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I managed to talk with Brian about 7pm his time. He was getting ready to cook some talapia for dinner. He gave me the scoop on the order of him and two of the other pros when they come down the stairs. According to Brian, the rehearsal was "fabulous." I got good news from him about bookings for shows and his expectations and contracts for the coming year. Wow! Of course I wanted to know how the dancing is going. Evidently, Ali is getting through her routines, there are two numbers Brian is working on. I think he said a mega dance (guess that is a dance with lots of changes of rhythms) and one that he and Kristina were in charge of.
I mentioned to him that on the promo video that I saw, the celebrities were always the featured partner, except for Anton. Brian flashed by after we got a good look at Ali, but Anton was clearly the main subject of his shot. As a matter of fact, all I remember of the entire video was Jo Wood and her comments about "bad boys," Ali seated and saying something, but I can't remember what, Brian and Ali spinning by, I think I ony knew it was him because I know Ali was dancing with Brian, and Anton doing something goofy.
We had quite a long conversation, and got on the subject of SCD being at the same time as XFactor. I suggested that maybe the BBC wanted to go neck and neck with XFactor because of Simon Cowell's comment when SCD was announced as winning the British TV Award last year. Brian said that he was in the same row as Simon Cowell last year, just 8 seats away. Brian expects the SCD dancers will attend this again this year. He was telling me that the Red Carpet was bigger than the one at the Oscars. I wondered what he meant by bigger. He said the Red Carpet at the British National TV Awards is more exciting, with more celebrities, more cameras, more commotion. Maybe he just felt that way since his photos were taken and displayed on one of the photographer's sites. He reminded me that the SCD format is the most watched, number one in the world, all-time biggest show in the entire world EVER. SCD versions are in 40 countries! I can't even name 40 countries.
I asked him if the SCD bigwigs audition or test dancing skills of the celebrities as part of their acceptance on the show or/and part of the decision process relating to who is assigned to whom. I realize height and age could be factors that affect celcbrity assignments, but Brian thinks no one knows before hand whether any of the celebrities will turn out to be good dancers. I think I need to suggest the question to Claudia.
He said that he ran into the commissioner of the BBC and received some terrific compliments about the Dancing On Wheels show. He also shot a scene with two of the dancers from the show. I guess it is a follow-up and a preview for what's next.
I read some of the tabloid stories about the SCD pros and celebrities, so I laughed really hard when Brian told me what L. Bellinger said to everyone at the rehearsal. It's a bit off color, so I won't repeat it. Brian told me some other gossip: that Ali boxes! He said Joe Calzaghe is so fast that he throws 4 punches before the other person knows he got started. I asked Brian not to box with Joe or Ali. He said, "Mom! Why are you always so worried about me?" That's a stupid question. I am his mother after-all. I have been practicing worrying about him for 27 years.
Brian said the rehearsal was moved up an hour earlier, and he was asleep like the dead. He woke up, perked up and got ready in 5 minutes to go on stage. He said there is nothing in the entire world that affects him as powerfully as being on the Strictly set and that he felt absolutely wonderful just 5 minutes after waking up. I'm way too old to feel absolutely wonderful til at least an hour after waking up. But, how about that? He is still excited! I wonder if all the pros are still excited. I know the celebrities must be pretty nervous and excited, but what happens to the pros after years of preparations and experience? They probably get more confident, less nervous; but it is a live show, so you never know if everything will go well or even well enough. There's another question for Claudia to ask.
When the show is on tomorrow, I will be working on Aubree and Nick's wheelchair Paso/samba/rumba routine for the Dance for a Cure fundraiser, Oct 11. I will have to concentrate pretty hard to keep my mind at home in the studio.
Sept 18-Someone reminded me that DWTS starts this Monday. It used to be that dancers would not come to classes on the night that DWTS was on. A lot of people would have DWTS parties and not attend group class. We don't have that situation anymore. Most of the dancers in the studio don't even record DWTS to watch later. It is because there is so much dancing on tv now. If you miss one show, there is always another one soon.
We are excited about Brian and SCD, though. It will be wonderful to see him on screen and I am dying to see how Ali dances, how the other North american pros do, how the costumes come out, how the judges work, and how my other favorite pros do with their celebrities. It seems that Joe Calzaghe (I always want to say Calzone) is favored to do well, so he will get a good look from me. Jade looked like she can really move on the promo video, so I am looking forward to how her compete dance turns out. I think LBellinger sounds like a funny person, so I wonder what character she will bring to her dance.
