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View Full Version : Southport Feb 07: The Aftermath



tiger
3rd-February-2007, 11:34 AM
Do tell all....:wink:

Rhythm King
3rd-February-2007, 11:41 AM
Do tell all....:wink:

Blimey - give'em a chance - they'll only just just be going to bed from the first night!!:whistle:



(Jealous - moi? :tears: )

Tiggerbabe
3rd-February-2007, 11:49 AM
Blimey - give'em a chance - they'll only just just be going to bed from the first night!!:whistle:
Nah! :na: more like just tucking into breakfast in the restaurant :D heading for some shut eye about 11.30am, is my guess :)

LemonCake
4th-February-2007, 12:40 PM
I wish I was there :tears: :what: :rolleyes: - send them all a big hello from me! :clap:

LC :flower:

DianaS
4th-February-2007, 05:43 PM
Okay where shall I start???

new is brief cas I have to get ready for tomorrow
got a last minute ticket from animal talk and tanked up to Southpark Got in and there was no ticket and no key. got sorted by John
Found I was sharing with a guy called Steve, who was "fine so long you didn't give him a drink" :rofl:
Feeling Pink was in the same chalet and we had a brill time Cheers FP you were a star!
Steve arrived turned out he was a stunning dance teacher from somewhere down south and the loveliest chalet mate you could have! :cheers:
Wine was drunk and a bag caught fire
Charlie Chaplin extinguished the fire and soaked Hardy in the process
Feeling Pink came out to hear what the uproar was (she was in the shower)
then we went dancing
it was great!
Lots of lovely dancers chilled music and good mates
Just wished they served cake at midnight
and had a decent caberet host
Mikey is so last year kind of Tom Jones comeback, out of date and a bit sniffy around the edges. Reckon some of the forum talent would do a better job!

Achaeco
4th-February-2007, 07:26 PM
Do tell all....:wink:

Fletch asked me to tell you all how cold she was. She was cold:wink:

Aleks
4th-February-2007, 07:28 PM
Fletch asked me to tell you all how cold she was. She was cold:wink:
Did anyone dare to tell her to put some clothes on:devil: ?

Paul F
4th-February-2007, 08:50 PM
well, we are just about to tuck into dinner that manal has burnt :-)

weekend going ok but not really as good as the summer ones. extreme temperature fluctuations in the blues room doesn't help.

some nice sets of music but some definate dodgy ones in the blues room. not going to name names but I was really dissapointed. there was one guy in there this afternoon that was doing a bit of dj'ing who I thanked as his set was danceable and different. respect.
we (as this review is being added to by a few people) wondered why dj's seem to go for really obscure stuff in an attempt to find their own place. some of the tracks were just simply odd.

big thanks to twk too as he was willing to do an impromptu set of wcs on saturday night in the separate room. thanks mate.

rotation in workshops has been a big issue. so many workshops were confused by the teachers lack of awareness of what to expect with such a large numbr of people. at times it was just silly. surely all prospective teachers could be informed beforehand.

all in all (and this is only my opinion) the weekend has no way lived up to the others.

littlewiggle
4th-February-2007, 08:54 PM
the weekend has no way lived up to the others.

Having not been able to go this time - this is just what I needed to hear to put a spring back in my step! No seriously, of course I'd like to think that everyone enjoyed themselves and let's hope the follow-ups will continue in the vein we've become accustomed too!

Dai
4th-February-2007, 10:05 PM
Fletch asked me to tell you all how cold she was. She was cold:wink:

Well there is nothing new there then!!


Did anyone dare to tell her to put some clothes on:devil: ?

Would anyone dare!!

stewart38
5th-February-2007, 01:47 AM
well, we are just about to tuck into dinner that manal has burnt :-)

weekend going ok but not really as good as the summer ones. extreme temperature fluctuations in the blues room doesn't help.

some nice sets of music but some definate dodgy ones in the blues room. not going to name names but I was really dissapointed. there was one guy in there this afternoon that was doing a bit of dj'ing who I thanked as his set was danceable and different. respect.
we (as this review is being added to by a few people) wondered why dj's seem to go for really obscure stuff in an attempt to find their own place. some of the tracks were just simply odd.

big thanks to twk too as he was willing to do an impromptu set of wcs on saturday night in the separate room. thanks mate.

rotation in workshops has been a big issue. so many workshops were confused by the teachers lack of awareness of what to expect with such a large numbr of people. at times it was just silly. surely all prospective teachers could be informed beforehand.

all in all (and this is only my opinion) the weekend has no way lived up to the others.


Have to work tomorrow so missed the last night

Not helped by having a bad cold but same comments as above. Blues room was very cold at 3pm with doors open etc a few hrs last with heaters on full blast it gets too warm.

some of the music in the main room was 'odd'

Numbers down on summer venue and only half the number dressed up this time on the saturday cf last time. also cabert at 60mins with all the silly chat too long, should have asked me for a joke (Knobley knees should stay in the 70s ?)

well done to Crrrrrrrrruellllllllllllla and her dog :respect:

Overall ok

Paul F
5th-February-2007, 06:37 AM
I often post about things I don't like but this time I wanted to post a contrasting point to my last message.
today was a really good day. tonight was fantastic. relaxed and fun with excellent sets.

I still say it isn't as good as the southport summer events but nevertheless still a very enjoyable event.

stewart38
5th-February-2007, 10:29 AM
I often post about things I don't like but this time I wanted to post a contrasting point to my last message.


My room was lovely and warm when I arrived :grin:

stewart38
5th-February-2007, 11:07 AM
While on the good bits and before the crowd get back

I had some lovely dancers with some lovely forumites

2 forumites stand out in particular

Felt slightly down when I said to a non forumite I danced with ‘sorry that’s probably my phone and she said she didn’t notice anything’ :sad:

Bill
5th-February-2007, 01:39 PM
Fletch asked me to tell you all how cold she was. She was cold:wink:

Cold ....... I had to put the heating off in the chalet when I arrived becasue it was so hot!! And so was the main building most of the time! I was sweating doing blues ......:whistle: :sick:

A good weekend although most regulars reckoned it was quieter than usual. The cabarets were superb and lots of choice for dancers although interesting that for a jive weekend how few jive workshops there were - but lots of new things to try.

Had lots of great dances and lovely to meet some more Forumites and to catch up with folk :D :cheers: I haven't seen for ages

Achaeco
5th-February-2007, 01:59 PM
Did anyone dare to tell her to put some clothes on:devil: ?

I did happen to point out the fact on two occasions:whistle:

Cruella
5th-February-2007, 04:50 PM
.
today was a really good day. tonight was fantastic. relaxed and fun with excellent sets.

Agreed. I didn't have as good a time as normal but that was due to being ill with a tummy bug on Friday. Saturday evening, I had about 5 dances up til 3am as I really wasn't enjoying the music and the problem with the room temperature didn't help. One minute the sweat was dripping off me the next it had turned to icicles on my forehead! Then Dance Demon came on the decks and it was like having a bar of chocolate after a really bad day. Extremely satisfying. Non stop dancing until 11.35am (with a break for the usual group breakfast at 9). Sunday night was back to the usual Southport experience for me. Fab music, dances and company.
Highlights for me were, the Argentinian Tango class, I now desperately want to find lessons in my area. The cabarets, which were awesome, especially Vincent and Flavia :drool:. Winning the fancy dress (In the 'Pars' absence). Thanks to my puppy for being so obedient (for a change):whistle:. Sharing with fantastic chalet mates. :kiss:
The marquee and flooring on the decking area was gorgeous, although it unfortunately didn't get used as much as it could have, it made the blues room so much bigger. The flooring in the blues room seemed so much better than it had at the previous weekends. I found i didn't have the usual problem of needing different shoes for each room.
I know it's bad form to name names but Simon, Ollie and Brady, dancing with the 3 of you in succession is what turned my bad Saturday night into a great Sunday morning. Thank you. :hug:

See you all back there in June. :D

TA Guy
5th-February-2007, 05:40 PM
My first Southport, and I prolly suffer from it being after the superb organised Ceroc events. I was a tiny bit disappointed.

IMHO

I was a main room dancer this weekend, I haven't a clue how the other rooms were as I only visited for brief spells.
Music is all in the ear of the beholder, and some sets were excellent, but it was also frankly bad at times. I know it's personal taste and all that, but when you see first the dance floor empty, and then the dance room empty, that to me is your cue for the DJ (or management) to do something about it. Nothing was done.

It was mildly irritating that the saturday night main hall freestyle started so late, that was then compounded by the delayed freestyle start on Sunday.
Also, I know a lot of people prolly loved it, but I disliked the hour lesson (even if it was Blues) in the main room right in the middle of the Friday freestyle.
Caberet acts were superb (overall, a class above any other weekender I have attended so far), but with everything else added, went on too long.
I know there were other rooms, but the main room is my fav, all in all there seemed to be too many things, planned and unplanned, that cut into the main room freestyles. We don't all wanna stay up till 6am to get our fix of hours.

Floor was truly excellent.

Didn't do enough classes to comment on the teaching, but somebody really ought to spend half an hour preparing something to explain to teachers unused to such large numbers or how MJ operates, how to rotate the classes properly, but this appears to be a common problem at all the weekenders I have attended.

Of course, I had a fab time, always do, some wonderful dances, but overall, need to up their game with the new competition. Definitely bottom of my list so far.

jive-vee
5th-February-2007, 05:52 PM
My second weekender and my first Southport and I've got to say that I loved it!!!!!:clap: :clap: Yeah there were a couple of minor downsides - the lack of a decent rotation system for the AT classes meant that too many women were holding on to their man so it was sometimes tricky for all the ladies to get a go, and the music was a bit odd at times in some of the rooms, but overall I'd say it was a fab event. My highlight (other than doing the 2 AT classes) would have to be managing to get a dance with Vincent in the blues room - yay - and my lovely lovely friend managed to not only spot us but video us :clap: :clap:

I had lots of fantastic dances - didn't want the Sunday to end - plus for the first time I danced all of Saturday and Sunday in my heels (maybe I do have a girly girl gene in me after all haha)

Can't wait for the next weekender.

(oh and I didn't manage to grab anyone for a dance to it but was tickled when I heard the song from the musical episode of Buffy being played - how sad that I know what it's from :what: )

Dave Hancock
5th-February-2007, 06:34 PM
Yes it was a bit quieter than the summer events but I enjoyed the space and there was still a very high level of dancer there.

The teaching line up was probably the best of any event I've been to and the caberet acts were stunning.

I was just gutted that I had to miss the Sunday evening for jury service today and then wasn't required till later in the week:tears:

My highlight was the Sunday afternoon when I had some absolutely fabby dances and thought the music in the afternoon was brilliant.

LMC
5th-February-2007, 06:42 PM
It was good.

Spin dryer
5th-February-2007, 06:44 PM
My highlight was the blues room between 1pm and 7pm on Sunday. Six hours of non stop dance heaven. A wonderful mix of music of differing tempi and scores of ultra relaxed smiling dancers.

Mostlysane
5th-February-2007, 07:02 PM
Agreed. I didn't have as good a time as normal but Thanks to my puppy for being so obedient (for a change):whistle:.
She pooed on the dance floor. Not really my idea of obedient. :D

My first Southporter and i really enjoyed it - fab weekend. Shame i had to come home on sunday. The variable temperature was a pain but some amazing dances. And the teaching in some of the classes. awesome. I did the AT, swing and WCS classes. Top notch. Still, i suppose if you've got world champions teaching...

Ditto the thoughts on AT, will really have to look out for a class around here. Here's to the next one.

Lynn
5th-February-2007, 07:05 PM
Where to start... I had a fab Southport. :D

Apologies in advance to those who dislike posts that don't have a good old moan. If you want that, then move along, nothing to see here.:rolleyes:

The chalet being warm and cosy on arrival was lovely. I wasn't cold all weekend (except briefly on Sun night when the doors were open in the blues room. I guess it can be difficult to get the balance right as it both heated up and cooled down quite rapidly.)

Classes - I did 3 and watched a few others. Re the AT rotation - its simply not possible to have a perfect rotation system for AT as its progressive - it doesn't work to stay in lines. Not just because of the large size, I've been to AT classes with only about 20 and its not easy when it comes to rotation. I was going to do the beginners AT class as a lead - but realised that when it came to rotation it would only get confusing. No idea how that can be overcome if people aren't willing to share.

Venue - agree the blues room was better - more space was lovely.

Music - some sets I liked, some that weren't to my taste - I expect that on a weekender. Really enjoyed DD's set on Sat night in the blues room.

Milonga time in the Dance Den - lovely to have an hour or so of AT every evening.

On a personal note - I really wanted to try to make some progress with WCS, having done numerous beginner classes at weekenders but never feeling able to try to freestyle. I did some classes and found I was getting technique as well as moves from Parker and Jessica's teaching (thanks to those who helped me in the classes.)

When it came to freestyling WCS - to learn I needed to get up on the floor and give it a go! So I decided to ask lots of different leads - on the basis that its only one dance with a beginner for them, but added together it would be really helpful for me. So a big thanks to all the guys who gave me lovely WCS dances.

AT, good workshops, fab chalet mates, and lots and lots of lovely dancing. Wonderful.

rubyred
5th-February-2007, 07:14 PM
Fabulous weekend and thank you to all the lovely men who danced with me, you are all stars :respect: . I didn't know many formurites, and Fletch's idea about the names on T shirts meant that a few people introduced themselves. :nice: Lovely to see and meet the faces behind the threads.

Looking forward to seeing you all again in June :flower: xx

LMC
5th-February-2007, 07:29 PM
OK, a slightly more detailed review now I've put the first load of washing in. In no sensible order:

Blues room: fantastic job. Flooring over the knee- and heel-wrenching decking also much appreciated, and apparently the flooring will be back at every SP :clap: - roll on June. Temperature differentials a bit frustrating as Paul F said - too hot with the heaters on and the doors closed, too cold if sitting out. Can't be helped though really.

Main room: I danced in the main room more than usual this weekend (cooler temps made it more bearable, and there was oodles of space after about 1 am). Definitely emptier than normal, except on Sat, when it was hideous - no extra flooring on the side, and Sat is always the busiest night.

Music: for me, too much swing (and lindy) for a weekender billed as a modern jive weekender. Not enuf blues earlier in the evening (yeah, OK, so I was a bloody lightweight and went to bed at 4 am Sat and Sun am and 3 am Mon. Still later than most.). I don't West Coast, but think I'm going to have to learn in self-defence... No DJ lists. Please bring back the DJ lists :flower: Really good to hear some different and challenging music from different DJs.

Cabaret: performances fantastic - particularly enjoyed Vincent and Flavia's tango - but please LOSE the audience participation crap. Boring boring boring. If the cabaret people need more time to change/get a drink between performances, then it would be better, IMO, to get a couple of the other teachers to do a showcase or something. Can't comment on the fancy dress competition 'cos I skedaddled in the general mayhem of everyone who had dressed up getting out onto the floor.

