I'd Do Anything - first Nancy says goodbyeee

I take it all back, the I'd Do Anything/Oliver show was great. The song choices weren't too bad for the first week, although I still stick by my earlier comments about musical theatre shows.

Favourite performances:

1. Rachel - About You Now
2. Sarah - Get There
3. Niamh - First Cut Is The Deepest

Wasn't impressed by:

Tara - Suddenly I See
Francesca - Hero

Results show

Although Amy's performance of Respect didn't do anything for me on the Saturday show, I thought she was much better than Francesca in the sing off. Both girls sang As Long As He Needs Me and Amy had a lovely quality to her voice, and really got into the part. Don't agree with ALW's choice this week, but I'm not sure if Rachel would have got much further.

The highlights of both shows was without doubt the Olivers. They are fantastic and could teach the girls a thing or two about stage presence and confidence. Their performance of Bright Eyes on the results show was just beautiful, and in the group number with the girls (I'd Do Anything) every one of the boys shone. I don't envy the Lord's job in choosing three of them.

Opinion: Can't wait to Be Back Soon!

Oliver! DVD [1968] Oliver Soundtrack (1994 London Cast)

Why some of us will never be The Apprentice

Whilst one can only speak for oneself, one finds that one could never be The Apprentice if one has to handle/lookat/smell/cut/eat fish. Not only that, but one has to put one in between every few words - could get one rather confused after a while!

The first episode of the new series was brilliant stuff. All the backstabbing, the great social class division theme, and of course Sir Alan's famous facial expressions.

I do wonder though, how much of it is hyped up. The posh boys v the rough-around-the-edges lads just seems a bit too contrived somehow. Although, some of those toffs are hilarious. I can see Raef annoying most people eventually, and Nick's super education didn't get him very far.

The preview clip of next week's episode makes Jenny look really scary, can't wait to see her in action. Next week's ponder:

• Will Lucinda still have a pink beret on?
• Will Michael burst into tears if he doesn't get a pat on the back for doing a good job?
• Will the soap suds in the laundry be beneath the likes of Raef?
  

The Apprentice Soundtrack

I'd Do Anything ... for Oliver and Nancy to sing real songs

Now that the finalists for Nancy and Oliver have been picked, and the live shows are about to begin, it's time for my musical theatre rant.

Hopefuls for any musical will go along and audition for a part, and if they're any good will try to act and sing in the character they want to be. If they get through to a callback, they might pick a different song, but the essence is still the same. Finally, when they get the part, the lucky person acts and sings in that character. All pretty standard stuff.

Why then - and I'd put money on this happening - do the BBC insist on making the contestants sing pop songs? It drives me mad, when there are so many fantastic musical theatre numbers to choose from. I know it's prime time TV, but surely those who are watching have some interest in the musicals, rather than the karaoke-style pop tunes the producers force the contestants to sing.

This isn't the first time I've ranted about this, but it has to be done. The live shows will no doubt be compulsive viewing anyway and it will be interesting to see what kind of songs the kids get.

Dancewear UK and discount dancewear - are these the right tags?

Well it's only taken a year or so, but I'm up to $95 or thereabouts with the Google adwords campaign. Nearly time for a payout - yippee!

Time for a rethink, I think. So I've been redesigning the Dancewear Web site and although it's a work in progress it's looking a lot tidier now. Still, the keywords thing still confuses me somewhat and though I've stared updating all the tags, I'm not sure if I'm targeting the right areas.

For example, the analytics page tells me that people who visited my site came through entrance keywords like dancewear UK and discount dance wear. That seems fair enough, but they don't seem to be high on the searches. On the other hand, if I try more general terms there's too many and I've got no chance of appearing in the first 20 pages.

Research is obviously the answer - the problem is there's so much information and different methods of doing these things. I guess meantime it's a case of trial and error... and much hope.

Dancewear Web - Dancewear directory for dancewear UK, discount dance wear, dancewear and costumes.

Dance competition challenges

Going to a big dance competition is one of the most stressful things for a dance teacher. You worry about it for weeks and it's all over in a few minutes.

After hours and hours of practice the routines are as near perfect as they're ever going to get. On then day the costumes are fabulous, everyone's smiling and no one makes any mistakes. An amazing achievement.

So ... WHY DIDN'T WE WIN???

The answer is simple of course, the dance team who won were all the same height!

So all we need to next time is chop off a few inches from some legs, or get built up dance shoes for the shorter people. Easy really, why didn't I think of it before.

Conditioning for dance; training for peak performance

Caught a bit of the new series of So You Think You Can Dance. There's some inspiring moves in there and I love all the different dance styles, although moving out of their comfort zone is a bit of a challenge for some of the dancers.

One of the most difficult things for dancers is keeping up the momentum all the way through, even in a 2 minute routine. The book Conditioning for Dance: Training for Peak Performance in All Dance Forms includes dance-specific exercises to help build up that power and flexibility with injuring yourself.

There are, of course, many other dance training books for ballet, tap, hip hop, ballroom and many more but this one is unique in that it focuses on the mind as well as the body.

Anton's new ballroom dance book

Just been having a look at Anton's Dance Class. His ballroom dancing book isn't too basic, but for keen dancers he teaches ten dances step by step, including ballroom and latin routines. It's getting some pretty decent reviews, so I might even think about buying it.