Strictly Ballroom

Over the last few Fridays we've been watching Dancing With The Stars on the BBC Entertainment channel. It's an American version of a programme we watched back when we were last in England. Various celebrities get paired up with expert dancers/choreographers and fight it out with one pair eliminated each week (idol-style) to the last two standing. There's a theme each week in terms of the style of dance they've got to take on. It sounds utterly kitsch and it is and I love it. What's genuinely remarkable is how good the amateurs turn out to be and the sense of fun they bring to the routines. It's also quite something to watch how great the professionals are, week in, week out.

For me it brings back a lot of memories of watching Mum & Dad dance at the Labour Club as I sat there nursing my lemonade. Not that they were ever quite this dazzling, though Mum could cut up a rug when she wanted to. That's all part of a vanished era and I guess it won't be coming back any time soon, but the popularity of Dancing With The Stars (it's huge in America, I understand) suggests we're beginning to understand what we've thrown away.