Workshops - Lambada - great fun - and Samba - excellent (thanks for partnering me in that one TGNS :kiss: ) Swing workshops were absolutely stacked out with what appeared to be 50% extra women? Bought Nigel A for an hour on Sunday morning, who taught me how to bounce (er, if you see or hear about this Nigel, I do remember a bit more than that - thanks :nice: )

Most overplayed track: "Doncha" - to the point where I walked out of the main room every time it started playing on Sunday so I could avoid being asked to dance to it.

Drama: the kettle in the chalet breaking on Saturday after the Pontins service desk had closed. Luckily, security recognised that this was an EMERGENCY and we had a replacement within 15 minutes :respect: :D

Luvvie bit: Dizzy & Lynn for being *fab* chalet mates :hug: :kiss: :flower: Lovely dances with too many people to mention.

Dance of the weekend: can't decide between Stray Cat Strut in the main room on Friday :clap: and (BTC) California Dreamin' in the blues room on Sunday afternoon :drool:

Sheppy
5th-February-2007, 07:42 PM
I really enjoyed Southport, chalet was warm, had free electricity to keep it that way, and the main room wasn't stupidly hot. Had many excellent dances and the WCS classes were good. Well done to John & Wes for putting on another good event :respect:
Shame we didn't get to experience Marcs excellent music due to the new policies but you can't have everything. :(
I've booked the next one which I don't do with events I don't enjoy....

ducasi
5th-February-2007, 07:54 PM
Freudian Hips and I really enjoyed the weekend – only slightly spoilt by my being too poorly to come out to dance on Sunday night.

Apologies to the women I had promised dances to, and those I was getting round to. :flower:

It was a great weekend, but it's good to be home! :)

WittyBird
5th-February-2007, 08:23 PM
Winning the fancy dress (In the 'Pars' absence). Thanks to my puppy for being so obedient (for a change):whistle:

Won it by yourself did ya! - Cheeky Mare

Highlights for me.....

The WCS classes with Jessica & Parker :grin: Jessica had to leave on the Saturday evening due to illness :rolleyes: But Susan took over from her :respect: Thank you to the Guys and Girls that really helped me it was very much appreciated :worthy: Not only in the classes but they took the time out to explain and demonstrate :hug:

Winning the Fancy Dress - thanks to Cruella for leading me out on the floor :wink:

Sorry to Wes for having to clean the doggy doo up from the floor :whistle:

The Kiss I received from Vincent for winning :drool: followed by a shout from JiveAddicted 'LICK HIM WITTY' :rofl:

The impromtu thank you speech from Piggy after winning the male fancy dress - How many have rifled through your drawers eh Fletch :rofl: Not that he named names at all :rofl: rofl:

The cabarets were astounding - best yet :clap: Well done to Animal Talk for his birthday AT dance with Flavia :worthy: You looked fab and really kept your cool :cheers:

The people I spent time with thank you all for your help, support & company :awe:

The laughs, the cackles (Di) The extreme sips taking at Breakfast on Sunday morning around 9am - thanks to John & Wes for feeding us all

A NEW SOUTHPORT RECORD....... IT HAS BEEN ADJUDICATED & I CAN CONFIRM THAT FLETCH WASN'T THE LAST ONE DANCING AND WENT TO BED AT 7AM ON SATURDAY MORNING :rofl:

Demo'ing for Andy McGregor - You really should be doing stand up :rofl:

Angeliques robot dance - I'm still laughing about that now!

Highlights for everyone else.....

Me losing my voice and I still haven't found it. :angry:

Low points for me.........

Really missed Marc DJ'ing :tears:
Regulars that didn't attend
The Latin Room - I love the music but find it very claustraphobic for some reason.
It was Trampy's last one!
Didn't enjoy some of the sets but you can't please everyone :whistle:
Not being able to dance very well and having to refuse dances on Sunday due to illness :mad:

Overall still my favourite weekender :cheers:
:respect: John & Wes :clap:

Blueshoes
5th-February-2007, 09:04 PM
I loved it!

Probably something to do with having enough space to breathe - and dance in of course. The main room wasn't too crowded apart from Saturday evening (not that I spent much time in there), the blues area always had plenty of space and lots of superb partners to dance with.

Cabarets superb, what can I say....

On arrival the blues area was very hot but if you wanted to cool down a bit you could dance in the marquee for a couple of tracks.

Highlights were meals on three consecutive nights with great company, making and eating 24 bacon butties, mostly between two of us, demonstrating aerials at 7am on Monday morning after 8 hours straight dancing :eek:.....

Overall the weather was gorgeous with plenty of sunshine during the days, I had no problems with walking back to my chalet at any time of the night in my shirt sleeves.

Very sorry to lose Tramy off the decks due to ceroc :( :( :(

To sum up, not too crowded but a great standard of dancers, definitely my best Southport yet! :)

jive_me
5th-February-2007, 09:05 PM
There seemed to be a lot of illness going around. I was pretty ill Friday night and I've lost my voice somewhere too. Despite that, FAB weekend!!! :clap:

It was really lovely to meet so many forumites on the Friday night and within 5 minutes of meeting Caz I was drawing on her back :na: I think Killingtime must think I'm exceptionally odd in the way I introduced myself :D

I really enjoyed the classes I did but found it really useful having a fixed partner for the Salsa class (with Joseph and Sadie) and the dips and drops. I was also brave/foolish enough to attempt the aerial class and found it very good indeed and am glad I did it.

I also enjoyed being asked to lead by men! Doesn't happen at all where I dance but it was great fun.

Suffice to say I'm booked up for June :D

xXx:flower:

Dizzy
5th-February-2007, 09:33 PM
Just a bit more to add to what everyone has already said. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the weekend was and the effort that John and Wes went to :clap: :worthy: :love: Thanks for keeping everyone toasty warm.

Being a WCS hotshot, I went to all the Parker and Jessica classes and enjoyed Parker's teaching very much. I also enjoyed learning to lead the basic moves and look forward to learning some more. During the cabaret on saturday, I was slightly disaapointed by their cabaret not being as spectacular as usual until it was announced that Jessica was pregnant - Congratulations to both her and Jordan :clap: :clap:, I was glad that I managed to see their cabaret complete with lifts last week in Paris. While Jessica was taken ill on saturday, Susan filled in with Parker and a grand job she did too :clap:.

I also managed to secure a fixed partner for AT (thanks DavidY) and found it a challenging class but Vincent and Flavia were amazing and I was inspired :drool:.

The DJ sets were a varied mixture of challenging and old classics. I did enjoy the WCS music and especially Dance Demon's set. There was slightly too much Lindy music in the Blues room for my taste and some DJ sets should have been at different times but as always, I played and enjoyed lots of dances. There were DJ's that were missed this weekend and some that will be missed (Trampy :worthy: )

I also booked my place for the WCS weekend in April and Southport in June. Another success for John and Wes :clap:

Little Monkey
5th-February-2007, 09:38 PM
Aaaah, where to start? I'm sooooooo tired!

Arrived to nice and cosy chalet. Greg actually had to turn the heating down when he arrived (before me), 'cus it was so hot (really sunny, too, which heated up the chalet even more). Wasn't cold in the chalet all weekend.

LOVED the flooring and marquee outside the blues room, which made it huge. Every time I needed to cool down, I went to dance out there. Fab news that this will be there in June, too (minus the walls on the marquee)!:clap: Also really enjoyed having more space to dance, as there were fewer people than normal.

Some not so good sets from a couple of DJs over the weekend. Not sure I liked Parker being allowed to take over the decs in the blues room for a while. I do love wcs, but it was just not blues room music... Better if he'd been given the dance den to do a slot in, methinks. But also some fab sets, and lots of fab dances!

Really enjoyed the three wcs classes that I did, and learned a lot! Now I just need to practice some of the moves with Greg, so we'll remember some of them....

Wanted to do the AT class, but the ballroom was completely packed out, so gave up. I think 75% of people were there just because it was Vincent and Flavia teaching (ooooh, tv celebrities!), not because they were really that interested in AT. I bet the class would have been much smaller if it had been an AT couple who most punters haven't heard of!

Friday night was probably my best night, with LOTS of amazing dances! Really shouldn't have gone to bed so early.... Was trying to pace myself, but then ended up having a migraine all of Saturday, which put a damper on my mood, and I went to bed quite early anyway.:( Sunday night started off not so good. Slept very badly all weekend, so was knackered. Then had lots of bad dances from people I've never danced with before - the 'ceroc bouny dance' in the latin room, the 'lets do all the ceroc beginners moves' in the blues room, followed by 'lets fling our unsuspecting partner into a mini-aerial without consideration to partner or any other dancers in the room' in the main room. Actually tried to go and find the guy who threw me into an aerial to tell him exactly what I thought of him later on (was too shocked right after the dance!), but couldn't find him.:mad:

Sunday night did improve, though, and I had some great dances, before finally escaping at 6am.

Oh, and Jamie is such a boring dancer. :whistle:

Raphael still needs to work on his lead....:rolleyes:

Roger is still a naughty boy.:devil:

LM's cafe was out of cheesecake before anyone could say 'blueberrycheesecakewithcream'. Lots of people were disappointed because of this.

Dave Hancock is a Bad Boy. Where's my dances, Dave?:mad:

Freya is a scary lady.:whistle:

etc

MartinHarper
5th-February-2007, 09:42 PM
class reviews:

Tango Jive by David+Madelaine: well-taught, good use of humour, mixed in a fair amount of technique. It didn't seem very "fused" between the Tango and the Jive: more like two dances tacked onto teach other. Overall an enjoyable start to the weekend.

Spin+Spot by Mandy: Nice spotting exercises to build it up more slowly than other teachers - found them useful in class - have to remember to practice them now. She went out and gave individual feedback during the practice parts, which was most welcome - she seemed to make good use of the smaller class size in the "Dance Den". I'll have to practice doing assisted spins right as opposed to merely finished.

Men's style by Keith: more spinning and spotting! Also, some other stuff. In particular, we got a step-ball-change variation on the first move, and some info about the solar plexus (namechecking Skippy Blair on the way). Sadly, the teaching of the footwork variations was sub-par: Keith neglected to find a demo, or grab one of the students, and as a result it was very difficult to judge the timing he was suggesting for the footwork bit. Still not convinced I worked it out right.

Musicality by CJ: clearly this man needs a new name. "CJ" sounds like someone from an American school-based drama show. Anyways, a very good class. Audience nicely engaged. Good suggestion to have a dance through the song we were being taught about/with after the class - though I think I'd have preferred that to be done more formally as part of the class, perhaps with a chance to ask questions/discuss afterwards. Kinda awkward with the chair/floor thing. Regardless, highly recommended.

Street Jazz by Joseph and Sadie: not to be confused with the "Funky Street" I was taught at another weekender (by another couple). Where do they get the names for these things? I thought they adapted well to a class that was struggling. I enjoyed their demo post-class, too.

Walk like a dancer: by Keith and Janey. I had high hopes for this one, and it was dissappointing. Partly it was material covered by prior classes (Spin+Spot, Men's Style), so they had to balance people who'd done those classes with people who hadn't, not entirely successfully. They used Salsa derived moves to teach stuff, which is fine, but at odds with the marching footwork that Andy McG claims is now standard. Also, some of the material was only very loosely connected to the theme.

Oh, and a class I watched briefly and had comments on: Graham LeClerc's advanced modern jive. His class were clearly struggling with the material, and I felt that the manner of their struggle was revealing. At one point Graham was saying, with about 20% of the class in various wildly incorrect positions:
"Ok, so everyone should be in this position"
(pause - nobody moves)
"Look where you are, and look where I am. I'm facing the bar. Are you facing the bar?"
(pause - nobody moves)
"If you're not facing the same way as me, move until you are"
(pause - nobody moves)
"Thank you." (continues)

My feelings were:
1. If people lack sufficient spatial awareness to know whether or not they're facing the bar, even after the teacher spells it out for them in painfully slow and simple terms, what the heck are they doing in an "advanced" class?
2. How hard would it be to get some helpers to ran out amidst the field of statues and start poking people until they moved into the right position? Maybe Graham wasn't expecting so many brain-dead people, but I think he could have planned for the eventuality.

Zebra Woman
5th-February-2007, 10:26 PM
The Good:

FLOORS: Quality of the floor in the blues room - absolutely outstanding, in fact all 3 floors were great.

SPACE: Room to dance, and even travel and do great big slides (not as big as Yuval's slides obviously :innocent:)

MUSIC: IMO the music was mostly good, although I had a bit of a musical nightmare on Saturday night :sick: , then DD came along and made everything groovy. :worthy:
I particularly loved Ian and TWK's latin room sets. My favourite dances were as ever in the blues room in the afternoons, well done to to TWK and Rob Ambridge. :clap:

TANGO: I enjoyed the milongas in the dance den and was particularly impressed by the way Ian and Mandy danced with as many people as they could. That's what I call a real passion for the dance.

TEACHER PARTICIPATION: I liked to see the way Yuval and Vincent and Flavia freestyled with MJers and seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. Very nice. The highlight for me was watching Yuval and UP dance in the blues room. Truly hilarious :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

CLASSES: Vincent and Flavias tango class was massive but went very well. A big thank you to ChrisA for being very strict with me.:flower:

FANCY DRESS: Cruella and Witty's obedience demonstration. :rofl: and YUK! :eek: ...and well done :clap: .

The Bad:

MUSIC. I missed Marc, OXO and Sheena DJing a lot :tears:
I think the rooms sometimes lacked their identity, I heard pop, awkward R&B and lindy in the blues room, and some really wierd choices in the Latin room.
Accoustics - am I getting old? (er yes...) at times it all seemed way too loud in the Latin room.

WATER. Not so easy to get a glass of water in the blue room this time.

FRIENDS. The missing people...we know who they are.:sad:


Er...I can't think of anything else bad.

Big well done to John and Wes and their crew. :clap: :clap: :clap:

ZW

MartinHarper
5th-February-2007, 10:39 PM
Other stuff:

I felt there was a reasonable amount of swing for a room described as "blues/swing freestyle". Any less and it would need to be described as "Blues with a Swing Flava" or something equally horrendous. It was nice to hear some tracks sung by folks who'd woken up this mornin' only to find that they ain't got nothin' to lose.

I was more or less happy with the number of new (to me) tracks. No point CJ teaching folks how to dance to tracks they've not heard before if DJs never play anything we've not heard before. I also liked the numbers attending. Spacious, plenty of people to choose from. The only time it felt crowded was pre-cabaret in the main room.

Best track had to be early Saturday morning, extolling the virtues of a good night's sleep for all cool cats. Also enjoyed "What you Feel" from Buffy for the first time on the MJ floor. Killingtime tells me it was first played two years ago, so it's good to see that I'm on the cutting edge of new music. Or something. "Rest in Peace" next, please.

Overall, I liked the music. I still struggle to MJ to RnB in a way which reflects both how I feel the song wants to be danced, and practical considerations of not getting too much blood on the dance floor. The music says emphasise the even beats, the dance says emphasise the odd beats. Maybe I should just dance it off-time and be done with it. Regardless, that's my limit, not a DJ problem.

Workshops that should be at the next weekender:
1. Singing along - how to stay in tune, duet basics, and what to do if you don't know the words!
2. Schtick - a Modern Jive / Slapstick fusion. Plank not required.
3. Laundered Suburban Salsa

It's funny that we get taught "semi-circle and step back". 90% of the good dancers don't dance semi-circles - I knew that already. This weekend I realised that the good followers don't rock-step in open position either (Mambo stuff excepted). WCS influence? Pain avoidance? Following the lead?

