American Smooth

I am really looking forward to this weekend, with hopefully some great American Smooths on show, particularly a VW-based one!

I know that some people get their feathers a bit ruffled when a quickstep-based AS appears, as that does not exist in the US, but I think those people may be missing the point. In terms of US dancing, American Smooth is the name of the discipline, and consists of waltz, foxtrot, tango and VW. The rules on content of each dance are different, as is the style of each dance, when compared to International style ballroom (which is what is mostly danced on SCD).

However, I think the American Smooth as seen on SCD is pretty much an "invented" dance, brought in during Series 3, when the number of couples increased to 12. Two more couples meant two more weeks, and therefore another ballroom dance was needed. In subsequent series as the number of couples have increased, we have seen the introduction of the salsa (easy to pop that in among the latin dances) and the Argentine Tango (as a semi final dance).

The rules of the dance seem quite arbitrary. It can be based on any of the five standard ballroom dances (when performed on SCD); it should be danced 40% out of hold; and it allows 2 lifts. Those are quite random numbers really when you think about it. Why 40% out of hold, as opposed to 50% - and does anyone really tott up the seconds spent out of hold to be able to work out the percentages? Why 2 lifts and not 3? (Unless of course your name is Brendan Cole.....actually in Series 3, the number of lifts allowed was only one, increasing in Series 4 to two lifts, so maybe there was an excuse for Brendan and Bruno in the three lifts in Series 5 debacle!).

Really it is of course a complete crowd pleaser - an excuse for the pros to go to town on some creative choreographer, a chance to woo the audience with some Hollywood-style magic, and a bit of a leveller for those celebs who are more talented at ballroom than latin, as they get to perform a flashy, vote-grabbing routine too!

Of course the main reason for its inclusion is to give Craig Devil Borewood the chance to say "Fred and Giiinge" five times an episode during AS week! (Note to the double-barrelled one - It is Fred and Ginger - or Miss Rogers to you. Would you have called one of the star ballerinas of the last century "Pegs Hookham"? No of course not, so try some respect to the great lady who "did everything a man could do, but backwards and in high heels".