By Kim Collett

With the new series of Strictly Come Dancing starting, what can it tell us about representation, diversity and inclusion in dance?

Photo: cottonbro studio @ Pexels

Strictly Come Dancing has one of the biggest audiences on prime-time television. In recent series, it has increased representation across gender, sexuality, age, race and disability. But what impact has this had?

Traditionally dance has been reserved for the select few. Dance has often been shaped by traditional ideas about gender, with roles, partnering and costumes reinforcing assumptions about masculinity, femineity and heterosexual relationships. Body shape, race and age have also influenced who feels welcome and represented.

That’s not to say that things aren’t improving though. For example, more ballet shoe companies now provide a range of skin tones and leading dance schools such as RAD are training their teachers in inclusive practices.

Why is this important?

Research has shown that dance provides a wide range of benefits. There are physiological benefits as an exercise form and psychosocial benefits too where quality of life improves. There is also evidence that dance has cognitive benefits that might contribute to staving off conditions such as dementia.

If dance can benefit physical health, mental wellbeing, social connection and cognitive function, ensuring that everyone feels able to participate becomes even more important.

So, what role can Strictly Come Dancing provide?

Image by habanera dance from Pixabay

When forms of exercise are on the television, they have the potential to challenge stereotypes and affect public perception. By having a wide range of contestants from diverse backgrounds Strictly can show people that dance is for anyone. Audiences are more likely to see themselves reflected in the contestants, which can broaden perceptions of who belongs in dance.

However, this representation only goes so far.

Over the last few years, Strictly has encountered numerous issues. For example, older contestants aren’t always taken seriously such as Bill Bailey being seen as a novelty act (he went on to win due to dancing skills not novelty) and claims of favouritism for Angela Rippon. Her high kick astounded people due to her age (flexibility such as this does lessen with age) and there were claims that this single move unfairly inflated her scores. There were also conspiracy theories that she was given easier dances.

Image by Alena Darmel on Pexels

Concerns were raised over Ellie Goldstein as people thought that the programme was too much for a person with Down’s Syndrome to deal with. Her body language was scrutinised much more than other contestants. Paralympian Ellie Simmonds also faced scrutiny with social media claims about how her size would impact the ability for fair judging.

One of the decisions Strictly made that faced the most complaints was same sex couples. Professional dancers Johannes and Graziano did one of the first same sex couple dances and this received multiple complaints from the audience with people suggesting two men dancing together was offensive. Since then, numerous contestants have had same sex partners and many of these pairings have resulted in complaints too.

Race has also been an issue for the programme. Research suggests that racially minoritised contestants are disproportionately likely to appear in dance offs, even when they receive strong judge scores. In fact, they are even more likely to be in the dance off if they get high scores. This increases again if they are partnered with a professional dancer who is also from a racially minoritised community. West (2024) suggests that despite the programme’s attempts at diversity and representation, audiences can lead to some minorities being unfavourably treated. Alexandra Burke, for example, frequently found herself in the dance off despite having some of the highest scores in her series. West (2024) suggests that witnessing this unfavourable treatment can also reinforce racist ideas as it can portray the elimination of high performing racially minoritised contestants as normal practice.

Why is it important for Sport and Exercise students to know all this?

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

There is lots of evidence to show that there are issues with representation, diversity and inclusion in all types of sport and exercise, including dance. This can limit who sees themselves as able to take part and what treatment they receive when they do. Sport and exercise have so many wide-ranging benefits, so it is important to ensure it is accessible and welcoming to all.

Obviously, we have little control over Strictly Come Dancing, but we do have influence in our own studies, clubs, workplaces and future careers. There are practical steps we can all take to make sport and exercise more inclusive:

• Challenge our assumptions about who participates in sport and exercise.
• Use inclusive language and communication to ensure everyone feels respected and welcomed.
• Consider representation in research and practice such as asking whose experiences are being included and whose are missing.
• Advocate for accessible and inclusive environments, equipment and opportunities that enable people of different ages, abilities and backgrounds to participate.
• Listen to and learn from diverse perspectives to recognise that people experience sport and exercise in different ways.
• Be active allies by speaking up when we witness exclusion, discrimination or unfair treatment.

Strictly Come Dancing may only be a television programme, but it reminds us that representation matters. Who we see participating in sport and exercise affects who feels welcome to take part. And we can all play a role in creating environments where everybody feels that they belong.

References

Royal Academy of Dance (2017) Dance for lifelong wellbeing: research findings 2017. Available at: RADLifeLongDfLWresearchfindin.pdf (Accessed: 1^st September 2026).

West, K. (2024). Being asked to dance: evidence of racial bias in audience voting behaviour on the television show Strictly Come Dancing. Psychology of popular media, 13(4), 613-619.