implementation of chnages.)

The problem is that this entire system is built on voluntary workers .

This means that unless you are prepared to work in the system from a fair and neutral stand point then it will not work.

So if the right kind of people are not prepared to work in the system then it does not work.

Instead we end up with a dictatorship where the dance world is run from the top down.

They make the decisions at the international organisations meetings. They inform the yearly meeting. The national member bodies then implement the decisions made at the top international level.

And we at the grass roots level suffer the consequences of those decisions made.

The unfortunate thing is that these people making the decisions are not connected with what is happening at the ground level. Most of them do not own schools. Most of them do not work with beginners. A lot of them do not even work full time with dancing. and many of them are not involved in dancing outside running the associations.

So why is it that they make all the decisions ?

Why is it that the power has ended up in the hands of a few people and the rest of the dance world is unable to affect things.

To change things means that we all have to be active in our associations. We have to make sure that our associations represent us honorably. We also have to activate people that can work with things to make a difference.Not just accumulate power to themselves and bully the rest of us into doing what they want.

Todays beginners are tomorrows elite. They are in the hands of the people that recruit and run the schools. Its time for the people at the top to start to look at the next generation of dancers and its time for those of us that have responsibility for them to guide them in a direction that will allow them to develope their dancing with out being part of the madness thats going on at the moment.

This week we get to see the couples dance their normal solo dances But we've added an extra.

The Rock 'n' Roll marathon

They have to dance 3 minutes of none stop 1950's style rock and roll.

1 couple will be eliminated at a time untill only one couple is left standing.

There is one other difficulty in this.

None of the couples will get to hear the music they will perform to untill they stand on the dance floor on Thursday night.

Don't forget that this week we send on Thursday.

So tune in to watch another of the new developments in this seasons Lets Dance.

Now that we are starting the 2nd half of this season of Lets Dance we should be able to see 2 clear patterns:

'1. How the judges mark 

2. How the public vote.

At the moment we the judges are tough. Demanding much more from the competitors this year than in previous years.

Why?

Because they actually started better than previous years.

Some of the celebrities blew our minds away from the very first show. Anton and Camilla L

Some have developed and each week grown stronger.. Anders and Molly

One of them has had a sporadic roller coaster ride but after last week has really gegun to shine- Markus

And Camilla Hennemark , a little bit late off the starting blocks but last week she came 3rd in the Viennesse Waltz and actually started to dance acceptavbly in her solo dance. If she keeps it up this week I think she could turn over the appla cart and surprise us all.

So realistically where are we.

We have tough judges ,demanding more of the celebrities than in any previous season.

We have the viewers who at the moment ring in and vote .

BUT 

Right now the audience do not vote to find the people they want to win . They vote to keep people in the show.

This can lead to a lot of speculation around sympathy votes etc.

But I wonder what would ahppen if every body already started to vote from the view point of :

Who do you want to win?

Who do you think was best tonight.?

Would the result be any different each week than it is now?

Would the show be as thrilling as it is if we said vote for who you think was best this week?

Instead of vote for your favorite..

Personaly I think the show would be boring if we did this. 

So if the viewers keep voting for their favorite And we keep saying whos the best we might have one of the most spectacular finals we've seen for 7 seasons. 

There are 2 words which are the most commonly used on the international dance scene to differentiate between the quality of the dancers.

1. Professional

2. Amateur.

But unfortunately these terms are rather obsolete.

In their basic definition we can associate them with money i.e

The Amateur is unpaid and the professional is paid. But this is not the case on the competitive dance scene . Both compete today for prize money.

Another defintion is that it is connected with a certain level of quality in they way they dance.

Meaning that the assumption is that the professional is of a higher quality and the amateur is of a lower quality.

This is not allways the case, as many of the top amateurs go directly in to the  quarter finals of the professional events. However this still indicates that the best level is still that at the top of the professional class.

The next definition of a professional dancer is based on education and qualifications. The Amateur being unqualified and the profesional being qualified.

There are no educations for active dancers there are only educations for teachers and Judges.

So how do we seperate these 2 classes and why do we have them?

