Straight-talking Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas has divulged that over the years, she had to soften her teaching feedback.
Shirley joined the show in 2017, replacing the late Len Goodman. With years of experience and dance titles, Shirley has been known to give high and low scores on the BBC show.
Her feedback, although always said to help dancers improve their style and dance ability, isn’t always welcomed by viewers. In fact, her judging has seen her subject to abuse from online trolls in the past. However, she stands strong by her critiques.
In a recent Radio Times podcast interview, she has opened up about her time on the show. She also explained how you shift how you critique a professional dancer on the dance circuit to a professional on the show.
Shirley Ballas let down her walls
When asked about when she first joined the show, she told podcast host Jane Garvey: “My son said it was scary because I had so many walls up over the years. In our industry, when we critique somebody there’s that frown and that direct [mimics giving feedback].
“And he said that’s never going to wash on English TV, you are going to have to learn to say your critiques with a smile and, ‘Maybe we could do it this way’ and ‘Next week we could do it that way’ rather than ‘That footwork sucks.'”
Reminiscing on her training, she said that feedback when she was a young girl, was really to the point, which she adopted when teaching her son Mark Ballas. Mark is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars in the US.
Talking about her son. she said: “I was too strict on him, but he won everything.” however, she did wonder if she made it “fun enough for him?”
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Feedback
When asked about her feedback to celebrities on the show, Shirley continued: “What one has to remember is that these celebrities, and these are my son’s words, they put their shoes on for four months of the year, and they will probably never wear those high heels again.”
On the show, she declared that she looks at technique, performance, and energy when assessing and marking.
“I can always find something I will like,” Shirley commented. “It’s trying to find something that will benefit them for the next week, and that is a little more tricky. I have got a few seconds to get out something I think might help them.”
Noting that she is a “fairly strict teacher,” she had “learned over the years to balance that with the fact it is a “four-month show.”
Overall as a judge, she said: “I think I do quite well.” Adding: “So I would class myself as doing a pretty good job!”
Read more: Strictly fans furious as spoiler leaks and Shirley Ballas votes against other three judges
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