I appreciated the video playing of some of the tracks in the main room. I was less convinced about the silhouetted dancers.
I'm thinking that with 24hr dancing being a reality, I should plan to dance my regular waking hours rather than trashing myself with late nights. That does depend on there being folks in a dancing room in the "open freestyle" Bluesville.

jive-vee
5th-February-2007, 10:42 PM
"TEACHER PARTICIPATION: I liked to see the way Yuval and Vincent and Flavia freestyled with MJers and seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. Very nice. The highlight for me was watching Yuval and UP dance in the blues room. Truly hilarious :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:"

Completely agree - it was fab to see them (and Gabby) mucking in and throughly enjoying it. I was sat watching Yuval and UP dance too - sooooooooo entertaining. So many highlights to the weekend. As well as enkjoying the classes I took part in I really enjoyed watching Joseph and Sadie's street jazz class and Vincent & Flavia's Rumba and Parker & Jessica's WCS class - they teaching was so clear and they were very engaging teachers.

I had sooooooooooooo many wonderful dances, don't know how many of them were with forumites but thanks to whoever you are :flower:

Caro
5th-February-2007, 10:57 PM
I had the most fantastic week-end of my (limited) dance experience so far...:drool: :clap:

so gooooood to catch up on dancing after 4 months off! Way, way too many awesome dances to mention them all... including a very unexpected yet absolutely amazing tango on Diana Krall's besa me mucho on sunday afternoon... my funniest WCS so far... etc etc etc it was almost too good to be true.
Thank you all for the dances :flower: :love:

Nice to meet plenty of new forumites as well :D

I really enjoyed the classes (did the WCS and lindy), especially Yuval and Gaby's as they spent so much time focusing on technique and connection rather than making us learning patterns. :respect:

The only (minor) regret for me was the cabarets, yes they were very good yet I was a tad disappointed not to see the incredible aerials of Nathalie and Yuval (Nathalie being ill and replaced by Gaby - thoroughly enjoyed the puppet routine though), same for Parker and Jess (although I was lucky enough to see them last week-end in paris :D )... The tango cabaret was a great performance but personally what gives me the shivers in tango is somewhat less exuberant and more intimates dances.

And big thanks to Lisa for driving us safely :flower:

Minnie M
5th-February-2007, 11:02 PM
What happened at about 1am in the blues room :confused: did I miss something ??

Went back to get changed out of my bling outfit about 12'ish - came back to the Blues Room absolutely packed :confused: you could hardly move :what:

Minnie M
5th-February-2007, 11:21 PM
"TEACHER PARTICIPATION: I liked to see the way Yuval and Vincent and Flavia freestyled with MJers and seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. ...............it was fab to see them (and Gabby) mucking in and throughly enjoying it........
:respect: :respect: :respect:

"......freestyled with MJers " Vincent & Flavia were dancing Modern Jive :respect:

total respect :worthy:

and what a character Yuval is - what a star - he danced all night (till 8am) dancing with all who asked him (AFAIK)

Dance Demon rules :respect: but I enjoyed JB's & Twk set too :worthy:

Didn't dance at all on Friday and stayed mostly in the Blues Room on Saturday - thought the music was great, maybe a little slow at times early evening (prefer it to slow down after 3am) - Lindy music :confused: when :confused: I hardly heard any, and I was waiting for it to ask Yuval to dance (and Adam Crewe)

Sometimes I wonder if the average modern jiver actually knows what Lindy music is :whistle:

Saturday afternoon dancing was fab :clap:

Loved Parkers 'set' not the usual stuff the Americans normally play

Thank you to all those lovely men to gave me such lovely dances - although I was very disappointed not to have danced with Ducasi (wish you better :hug: ) and really missed Spice 'n' Easy :tears: and MikeyR :tears:

Feelingpink
5th-February-2007, 11:50 PM
LOVED the flooring and marquee outside the blues room, which made it huge. ...Yup. Nice.


Some not so good sets from a couple of DJs over the weekend. Not sure I liked Parker being allowed to take over the decs in the blues room for a while. I do love wcs, but it was just not blues room music... Better if he'd been given the dance den to do a slot in, methinks. But also some fab sets, and lots of fab dances!:yeah: Nice for the Westies, but complete s**t for anyone who didn't want to dance that. And since there wasn't a DJ list, no idea how long he was going to play for. Would really have liked that - as well as perhaps some DJ profiles - perhaps their top five favourite artists, so we have some idea of their 'take' on a room? I didn't know the lovely Ian from Brighton? was going to DJ and would have liked to have heard his set ... and to have heard CJ's set ... and there was someone on the Saturday night/Sunday morning in the blues room who I really enjoyed - and would have liked to have known his name.
...

Wanted to do the AT class, but the ballroom was completely packed out, so gave up. I think 75% of people were there just because it was Vincent and Flavia teaching (ooooh, tv celebrities!), not because they were really that interested in AT. I bet the class would have been much smaller if it had been an AT couple who most punters haven't heard of!Yeah - I'd been looking forward to the class and when it became apparently how much space there wasn't, ended up leaving. Oh well - V&F were utterly, utterly charming - and Flavia looked amazing.

Highlights:
- Fab chalet-mates and the lovely Devon crew - Stevie from Exeter is a complete honey and wonderful, wonderful dancer ... and he is okay with alcohol :wink: DianaS will do anything to attract cute Pontins staff ... even setting off the smoke alarm! :whistle: (Note for next time: remember to bring candles again).

- Twice "Libertango/Seen Your Face Before" by Grace Jones came on - and twice I looked around for a partner and magically a delicious one appeared each time. Soooo good.

- Finding 'beginner' men wanting to to play in the blues room who were too shy to ask ... but who were utterly lovely

- Animaltalk's face during his private with vincent & flavia

- Minnie dancing 'I Love Coffee, I Love Tea' with a smiley partner.

- UP's freshly-Persil-ed shirts and BTC Bill's Italian tenor's Saturday night outfit :drool:

- Enjoying playful MJ for the first time in about a year

- Catching up with forumites

robd
6th-February-2007, 12:36 AM
Sharing with fantastic chalet mates. :kiss:


I know it's bad form to name names but .....

If you are going to name names Di at least be consistent :rolleyes: I am sure we could live with the fame :flower:

Jon Brett
6th-February-2007, 12:56 AM
What happened at about 1am in the blues room :confused: did I miss something ??
Went back to get changed out of my bling outfit about 12'ish - came back to the Blues Room absolutely packed :confused: you could hardly move :what:

If you mean 1am-ish Sat or Sun (not Fri), then I was DJing. I Didn't see anything unusual... just coincidence probably.



Nice for the Westies, but complete s**t for anyone who didn't want to dance that.


Agreed. It was before the start of my DJ set on Sun 1am & lots of people were leaving to chalets. First tune I put on was a blues choon to try and rectify the situation & a WCS dancer came and complained that the WCS had stopped & when was it coming back on again! I have nothing against WCS at all (honest), but IMHO if you want to kill a venue, introduce lots of WCS to it (unless it's a dedicated WCS room of course). WRT the DJ schedule, I don't think it was planned, I think Parker wanted to do some DJing & Wes said yes on the spur of the moment.

Personally,as a DJ, I learnt a lot from Mr P. so it suited me. However, I made the organisers aware that a lot of dancers were not happy with the situation and suggested that they made one of the rooms (maybe latin room which was near empty at that time) a dedicated WCS room. Guess we'll have to wait & see what happens in future.

stewart38
6th-February-2007, 01:39 AM
es
The only (minor) regret for me was the cabarets, yes they were very good yet I was a tad disappointed not to see the incredible aerials of Nathalie and Yuval (Nathalie being ill and replaced by Gaby - thoroughly enjoyed the puppet routine though),



Yes great pity Nathalie was ill. Ive never seen anything like it (Bisley) and clearly although im sure Gaby is excellent it wasnt a touch on what Yuval and Nathalie have done . Bring them back when she is better :wink:

robd
6th-February-2007, 01:51 AM
Good
* Trouble free journey there and back and sharing a chalet with Cruella, FoxyLady and Jive_P - we had a lorra lorra laffs :D
* The floors in the main room and the blues room (I didn't go in the latin quarter all weekend as I still find it too opressive) - fast but not too fast. Great fun to practice slides and spins and perfect sliding my feet together
* Some luscious music at various times - old favourites and stuff that I didn't know
* So many memorable dances - sometimes for embarassing reasons, eh Caro :blush: , sometimes for the novelty of following, thanks Jamie and Freya, but mostly for great partners with great music
* Very enjoyable cabarets - Mikey's compering was ok. Such a shame that Natalie was not well as anyone who was at MJC in 2005 will know that his cabaret here (understandably and literally) didn't hit the heights of his performances there.
* Not getting a dance with Flavia. I graciously conceded to another leader who asked her at the same time as me. How can this be good? Well, as I left the floor I bumped into Lisa and we danced twice and Flavia could not and would not prove to be a better dance partner than Lisa :respect: for someone of my ability.
* Free breakfast on Sunday morning :clap:
* As always, quality leaders to look to for inspiration. Perennial favourites Paul F, Simon Bowker and Paul Harris but also new (for me) Brady and Ollie.
* Gaining a little more confidence in leading WCS with followers who were tolerant of my limitations
* Not strictly Southport but I got back to Cambridge, had 2 hours sleep then went out to ballroom class which was great and on to Cambridge Ceroc where, still on a Southport high, I had probably the best night I have ever had dancing there.

Bad
* Not being very proactive in asking unfamiliar faces on Fri night. Southport should be about meeting new people and dancing with people you only see there and I don't think I danced with a single person I didn't previously know on the Fri night
* Missing out on some excellent looking workshops. I sacrifice classes for longer freestyle time (have to sleep at some point :rolleyes: )
* Temperature fluctuations in the blues room though I gather this was beyond Jive Addiction's control
* Still not learning my lesson about needing to keep drinking water alongside beer throughout the night in order to avoid the dehydration I experienced on saturday and Monday mornings :sick:

Ugly
* Me (and Cruella :D ) as we left the venue on Sunday morning at 11.40. We weren't the last people standing as CJ and Claire S were still on DJ duty :worthy: I know people criticise those who stay up for daft periods of time on the basis that dance weekenders are not endurance competitions but I believe each to their own and there's something that happens in those early hours that just isn't captured at any other time and that is one of the key attractions of Southport for me.

Overall I had a very good weekend. If Southport is held in February again next year I certainly hope to be there.

Sheepman
6th-February-2007, 03:42 AM
It's nearly 3 a.m., my 30 minute nap on returning home turned into 3 and a half hours, and now I'm wired & ready for dancing.
But the blues room is closed, 'cos it's Tuesday :tears:

I had a great weekend, despite a low key start. (Trying to catch up after just 30 minutes sleep on Thursday night.) The chalet was always comfortably warm (except that bathroom floor, brrrrr) despite the fact that outside it was freezing.

Cheesecake

The new marquee was brilliant, a demonstration of John & Wes's commitment, so good to know that the floor will be a permanent feature. There was one downside for me, it meant that I couldn't hear all the music while I was in the chalet, so there was more chance of me duplicating other DJs tracks.
There again, I heard very little dupliaction from the blues room, Temptation only 3 times over the weekend, Jack Johnson's "Better Together" just once, ( as opposed to 15 times in September!) And I only heard "Baby it's cold outside" once :really: )


As far as I was concerned the organisation and running was excellent, OK I wasn't in all rooms at all times, but I'm impressed with the flexibility of the team, any behind the scenes problems were promptly dealt with. John or Wes seemed to be on hand 24 hours a day, I'm not sure how they manage that!

Cheesecake

I only managed the WCS classes, the rotation seemed to be efficiently run, even in the class that Parker admitted was the biggest he'd ever seen. I heard plenty of good comments regarding his teaching from both beginners and more experienced dancers. Personally I found his lessons both very clear, and challenging.

Cheesecake

I was mostly feeling a bit below par with my dancing, but when I was more relaxed I had loads of fab dances with so many partners. Of course there was the moment when I felt myself below Mrs Par :blush: I'm glad I managed to provide a soft(ish) landing! Specially memorable were the dances with Caro & Freya leading :respect: I've decided following has to be a great way of learning/remembering moves, I'll have to get competent first though!

Did I mention the cheesecake at LM's café? :drool:
(No, I didn't have more than my fair share, it was just quality control :whistle: )

And the downside -
The temperature fluctuations in the blues room were rather extreme, but inevitably just right for dancing, is going to be too cold for sitting (or DJing).
Water jugs not always filled at the blues room bar, - there's no time to ask the staff when some charming lady is waiting for that dance...

Other good points included Little Monkey's back lasting out for the weekend. (Until that neanderthal forced her into an aerial :angry: :angry: )
People recognising my Hollywood costume without prompting!
Meeting & chatting briefly with Flavia, Parker, Super Mario, all seemed charming and lovely, and totally unaffected despite "star" status.

Greg

No more cheesecake :sad:

Minnie M
6th-February-2007, 08:32 AM
If you mean 1am-ish Sat or Sun (not Fri), then I was DJing. I Didn't see anything unusual... just coincidence probably........./quote snip/..............It was before the start of my DJ set on Sun 1am & lots of people were leaving to chalets..

:worthy: :respect: :worthy: (especially "1am-ish Sat or Sun (not Fri), then I was DJing"

I have my answer :clap:

(mind you not sure what the Main Ballroom & the Latin Room was like)

Ian from Brighton ???? didn't know about him or who he is and I live in Brighon (Hove actually)

I agree with Feeling Pink - it would be nice to know who and where the DJ's are, and what sets they are playing (please)

The music is one of the most importants things about these weekenders, they can make and break an otherwise fab time, and it would be nice if organisers had contructive feed back with names to assess their 'mass' abilitiy and which 'room' best suits them as well as their 'slot' time :flower:

PS: (definitely needs a mention on this thread)
Susan (Brady Roger's partner) partnering Parker Dearbourne when Jessica went home :worthy: :worthy: she not only looked fab and was a perfect demo - a lot of people actually thought she WAS Jessica :worthy: :worthy:

Princess Fi
6th-February-2007, 09:53 AM
What can I say - I had a fab Southport! :clap:

Memorable moments:

Managing to finally get there despite Ducasi's directions given over the phone ("head away from the moon" :rofl:)

Dips and Drops class - Always wanted to do one and really glad I did

Discovering the power of Pro Plus (:worthy:) and the fantastic time it allowed me to have on the Saturday night

The cast of Kill Bill - nuff said :waycool:

The blonde moment where I thought the pole in Witty and Taz's room was actually a Pontins' design feature :blush:

Thank you to everyone for the superb dances (I don't like naming names since I invariably forget someone :blush:)

Thanks to Taz for keeping me entertained on Sunday after my eye took on an elbow and lost (next time I see you I'll get you that sword for the bathroom)

:hug: to my chalet-mate who had to leave SP early for a family emergency - hope everything is well and sorted out :flower:

Also thanks to the lovely girls who threw me my party (:hug:) and set me my hen-dares (I hate to think of the impression that a whole bunch of random strangers got of me with me asking if they were wearing any underwear :blush: Special thanks to the lovely non forumite who went the extra mile and actually helped me tick that off on my list!)

