with Sylvia Peters
for the Finals of the BBC Inter-Regional Dancing Contest
(Organised by Mecca Dancing)
Outside broadcast cameras in Scotland, the Midlands, and in London, bring you the final in this nation-wide amateur ballroom dancing knock-out contest for the BBC Television Award.
Scotland
From the Palais, Edinburgh with Ray Gordon and his Band.
Compere, Bill Jack
Midlands
From the Palais, Nottingham with Gene Mayo and his Orchestra.
Compere, Peter West
South
From the Locarno Ballroom, Streatham with Nat Allen and his Orchestra.
Compere, Alex Macintosh
Before a panel of judges nominated by members of the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing Ltd. including the Welsh Alliance
Master of the Scoreboard, John Langham
(See facing page)
The story behind any television Come Dancing programme has something of the fairy tale about it. As the formation dancers move out on to the floor for their intricate manoeuvres and the couples swing round in the glare of the arc-lights, their identities are lost in a sudden glamour which touches them for a moment and passes on. The contest has been with them as a background to their lives for many months They have practised and worried about dresses and hair-do's until anxiety at times almost replaced the excitement. And tonight comes the final between London, Scotland and the Midlands
Who are the young men and girls who go in for these contests? First of all, they are all amateurs. A few may finish up as professionals, but, for the main part, they enter the Come Dancing competitions because they enjoy the business of ballroom and formation dancing and are particularly skilful at it. They are clerks and housewives, shop girls and electricians, mechanics and factory workers.
Although the judges for this important annual contest do not award points for production, the producers concerned with each regional entry are an essential part of the team, for the better the camera-work, the more clearly will the judges be able to see the standard of performance.
Tonight's spectacle will be introduced by Sylvia Peters, and although it may not produce the kind of ballroom dancing our grandfathers and grandmothers went in for, it has at least some qualities in common-enthusiasm and enjoyment.
