Ballroom Dance on TV in the US?

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pygmalion

Well-Known Member
Years ago, I used to see ballroom dance on PBS all the time. Lately, not so much. Am I missing something? Does ballroom still come on US TV regualrly? If so, where and when?
 
pygmalion said:
Years ago, I used to see ballroom dance on PBS all the time. Lately, not so much. Am I missing something? Does ballroom still come on US TV regualrly? If so, where and when?
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If you have cable or dish, you may possible get GoodLife TV which has DanceSport on every week! If you don't get GoodLife, you have to make do with an every once in a while A&E special. PBS no longer runs Championship Ballroom Dancing. The last episode was the 20th Anniversary. There was a split between the organizer of the comp and the producer of the show and PBS.

WCEU the Daytona Beach PBS station used to run DanceSport Challenge hosted by Victoria Regan and I taped all the episodes, but it doesn't run any more either.
 
pygmalion said:
Nope. Goodlife TV is a different network. I also checked channel lineups for BBC America, and no luck.

Incidentally, ballroom on TV may or not be a good thing. I wasn't dancing at the time, but apparently, there was a major uproar over the TV coverage of ballroom dancing at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0EIN/2000_Oct_9/65835953/p1/article.jhtml
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Bob Costas must DIE! The #$@!^&%# moron.... Rita Moreno pull a hamstring indeed....... She could probably out-last him......
 
Ha! I'm not going to mention any names, but I've seen some pretty moronic commentary on a few competition videos, as well. The thing is, many Americans are so woefully uninformed about what a rigorous sport competitive dancing is. They just can't help saying idiotic things.

So what exactly did Bob Costas do?
 
pygmalion said:
Ha! I'm not going to mention any names, but I've seen some pretty moronic commentary on a few competition videos, as well. The thing is, many Americans are so woefully uninformed about what a rigorous sport competitive dancing is. They just can't help saying idiotic things.

So what exactly did Bob Costas do?
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OK, well I'm not afraid to name names..... I do know this though - people who don't know JACK about dancing, shouldn't be commentators....

Bob Costas basically made a remark about Ballroom Dance not being a valid Olympic Sport and made a snide remark in the vein of "what whould happen if Rita Moreno pulled a hamstring?".

First of all Rita Moreno is like 80... And is still dancing as far as I know. Dancers are some of the best conditioned athletes I know of. And if that werent' all, how come so many NFL players take ballet????? Huh???? Answer me THAT Mr. Costas!!!!!!

Bob Costas MUST DIE!!!!!!

Some of the best commentating I've seen is Gary McDonald/Suzanne Somers. At least she wasn't asking a bunch of DUMB blonde questions.... Not like Babs...... Suzanne actually asked some intelligent questions.... What about that?

I miss Cyd Charisse..... Although Sandy Duncan wasn't bad. Hal Linden did a good job, too.... I really hated seeing Babsie though...... GET BACK IN THE BOTTLE, BABS!
 
Okay, so now I've checked channel lineups for Bravo, Women's Entertainment Television, ESPN, and the Dish Network. The only channel where there's even a remote possibility of seeing ballroom dance is BYUTV, which is available in the Dish Network's America's Top 150 package.

This is ridiculous! :x We need to start a petition.
 
Oh yeah, speaking of ballroom on TV. In case you missed the Vanessa Williams thread -- don't forget to watch Faking It on BBC America 8 PM December 21. Someone will supposedly be transformed into a ballroom competitor in eight weeks. Should be entertaining.
 
Hi! New here, but I just had to ask this...WHEN is anything on GoodLife TV? I have a friend who has the channel and is willing to tape for me...but we can never find anything on? Please please please tell me!!
 
Hi virginiadancegirl! Welcome to the forums! :D I don't have that network, and couldn't find the listings on their webpage. Sorry. Maybe someone else knows?

Just wanted to say welcome to the forums! :D
 
I know that in NYC there is a local music/dance channel, or perhaps its' a channel that plays quite a bit music/dance. I enjoyed watching some WCS dancing while there over Thanksgiving. My sister said they also have played some ballroom dance too.

For a while with Goodlife TV I was thinking that I had an excuse to watch TV. Now there really isn't much reason to keep cable TV after my housemate graduates in January.
 
pygmalion said:
Years ago, I used to see ballroom dance on PBS all the time. Lately, not so much. Am I missing something? Does ballroom still come on US TV regualrly? If so, where and when?
Click to expand...

I asked this question a long time ago and the answer that I recieved was that PBS doesn't run DanceSport competitions anymore, even though it was very popular, because the producers were charging too much for shows. Of course the producers were charging so much because they couldn't get any financial backing upfront to cover thier costs.

I'm not in the competition business, but I don't really understand the problem. It seems to me that those shows could be thought of as hour-long commercials for Dancesport, and particularly for the specific event that was hosting them. If one Dancesport competition could suck up the cost to produce a quality show, and then offer the show to public television for relatively little money, their "commercial" would run forever! But again, I'm not in that business.

Kevin
 
pygmalion said:
Oh yeah, speaking of ballroom on TV. In case you missed the Vanessa Williams thread -- don't forget to watch Faking It on BBC America 8 PM December 21. Someone will supposedly be transformed into a ballroom competitor in eight weeks. Should be entertaining.
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Oops! dancescape newsletter was wrong. It's not eight weeks, it's four. And this looks interesting. Here's the synopsis from BBC America website.

Kick-Boxer to Ballroom Dancer

Faker:
Jo Weatherill

Occupation:
Black Belt Kick-Boxer

Objective:
To Fake it as a Latin Ballroom Dancer

Jo Weatherill is a 26 year-old black belt kick boxer from York in the north of England. A committed tomboy, Jo likes nothing more than a fight followed by a few beers with the lads. However, in this episode, she will leave her boyfriend Richard and her cat Shaky behind to head for London where she will try to become a Latin Ballroom Dancer.

Jo will need some help and so a coaching team has been assembled from the cream of the Latin ballroom world. Mentor Paul Harris and ex-champion Karen Hardy have four weeks to prepare Jo for a competition at London's Cafe de Paris ballroom.

Under the vigilant gaze of expert judges, Jo must compete against couples who have been dancing for years. Jo's mentors soon discover that there will be more to this challenge than just learning the steps. Jo is reluctant to exchange her black belt for a sequin gown and it's a race against time to get her in touch with her feminine side.

If Jo is going to fool the judges she must embrace glamour, make-up and a man she has only just met. Can Jo swap the crescent kick and the back fist for the rumba and the jive and fake it as a latin ballroom diva?
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Did anybody besides me watch Faking It last night? What did you think? I thought, "Darn, I've gotta get myself some high level coachiing this year!" Comments?
 
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