Oh and Freya - when the time comes, I'll get you back for that :devil:

Princess Fi
6th-February-2007, 09:55 AM
Oh out of curiosity, is anyone posting photos from the weekend anywhere?

Lounge Lizard
6th-February-2007, 11:14 AM
I had a great time, it was a shame Evelyne could not be there but she had to viset her mum in Switzerland at short notice.
I must thank Isabelle for demo'ing with me in the dips & drops class Sunday, she was great (danced till 6am sunday and met up for practice at 11am:clap:
A big thanks to the dancers that stayed in the main hall with me till 6am monday morning:respect:
The main hall was due to close at 4am so I made the announcement about the last track etc. started packing up the Video DJ'ing kit (hope you enjoyed the music video's Sat & Sun) and was playing a few R'n'B tracks................typical southport the dancers kept on dancing so we had two hours of mainly R'n'B/Club tracks (+ The Woo Woo song:whistle: ) that I like but do not play at MJ events.

Another first for Southport TWO dance rooms continuing till 6am.

It was great to se Jb at Southport, & I agree Jon about WCS - to me WCS music is often a very good reason to go & dance in another room & the Latin room was either empty/Salsa/tango when I visited it.
As JB said could the Latin Room become a WCS/Latin Hall?

All in All a good weekender with some high & low points, and fantastic organisation (as expected by Jive Addiction team):respect:
I had some great dances,:grin:
Met some forumites,:cheers:
Dined out with a Chef:wink:
Really missed not being with Evelyne:sad:
Got to play with my new equipment on stage:eek:
Had a warm chalet throughout the weekend and I did not get cold in any of the dance venues:nice:
DJ'd for my first time ever to a completly empty room:tears: (well it was the Latin Room between 8pm & 9.30 - dancers drifted in about 9.15)
I enjoyed my My blues room set was on Friday night/sat morning:)
peter

Gypsy Rose
6th-February-2007, 11:36 AM
all in all (and this is only my opinion) the weekend has no way lived up to the others.

Sorry Paul, but I completely disagree, IMO this was the best yet :clap: :clap: ...... there were less people, but every dance was great. It meant there was more room and you could actually find people that you had promised to dance with. You could chill and chat and were able to grab a dance with lots of people you hadn't danced with before. The quality of dancing was really high...and there was loads of wcs! The teachers were amazing :worthy: and happy to get out there and dance and chat with us all. The cabaret was fab although I quickly exited to the blues room when the fancy dress thing happened. It was great to be in a great venue with good friends, lots of quality dancing without being overwhelmed by crowds of people..... I had a great time! special thanks to trampy for playing my fav track on Sunday night and having a great dance to it!:flower:

tsh
6th-February-2007, 11:39 AM
OK, before I read what everyone else has said (now that I'm vaguely awake again), here are my impressions. First time at Southport, but about my 6th weekender overall.

Good:
*Great people, great dancing. Overall, the highest standard I think I've seen at a weekender (except maybe 'Goodnight Sweetheart' but there the beginners didn't seem to go to the freestyle at all)
*Enjoyed the chance to play with some WCS, even if only the first class seemed aimed at newcommers to swing. (Thanks to the forum WCS teaching team as well for giving me some pointers!)
*The aerials class being re-run, and managing to find a partner for the class, then getting through the move without dropping her on the floor!
*Good teaching, all the classes I went to were successful (not always easy to follow, but problems were addressed). (Tango for jivers was aimed at the wrong audience though, it should have been called jive to tango dancers. I know I can't lead an ocho outside of a jango class where I know the followers will not need directing)
*Good flooring. Nice and fast, and no problems for me with the surface not being level.
*Great layout with music pretty much non-stop in the bar thought the day.
*Overall organisation seemed well managed, less of the prison camp feel that Franco managed to generate at camber. Teachers were only pushing their own DVDs, which was more acceptable.
*Video screens in the classes to show the footwork.

Bad:
*Some communication issues when classes were re-scheduled. Turn up for a class after taking a break, and announcement that the room has been commandeered for something else. It would have been nice to have been told what had happened to the advertised class rather than just pandering to the invaders. Similarly, the re-arrangement of the aerials class seemed to be a big secret. If I'd not done the advanced jive, I'd have missed it.
*Temperature control. Maybe this is partly the venue, but the hot/cold zones were a bit of an issue. Also, once it starts to get a bit quieter, maybe turning off the blowers would help. I didn't see any effect of this being 'managed' at all, which was disapointing. (communication again)
*Too crowded. Both for the freestyle on saturday night, and the classes. If that was quiet, I'm going to think twice about going when it's full.
*Music. This wouldn't have been a problem except that I wanted to dance with people who were too intimidated to come into the blues room, but most of the time the main room wasn't a place I wanted to be. Ended up dancing a while in the latin room as a bit of a compromise. Luckily, the music there whilst not my favourite choice was still interesting :)

Ugly:
*A double trouble class scheduled at the same time as a latin class. Pause for a moment, and consider where the ladies are going to be. It turned into a virtual fixed partner's class. If the ladies don't want to do double trouble, don't run a class. I dropped into Vincent's class briefly, there seemed to be masses of ladies over who were convinced that they were supposed to lead, and ended up resting my feet in the bar for that slot.

Overall, I still prefer Warmwell, but only just - and they're not trying to do the same thing.

Sean

foxylady
6th-February-2007, 12:17 PM
I love Southport.

Good :

* a fab new discovery in the blues room - you know who you are :wink:
* luscious dances followed by luscious dances
* great teaching line-up, the classes I did were good, and I enjoyed the cabaret (but I was disappointed that Natalie was injured)
* The teachers joining in with the whole Southport party feel, and dancing with all who asked and enjoying it !!
* The new floor and doubling of the blues room space
* I loved all the WCS music and dancing (even if I do WCS with a lindy feel and jive with a WCS feel, and then throw in a latin-y or hip hoppy slant to something just for the fun of it - thank you to the patient leaders who put up with me)
* All the wonderful improvisational dances I got with PaulF :yum:
* staying up till past 6 o’clock every morning (although disappointed in myself that I bottled before breakfast on saturday)
* having space to dance - I never actually felt that it was crowded, although it did mean it thinned out a little earlier than usual
* Seeing and dancing with all the lovely Scottish dancers that I don’t get much opportunity to see elsewhere
* Feeling that I was at a wonderful private party with all my friends, rather than at a commercially run dance weekender..
* Fab relaxing chalet mates (Cruella, Rob D, and jive_p), who had me in stitches all weekend (when I wasn’t asleep)

Could be improved :

Music. It’s the first time at southport that when I’ve not liked one set, that I have not been able to find an alternative that I liked. Spent a bit more time wandering between rooms. Missed Marc and Sheena music. Would have liked DJ lists.

Temperature. I’d rather be too hot than too cold, and I know others felt the opposite, so when they were unhappy I was happy and vice versa. I think the blues room suffered the most in terms of temperature fluctuations…

Missing some of the faces that I look forward to seeing at Southport - Franck, Sheena, Jammy to name only a few… and not having a F & S waffle party :tears:


I think John and Wes organise a terrific weekend, and they are charming, and approachable, and yes ! seem to be on hand at all times (do they never sleep?)…. They obviously enjoy themselves thoroughly too !! :clap:


Roll on June !

Simon
6th-February-2007, 12:31 PM
Gripes
• Associating Southport with sunshine and warmth, barbecues and dancing outside (June and September), then going in the winter and not being able to comprehend why my chalet was freezing most of the weekend (despite constantly feeding it electricity cards; probably because I’m a Southern Softie :blush: )
• Having a chalet front door which had to be kicked to open and close and a bedroom door which couldn’t be opened from the inside. My wonderful chalet mate, Janice, had to keep on opening it for me (or not, if I was being naughty)
• Rotation in very busy classes: if classes are enormously popular make sure the teachers are fully briefed in advance on the best way to deal with it or there should be an organiser on hand on each occasion to grab the mike and sort it out. Any chance of teachers repeating classes in order to split the turnout (the first class taught by a SCD couple is going to be predictably heaving)? Also, I don't like to see rows of rotating dancers squashed together and the fixed couples enjoying lots of space (as in the latin room for the WCS). And what happened to the screens showing the dancers during the lessons on Sunday?
• Everyone’s raving about dancing in the afternoons and it sounds like I’ve missed out. I was at lessons. It’s a difficult trade-off. :tears:
• Blues Room music: variable, great at times, poor at other times, especially some of the uninspiring stuff on the Saturday night (yippee, yet another slow, swing, ironic remake of a pop classic – where did you find that? Wow, you must be a great DJ because you’ve found something so obscure :sick: ) that I braved it and went into the Latin room and Main Room and had wonderful dances in both :clap:
• Please, no more Mikey compering. I had to leave before the end as it was too much.

Grins
• 12 noon check out time (is it always that late?). Nice not to have to leave in a hurry.
• Cabarets. Still easily the best. (Damn oversleeping meant that I didn’t get my usual front row position, but mercifully meant that I didn’t run the risk of getting a microphone shoved in my face). Plus, AnimalTalk was a star.
• Dinners with friends (even if slightly singed :whistle: )
• Impromptu DJ set from TWK in the Dance Den
• Only managed lessons with Parker and Vincent and Flavia. All really engaging teachers and personalities. Wonderful coup to have them.
• Great dances. Too many to list. Makes you feel great to be alive! Can't wait for more in June.

detomo
6th-February-2007, 01:04 PM
My second Southport and it was a great one! :clap:

Good
- Meeting some of the Forumites. Putting names and faces to online titles is a good thing. And danced with some of them too.
- Had best dances in different rooms each night. Best Blues on Fri, best Latin on Sat, best Main on Sun :)
- Music we don't get at home. It was great to dance to Blues and Latin music we would never get back in Exeter.
- Animaltalk's birthday. Having put in a fiver each, he certainly got our money's worth with the Cabaret dance :eek:
- The Exeter crew. It was great having our six chalets together, including last minute guests and forumites DianaS and FeelingPink :)
- 12 o'clock kick out on Monday Morning
- Met Dynamo again. We'll have to have a pint at Warmwell in March :)
- Good caberet dances

Not So Good
- Hot then cold. Some rooms would go from really hot, then fairly chilly a couple of hours later. :(
- Having my house broken into by a drunken student as I tried to regain my sleep on Monday night. :angry:
- No Mark Djing in the Latin room :(

Have booked up for June as well :)

Rob May
6th-February-2007, 01:17 PM
Having not been to a weekender since Beach Boogie 2000 (or was it Camber 2001?!), I had a great old time....I'm showing my age now!

It's been too many years of dance retirement for me and therefore it was all pretty good.

highlights
Dancing with so many people I have never seen before
WCS classes with Parker
Losing my inhibitions on the Blues floor :wink:
So much room to dance
Watching so many talented dancers combine so many different elements of different dance styles
Cabarets - Parker & Jessica and V&F were brilliant
My great dances with Lisa, Foxy & Fran

Negatives
Not always finding a tune to dance to. With 3 rooms running simultaneously I was surprised.
Not being able to freestyle WCS - so smooth, it's something I will try and get into.
Usual horrible chalets at these types of places

Aberdonians - thank you for looking after me :nice:

Thank you for all my great dances everybody!!!

SuzyQ
6th-February-2007, 02:05 PM
That was my first proper weekender ... EVER

And what can I say ... am totally totally addicted! Great dancing, great floors, nice chalet, nice people, fantastic teachers (who danced with us plebs) ...

I had a great time!

Just slept for a solid 13 hours so also feel human once more.

Lots of terrific dances ... though by Sunday my legs were shot and could barely walk let alone dance!

Also discovered a new game - dancing with a full bottle of water in your left hand (was dragged on dance floor too quick to put it down) - added 2 more spins to my normal number ... woooooo hooooo!

Only bad points - fluctuating temperatures (must be hard to control when it is Feb!) and someone nicked my long gloves on Sat night (before you ask they were on top of my very distinctive purple dance bag so not easy to mistake them for a cardigan or something)!

SuzyQ

sapphire
6th-February-2007, 02:06 PM
Animaltalk's birthday. Having put in a fiver each, he certainly got our money's worth with the Cabaret dance :eek:

I organised the private lesson for animaltalk with John, Vincent and Flavia on behalf of lots of us from Exeter and elsewhere and I had no idea that they were going to make his 30th birthday so special by getting him to dance with Flavia at cabaret time and neither did he! He did go an incredible shade of white :sick: Many thanks to John and Jive Addiction and to Vincent and Flavia and to JB for giving Animaltalk just the right amount of music:respect: And didn't Animaltalk to an amazing job.

I had a tremendous Southport. I did get cold at times in the blues room but then I often do when I get tired. It was fab to have more floor space.

I had loads of amazing dances and was delighted to see a new discovery I had made in Torquay a fortnight ago at Southport. Was great to dance Tango with you again.

Absolutely adored Vincent and Flavia's lessons.

DianaS
6th-February-2007, 02:29 PM
Saphire
That was such a lovely thing to do, Feeling Pink took a few piccies they really showed just how skilled and stunned he was!
it was truely a moment to remember:respect:

jivebunny
6th-February-2007, 02:34 PM
I had a great weekend, it was everything and more then i expected (it's only my second time) :clap:

I loved the floors and the music, I felt my confidence has trebled and spent most of my time in the blues room:nice: . I had some marvellous dances with some usual partners, Jive Addicted (the set in the blues room), and David Y. I found some other partners along the way, some from the forum, killingtime – even though I got stood on!:really: Under Par , andTall guy nice shoes. Some other guys to, one called Ian who I had an impromptu waltz with on Sunday afternoon, I had never done the waltz before and loved it, and some others called Joe, Mark and David. Plus lots more that I never found out the names off.

I loved the cabaret, although I preferred Parkers and Jessica’s second dance to the first, and I thought that guys birthday day dance with Flavia was good to.

I did a few classes, I loved the WCS, I was disappointed with the AT due to the lack or organisation at the beginning, I therefore spent most of it on my own as the rotation wasn’t really working. I fixed partnered Jive addicted in the Advance Modern Jive, but to be honest didn’t find it to advanced and we were getting a little bored with it. The Belly dancing was great fun, would recommend that on a Sunday afternoon to anyone. I also enjoyed the Musicallity class with Ceroc Jock, I found that this really helped my dancing on the Saturday night, I was listening so much more to the music, so thank you CJ.

Highlights of the weekend:
Jive addicted’s face when he’d danced with Flavia :rofl:
My waltz’s with Ian
All my dances with Jive addicted
My confidence


Downlights of the weekend:
The AT class, I was so looking forward to this.
The damp in our chalet, I am full of cold today.
Pain in my feet:sick:
getting stood on by a ladies heel on friday night, i had only been out 15 mins and was only on to my second dance, i spend the next 15mins with my foot in ice! :sick:

All in all FANTASITC

Feelingpink
6th-February-2007, 02:55 PM
Oh out of curiosity, is anyone posting photos from the weekend anywhere?Have a few, mainly from the cabaret - will put them up tonight. Here's one of Vincent & Flavia.

