Chris & Cath's Blog

August 08, 2008 by Chris

Having listened to our song enough times for my 2 year old, Alice, to say “play your song daddy” whilst singing along to it, bouncing around the house, I went to lesson two with a confident spring in my step. I slung on my heels and confidently took the floor, assuming that the praise from Kelly during lesson one was real, not just to keep our spirits up. Lesson two has brought us crashing down to earth.

Rather than mastering the first section, as claimed in our previous writings, we can just about plod through it with only a couple of mistakes. The so called whips seem totally beyond me, resembling some sort of drunken grope, while the kicks and spins remind us of how leaden our feet actually are.

However after about an hour, despite the realisation of how far we must go the lesson was becoming great fun. I think we fell once more into the trap of believing someone telling us we were doing well, and with confidence restored I began spinning Cath with great gusto. Her stomach did not cope with this spinning and my lack of sympathy was possibly annoying, but not as annoying it appears, as me trying to take over as instructor at every opportunity, claiming I know why she (I always seem to say she) has got it wrong and how she needs to improve.

Having been shown the steps for 6 of the 8 sections of our dance we can now see the road ahead of us, but it looks like a grueling journey. Cath, sensibly enough, is keen to sort out practice sessions, but her suggestion that we do them at one of OMD’s meeting rooms at lunchtime is, I think, just asking for trouble. It is this reluctance for anyone to actually see us dance that could become a bit of a problem, let’s hope one of us grows some balls before the big night.

August 01, 2008 by Cath

Oh yes we’re back, Chris and I had our first solo lesson and it was absolutely fantastic. My first challenge, however, was to contain my mirth when Chris changed into his dancing shoes –oh my god I thought my partner thinks he is auditioning for Mrs Doubtfire 2. I really don’t think a stacked Cuban heel goes with shorts, but being the true professionals that we are we quickly regained our composure and went straight into learning our routine.

Our track is firmly imprinted in my brain, but it was a bit of a blow to realise that we were practising at a reduced speed and even that was tricky to say the least. After about an hour we had successfully mastered the first section of the routine, which lasts about 15 seconds…………….. This is clearly going to very hard work.

By the end of our lesson we had established we could do passable whips, reverse whips and curly whips – and yes they are as exciting as they sound. Our grand finale was learning something that involved one spin too many as far as I was concerned, and after one practice too many I had to call a break as I was feeling really sick and unable to stand up. So top tip to those thinking about attending the final dance off – don’t sit in the front row I might be sick!

I can’t wait for my next lesson and I’m off to Boots now to buy up their entire stock of plasters.

July 11, 2008 by Cath

Walking up the red carpet approaching the dance studios I realised I was feeling more than a little apprehensive. Fortunately as I walked into the dance studio, there were my fellow SCD volunteers who had the “what am I doing here” look about them as well. After a quick Health and Safety run through and an introduction to our very own medic that would be in attendance each lesson – (ah, this could be dangerous I thought) we were straight into the cha cha cha.

You would think only having to move 2 feet for 3 moves would be easily achievable, but this proved to be a bit more tricky than I first thought particularly when Chris and I had to do it in time together, cue much laughter and tripping up. Just when we mastered the cha cha cha we were on to the waltz, my only thought being to ensure my feet remained free of injury, apparently exactly what the top dancers think too. Then it was straight into the tango, samba and jive.

Chris was very keen to know which dance I might prefer to do on the night, but to be honest my only concern was which dance might I just about be able to perform. In the end after 2 hours of intensive training the decision was made for us and we were introduced to the next trainers who would spend the next hour encouraging us to learn some more complicated moves that would be included in our routines for the Dance Off. Well, thank god they are a) Very good teachers and b) Very patient. After the hour, Chris and I were feeling a bit more confident but a bit over whelmed by the expertise shown by our trainers. There were a lot of glances exchanged where it was clear both he and I were thinking the same thing – how the hell are we going to do that? My legs/hips/arms just don’t move like that.

A quick pep talk restored our faith, music delivered into our hands with the instruction to listen to it until we know it inside out and remember the steps we have been taught and see you in a few weeks.

Had my feet allowed me to skip I would have done, but at that stage I could hardly walk, however I had so much fun and am really looking forward to our next lesson and I’m off now to buy my dancing shoes, can’t wait.

July 02, 2008 by Chris

The thought of Strictly made me wake before the kids for the first time in months.

Enthusiasm and panic were fighting in my head, but Alice, my 2 year old waking up and asking to dance calmed my nerve.

4 hours later I am at the Kensington Dance studio and I hear the words I had feared all morning, “let's start with the Cha Cha Cha”. The first couple of hours consisted of the instructors assessing our natural skills and assigning us a dance for the final. This pressure of this instant competition was eased due to neither of us having a clue which dance we wanted to do or whether the selection of dance reflected on our innate ability or not. Anyway, the moment came and for whatever reason we have been given The Jive. Cath seemed unsure of our suitability and I felt the Jive was designed for a fitter, trimmer man than myself, but the Jive it is and we will throw ourselves into it.

Our last hour was spent with Lilia and Darren, the Pro's. It is astounding how different their hips look to mine, they move in ways that I have not seen before, yet they confidently predicted that Cath and I would soon be moving like them. A exchange of looks with Cath confirmed we didn't believe them, but we needed to have faith and decided to trust someone with more information, knowledge and skill than ourselves. An hour later and I had learnt about reindeer with the hands, posture (this seemed to involve sucking in my stomach), spinning Cath, kicking and that getting it wrong is not the end of the world - as long as you don't do it twice (Cath is a hard taskmaster).

A brilliant first session concluded with getting our music for the final. I've already listened to it too many times and I am sure the Amor family will be sick to death of it by August, but a couple of trips around the kitchen with Abi, Alice and Matilda will help me on my way. I am delighted that Cath and I left the first class full of excitement and hope, rather than the anticipated feeling of impending doom and can't wait for our next lesson.

Just off to buy my dancing shoes, they have, it seems, a slight heel…..