It's happening soon!!!! I still know what the format of the program is this year, I know it is different, and I expect that the differences will be explained at the top of the hour.
So Craig gave some 2's and 3's. That's pretty bad. I imagine myself going on tv after 3 weeks of training to sing a song. I guess no matter how hard I trained, and no matter how good my partner was, my singing would get a 2, too. I would remember the words and be happy that I could get that far.
Anyway, I loved Bruce. Am I getting used to him? Is my taste improving or deteriorating due to age? Or was he just really funny? Tess looked beautiful and the pink room seemed to be full of pretty relaxed dancers waiting their turns to dance. I loved when Erin told Bruce that he is her favorite. Bruce commented that the judges remarks were very constructive....and destructive as well. The best part of the show was when Bruce asked Alesha (former SCD dancing with Matthew Cutler who is now dancing with Martina Higis) if she was a little jealous of Martina. Bruno cut in and said that Alesha was bitter. Bruce said, "Congratulations, Bruno, you make yourself laugh." It isn't funny when I repeat it, but I laughed like crazy.
I liked Darren Bennet's and Lynda Bellinger's tango music, "Ice, Ice Baby." I also thought she did a good job. She certainly sold it to me. She didn't make any mistakes til the end. She had a nice frame and used her head positions to advantage. Yes, the music was a bit slow in tempo, but what a nice clean routine. I liked the choreography and I think that Darren did a really good job. Craig said it was the most boring 1 and a half minutes ever. I wasn't bored at all, but then again, I am kind of a boring person, so I guess that doesn't count.
Of the male celebrities, I liked the sports caster, Chris Hollings, dancing with Ola Jordan. They danced tango to ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man." He was perfect with his timing, he appeared to be a very good partner. The audience screamed when they did a double kick ballchange into a promenade lunge. I liked the long jumper, Jade, dancing with Ian Waite. She was overly flowery with her hands, and her frame was weak, but she really seemed to me to be in the music and very expressive. The waltz music they danced to was very romantic and they seemed to have a beautiful rapport.The judges liked the tennis player, Martina Hingis, dancing with Matthew Cutler. They also liked Ali Bastian and Brian. Ali and Brian were gorgeous. For the first time out on the floor and the first time doing open international style waltz, they did a very good job. I loved the song, "Reach Out and Touch." Is that a Diana Ross song? I can't remember, but it was beautiful and Brian and Ali interpreted some of the verse with their movements. It was a great choice. I liked Ali's gown the best out of all the costumes. I liked Kristina's gown second best. I don't know which of the celebrities is the biggest celebrity, but I expect it is Kristina's partner, Joe Calzaghe. It will be interesting to see if Joe, like John Sargeant last year, gets the GBP behind him on the basis of popularity rather than dance skills.
Alesha Dixon commented on Ali by saying that Ali was the most naturally talented of the celebrities who danced today. It appears that is so. If she works hard and Brian does a good job of putting their dances together she might do very well. What I don't know is how much popularity she enjoys and how much popularity counts. I think maybe it counts a lot. There are probably some statistics on the influencing factors.
Brian wore a white dinner jacket. Bruce made some kind of comment about how Brian doesn't wear the traditional tailsuit and asked Brian how many orders for ice-cream he had gotten. I can hardly wait til tomorrow when Brian and Ali will do rumba.
As far as aligning with one of the judges, Alesha is the one I choose. I think she hit each mark exactly right.
Claudia from ITT was in the audience. She has a new hair color and she seemed to have enjoyed the show. I am anxious to see who she has on It Takes Two this week.
Sept 20-I watched the Friday and Saturday shows three times through and I watched portions of each more times than I can count. I thought Brian and Ali were terrific. I wonder why their rumba was so darn slow. Sometimes when I visit our local ballroom the rumbas that the owner plays are so slow the men cannot stay in time with the music. A friend of the owner told me that the owner just loves a really slow rumba. OK. That's her perogative to play what she likes, I do the same thing in my studio-I play what I like, but my taste is perfect, I think, and I like a proper tempo rumba.
Anyway, I liked both shows, I liked the dancers, I didn't like the new make-up style on the ladies' eyes, I didn't like all of the dresses, I did like the lighting effects on the dance floor, I did like the cha cha interpretation of Ricky and Erin, I thought Rav did a pretty good job (my husband disagrees), I liked the pro number and the music for it, that Brian and Kristina were in charge of, I didn't really appreciate the new girls routine. I would say that my favorite dancing of the weekend was the number that Camilla and Tom did. It was exciting, fun, well done, BEAUTIFULLY choreographed and planned, VERY PROFESSIONAL, VERY CLASSY. That Camilla is really something.
