Baby Ballroom

You're rather defensive. You must understand that not everyone will love this programme or even like your sons dancing for that matter. This programme and all negative comments are not solely aimed at you and your son. Give us a chance, we haven't seen him in action yet.

Oh and i used to dance and still do from time to time.

It is not defensive it is protecting the children whom none of you know but yet fill free to insult, so do not start on me now.

As I stated earlier they are just children, for adults to protect not insult.

There has been more than one personal comment about children and their appearance on this thread.

If it means protecting all the children on this show from insults then I will XX

If you have problems with TV shows turn it off and go for a run!!!

Then stand by your morals and protect your kids from the critics and don't put them on primetime TV.

This is probably the geekiest and bitchiest TV site you could have chosen to join.

It's not always about the content. It's more about the presentation, set, idents and all that crap. In this case ITV are just being sloppy with their summer listings. Since that cutesy little girl in Britains got talent ITV are taking the easy way out of a hard time and going for the Aaaah! factor and quite frankly it insults my intelligence.


If i do enjoy it i will eat my size 5 ballet pumps for being wrong.

Well, I won't be so polite about it. It's a crap idea by lazy producers who just think they can get away with it by using kids instead. After all, most Z-list celebs be on their summer hols and the BBC got in first with that one anyway.


Any kids ballroom dancing is almost as disturbing as those American kids pagents - let kids be kids for **** sake and don't go dressing 10 year olds in mini-adult costumes and six inches of make up.

Are you Ray Quinn's mother then?

For crying out loud! Talk about trying to start world war 3.

We're not deliberately "personally attacking" any of the kids - the majority or people on here are fed up with dance talent shows and we are merely stating a fact that this show is not a change of genre whether featuring children or not. THAT is the fact whether we choose to watch it first or not.

Nobody is saying that the kids don't have talent - I'm sure they do and I wish them every success but don't start telling us we should watch the programme beforehand and suchlike because on here it just doesn't wash.

I have to say it wouldnt surprise me if this woman is from Liverpool!

Trust me on this one I did not join to make random comments on things I knew nothing about. It was to see what the narrow minds of Britain were saying about the children.

I was right there were personal comments on here!

But then adults being rude about children would probably only happen in Britain.

Read my posts again, we do not care what you think about the show or how many others you watch or do not watch and frankly I find it slightly disturbing you feel the need to while away your hours doing it. Then again reading your posts and the way they are written means most of you a lacking.

Leave the insults about the children out of the threads!

This is intresting.. Although I agree that everyone should have their say I do think that some of the comments on this site are rather personal and thought I would share my views.

I myself (I'm 22) have been dancing since the age of 5 and have never regretted a single moment. I started dancing because like every little girl I wanted to dance and I fell into Bllroom and latin dancing. Since then I have had some amazing experiances that I would never trade for anything and the 1 thing that I thank it for is the drive and passion that I now have which has transfered into so many other aspects of my life. My Mum never pushed me however enjoyed watching me do something that I was talented at.

As for dressing up small children in short skirts and high heels I dare you to watch the show on Sat and you will see this is not true. All these children are under the age of 12. There are strict rules in place to restrict the clothing the young girls wear (i e length of skirt, neck lines and material) heel hight (the shoes for under 12's are very much flat) and make up that the girls are allowed to wear. Dresses have to be of plain material and young girls are unable to wear over the top acessories etc! Yes I admit these girls do wear makeup in the form of a small amount of blusher and lip gloss however it is frowned upon if these young children are made up to much! It is no different than the outfits that ballet dancers wear!

I feel that sometimes people take their perspective of the dance form from what they see adults do. The children's steps are restricted which means they are unable to do the moves that you would see on The Celebrity Come Dancing and very tastefull. It is very basic and only when they turn 12-13 do the routines get more complicated however still very basic.

This form of dance is amazing and guess what the British are very good at it (we have been world champions many times) and I think we should be proud of that.

Like in any sport yes you do get your pushy mothers and unfortunatly that is a fact of life however I feel it is unfair to pressume that Kool and the other parents on this show push their children. I have seen 90% of the children on this show dance over the years and hand on my heart they love it.. Watch their faces on Sat night! In my dance school over the last 2 years I have seen Ballroom dancing beciome more and more poular thanks to shows on the BBC and ITV which quite frankly is great.

I do agree that our TV is full of reality TV shows of the same concept however there must be a reason that these shows are on the air....

On another note I have had the pleasure over many years watching Ray Quinn dance and he was 1 talented boy!

Don't hate me because of what I said just my opinion remember.

Well said sophs.

My daughter has been dancing for the last 6 years, since she was 5 and loves it. It costs me a fortune in dresses and shoes but as long as shes enjoying it i am willing to pay, and most parents i know think the same, The make up was a worry for me at the beginning, but its like stage make up, and all part of the performance, along with the hair in a bun.

My daughter is not on the open circuit, and doesnt have a boy partner anymore, and although she does competitions , its all about having fun and its also very good exercise. The dance school she attends has kids of all ages and to be honest, i would rather she spent her saturdays there than hanging around the local park or town centre, as she enters her teenage years.

If this program can get kids interested in doing something different then whats wrong with that? It might take the stigma away and allow more boys to get involved. Its a sport, like all the others, and as such why shouldnt it be given air time .

All the more reason that it should be given a slot in the kids programmes listings not primetime sat evenings.
I'd rather watch a good Drama or a gameshow on a Saturday eve. I think it's about time ITV threw more money at Vernon Kay and get him to host a revival of 321.

I'm sorry but seeing a bunch of kids dancing isn't going to get me to a dance class anytime soon.

This is not a **** ballroom dancing forum - all five (or one I suspect) of you sod of back there if you're not interested in what this forum is about.


We're mainly discussing the merits of the show (it has none) rather than the practice itself - and no one is insulting the children, it's the pushy parents who disturb most of us.

I'd guess generally speaking they're the sort of people who think it's OK to leave their kids home alone while they go off and have a meal in a restaurant a quarter of a mile away.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a sudden influx of mothers on this forum?

I haven't been following this thread, but as far as I can tell NO ONE has made personal comments about the (mostly somewhat talented) children. Dancing does get airtime as a sport, however the dance talent show genre has been milked to the point where it needs to be drastically reduced. I'm all for a few of these programmes, but ONLY if they're well made, and are occasional enough that we don't get tired of them.

And I'd like to remind you of the TV Forum Terms and Conditions.



Could someone in a purple shirt with some padlocks please intervene?

EDIT : and the reason people dislike 'pushy parents' is because they often cause embarassment and emotional distress to the child. And it's been known to cause bullying, which makes things even worse. What also seems to be a problem is that these parents will try to make their child do what they want him to do, and not what the child wants him to do. If they like dancing, then by all means continue, but don't force it upon them.

I'm not claiming to be a sociologist or family psychiatrist here, but I have had conversations with them about these sorts of things.