We've been crazy about Strictly Come Dancing, since its UK TV debut back in 2004.

Strictly Come Dancing, is credited with increasing the uptake of dance here, with dance schools up and down the UK reporting surges in registrations during and immediately following each series. Dancing with the Stars, the US show based on the hit BBC show, has caused a similar effect on the other side of the Atlantic too.

And they're not daft, at the BBC! The ongoing and consistent success of Strictly, proved to bosses that the combination of reality TV and dance is a winning one with the British public. And no sooner had the seventh series of the hit show finished in December 2009, when the BBC launched another dance related reality show. So You Think You Can Dance? is based on the US show of the same name, which has been running in the States since 2005. The first series started in January 2010, less than a month after the Strictly, final. Presented by Cat Deeley, who has also presented the US version since the second series, the show invited both amateur and professional dancers alike to audition. While the first in the series introduced some of the auditionees, the focus is those who made it to the final 14. Each of the finalists performs a routine alone and as a part of a pair each Saturday, with a female and male participant eliminated weekly. Unlike Strictly, no celebrities are involved. Over 6 million of us tuned in for the opening show and it looks set to prove a hit with UK audiences.

The British publics love affair with dance continues to grow, something again attributed to media coverage of the various dance forms and a growing number of dance related TV shows.
For the ballroom pros, this certainly wont be new information. But for those who have yet to take the floor, you might be surprised to find out just how good for you ballroom really is.

If you're one of the millions who started 2010 with a resolution to get fit and healthy and are now finding you're tiring of the gym, ballroom might just be the answer! In fact, depending on the step, an hour of ballroom dancing can burn of anywhere between 250 and 450 calories. And while ballroom dancing is indeed a reasonably intense aerobic exercise, it doesn't just have cardio benefits. It works the muscles all over your body.

A session on the dance floor also has far more appeal to most than a laborious hour on the treadmill, given that its exercise you can take part in with a friend or partner and it's fun! Research shows that the more fun exercise is, the more of it weâ€^TMll do, thereby increasing its benefits again!

But the health benefits of ballroom are not just limited to physical ones either. In fact, studies show it has a positive effect on your mental health too. Any form of exercise causes your brain to release endorphins, which are chemicals that put you in a good mood. On top of that, the element of memorising involved with learning a new step is great for your mind and a study released by the New England Journal of Medicine said dance can actually help to lower the chances of Alzheimer's and dementia in later life, thanks to the way it works your mind.

So essentially, ballroom helps you get happy, get fit and keep your mind ticking over. If those aren't enough cause to persuade you to pull on your dancewear shoes, I don't know what will be.