Dave Arch with his Orchestra & Singers play the music for the dancers; this allows for the time-signature and tempo to be modified to suit the specific dance style. The names in brackets below are the original artists with whom the tune is associated but the version by them may not be a good choice for your own dancing. The following is a guide to the best original artist versions from Week 1 for specific dance styles.

The routines planned for tonight (Saturday 24 October) are:

~  Bill Bailey & Oti Mabuse dancing a Cha Cha to Pata Pata  (Miriam Makeba)

~  Caroline Quentin & Johannes Radebe dancing an American Smooth to 9-5 (Morning Train)  (Sheena Easton)

~  Clara Amfo & Aljaž Skorjanec dancing a Cha Cha to Don’t Start Now  (Dua Lipa)

~  HRVY & Janette Manrara dancing a Jive to Faith  (Stevie Wonder feat. Ariana Grande)

~  Jacqui Smith & Anton Du Beke dancing a Foxtrot to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life  (Monty Python)

~  Jamie Laing & Karen Hauer dancing a Cha Cha to Think About Things  (Daði og Gagnamagnið)

~  Jason Bell & Luba Mushtuk dancing an Am Smooth to My Girl  (The Temptations)

~  JJ Chalmers & Amy Dowden dancing a Waltz to What A Wonderful World  (Louis Armstrong)

~  Maisie Smith & Gorka Marquez dancing a Samba to Samba (Conga)  (Gloria Estefan)

~  Max George & Dianne Buswell dancing a Tango to Best Fake Smile  (James Bay)

~  Nicola Adams OBE & Katya Jones dancing a Quickstep to Get Happy  (Ella Fitzgerald)

~  Ranvir Singh & Giovanni Pernice dancing a Paso Doble to End of Time  (Beyoncé)

Pata Pata sung by Miriam Makeba (@31bpm) is a perfect classic Cha Cha – a cheery dance number telling us that:

“Every Friday and Saturday Night
It’s Pata Pata time
The dance keeps going all night long
Til’ the morning sun begins to shine”

Don’t Start Now sung by Dua Lipa (@31bpm) is a pop hit good for a party Cha cha. This was played for Vernon Davis & Peta Murgatroyd when they danced a Cha cha on the current season of DWTS (the US version of Strictly).

In the previous two years songs originally sung by Tom Jones were chosen for Cha chas in Week 1: Kiss (@ 29bpm) sung by Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones, and She’s a Lady (@ 30bpm) sung by Tom Jones are both good for dancing.

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Faith sung by Stevie Wonder feat. Ariana Grande (@40bpm) is a good jive. Simone Biles and Sasha Farber Jived to this on DWTS (Season 24: Semi-Finals).

The music accompanying the heart-warming sentiments, beautifully sung by Louis Armstrong, in What A Wonderful World has a time signature of 4/4 and, therefore, not suitable for Waltzing. Louis’ and a number of other lovely recordings by artists such as Eva Cassidy and Paul Carrack are slow and make feel-good relaxing music for cool downs and stretching.

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Last year no Waltzes were danced in Week 1 but the previous year three were played in the first week including Take It To The Limit. The original sung by the Eagles (@ 30bpm) and the version by Suzy Bogguss (@29bpm), are perfect for a Waltz.

Get Happy is a great lively song for a Quickstep; here Kimberley Walsh & Pasha Kovalev dance a Quickstep to this in series 10.

The recording of Get Happy by Ella Fitzgerald has sections with no rhythm for dancers to follow. However, the version by Sammy Davis Jr (@48bpm) is a great choice for dancing a Quickstep.

In Week 1 last year a Quickstep was danced to “Pencil Full of Lead”; the original by Paolo Nutini (@53bpm) is a fantastic upbeat song (maybe you slow it down just a little) to Quickstep with your partner.

“Oh, best of all (best of all) I’ve got my baby
She’s mighty fine and says she’s all mine
And nothing’s going to bring me down, oh, no”

[This song was also selected for a Charleston in Series 13: week 2]

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