Come Dancing with Strictly in Blackpool
So with a last minute shuffle around we were able to rearrange our schedule and make it to Blackpool for this one-off event. Sorry it’s taken so long for the weekend updates but we were waiting to see if any of the pictures or videos from the weekend, uploaded today, included us (none so far).
Setting off at 7am in the morning, with a couple of stops on the way, we arrived in Blackpool by midday. We popped into our favourite B&B (Lolly’s Hotel, Regents Road) and luckily they could fit us in so we didn’t have to worry about driving back that night.
Once settled in our chairs we watched a rolling highlights reel of the dances and past performances on Strictly, whilst the rest of the people were seated. By the 4th repeat though it was getting a little tiresome!
Eventually the lights went down and we were introduced to our hosts for the day:
The event was set up by the BBC Learning Program to offer the complimentary lessons to allow anyone to try Ballroom dancing (not everyone is as lucky as myself and Karen – I started at 3 and Karen at 5)
Dominic then decided to interview a couple of the guys in the audience to ascertain just how many had been unwillingly dragged along, a pretty even split.
Dominic and Karen revealed that there would be additional help during the classes from three celebrities who had previously competed on Strictly; Jo Wood, Rav Wilding and Mark Foster.
Karen then introduced the professional teachers that would be running the classes (we were to be split up into 3 groups, which had been decided when we registered and received one of 3 coloured wristbands) and she told us how dancing was all about having fun.
Everyone on stage then proceeded to give us a ‘rhythm demo’, getting their hips moving around, and Karen asked us all to stand up so that we could practice our chasses – a little difficult considering we were seated in a theatre! Then we moved onto hips practice, to which Karen commented we all looked like Kangaroos (a jokey reference to Jo Wood on stage).
We were then led to the different rooms in which our lessons were going to take place, and we were in The Spanish Hall along with our celebrity Rav Wilding.
- Did you enjoy SCD-Very much
- What was the one dance that you wished you’d had the chance to do-Paso Doble, on the week he went out there was a running rivalry with Joe Calzaghe because Joe got Paso and Rav didn’t
- Are you still dancing-not currently as he had to have an operation on his knee and he’s still recovering
- One woman then cheekily piped up with a request for a Cha Cah with Rav-He had to refuse due to still recovering from the operation, and a lack of time left in the session
- Finally he was asked whether he’d lost any weight on the show-Rav apparently lost about 1/2 stone in the 8 weeks he was involved in the show, nothing [he said] compared to the over 2 stone lost by Ricky Groves and Natalie Cassidy
Then there was a surprise visit from Lilia and Darren
We then broke up to get ready for the evening screening