Anton's Latin

Whilst eagerly awaiting what could possibly go down in SCD history as the biggest fall from grace ever - from top of the leader board right down to the very bottom in one short week - I thought I would try and work out just why Anton is so unsuccesful in latin.

It is obviously a discipline that he has very little time for ("Sarmba - what a ridiculous dance") and little aptitude for, but why is that?

Anton is the only ballroom specialist among the males pros (Ian and Vincent have both competed in 10 dance), and with that much imbalance in the disciplines, he is bound to stand out for all the wrong reasons. A slightly more even balance between the male pros and the disciplines would provide him with a few hiding places.

I guess when the first series was commissioned, nobody expected it to become the juggernaut that we see now, so little thought was given to long term casting decisions of judges and pros. Hence the imbalance on the judging panel of 1 ballroom/latin expert versus 3 theatre style choreographers, and the inclusion of pros who specialised very heavily in one discipline rather than being all rounders. Anton was very lucky in that he made his mark in Series 1, and pretty much guaranteed his place in future line-ups for a long time to come.

There were also distinct advantages in having fewer couples (10 in series 1, 10 in series 2) with no strong bias to either discipline). The returning pros for series 2 had two ballroom specialists and three latin specialists, and were joined by a ballroom pro (Hazel Newberry), a latin pro (Nicole Cutler), a ten dancer (Ian Waite) and a latin couple (Darren and Lilia) whose ballroom was also at a very high standard. It was really only in series 3, with the number of couples upped to 12, the exit of the other ballroom specialist (Hazel) and the influx of some hot new Latin talent (5 new latin pros, most notably Matt C and Karen), that Anton found himself in the exposed position he has occupied ever since.

Anton came late to dance (so props to him for making a career of it) at the age of 14(compared to between 5 and 7 like most of the other pros). He also only studied latin for three short years, which would not have given him time to even complete his medals, or to start competing in it. The other pros will have done both ballroom and latin, medals and competitions, right through juvenile, junior and youth, probably choosing to specialise in their late teens. Anton has really limited experience in his non-specialist discipline, compared to the solid grounding that the other pros have in theirs.

Anton is also rather cagey about his age and many believe that he lies (no worries about that - I hit 40 and started lying too, and have only been called on it once). The collective wisdom from those who knew him in his pre-Strictly days suggest that he is actually 46 or 47, which means that he gave up latin 30 years ago (that would have been 25 years ago when he first started SCD). Limited experience, plus very very rusty.

Another thing to bear in mind is that Anton did his latin training in the late 70s (probably 1976 to 1979). Dance, just like music, TV, films, fashion, has its styles. If we draw a direct comparison between any piece of music, film or fashion from the late '70s and its 2009 counterpart, then the 70s version is going to look dated.

I think that pros can get away with their ballroom being slightly dated (if we take Karen Hardy as an example, she probably gave up ballroom training in the very late 80s/1990) because we always associate ballroom with being classy, elegant, timeless, perhaps charming in an old-fashioned kind of way. I think we think of Latin as being sharp, sassy, sexy, fast up to the minute - none of which can unfortunately be applied as adjectives for the latin served up by M du Beke!

So why hasn't he spent less time being a media tart and more time working on his latin? Well to be fair on him, with the imbalance of Strictly pros, whatever Anton does, he will always be bottom of the pile in terms of latin. If there were a few more male ballroom pros around, he might have slightly more incentive to improve. And aged 47, he is not going to be able to compete physically with men in their mid to late 20s such as James Jordan and Brian Fortuna.

So far as well, the luck of the Strictly draw has made it very easy for him to camp up the latin and play the gallant gentleman shielding his lady from any fear of ridicule. His latin with Lesley Garrett in series 1 was the best he has produced, but that was in a series where none of the contestants would fare well against contestants in subsequent series. He and Gillian Taylforth were eliminated without dipping a toe in the latin water; he and Esther were sent packing after just one rumba; Jan Ravens and Kate Garraway proved themselves to be so inept in their initial ballroom dances that we all knew that the red romper suits and gold satin shirts would be putting in an appearance at the first hint of latin.

Anton and Patsy Palmer were pretty successful in series 3, but a series of coincidences kept the full horror of his latin from dawning on the GBP. Most of the latin pros were eliminated in the first 4 weeks - Matt C, Andrew Cuerden, Darren B and Brendan. The only direct comparison to be drawn with Anton and Patsy were Zoe and Ian. I loved Zoe's ballroom, but was never impressed with her latin (but the storylines for Zoe were carefully set up - "tall people can't jive"; "Zoe hates her paso music and therefore hates her dance"). That year as well, if we look at the top 6 couples, it was really a ballroom dominated series - Bill Turnball, James Martin and Darren Gough all were far more comfortable at ballroom, and all turned in some pretty unconvincing latin. That and the fact that both Patsy and Zoe were naturally more suited to ballroom, meant that the only latin sparkle was coming from snake hips himself, Colin Jackson (the first male pro to really cast off his inhibitions and take latin by storm?).

But this year there really is nowhere to hide. Laila has talent and everyone is expecting her to be able to shake it. With a different pro she could have been a contender for at least the semi finals. But with Anton as her pro, with his indifference, limited experience, dated choreography, and lack of pizzazz, surely the dance off is beckoning, if not this week, then in two weeks time.