Sept 21- We just watched It Takes Two with Claudia. First thing I did was look at her shoes-very pointy and very high. She never stood up. I wouldn't either with those shoes, but they looked good.
She had a little interview session with the couple who was eliminated, Martina Hingis and Matthew Cutler, and then Ali with Brian and Chris Hollings with Ola Jordan. Chris was very open about the difficulties with training. Brian came across very well. Claudia said the crew caught Brian and Ali high fiving 45 times. They showed a bunch of them including one where Ali missed. It was funny. Ali's make-up was really good on ITT. She really is very beautiful. She admitted that dancing standard gives her a feeling of being more secure, even though she had expected the Latin to be better.
I am missing Brian and really wish I were there.
It is going to be two weeks now before I get to see Brian and Ali on SCD again. I know they will be in the group routine next weekend, but I don't which day that is, and I don't know what the dance will be.
The camera work is annoying me. The shots change every three or four seconds so in a group number, by the time I pick out my son, the camera changes. I think that the quick shots are supposed to make the dance seem more exciting. It's not working for me.
We played the Friday SCD show at the studio, and the whole big PDR class crowded around to watch when Brian came on. Everyone cheered and exclaimed how handsome he is. They liked Ali too. They wondered if I had any input on the costumes since Brian was dressed so fabulously.
Last year, Bren at the BlueRoom forum posted a lot of videos of SCD and ITT. I would check every 5 minutes to see what she posted. This year they don'e seem to be posting the videos. I wonder why?
I watched DWTS tonight. Len used some of the same lines on DWTS as he used on SCD. That just reminds us that it is a tv show and what the judges comment is part of the show. They complained that Kim and Donny's foxtrot was too "American" in more words; but Chelsea and Louie's foxtrot routine got compliments even though I think theirs was way more "American." I guess we all have an opinion. Tom Delay and Cheryl were really very good, but the judges didn't like them. My husband thinks Tom would fit in better on SCD. Donny Osmond looks like he might be a winner. George Hamilton's son is gorgeous, but maybe not such a great dancer. Can't have everything.
I know Brian and Kristina had an important gig tonight, so I am wondering if all went well and if their celebrities tagged along. That would be quite an entourage.
Tomorrow afternoon I will have to decide whether to go to the gym or stay home to watch ITT. Probably, Claudia will win.
Sept 22-
So I was wrong about the Blue Room not having the videos this year. Brenda sent me a link and sure enough, there they were. I don't know how to put a link on this page, but I have one on the page called 'Today's NewZ." I think I will stay home this afternoon to watch ITT, because I don't want to miss anything. Brian and Ali will not be on the show this weekend, except for their group number, and the following week I will be away so I will miss the live show on Friday.
I know I was going to try to get less taken up with SCD this year, and maybe in some ways it is working....and in some ways it is not.
Sept 23-
I had pretty much made my mind up that I would NOT go to London this season, since I am reluctant to miss so much time from the studio. Two weeks ago I was judging at the United States Dancesport Championships in Orlando for almost a full week; next week I am going to miss another 5 days to go to San Antonio to see Monica's daughter receive a national award for college advisors, and in November, I will be judging America's Ballroom Challenge which will take me away from the studio for another 6 days. How much working time can I give up, but then again, how much good stuff am I willing to miss? I really enjoy judging-being dressed up, seeing the other dancers and judges, gizipping with them about what is going on in our world, having the best view so I can do write-ups of the competitive events. Adding a visit to Brian seems like such an indulgence. He doesn't need me anymore, but I am missing the best part of what I raised him to be and to do. I will probably change my mind and go to London in December. Every plan is subject to change, so we will see about this, too.
I haven't been able to connect by telephone with Brian this week, and I have had a lot of demands on my own time and energy, so I sort of let it go. DWTS started and so did SYTYCD. I hate to miss a thing that has to do with dancing, but I really need to keep up with my business. I did watch ITT while we were having dinner. Claudia was hiding her shoes a bit today, but I could tell that they were VERY high and VERY red! Four male celebrities were featured on her show, and two of them are REALLY attractive. Does that make me a dirty old lady? Probably. Sometimes I look at these shows like an ordinary middle-aged woman even though usually I look at them through the eyes of a dancer, dance teacher, dance competition judge.