To diferenciate between Amateur Judges and Professional Judges is easy.

If you are educated. If you are paid you are a profesional.

If you are uneducated you are an amateur. Seriously in my opinion. your not even that . You shouldnt be judging. 

And if you are judging for free then you should stop as you are undermining an entire core of working people and their possibility to earn a living .

As a teacher if you are educated you are a professional. if you are taking money you are a profesional and have a responsibility to make sure you are educated to deliver the product your customer is buying.

If you are teaching and are not taking money or taking it " Under the table" then you are not a professional you are an amateur.

The term professional is also connected to a code of conduct and back handers damage the business.

So what does this mean for our business?

We bandy terms around such as Educated ,Professional, Expert,etc.

But in a business where everyone is teaching. Everyone is making money . How can we tell the difference.

The next problem we have to deal with in regards to these terms are the dancers that are perforing shows. Are they amateurs or are they professional ?

we need to sort out the tereminology in regards to these 4 rolls.

1 . Teacher

2.  Judge

3.  Competitor

4. Show dancer/ performer

Without having clear descriptions and educations in these how can we call it a profession.

Its a business and everyone is making money but somewhere along the line if we want to clean up the mess we need to sort these things out.

No matter what business you are in there are always changes. Not always for the best and definitely not always liked by all.

The world of  Ballroom and Latin American dancing /Sports Dance is in turmoil.

All of our energy and discussions are constantly directed at this small gold fish bowl where there are many big fish.

But whats going on outside the goldfish bowl?

There are so many things happening in our business today and things are changing drastically. 

Traditional dance schools are changing. gymns, leisure centres, clubs are now teaching dance.

Pro/Am is spreading around the world.

Dancers are becoming celebrities not just in our business but also outside our business.

Our best dancers can now live off their dancing . Not just their teaching. In countries like Sweden the cabarét circuit is growing.

Dancers have other options than to walk on to a competition floor to perform their art form.

Where are we going with this?

Somewhere in the late 60's and early 70's social dancing started to disappear. The dance halls closed down and the oppurtunity to social dance deminished.

The cabarét clubs closed down.

Many of our businesses top coulples lived primarily off the cabarët circuit. Just look at Laird and Lorraine. They where one of the most active couples on the British cabarét circuit during the 1960's. Performing with many of the top acts and at top venues.

Then suddenly these possibilities disappeared and our entire business became focused on the competition dance floor.

Well things go in circles.

We are almost back at the point where social dancing has become the in thing. Cabarét shows and performances are now the trend again.

So what does this mean?

How important is the competition world to our couples?

There are so many other alternatives available for them today,why should they waste their time with the political mine field of sports dance. Where it costs a fortune and the return is not always balanced in comparison to the input.

With everything thats changing maybe the associations should start to take into consideration the roll of our dance in todays society and see that the business is changing and its time for our associations to keep up with the businesses.

Who represents the dancers that are performing?

Who represents the pro/ am market internationaly?

Who is promoting the social dancing?

All the energy is focused on Competition dancing.

Why ?

Because a few people still need to focus on it because its their income. Its their power..

But most of us are involved in the business of dance.. Not the business of competing. Yes the competitive dance world is part of what we do but its for many the smallest part. 

its time for our associations to change to keep up with our changing needs.

One other thing they need to sort out is .What is a professional dancer? and ,when do you become one and why ?

But thats another discussion for another time. 

Yesterday I had the honour of holding a book recension in Sundsvall at Bookia.

Its the first "real" book recension I've held . Its always frightning to do something for the first time. However I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Which partly defeats the object, as its not about how much I enjoyed the evening, its more about how the audience experienced the event.

Having lived in Sundsvall and taught there it was a special evening . Afterwards I was able to stay with a friend of mine Nettan . Its great to have friends where it doesn't matter how long it is since you last saw each other. You just pick up where you left off.

Now I'm sitting on a full train on my way back to Stockholm.

Tonight we send the 5th Show of Lets Dance.

For the first time since we started this season ,I am relaxed and rested. Maybe that means that I wont be as bitter and nasty this week..

But may be not;)

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