Dear Dave,
From the looks of things you have no
intentions of bowing to the pressure of your Strictly-based critics. You’ve said that you’re “having a good
time” and “not going to let people spoil that." You’ve also returned your voters’ loyalty
like for like, saying that it’d be pretty rude to leave when so many people
want you to stay.
In light of this I am under no illusions that you personally need to hear
what I have to say, but my message is as much for the voters as it is
for you. Aside
from the fact that comparing you to Anne Widdecombe or John Sergeant is
inappropriate as you’re already a darn-sight better than they ever got, I have
reasons for believing that you deserve your place on Strictly Come Dancing as
much as anyone else on the show, and this is why:
You give us hope. You
give the British people hope that someone can be successful and loved because
of who they are and how hard they work, and not because of how naturally
beautiful and athletic they are. Of
course we love the dancers who wow us with grace and style, but you wow us with
your attitude, enjoyment of life and hard work.
We are not all Natalie Gumede’s or Ben Cohen’s. Most of us are much more Dave Myers’es
when it comes to dancing (I will not begin to compare myself to you as a cook
or a motorcyclist). Most of us have no
hope of ever dancing like Natalie, and nor should we – it would be a harmful
goal to have, one that only ends in disappointment. What we can hope for, however, is to be
dancers like you Dave - to have a ball and not to give a flying monkey about what
other people think of us.
You give us hope that talent is not just about dancing,
singing, playing football, painting, or cat-walking (the model kind, not taking
a pet for walkies), but about what we have to offer in life that is encouraging
and real. All those things above have
value, but nothing has more value or should be a higher aim than bringing joy
and encouragement to other people. You
keep getting voted in, Dave, because you do that.
We live in a talent-contest focused, celebrity-fuelled
society where only the best of the best get to even show their faces, and
anyone less than the best gets asked to “please never ever sing again. It hurts.”
Then those people never ever sing again.
And it hurts. It hurts our
society and communities because millions of people are denying themselves some
of life’s greatest pleasures – to let go and sing and dance and enjoy the
feeling of freedom it brings. I was once
in the Philippines where a man was sitting in the street on a beaten up old
sofa with a TV in front of him singing karaoke at the top of his voice, and
horribly out of tune. I started to laugh
and all the people I was with (all locals) asked me why I was laughing. I began to explain that his singing was just
so terrible, then stopped. I realised,
shamed, that there was no concept in that culture of laughing at someone
because they were bad at something. If
they are enjoying it, then let them get on with it. In many other cultures if music is playing
then people dance. Simple. Everyone dances.
Of course there is a place for recognizing true beauty in the
arts. We can be extremely moved by a
stunning painting, or a piece of music that takes us out of ourselves for a
while and reminds us how amazing life and humanity can be; but why should that
mean that other people don’t get to paint, play music, or dance? If only the best dancers get to dance then a
hugely enjoyable pastime is lost (I know many people who have to be drunk to
dance because they are too embarrassed).
You staying on Strictly Come Dancing gives us normal people permission
to dance too, or to sing, or to write stories, or paint, or play guitar, or
arrange flowers, or cook, or swim or whatever it is that keeps us alive and
brings us joy.
And you know what else Dave?
You’re working bloody hard. We can
see it and we love it. We know that you
love being on Strictly, you love dancing, and that you want to be the best you
can be, and we want to support you. You
care about the dancing, about those around you and about having a good time –
what is more worth a vote than that?
So please don’t do a John Sergeant on us, please keep brightening
up our day, and “keep dancing”!
Yours foot-tappingly,
Blanched Almonds
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