Jennifer
6th-February-2007, 02:57 PM
The good

Another great Southport for me. John and Wes always seem to have improved on something.

*First of all I loved arriving to a warm chalet and the free power cards - I was cosy all weekend.
*The flooring outside the Blues Room was excellent, so much better than falling down spaces in the decking.
*As always a great teaching line-up and inspiring cabarets.
*Another yummy free breakfast.
*Catching up with friends from all over.
*So much opportunity to dance WCS. :clap:
*A dance with Parker. :awe:
*Amazing dances at all hours of the day and night with so many of my favourites. :drool:

The bad
*I would have liked to see some DJ lists.
*I didn't get a dance with BTC Bill. :tears:
*My feet still hurt!
*It's over. :sad:

Overall I think that Foxylady sums up the Southport feeling perfectly.


* Feeling that I was at a wonderful private party with all my friends, rather than at a commercially run dance weekender..

Thanks John and Wes for another good one. :hug:

Wes
6th-February-2007, 02:59 PM
Yes, we do apologise for the temperature fluctuations in the blues room, however as
this was our first WINTER weekender (of many to come), we just did not know what to expect with the new Marquee! We did make some provision of heat for the new marquee, just in case, but in hindsight, we now know it was a relatively pathetic attempt!:blush: But, this positively WILL be addressed for next February.

Comments re DJ’s have been noted, (and generally agreed with) altho’ the old maxim does apply here ‘you cannot please all of the people all of the time’.

But it is nice to hear that the new extension to the Blues Room was a hit with all of you.:respect:

SuzyQ
6th-February-2007, 03:02 PM
Just to say my problem wasn't with the coldness in the blues marquee ...
it was with the heat elsewhere! ... am probably quite unusual though ;)!

Am with Jennifer - am sad it is over!!

sapphire
6th-February-2007, 03:03 PM
Found I was sharing with a guy called Steve, who was "fine so long you didn't give him a drink" :rofl:
Feeling Pink was in the same chalet and we had a brill time Cheers FP you were a star!
Steve arrived turned out he was a stunning dance teacher from somewhere down south and the loveliest chalet mate you could have! :cheers:
Wine was drunk and a bag caught fire
Charlie Chaplin extinguished the fire and soaked Hardy in the process

It was great to have you both as part of our crowd and it would be lovely to see Feeling Pink's photos of Animaltalk's dance with Flavia sometime.

Gypsy Rose and I travelled home with Stevie (who teaches in Exmouth incidentally) and were told the very entertaining fire story and also told what lovely chalet mates you and FP were!

Freya
6th-February-2007, 03:03 PM
Ok! After uni this morning I'm whipped! 9am uni starts with a very boring lecture is not my idea of fun! Took alot of effort to stay awake!

I had A FANTASTIC time this weekend! I think it was a completely different atmosphere to September! I for one was much more chilled out than in September!

The Good!
My Flatmates! - Lisa, Caro and Neil. Great atmosphere in the Apartment...Thanx lisa for looking after me!

LM's Cafe - Cheescake with whipped cream and tea on fri night fabulous! and only 4 hugs! :wink:

The dancing! I had some wonderful dances! Although Didn't get to dance with a few people that I really wanted to dance :sad:

My one and only Class! I did the 1st WCS class. thanx to Mostlysane who partnered me for it! He put up with my frustrations and muck ups and helped me to get it right! Shame it's not that easy in freestyle!

Fi's Hen Do! We had a laugh. it was simple but fun! Well done for doing most your dares! Sorry you had to go to bed early with a headache!

Dancing till I could no longer stand! And getting Breakfast for it! Then giving away my toast and egg! ;)

Who ever was DJ'ing the main room at 4 am monday morning. Just up from a nap feeling a bit sleepy still JAmie and me ventured in for a fast dance and discovered him playing similar music as the Blues room :sick: Asked him to put on Candyman which he did and this kicked off some really funky upbeat music!

Some really fun dances in the main room! There's a first time for everything! - Especially with the two steves! And The 4-way switch around with JAmie, Caz and MartinHarper!

Kill Bill - Need I say more! Everyone really made an Effort and we looked fab!

The Caberets - WOW!

The Bad

Our chalet although warm was very Damp!

My partner in crime having to leave early on the sunday night! Glad you got home safe and sound though :hug:

the music in the blues room was uninspiring aty times!

Trampy not coming back next time! Sheena and Marc were sorely missed!

The weird!

Oh, and Jamie is such a boring dancer. :whistle: Yeah Why does he bother! :wink:


Freya is a scary lady.:whistle: Eh????


* So many memorable dances, sometimes for the novelty of following, thanks Jamie and Freya, but mostly for great partners with great music




Specially memorable were the dances with Caro & Freya leading :respect: I've decided following has to be a great way of learning/remembering moves, I'll have to get competent first though!

You both follow very very well! Rob you hsave the lightest touch I have ever experienced in a male follower! :respect:

Now I just have to become a better lead! Thanx to Chef and Rob for going over some variations of things and teaching me the technique behind them more than the actuall moves! I love them! just need to find some victims!

Tazmanian Devil
6th-February-2007, 03:17 PM
Thanks to Taz for keeping me entertained on Sunday after my eye took on an elbow and lost (next time I see you I'll get you that sword for the bathroom)
Can you arrange for The Rock to be there too please :drool:


Had a lovely time, The journey up was good fun with the exception of leving Raphael's at 4:45am :eek: but it was all worth it :clap: Thankyou Fletch for entertaining us and Trousers for coffee :hug:

Only done one class WCS which was absolutely fantastic :clap: thank you Mostly Sane for partnering me :worthy:

The music IMHO was great, it was lovely to see John Brett again, Meet Dance Demon and admire Lounge Lizards DVD mixers :drool: I want some :D No seriously though that is one wonderful piece of equipment you have there and you use it sooo well. :D

Lovely to see lots of forumites again and have a real catch up. Thankyou LM for muffins :drool:

Trousers
6th-February-2007, 03:20 PM
Personally and quite simply I had a great time

However I did hear of a few incidents that tempered that a little,
such as a very nice lady I know who, although being a larger lady and dances very nicely and very smoothly was asked in a very serious and demeaning tone why she was doing the AT Class. (I hope this wasn't a forumite)

Oh and someone dancing with my GF looking down her top and exclaiming 'Oh you've got a bra on!' and then ordering her to his chalet to resolve the issue! (I wish this wasn't a forumite)

Apart from the above I had some lovely dances with some lovely ladies and that's why I went.

Little Monkey
6th-February-2007, 03:21 PM
:worthy: :respect: :worthy: (especially "1am-ish Sat or Sun (not Fri), then I was DJing"

I have my answer :clap:

Actually, it was Greg djing from midnight (when lots of people went back to change after the cabaret) until 1.30, and it was pretty much packed in the blues room for that set.......

And as far as I remember, he constantly had people coming up to him to say 'wow, what was that track?', and even got a huge round of applause after his set finished! :respect:

Oh, and someone mentioned 'I like coffee, I like tea' in another post. The name of that track is 'Java Jive', btw.:flower:

Also enjoyed Trampy's late night set on Sunday (or shall we say Monday morning).

fletch
6th-February-2007, 04:12 PM
good bits


I love Southport its my favourite weekender :love:

meeting new people......lounge lizard, fab set on Sunday your the man,:respect: how mad was it in the main room late on, there wasn't many of us but it was such fun.:D

Watching Jamie and Adam's dance in the main room Sunday WOW! and the arial at the end, unbelievable :worthy:

I loved the names tags on Friday it helped find more forumties TSH, detomo to name a few. Gav's slogan on the back :eek:

Thank you Andy Mc and ChrisA for my dances in the main room you know why :wink: :waycool:

My dance with Yival, what an entertainer, he was worth every penny, funny approachable and danced with loads of people.:respect:

Witty and Crueller for winning the fancy dress competition :clap:

And to answer everyone who asked me if the underwear that Piggy was wearing WAS mine, how could it be, I don't wear any. :whistle:

CJ, I didn't do the musicality class, but did get a taste when you put the track on form the class, BARMPOT rushed over to say 'you must do this with me I need to practice' CJ what have you done :eek: I think you have unleashed a monster. :rofl:

Thank you Gus for the dance and putting the 'snake' on for me :cheers:

I loved dancing in the afternoons, glad I went to bed at 7 on Sunday morning I got 5 hrs sleep and was really up for it then the rest of the day and no tears. :hug:

Fab music, disco classics in the 'blues room' thanks JB and Graham :clap:

Princess Fi hen party,:hug: how come I had the dance with Disco Derek.:what:

Angelic dancing like a robot in the 'blues room' with one of my local guys

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Not such good bits

Missing Trampy putting the 'snake' on I can't believe I missed it,:tears: but one thing is for sure I will miss you Trampy. :sad:

Been pulled to bits by a guy in the main room to a lovely slow track and told to stop doing my own thing he was to lead always.:mad:

Been told by a guy in the blues room at 6.30 Sunday morning to stop making excuses for not dancing with him, if I didn't want to dance just say, he never asked me before. :angry: he won't get an apology again, as I was having an in-depth conversation and agreed to go back, which I did, he will be one of the very few that will get a straight NO. Upset I went to bed.:mad:

Been licked by acheco:sick: :D

The comments that have been made regarding Mikey's comparing,:mad: if he hadn't been so worried about upsetting people, he might not have come across so nervous and allowed is personality to come out. My response, Mikey you have always been an easy target and always will be, you will never be able to do right from wrong, not on this forum anyway.:flower:





John & Wes

You are leagues ahead IMO how may day's till the next in June I think you will need the rest :hug:

:worthy: :respect:

fletch
6th-February-2007, 04:18 PM
)

someone dancing with my GF looking down her top and exclaiming 'Oh you've got a bra on!' and then ordering her to his chalet to resolve the issue! (I wish this wasn't a forumite)



Well the GF carn't stand for Gill Fletcher I don't wear one :rofl:

David Bailey
6th-February-2007, 04:31 PM
Crueller
:rofl: - come on, someone do a "List of Fletchisms".... :na:


And to answer everyone who asked me if the underwear that Piggy was wearing WAS mine, how could it be, I don't wear any. :whistle:
Waaaay too much information.


The comments that have been made regarding Mikey's comparing,:mad: if he hadn't been so worried about upsetting people, he might not have come across so nervous and allowed is personality to come out. My response, Mikey you have always been an easy target and always will be, you will never be able to do right from wrong, not on this forum anyway.:flower:
Hmmm, you reckon it's another round of bash-the-Mikey? But it can't be - I thought that only Gus / Andy McG were allowed to start those off. Isn't that The Law? :confused: :innocent:

LMC
6th-February-2007, 04:42 PM
Re: compering - The boring rubbish bits were where Mikey was going round picking people out of the audience and talking to them (er, I believe I specifically mentioned getting rid of the audience participation rather than the compering as a whole). I will now clarify further:

Animal Talk and Flavia - that was entertaining and different and :respect: to AT (I could also see he was shaking!)

Mikey's introductions to the cabaret and individual acts were all absolutely fine. We just want less chat between the acts please (as I said in my earlier post, perhaps ask some of the other teachers to perform their showcases while waiting for the "professionals" to change/recover between performances).

No personal disrespect intended - I don't *know* Mikey: my comment would have applied to any compere who was doing the equivalent of a fourth-rate seaside town comedian talking to people who most of the audience couldn't care less about unless they actually know them:

The cabaret and fancy dress last an hour or more as it is - by which time bums are numb and muscles have stiffened. We want to be spending that time watching good dancing or actually dancing ourselves, not listening to inane chatter - which may or may not have been better or worse with anyone else compering.

EDIT: after reading following posts: I skedaddled in the general movement as the fancy dress was starting 'cos I was getting cold - so none of the above applies to any of that part of the evening as I wasn't there.

TheTramp
6th-February-2007, 04:44 PM
I had a rather good Southport thank you.

The music and dancing weren't bad either! :D

TheTramp
6th-February-2007, 04:47 PM
Mikey's introductions to the cabaret and individual acts were all absolutely fine.

Actually - and I don't know who wrote the introductions, so I'm not having a go at Mikey intentionally - but did anyone else think that it was a little strange to hear Parker and Jessica introduced as the 2nd best couple (I can't remember the exact wording though). I know that it's to Jordan and Tatiana, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but it just sounded wrong when I was listening to their intro.

I'm sure that there must be a better way to say it than that. Toby and I were talking about it afterwards, and we both agreed then that it sounded strange.

fletch
6th-February-2007, 04:48 PM
Hmmm, you reckon it's another round of bash-the-Mikey? But it can't be - I thought that only Gus / Andy McG were allowed to start those off. Isn't that The Law? :confused: :innocent:
No, i'm not saying its a bash Mikey,:rolleyes: and I will be the first to say it wasn't his best performance. After the show we were chatting and he made a typical Mikey comment regarding piggy impromptu speech about underwear, when I asked him why he hadn't come out with the comment he made to me, he said he was worried about upsetting people,:what: when I said that I wouldn't have been up set, the comment was about me,:eek: he said he didn't want anyone to say his performance was .....er.... cant remember to right word.......but smutty I suppose will do.:(

MartinHarper
6th-February-2007, 04:49 PM
The cabaret and fancy dress last an hour or more as it is - by which time bums are numb and muscles have stiffened. We want to be spending that time watching good dancing or actually dancing ourselves...

That's pretty much why I left after the cabaret proper had finished.

LMC
6th-February-2007, 04:53 PM
Afterthought: quite impressive that a SP argument hasn't started until page 4 of the thread though.

And no-one has mentioned blues room elitism yet

Minnie M
6th-February-2007, 05:04 PM
Actually, it was Greg djing from midnight (when lots of people went back to change after the cabaret) until 1.30, and it was pretty much packed in the blues room for that set........

sorry LM ..... I had no idea who was the DJ was, only that it was unusually very very packed..... I love Sheepy's music :respect: so not surprised at all that he was the instigator of filling the room up :worthy:

I forgot to thank John and Wes publicly for yet another fantastic weekend :worthy: didn't get a chance to dance with John this time, but had a wicked dance with Wes on Sunday night :clap: (not sure who said it but when do they sleep:confused: they are always at hand with a smile and time to chat, and more than that they LISTEN to us :respect:

BTW Feeling Pink - that smiley man I danced with on Sunday in the Blues Room was Flynne (teaches for Roy at Ceroc Oxford) and he is a wonderful lead :drool: and we do have so much fun 'playing'

David Bailey
6th-February-2007, 05:09 PM
Actually - and I don't know who wrote the introductions, so I'm not having a go at Mikey intentionally - but did anyone else think that it was a little strange to hear Parker and Jessica introduced as the 2nd best couple (I can't remember the exact wording though). I know that it's to Jordan and Tatiana, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but it just sounded wrong when I was listening to their intro.
Yeah, being called "Second" at anything naturally invites the "So who's first?" question.

"One of the best" is probably a better phrasing.


Afterthought: quite impressive that a SP argument hasn't started until page 4 of the thread though.
It took me a while to get involved.

Nice to see that my "Good and bad" tradition has been maintained though :)

The Passion Harem
6th-February-2007, 05:09 PM
I had fun.