I did post on the BBC chat site tonight, but I am not in love with the look and design of the site. Maybe it is the colors. It doesn't seem as inviting as last year, and it is difficult to tell which page you are on. Maybe I will get used to it. We will see. I noticed an entire page of Universal's website copied onto the Blue Room forum. Wow! I write this stuff mostly for personal memories and because I want Universal dancers and Philadelphia area dancers to follow the special dance adventures of a man who comes from our area, and here dance fans from over there are interested in what I think. Not that they entirely agree with me, but I know I am predjudiced in Brian's favor. It's love that does that. As far as my comments on music, judging, costuming, make-up, etc., that has only to do with my personal experience and taste.
Shirley Ballas was on ITT this week and gave some very astute comments on the dancing and the dancers. Shirley is impressed by the celebrities who did extra - someone missed a rehearsal but learned it anyway, someone who stayed in the rehearsal hall to practice while the rest went to lunch.
Claudia made a note on ITT that one of the female celebrities who will dance this coming weekend logged the most hours of training. Seems there are statisitics on who is spending the most time on preparations. I wonder if there are any correlations between who spends the most time on prep and who does well? I bet the dancers who dance the best spend the most time preparing. Why? I know I dance more when I feel like I can dance well, I think that it is rewarding to do more when it is going well. When the dancing is going well, a person gets so much satisfaction, as opposed to frustration, out of practice, there is a motivation to do more. It is unbelievably rewarding to dance and feel in tune with the music, the partner, etc., so it is easy to picture the better dancers practicing more. Obviously, dancing better depends somewhat on how much time and energy a person spends working on their skills; but it is way easier and more rewarding to continue to spend time dancing when you aren't struggling so much.
When you add competition or contest into the mix, most people are going to spend as much time as possible getting prepared. I wonder what limits the pros put on preparing? I wonder what limits the practice spaces put on preparing? I wonder if there is always a video crew watching the preparations?
Some people are very particular, and some are willing to examine every detail and address every possible way to improve. Shirley is particular. Here is a picture of Shirley and me at the United States Dancesport Championships a couple weeks ago. When you look at nothing but top notch dancing for 5 days and nights in row, and you are making comparisons as a judge, you see a lot of particulars and details.
Sept 24-Tonight we were at the studio til very late watching ITT from Monday when Brian and Ali were on. The younger set (under 25 group) at the studio prefer SCD over DWTS and insist that the UK version is way better than DWTS here in Amer. I disagree. I think that DWTS is better in most ways-better band, bigger set, better singers, more elaborate and entertaining, slicker, more up to date....
SCD is obviously the more important show and is my preference. DWTS shows that dancing isn't for everyone, and SCD shows that dancing can be and should be for everyone.
The people putting the American DWTS show on are probably trying to compete against SYTYCD and the professional dancers and bigshot choreographers working with unbelievably skilled and motivated dancers. To me, even though I appreciate that DWTS production is a cut above, SCD is the still the real deal. SCD is still doing what we dancers are excited about: it shows the general public that dancing can be learned, enjoyed and perfected to a certain degree with the right amount of effort and dancing is an activity that one can take up in middle age and still perform with a certain amount of grace and joy.
My personal feeling is that dancing with a partner is so wonderful that it shouldn't be saved just for the talented, the young, the most able. Dancing is an activity that needs to be shown as a joyful way to be part of a team, to express and feel music, to cement social and personal connections and for people of all ages abilities to share a common interest, passion and recreation. The SCD show is doing this. I got emails this week (and MANY last season) from fans who tell me they took up dancing because of SCD and/or because of Brian and Heather. That is what means something to me and to many other dance teachers.
I think that when pro dancers are selected, their "Championship" status is secondary to their passion for dancing, their talent and desire to share their skills, their affinity for responding to the abilites and personalities and even fears of their assigned celebrities, their versatility and creativity. Casting directors are probably pretty savvy about who is going to be an asset to their shows. What are the qualities they look for? Maybe Claudia could get some casting directors on ITT.
I did talk with Brian this morning and he told me that on Monday he and Kristina did a show for about 1000 spectators. There were two professional comedians right before Brian and Kristina, and he actually got a little nervous. That is unusual.
He said that on Monday he and Ali did their training, he had 4 live interviews and I think he said a photo shoot and then he had that show with Kristina. They are getting aLOT of bookings for shows. He told me about the group number and the dance that he an Ali wil be doing. Evidently, things are going well. I miss him. I was actually surprised that he answered the phone, but I ran out of time to talk when my student came in.
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