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Strictly Come Dancing is back on our TV screens for its 2023 season so once again
Ballroom Dancing is officially one of the coolest activities on the planet!
Whether your a fan of TV newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Actor Nigel Harman or the broadcasting legend that is Angela Rippon there's never been a better time to perfect your Paso Doble or fine-tune your Foxtrot. So it's a great time too for choreographer and Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood to remind us about his book in which you Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing. |
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| Written in a fun, engaging and motivating style that leaps off all 160 large-format pages, Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing is packed with glossy full-colour photos and accompanied by a CD crammed with Craig's own inspirational top tips plus practice music to move to. You could hardly have a better teacher as Craig has a wealth of experience behind him receiving award nominations for his work on Spend Spend Spend and was resident director for Miss Saigon. He famously also staged The Lion King for Disneyland Paris and of course he's been a judge on Strictly Come Dancing every year since it started almost 20 years ago. | |
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Just as the new series takes to our screens,
OutUK's Mike Gray has been talking to Craig about his new book and whether the
popularity of ballroom dancing was entirely fuelled by TV show Strictly Come Dancing.
Craig: Absolutely! The show has introduced an entire new generation to ballroom dancing. It's made it accessible, fun and trendy and what better way to learn great social skills and get to meet new and interesting people. It's better than hanging around shopping centres, 'happy slapping' and stealing people's mobile phones! |
Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing is published by Hodder Education and is available from all good book-shops and online at Amazon. |
| OutUK: Ballroom Dancing is regarded by some as a sport...it's even been in the Gaygames...do you think it is a sport or an art...or maybe both? | |
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Craig: It is a sport and recognised as one. It has many rules and has
a very strict code of how each step must be taken and is called Dancesport. It's
also extremely competitive, not only between the dancers but also between the
organisations that regulate the steps. I myself use it as an art form to tell story
in dance, theatrically. It's a fantastic tool for choreography, so yes, it's a sport
that when used for choreographic purposes, becomes art.
OutUK: So is it really possible to Teach Yourself to
dance...don't you really need a teacher?
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 Strictly Come Dancing Photo: vagueonthehow Licensed under CC BY 2.0  
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The hardest move is always the first,
just like learning to walk. My book encourages people not to be scared to pick up the phone
and dial your nearest dance school for lessons. If you want to improve and move up the dance
ladder, you need one on one tuition with an instructor who can demonstrate the style and intricacies
of ballroom dancing and give you advice and corrections. It also goes without saying you will
need someone to dance with! It takes two to Tango we all know that!
OutUK: Why do you think Strictly Come Dancing is so successful? Craig: It captures the hearts and minds of the nation because many people can associate with the celebrities and what must be going through their minds, not to mention their bodies. Just the thought of having to get up in front of a 12 million critical viewing audience, having to dance with professionals, live to the nation in a spangly outfit, would keep anyone gripped. It's also a great format and raises money for charity and the great British nation love humiliation and an underdog. It's also very lighthearted and a bunch of fun and classy Saturday night entertainment.
OutUK: This year West End star and the BBC's Bad Education Layton Williams who recently did the narration for the UK's
first gay dating show I Kissed A Boy will be the third
contestant to have a male same-sex dance partner. He's teamed up with the very good looking and talented Ukrainian dancer and choreographer
Nikita Kuzmin. So where do you stand on the issue of same sex couples on the programme?
As far as the ballroom itself goes, partners just need to decide that the shorter person moves backwards on the dancefloor, regardless of gender. I don't see why a woman can't dance with a woman and a man can't dance with a man on a regular basis. I totally raise the flag for that. |