Thank you all,
:hug:

Lory
6th-February-2007, 05:36 PM
I had a brilliant time!

Highlights

Underpar's and Yuval's dance! It was hysterical, their faces were so serious, which made it even funnier! :respect: :rofl:

My chalet was lovely and warm and I had the bonus of a broken meter, so my leccy was free! :clap:
I will never forget my experience at Camber once, when the chalet was so cold, that I cried :tears: it felt as if I was in a meat freezer. I do hope Ceroc nick this idea for Storm! :wink:

The floors were the best i've ever danced on :drool: (BTW, just how far do you think we slid UP?)

Mine and Kev's private lesson with Parker :waycool: .... He was very informative and honed in on a couple of specific area's to work on but at the same time, was complementary and reassuring.:)
I also had a couple of fab dances with him over the weekend but the Sunday one was by far the best, as I somehow managed to switch off to the fact I was actually dancing with one of my hero's, someone that i've watched over and over again on DVD!!!!!!:worthy:

Vincent and Flavia were absolutely lovely people, I had a good old chat with them on Sunday and they said how much they'd genuinely enjoyed themselves and dancing with everyone! :grin: Vincent made me crease up, when he said he really wants to learn how to MJ properly! :really: And I thought he was having a joke with me on the Saturday night, when he asked me to teach him some moves but apparently not! :rofl:

LMC you were a total star, for doing all the driving, thanks hun!:cheers: :hug:

Sleeping tablets, that actually worked! :clap: A tad faster than anticipated though :whistle:

The cabaret - I thought the acts themselves were superb and WOW Animal Talk, I couldn't believe how cool you looked about it all! :waycool:

The unsung Dj hero for me, was Graham, who IMO played an absolutely stunning set early on Saturday night in the Blues room. Everyone a winner AFAIC :cheers:

I loved the marquee, it looked so pretty too.

I thought the standard of dancers this weekend, was the highest concentrate i've ever experienced at a weekender. I had some of my best dances EVER and it goes without saying, you know who you are! :hug:

Lows

I missed Tiggerbabe and Franck and also missed Marc Djing :sad:

Although I like having a chalet to myself, I did get a tad lonely a couple of times and missed some of my usual chilling out time and having pre-dance drinks with some of my close friends. It's different in the summer, when everyone has their doors open.;)

The temperature thing. This is such a difficult one :confused: as I loved dancing when it was cold but if I sat out for one track, I got freezing. I don't envy Wez and John's task to sort it but if anyone can, they will!

Lastly, I'd really like a DJ list too, it would make planning my day, sooooo much easier! :yeah:

Photo's.. Kev F dancing with Flavia :waycool: Brady with Ji vep :D and I havent got a clue who the last bunch of loony's are :whistle:

Freya
6th-February-2007, 06:03 PM
I I havent got a clue who the last bunch of loony's are :whistle:

Don't know Either! :whistle: But don't thehy look fab! :wink:

Little Monkey
6th-February-2007, 06:46 PM
Actually - and I don't know who wrote the introductions, so I'm not having a go at Mikey intentionally - but did anyone else think that it was a little strange to hear Parker and Jessica introduced as the 2nd best couple (I can't remember the exact wording though). I know that it's to Jordan and Tatiana, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but it just sounded wrong when I was listening to their intro.

I'm sure that there must be a better way to say it than that. Toby and I were talking about it afterwards, and we both agreed then that it sounded strange.

Yep, I was thinking exactly the same thing. When I heard it, I thought 'Right, that makes them sound like they're 'just' second best'......... Could definitely have been done better! Hopefully it was just an on-the-spot, not thought through comment.

MartinHarper
6th-February-2007, 08:09 PM
Hopefully it was just an on-the-spot, not thought through comment.

Nope. The same comment is in the programme.

Spin dryer
6th-February-2007, 08:11 PM
The site isn't live yet, but it promises to have pics from all jive addiction events, including last weekend:

http://www.luminousfrog.co.uk/

WittyBird
6th-February-2007, 08:20 PM
Afterthought: quite impressive that a SP argument hasn't started until page 4 of the thread though.

And no-one has mentioned blues room elitism yet

I agree..... One thing that annoyed me was the blues room didn't seem to be very elitist and cliquey. They were letting anyone in! That's why it was so damned packed.

What I want to know is where was Lucy Locket and the arm jive police when you needed them?

:whistle:

Freudian Hips
6th-February-2007, 08:49 PM
It was my first weekender.

I had a fab time!!!!

Got there under Ducasi's directions before the "head away from the moon" stage!! :rofl:

Apartment was warm - once you kicked the bottom of the door to get in.

Did a couple of WCS classes - hopefully some of it will stick but need to make sure I find people to practice it on/with :grin:

Didn't notice any music I didn't like although got turned down for a couple of dances on the grounds of the music :tears: At least that's what they told me ....... :rolleyes:

Met loads of forumites :hug: :flower: :hug: :flower: :hug:
And non-forumites :hug: :flower: :hug: :flower: :hug: (not that they're as likely to be reading this .... :confused:)

Well done to Caro and Freya who created the Kill Bill group :hug:
Had a great time with the girls on Sunday at princess Fi's hen bash. Well done Fi for managing so many of the "challenges". :clap:

Would have been perfect if Ducasi :awe: hadn't felt so poorly on Sunday - there seems to have been quite a few people with various illnesses. Hope everyone is feeling better.

Had just the most amazing dances ever - so many fab dancers in one place ... thank you all of you who danced with me :D

Booked for June :clap: :clap: :clap:

Brady
6th-February-2007, 09:13 PM
Finally recovered after a fantastic weekend in Southport. Well done once again to John & Wes for starting this new Feb. event. It was great to see such a variety of styles being taught and the best line-up of top teachers from around the world that any UK event has ever had! :cheers:


I was slightly disaapointed by their cabaret not being as spectacular as usual until it was announced that Jessica was pregnant - Congratulations to both her and Jordan :clap: :clap:

It was a bummer that they couldn't do the lifts, but given that Jessica had been in our chalet around 17:30 that evening and they still hadn't removed the lifts from the routine, I was very impressed by the last minute changes they had made. Also to note (since not announced), the first cabaret they did was a freestyle dance, not a choreographed routine. Perhaps they should have chosen a more upbeat track for the crowd enjoyment, but technically it was fantastic. :respect:


I was glad that I managed to see their cabaret complete with lifts last week in Paris. While Jessica was taken ill on saturday, Susan filled in with Parker and a grand job she did too :clap:.

You were lucky to see it live in Paris as she actually got in trouble with her doctor for that!!!! :really:

Now looking forward to Weston-super-Mare. Hopefully the few hundred people who were in Parker & Jessica's first class will all be there to make the UK's first designated WCS event a success. Hawaii have just added themselves to the map of top WCS events in the world and there is no reason why the UK shouldn't be next (and that's coming from an American!!!! :wink: ).

Brady

Caro
6th-February-2007, 09:41 PM
* So many memorable dances - sometimes for embarassing reasons, eh Caro :blush:, sometimes for the novelty of following, thanks Jamie and Freya,


well I see that some parts of me are better remembered than my lead or even dancing abilities :whistle: :really:
you naughty boy :wink:


Cheesecake

:respect: :yum: :hug: fantastic LM, and fab breakfast on monday morning! :wink:






Photo's.. (...) and I havent got a clue who the last bunch of loony's are :whistle:

Don't know Either! :whistle: But don't they look fab! :wink:

I'm with you there hun... I do wonder where's that hilarious pic of the bride smashing Buck's head in a door frame though :whistle:

Jon Brett
6th-February-2007, 10:06 PM
Actually, it was Greg djing from midnight (when lots of people went back to change after the cabaret) until 1.30, and it was pretty much packed in the blues room for that set.......


Yep that's right. I was on 1:30 Sat & 1am Sun.

Caz
6th-February-2007, 10:23 PM
It was really lovely to meet so many forumites on the Friday night and within 5 minutes of meeting Caz I was drawing on her back :na:


Thanx for that!! great to meet so many forumites too..the forumites gathering was a brilliant idea :worthy:

Only my 2nd SP.... 1st as a forumite... WICKED time... def booked for June.. did not want to come home....

best bits... WCS classes.. Double trouble class - me leading 2 more ladies. what a laugh :rofl: , the company, music, first free breakfast - thanx John and Wes! :flower: stayed awake far too long tho until 4.30 p.m. on the sunday and then dropped!! was a little hyper running and skipping around the blues room and main room on sunday afternoon with friends asking what drugs i had taken LOL.... stayed awake till music stopped on sunday night / monday morning too.... fantastic weekend..... miss it already xx

Feelingpink
6th-February-2007, 10:33 PM
Some piks: Stevie from Exeter messing with Tas, animaltalk in his private lesson, Phil as Charlie Chaplin (before the fire incident in our chalet), West Coasting in the cabaret and animaltalk & F in a very special birthday dance.

Feelingpink
6th-February-2007, 10:40 PM
Roger Chin, animaltalk again ('cos he was such a star - hadn't done tango for months before this weekend) and cabaret lindy.

Caz
6th-February-2007, 10:45 PM
Watching Jamie and Adam's dance in the main room Sunday WOW! and the arial at the end, unbelievable :worthy:





missed the Jamie and Adam dance.. will never live that down.......:hug:

johnah
6th-February-2007, 10:48 PM
Nope. The same comment is in the programme.

On the USA circuit they have a Swing Dance points ranking system and this is where it comes from. The programme states: "They are simply sensational dancers and, for the past two years, have been ranked [narrowly] in the USA as second only to Jordan & Tatiana".

Certainly Parker & Jessica were not in the least bit offended by such a ranking [used in all our promotional media], it is common place in the USA.

Nessiemonster
6th-February-2007, 10:53 PM
Had a fab time, with some excellent dances, in all rooms, but especially on Sunday night/Monday morning.

See you all in June...

:hug:

Jamie
6th-February-2007, 10:56 PM
Whoop! Wicked weekend, had loads of dances, thanks to everyone who led me aswell, I managed to get about 50 if not more leads! Whoop! At one point Sunday morning (10 ish AM) I'd danced with everyone in the room!

I was "Hyper like a Freya" most of the weekend, mixed with no sleep was a funny combination Sunday night/ Monday morning... My last dance was with Blueshoes, I was so dead that I couldn't even lead! I just ran up to him and said "lead me!!" in a rly pathetic voice... lol

Missed out on ma Trampy dance! I got a third of a dance... lol, will get you another time! You don't escape me that easily!

Always love my dances with Caz too! My best lead ever! Bless her.. And Raph, my baby, love him so much, we're getting married soon ya know.. :whistle: & of course, can't forget robd, propper bloke, fab lead & you followed pretty well too fella, was impressed!

Floors kicked ass, lots of spins! :D Trampy laughed at my arms tho! Pillock! :mad:

Kick ass music too! Was a bit pants on Friday night in the blues room tho, went to bed at 12 cos I hadn't slept for like 48 hours + the music wasn't hooking me so called it a night!

Just a fantastic weekend in general really, thanks for the free breakfast aswell John n Wes! :worthy:

Can't think of much else right now cos I'm so damn tired! Will probably come back in the mornin with a page full of stuff!

Just a quick thankyou aswell to everyone in the main room early monday morning, had some fun dances with Freya, MartinHarper, FirstMove, Caz, Fletch and of course Adam! which leads me (haha, see what I did there) to...


Watching Jamie and Adam's dance in the main room Sunday WOW! and the arial at the end, unbelievable :worthy:

Ennit tho! - Was incredible, how buzzing was I after that babe? :D


SEE YA ALL SOON I'M SURE!!!


HYPER LIKE A MONKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Caz
6th-February-2007, 10:58 PM
Hyper like a Freya!!!!!

Miss everyone.. how dull is it now... sat at home....

Freya
7th-February-2007, 12:24 AM
I'm with you there hun... I do wonder where's that hilarious pic of the bride smashing Buck's head in a door frame though :whistle:

Ok just for you here are some pics Of the Kill bill lot!


Cast List:
The Bride - Lisa
Buck - Rob May
Pai Mei -Killingtime
Hattori Hanzo - Neil
Gogo - Princess Fi
O-ren Ishii - Freudian Hips
Elle Driver - Caro
Sofie Fatal - Me
Crazy 88's - Ducasi, Andystyle & BeccaB

Lynn
7th-February-2007, 01:34 AM
* Feeling that I was at a wonderful private party with all my friends, rather than at a commercially run dance weekender. I was wondering what it is that makes Southport different and I think this is one of the factors. It really feels like an event run by dancers for dancers.

I was sure John and Wes had cloned themselves this weekend - they seemed to be everywhere :respect: - including up on the dance floor enjoying themselves. Big thanks guys for another fabulous event.

Another thing is the quality of teachers - and they were also up on the dance floor enjoying themselves.

The not so good moments -
- An over enthusiastic dancer in the main room on Fri night who hurt my back with some drops - if guys insist on doing drops without asking, why can't they at least learn how to do them properly? I took it easy and did some stretching exercises and it was OK the next day but it made me wary of dancing with unknowns for a while, esp in the main room (where they always seem to do more drops, despite it being more crowded). I did appreciate the guys who asked in advance if I wanted to do drops.
- Please don't think I'm a blues room elitist snob - I'm not - but why were some people doing big, bouncy, MJ in there? I have no problems with beginners in the blues room, no problem with slo-mo MJ as they learn how to adapt and adjust to the music - but why some people choose to dance in there, then totally ignore the music - I can't understand.
- Having sore feet on Sun night and not dancing as much as I would have liked - and being too much in pain and shy to ask Parker for a dance. (He seemed so approachable that I felt I could have, even as a total WCS beginner.)

Some memorable moments
- The cabarets - (with thanks to MH for keeping me dust free) - probably except for the bit with the microphone walk around - I was so busy trying to look invisible I really didn't hear the 'what's your name?' and was lost for words. Not something that happens often.:rolleyes:
- Some new finds in the blues room :drool:
- The AT dance where myself and partner were most un-AT like and spent about half the dance propping each other up in fits of giggles.
- Unexpectedly getting such a fab partner for the last WCS class. :waycool:
- The 'daffodil dance' with Barmpot. :rofl:
- All the WCS dances - thanks guys. (Shows how non-snooty the WCS dancers are as I only got smiles and nice dances when I asked and said I was a beginner.)


Southport for me is about celebrating the joy of dancing. June and September booked!

TheTramp
7th-February-2007, 02:27 AM
- Please don't think I'm a blues room elitist snob - I'm not - but why were some people doing big, bouncy, MJ in there? I have no problems with beginners in the blues room, no problem with slo-mo MJ as they learn how to adapt and adjust to the music - but why some people choose to dance in there, then totally ignore the music - I can't understand.

Maybe that's how they feel that they should be moving to the music. Or, more likely, they like that type of music, but are limited in their dancing ability and style.

Cruella
7th-February-2007, 09:08 AM
but why were some people doing big, bouncy, MJ in there? I have no problems with beginners in the blues room, no problem with slo-mo MJ as they learn how to adapt and adjust to the music - but why some people choose to dance in there, then totally ignore the music - I can't understand.

I was reminded of this thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9714&highlight=blue%27s)on sat night when one of the 'armjive police' said to me 'you were one of those that welcomed all 'these' into the Blues Room, now look what's happened'. Naturally I denied ever being welcoming, but after going back and rereading it, I see I was. :rolleyes: The only time i noticed lots of bouncy, big, jiving going on in there, was on sat night. IMO this was because the music was at times extremely non bluesy! I remember commenting that it was as if there were two main rooms as the music was similar. Sorry Jon but this seemed to be during your set. It was too busy at this time too so i went into the Latin room because I really didn't want to run the risk of getting my fractured foot stood on. Surely that is the answer, with 3 rooms to choose from, if you don't like what is happening in the blues room, go and try another room. It worked for me, i spent an hour or so in the Latin room had some lovely dances on a fairly empty floor and by the time i got back to the blues room it had emptied slightly and the music was back to the normal stuff we're accustomed too.

fletch
7th-February-2007, 09:40 AM
- The 'daffodil dance' with Barmpot. :rofl:




When I asked him what he was doing 'now' and said I have to go looking for a daffodil :confused:

I soooooo wish I had been there. :rofl:

Gav
7th-February-2007, 09:50 AM
- Please don't think I'm a blues room elitist snob - I'm not - but why were some people doing big, bouncy, MJ in there? I have no problems with beginners in the blues room, no problem with slo-mo MJ as they learn how to adapt and adjust to the music - but why some people choose to dance in there, then totally ignore the music - I can't understand.

Snob! :na:
You're right of course, but personally, I had never even tried blues until I was lucky enough (:wink: ) to be taken under WittyBird and Tazmanian Devils' wings at my first weekender.
If these people don't have friends in the blues room or local venues that play the right music they'll never know what they're doing wrong. Maybe some of the really good blues dancers should spot these couples and grab them at the end of the track and give them a few pointers to get them started?


Maybe that's how they feel that they should be moving to the music. Or, more likely, they like that type of music, but are limited in their dancing ability and style.

:yeah: :respect:


The only time i noticed lots of bouncy, big, jiving going on in there, was on sat night. IMO this was because the music was at times extremely non bluesy!

There were actually a few moments when I went from the main room to the blues room and heard the same song playing within about 5 minutes :confused:

TA Guy
7th-February-2007, 10:04 AM
- Please don't think I'm a blues room elitist snob - I'm not - but why were some people doing big, bouncy, MJ in there? I have no problems with beginners in the blues room, no problem with slo-mo MJ as they learn how to adapt and adjust to the music - but why some people choose to dance in there, then totally ignore the music - I can't understand.


Probably the same reasons why a lot of Blues dancers end up dancing weird slow-mo treacle wading moves to faster more bouncy music in the main hall. I always wonder exactly the same thing, why arn't you listening to the music!!!

People have to learn whoever they are, even if it's only to get out of what your used to.

Gav
7th-February-2007, 10:07 AM
Well my first ever Southport and I'm impressed. I don't have much to compare it to, having only done 1 Ceroc weekender before.

I wouldn't say the standards were higher, because there were many of the same people there, but there were definitely more dancers of a higher standard. I would imagine partly because of the location and partly because of the reputation.
Being there with a great bunch of friends helped, as did the T-shirts. It made it so much easier to spot people from the forum and say hello.

The AT lessons were great to watch (I didn't join in because it was too packed) and it was really nice to see the teachers socialising and dancing later in the evening too.

I always said I wouldn't do drops unless I'd been to a workshop with a fixed partner and practised lots. Personally I think it's just too risky to rotate in a workshop, then start dropping random strangers. Anyway, I found the perfect partner and did the first 1/2 hour or so. We stopped because at that point we had 3 drops and a dip to practise. Any more and I would've started forgetting stuff. After a bit of practise in the quieter moments in the blues room, we had them sussed and I was really chuffed, although I've discovered that my Biceps need a bit of fitness work! :blush:

Of course there were little gripes. Damp chalet, no chairs, fluctuating temperature in the blues room, one or two dodgy tracks, blah, blah, blah.
However, meeting so many lovely people and having so many great dances more than made up for any little issues.

Thanks to the organisers and everyone I danced with for a great weekend.

I'll be back! :D

Lounge Lizard
7th-February-2007, 10:15 AM
I am looking for southport photo's &/or video clips new & old,

However I can't just use old footage already posted on the forum without permisssion.

More info etc. here http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=338708#post338708
thanks
Peter

Lory
7th-February-2007, 10:44 AM
Surely that is the answer, with 3 rooms to choose from, if you don't like what is happening in the blues room, go and try another room.

I think this is why its a good idea to have a DJ timetable, stating who will be playing, what and where.

Now i'll admit, much to my surprise, one of my best times over the weekend, was when Jon played a kind of 'old school' set in the Blues room, inc. 'Somebody else's guy' which me and Fletch had a sing-a-long to, and we knew all the words :blush: :clap: I had a fantastic time but it definitely wasn't 'blues' in any sense of the word!
So, I can understand why people got frustrated ;) but personally, I'd love to have another session like that again but I think it would be better appreciated if it was advertised as that in advance.:yeah:

For example it could say something like...

Room - time - Jon Brett will play an 'old school' disco set
Room - time - CJ will be playing a set with a heavy bias towards Rock music
Room - time - TWK will play a mix of Nu-Tango - latin - and meringue
Room - time - Jon Brett will play a Fast swing and Lindy set
Room - time - Nigel A will play very slow traditional blues set
Room - time - Dance Demon will play a very smooth mix of chilled lusiousness
Room - time - Gus will play a MJ mix of mainly up to date chart hits
Room - time - Trampy will play a mix of bluesroom classics
Room - time - Graham will play mainly WCS

This would make it clear to the punters and DJ's alike :grin:

Disclaimer...the above are just 'made up' examples and not necessarily what they played/play

Simon
7th-February-2007, 10:51 AM
Lory's excellent DJ timetableHave some rep for a top idea. :clap:

Gav
7th-February-2007, 10:52 AM
I think this is why its a good idea to have a DJ timetable, stating who will be playing, what and where.

Now i'll admit, much to my surprise, one of my best times over the weekend, was when Jon played a kind of 'old school' set in the Blues room, inc. 'Somebody else's guy' which me and Fletch had a sing-a-long to, and we knew all the words :blush: :clap: I had a fantastic time but it definitely wasn't 'blues' in any sense of the word!

Different strokes I guess. Some Soul and R'n'B was played at one point and the face of the lady I was dancing with lit up and her dancing took on a new vibrant quality. Still bluesy dancing, but with something a little extra. I have to admit that I loved it too, another new experience for me. :D

under par
7th-February-2007, 11:01 AM
After a long journey home monday a sleep, work really early Tuesday, and more sleep, its time for my thoughts..

Well I had a great time so did Mrs Par.:yeah: :cheers:

It is so great to have "another " Southport in February to fill in the gap from Sept to June.

There were fewer people attending due to the time of year but that didn't stop John and Wes putting on a fantastic line up of teachers and classes and putting in every effort to make the February event as special as the summer events.

The super warm chalet on arrival...:clap:
The marquee over the decking outside the blues room :clap:
The additional flooring provided on the decking inside the marquee:respect:

Highlight for me was the dance with Yuval early on Monday morning:blush:
Quite unexpected experience but what a laugh.

The standard of dancers present was astounding... I had hardly a bad dance in 30 + hours of freestyling.

I had some absolutely gorgeous dances all weekend.

We managed a 530am finish Friday night and 2 almost 7 am finishes the next 2 nights. Is there any other event that provides so much late night early morning music.. they were still dancing in the main room at silly o clock too.

And although I missed the free breakfast I did use the time wisely to have 2 fantastic massages.

But as always at Southport it is the wonder of the afternoon dancing which makes it an exceptional weekender experience for me.
The space to dance, the music and the dancers :worthy: :worthy:

The weather:clap: No rain, no snow! Sunshine 2 days out of 3... what a result for everyone attending... YES it was cold yes there was fog but it could have been so different in February. John always books the good weather well in advance.

The downside for us was having to miss out on the Saturday night caberets and not entering the fancy dress as we attended a family function in nearby St Helens.. :sad: :sad: :sad: It was the right decision but we felt sad not being involved in that part of the weekend.

Big "congratulations" to Cruella and WB on their success and also the gent who won the male prize. :worthy: :worthy:

We will be back in June looking for our title again so watch out!!

The temperature variations in the blues room where an obvious concern to everyone it got so hot :blush: I wedged the doors open :whistle: until it got cold then I closed them:blush: .... some of the probs may have been down to me doing that:whistle: but it was always going to be difficult to maintain a constant temperature with it being so cold outside.

I managed to wear only 48 of my 55 shirts which meant I had something to wear on Monday too!:yeah:

Some have commented on the water/bar . I thought the bar staff in the blues room where the best there have been at SP... very observant , quick service and on duty till silly o-clock as well ..(there have been some surly uninterested staff previously)

Another good thing for me was seeing so many of the teachers dancing the night away with the punters ... Vincent, Flavia, Parker and Jessica all took time out to participate but the absolute star of the weekend for me was Yuval:yeah: He was so much fun he danced with everyone.. even me!
he was an absolutely scream such a sense of humour and he slept less than I did.

I felt sad that John and Wes had bad luck with the illnesses to Jessica and Nathalie but from all the rave reviews I heard about the caberets it appears there was sufficient quality to provide good entertainment.

Music. Music is such a subjective thing...I really enjoyed most of the music there were a few flat moments for me but there were still loads of exceptionally great periods by the dj s..:worthy: :respect: its a difficult job to try and please everyone but I think overall most enjoyed the music.
Its an evolving, living entity the music and it changes over time.. with the change over of Djs from old to new there will be different tastes and styles introduced, some will last, others will fade................

Dance Demon ,Sheepman, Ian, John Brett, Trampy, TwK, Gus, Rob Ambridge, LL and others did a brilliant job....:worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

Although Trampy really p1ssed me off at about 6 am monday morning when my legs were so heavy, I needed to go to sleep.....he just kept on playing tracks I HAD to dance too:drool:


Mrs Par did most of the west coast lessons and had a great time... she really appreciated the help and patience so many of you showed helping her with her dancing.:clap: :worthy: A big THANKYOU to you all.

Biggest thanks though are to John and Wes for providing an extra Southport date on the calendar:cheers: providing top class teachers, djs and dancefloors. :clap:

The comment made somewhere on this thread several times that the event is more like a large private party than an organised event is so , so true.

I felt like I was at huge family gathering... so, so many friendly familiar faces, some new faces, some missing faces.
Very sad Marc Foster, Trampy, Tiggerbabe, Franck and others will not or cannot be employed at future Southports... its so sad that dance politics should interfere with the enjoyment and pleasure music and dance brings to so many people... but I suppose thats life..! Its still sad:sad:

Great weekend , great dancing...roll on June Southport and Weston in April :cheers: Thankyou Jive Addiction

I think its Storm for us next in a few weeks a lot to live up to!

mick s
7th-February-2007, 11:03 AM
Good

• Dancing with Gabrielle and Susan.
• Aerials Class with no injuries to myself or Partner.
• Dj ing a short set in Blues Room sat afternoon (thanks John for letting me loose) and only one criticism, rest were positive.
• Water being available to avoid queue
• Seeing lots of familiar faces and some new ones.
• Teachers up on the dance floor.
• All the great dances I had in particular, Tinkerbell, Lisa, Naomi, Susie.
• Jon and Wes always around.
• Loved second WCS routine.
• Loved slidy floor in Blues room.



Bad

• Dancing with Susan (but thought she was Jessica) thought she had a strange American accent!
• Warm up for Aerials almost dropped my fags.
• Quite a few people seemed to be dropping with illness.
• Falling asleep on sun night until 12:30am
• Not getting ago with Flavia
• Missing West coast swing class, whilst Aerials were sorted out.
• Some of the music in the blues room was not to my taste but disappeared and returned later for change of music.

Roll on June can't wait.

Tinkerbell
7th-February-2007, 12:26 PM
• Dj ing a short set in Blues Room sat afternoon (thanks John for letting me loose) and only one criticism, rest were positive.


Your set was fab, great tunes, well done :waycool:




• All the great dances I had in particular, Tinkerbell, Lisa, Naomi, Susie.



Thanks babe, really enjoyed dancing with you over the weekend, always great fun:hug:


:nice: Good parts of weekend::nice:

Great dances - not a single dance I didn't enjoy, thanks to everyone I had the pleasure of dancing with :D

Lovely warm chalet - even had to turn heaters off at some points over weekend as it was too hot!:really:

Fab floors - great for sliding.

Plenty of space - the marquee in blues room was nice.

Meeting lots of new people.

Dancing to Eminem 'Shake that Ass' - what a carry on that dance turned into :devil:

Getting some nice compliments about my dancing that boosted my confidence and made me feel more comfortable asking people I didn't know to dance.


:sad: Bad points::sad:

Being ill from midnight Sat until Mon morning and missing half of weekend :tears:

Not making it to WCS classes.

Missing aerials class - sorry Trampy :hug: but think it was a safe decision, didn't want to risk throwing up on you!!

Not making it to Little Monkey's Cafe for a Chocolate Muffin :sad: :sad: :sad:

Missing Trampy's last set - sorry mate. Southport won't be the same without your great tunes :tears:

No waffle party at Franck and Sheena's and missing Sheena's music - you were sorely missed.

Spending so much time with my head down the toilet pan and not enough time on the dance floor:sick:


Overall I had a great weekend, looking forward to the next one :clap:

fletch
7th-February-2007, 12:34 PM
Have some rep for a top idea. :clap:

:yeah:

have some rep also. fab :worthy:

Cruella
7th-February-2007, 01:27 PM
We will be back in June looking for our title again so watch out!!
We only entered cos you weren't. :D

Although Trampy really p1ssed me off at about 6 am monday morning when my legs were so heavy, I needed to go to sleep.....he just kept on playing tracks I HAD to dance too:drool:
I know, i ended up dancing in my coat as we were trying to leave! It was really hard to drag ourselves out the door but it was 6.45am so figured we should get a little sleep before driving home.:sick:



Very sad Marc Foster, Trampy, Tiggerbabe, Franck and others will not or cannot be employed at future Southports... its so sad that dance politics should interfere with the enjoyment and pleasure music and dance brings to so many people
My new word for the weekend was Bolotics:angry:

Dance Demon
7th-February-2007, 01:51 PM
My new word for the weekend was Bolotics:angry:

Yep...great word.....just about sums it up really:(

Lynn
7th-February-2007, 01:55 PM
If these people don't have friends in the blues room or local venues that play the right music they'll never know what they're doing wrong. Maybe some of the really good blues dancers should spot these couples and grab them at the end of the track and give them a few pointers to get them started?Agree. I have brought lots of newbies into the blues room over the years and given some really simple guidelines to help them start to feel the music. I find a lot of people prefer to spend a while sitting and observing first as well. I've been through all that myself when I first went in there, so I remember what its like.

Aside from the 'not expressing the music' bit, the people I was observing were taking up a lot of space - so floorcraft issues as well.

I did have a lovely dance with someone who seemed to be newish to blues music and working out things to do with the music. I asked for a second dance and got more playful and we had a lot of fun.

DavidY
7th-February-2007, 02:00 PM
I think this is why its a good idea to have a DJ timetable, stating who will be playing, what and where.Ironically, the last few Southports have had these - last time there were big glossy posters saying who was DJing where and when. (albeit without Lory's suggested enhancements on style of music).

I assume that they weren't there this time because of issues arising from Ceroc's new policy on who could DJ?

TheTramp
7th-February-2007, 02:06 PM
I assume that they weren't there this time because of issues arising from Ceroc's new policy on who could DJ?

Not as far as I know. I was told that since I had an existing booking, I could DJ there. It shouldn't have been a problem.

Lynn
7th-February-2007, 02:17 PM
Maybe that's how they feel that they should be moving to the music. Or, more likely, they like that type of music, but are limited in their dancing ability and style.I usually find that people are drawn to the type of music that suits their preferred style of dancing. That was why I was wondering - they looked like they loved dancing to fast, poppy music and its not like that wasn't being provided elsewhere. I'm not complaining and saying they shouldn't be allowed to dance like that - just wondered why they wanted to.

I've danced with someone like that in a blues room once - made some attempts to smooth out my follow and just irritated my lead. I'm sure we both had a dance we didn't enjoy. It just feels like a complete clash of dance style and music style.

I spent most of my time in the blues room this time (aside from when I was at the milongas) - in the past I've been in the latin room and main room a lot more. No particular reason for this, it just worked out that way. I noticed two things - some dancers saw me during the day and complained they couldn't find me in the evenings for dances - I guess folk who don't dance in the blues room. But being in the same room most of the time meant that I seemed to get a much higher rate of repeat dances over the weekend, which was nice and I now have even more guys to look forward to dancing with next time. :D

Wanted also to add how much fun I had sharing with LMC and Dizzy. And thanks to Dizzy for help and encouragement with WCS.:hug:

Lory
7th-February-2007, 02:25 PM
Ironically, the last few Southports have had these - last time there were big glossy posters saying who was DJing where and when. (albeit without Lory's suggested enhancements on style of music).


Yes, the posters were better than nothing but some people might still have no idea what kind of music to expect.

They may have never heard any of the Dj's sets before, so at least with a brief description of the kind of music going to be played, they'll have an idea of what to expect.

Eg, The Latin room - Latin covers a broad spectrum of dance styles ... such as, Cha Cha, Rumba, AT, Salsa, Lambada, Batchata and Merengue but personally, I'd only be interested in the first three ;)

TheTramp
7th-February-2007, 02:35 PM
Eg, The Latin room - Latin covers a broad spectrum of dance styles ... such as, Cha Cha, Rumba, AT, Salsa, Lambada, Batchata and Merengue but personally, I'd only be interested in the first three ;)

The Latin room - Modern Jive-able music with a latin "flavour". Which is what 98% of the people in there can do. The other 2% can go to a latin weekender! (Or to the dance den at certain times I believe!) :whistle:

David Bailey
7th-February-2007, 02:37 PM
Yes, the posters were better than nothing but some people might still have no idea what kind of music to expect.

They may have never heard any of the Dj's sets before, so at least with a brief description of the kind of music going to be played, they'll have an idea of what to expect.
Well, I'm hoping people will steal the Utopia idea of a "Coming Next" display, showing on a screen the next genre.

In fact, they could have that display for each room, shown centrally on 3 screens.
In fact, they could have a feed set up to send the track titles to our mobile phones. :grin:
In fact, they could send the tunes themselves to our phones. :yum:
In fact... OK, I need to go lie down now. :D


Eg, The Latin room - Latin covers a broad spectrum of dance styles ... such as, Cha Cha, Rumba, AT, Salsa, Lambada, Batchata and Merengue but personally, I'd only be interested in the first three ;)
Yeah, that's beginning to annoy me too - plus there's no specific "tango" genre, why not? Surely everyone's doing tango now? :innocent:

I wouldn't class AT as "Latin", certainly.

killingtime
7th-February-2007, 02:48 PM
killingtime – even though I got stood on!:really:

That first dance started out great for me. I hit you over the head, lead you back into a place that someone else walked into. I sure was proud :what:. Hope I can get more dances with you where I can prove I don't tend to beat my partner up.

Anyway on to the weekend:

I had an okay time. I can't really offer any feedback as to how they can improve the weekend unless that's "could you get some device that removes stomach bugs and makes you feel ready to dance all weekend". I didn't feel great so I didn't do much dancing and even when I was often not feeling up for it. Anyway saying that I got a couple of WCS classes done which I enjoyed even though I ended up feeling worse about my WCS by the end of the weekend :tears:. Did Walking Like a Dancer which I enjoyed.

Though I didn't do much freestyle (about 5 dances Friday, a fair few more Saturday but mostly Sunday night was my night of dancing) I enjoyed a lot of my dances. Had fab dances with Lory and a fair few others. Enjoyed my brief trip to the main room where I got to beat up JiveBunny :blush: and not beat up a few other people. I have to thank BeccaB, Dizzy and Lynn putting up with me trying Tandem Swing with the three of them and Lynn putting up with a Tango dance with me.

Thanks to Trampy for taking me there and back and him and LM putting up with the rubbish that came out of my mouth when I opened it. Thanks to BeccaB for being a cool flatmate.

Looking forward to June where I will, in no way or form, be ill.

Lory
7th-February-2007, 02:50 PM
The Latin room - Modern Jive-able music with a latin "flavour". Which is what 98% of the people in there can do. The other 2% can go to a latin weekender! (Or to the dance den at certain times I believe!) :whistle:I agree with your sentiments but
I'm sorry to have to inform you, ... when I went in the Latin room on Friday night, it was definitely Salsa and Merengue playing and I think most of your average MJ'ers would have found it hard to dance to.

TheTramp
7th-February-2007, 03:01 PM
I agree with your sentiments but
I'm sorry to have to inform you, ... when I went in the Latin room on Friday night, it was definitely Salsa and Merengue playing and I think most of your average MJ'ers would have found it hard to dance to.

I can imagine. I was talking about what I played when I was DJing in there... :rolleyes:

Shodan
7th-February-2007, 03:27 PM
Found I was sharing with a guy called Steve, who was "fine so long you didn't give him a drink" :rofl:

That was me that said that ! :rofl::cheers: (when you came into 53 looking for keys and a cup of tea)

Gus
7th-February-2007, 03:33 PM
I think this is why its a good idea to have a DJ timetable, stating who will be playing, what and where.

For example it could say something like...

Room - time - Jon Brett will play an 'old school' disco set
Room - time - CJ will be playing a set with a heavy bias towards Rock music
Room - time - TWK will play a mix of Nu-Tango - latin - and meringue
Room - time - Jon Brett will play a Fast swing and Lindy set
Room - time - Nigel A will play very slow traditional blues set
Room - time - Dance Demon will play a very smooth mix of chilled lusiousness
Room - time - Gus will play a MJ mix of mainly up to date chart hits
Room - time - Trampy will play a mix of bluesroom classics
Room - time - Graham will play mainly WCS

This would make it clear to the punters and DJ's alike :grin:
Got to agree. Must admit that the main reason I was DJing at Southport (like many instructors and DJs before me) was to raise my profile and get better known on the national circuit. However, that didn't happen as there was no publicity for the DJs:( Its interesting but some punters would have had no idea who DJ Gods like LL and JB are .... yet these are the two DJs who really inspired me to get serious about DJing when I started.

Aside fomr the JD ego/publicity thing, I think its really helpfull for dancers to know what type of set you are going to hear. Though they we all played in the Laton room, the sets that TWK, Roger and I played were very different. Like doing lessons, I'd like to know who was where so I could plan who to listen to or avoid.

Brown Eyes
7th-February-2007, 03:39 PM
Loved the weekender – such a privilege to dance with so many great dancers – very happy to officially be part of the Southport Breakfast Club! Looking forward to June!

johnah
7th-February-2007, 03:42 PM
Not as far as I know. I was told that since I had an existing booking, I could DJ there. It shouldn't have been a problem.


You were fortunate Steve, others were not:sad: And, as you know, you like one or two others were booked for all Southport's in 2007 and yet... this was your last one as a DJ for Jive Addiction:sad:

Cruella's got it about right. BOLOTICS!!

Martin
7th-February-2007, 03:42 PM
I think this is why its a good idea to have a DJ timetable, stating who will be playing, what and where.

Now i'll admit, much to my surprise, one of my best times over the weekend, was when Jon played a kind of 'old school' set in the Blues room, inc. 'Somebody else's guy' which me and Fletch had a sing-a-long to, and we knew all the words :blush: :clap: I had a fantastic time but it definitely wasn't 'blues' in any sense of the word!
So, I can understand why people got frustrated ;) but personally, I'd love to have another session like that again but I think it would be better appreciated if it was advertised as that in advance.:yeah:

For example it could say something like...

Room - time - Jon Brett will play an 'old school' disco set
Room - time - CJ will be playing a set with a heavy bias towards Rock music
Room - time - TWK will play a mix of Nu-Tango - latin - and meringue
Room - time - Jon Brett will play a Fast swing and Lindy set
Room - time - Nigel A will play very slow traditional blues set
Room - time - Dance Demon will play a very smooth mix of chilled lusiousness
Room - time - Gus will play a MJ mix of mainly up to date chart hits
Room - time - Trampy will play a mix of bluesroom classics
Room - time - Graham will play mainly WCS

This would make it clear to the punters and DJ's alike :grin:

Disclaimer...the above are just 'made up' examples and not necessarily what they played/play

Good on you Lory,

I like the idea of what type of stuff to expect.

Music to me is key to my enjoyment, so I know what to avoid and what to seek out (as well as who to seek out)

Dance Demon
7th-February-2007, 03:44 PM
Had a great weekend at southport.
Journey down & back was great with no hold ups on the M6:what:
Nice to meet old friends, and make some new ones.
Had some fab dances with some lovely ladies,(and Andy McGregor..:rofl: )
Heard some great music. ( Thanks JB for your help with a technical problem at the change over between our sets on Sunday Night:respect:)
Did my first ever AT class, and am now desperate to learn more.:drool:
Did my first ever set in the Latin Quarter:clap:
Drank a few beers, ate some good food, and Generally enjoyed myself.:cheers:
Had a fab breakfast on Sunday morning with the Southport breakfast club after a marathon set in the Blues Room....:respect:

There were one or two little hitches, but overall, a great weekend yet again.

To John, Wes, and their lovely lady wives, and everyone at Jive Addiction, I thank you once again for all your hard work and hospitality, and look forward to doing it all again in June:D

Martin
7th-February-2007, 03:53 PM
You were fortunate Steve, others were not:sad: And, as you know, you like one or two others were booked for all Southport's in 2007 and yet... this was your last one as a DJ for Jive Addiction:sad:

Cruella's got it about right. BOLOTICS!!

Yeah politics - or "bolotics" in the end, simply effect the dancers.

Trampy is an amazing dj with such a great knowledge and range of music - especially the stuff I like. It will be sad to lose him from Southport.

One thing I would like to see, is DJ feedback forms, to weed out the "not so hot " DJ's , same for the teachers.

OK, you will get some constant whingers who like to diss everyone, but also you get an overall feel of what people like.

Being a corporate trainer I am used to feedback forms, which gives you a guide to how others think you are doing....

Do we like feedback forms for DJ's and teachers?

robd
7th-February-2007, 03:59 PM
Had a fab breakfast on Sunday morning with the Southport breakfast club after a marathon set in the Blues Room....:respect:


Wittybird, any chance of posting the pics of the breakfast club that you took even if they will scare little children?

Shodan
7th-February-2007, 04:06 PM
The main hall was due to close at 4am so I made the announcement about the last track etc. started packing up the Video DJ'ing kit (hope you enjoyed the music video's Sat & Sun) and was playing a few R'n'B tracks................typical southport the dancers kept on dancing so we had two hours of mainly R'n'B/Club tracks (+ The Woo Woo song:whistle: ) that I like but do not play at MJ events.
I was dancing just in front of you when you said that. I was mildly confused when the music kept playing, so I kept dancing. :grin:

Good set. :grin:

fletch
7th-February-2007, 04:32 PM
Wittybird, any chance of posting the pics of the breakfast club that you took even if they will scare little children?

NO :tears: i'm not not on them :(

Shodan
7th-February-2007, 04:41 PM
Wow! What a weekender, I really enjoyed it. It was my first Southport and loved every bit of it.

Big thanks to Rachel (Sapphire) and Nick (Animal Talk) for organising us Exeter Crew into a fighting fit dancing machine. :grin:

Big thanks also to Phil for driving us all around, tis a long distance and I certainly didnt fancy driving that far especially after a long weekend of hardly any sleep. :respect:

LOVED the Argentine Tango classes over the weekend. Have been learning Tango for about 12 weeks now and Vincent & Flavia did some fantastic classes and I learnt a lot. I also did their Waltz class and that was fab too (I'm an ex ballroom dancer myself). I'm still kicking myself I didnt have the confidence to ask Flavia to dance. :sad:

Big up to "Super Mario", his Salsa class was superb and I really enjoyed it. He taught very well and I can see why he has his Salsa "No 1 Teacher" title. It was just a shame there were so many people in the class that decided to leave half way through the class. My only disappointment here was I had just built up confidence to ask his dance partner to dance, marched across the dancefloor to get her when 2 feet away someone else asked me to dance. Being a nice chap I said I'd be delighted, thinking I'd have Mario's partner next. But Mario's partner left during that track. :tears:

Overall the quality of teaching was superb, loved the three different freestyle rooms, though I spent most of my time in the main room and the latin room - I'm not a fan of Blues I'm afraid to say. (Sacriledge I know :blush:)

Some favourite moments of the weekend was:
* Animal Talk's birthday bash, the look on his face from his birthday prezzie and cabaret.
* EasyTiger (Stacey) and I were playing around and I jumped on her back for a piggyback. A man with a video camera ran over all excited and asked us to do it again whilst he filmed it. I assume he was one of the event organisers, but it was funny.
* All the fun of being with my usual Exeter crew and hanging out with them.

Met lots of new people over the weekend, including some forumites. I met and danced a lot of Dizzy, and also danced late on sunday with Fletch, who was trying her best to get me to Blues. Just not really my thing, sorry. :nice:
Must confessed I was amazed by the amount of forumites there - whilst dancing with Fletch she started pointing them out - loads and loads of them everywhere, like having a veil taken away from my eyes. :eek::nice:

Danced a lot with a lady called Sara I met there. She's moving down to Devon in March - I know its a longshot, but if you're a forumite it'd be great to hear from you again.

MartinHarper
7th-February-2007, 04:55 PM
one of the 'armjive police' said to me 'you were one of those that welcomed all 'these' into the Blues Room, now look what's happened'

I think the most surprising dance I saw in the Blues/Swing room was the first dance hyper-like-a-Jamie had after leaving the main room on Monday morning. Made me smile.

johnah
7th-February-2007, 04:59 PM
Yeah politics - or "bolotics" in the end, simply effect the dancers.

Trampy is an amazing dj with such a great knowledge and range of music - especially the stuff I like. It will be sad to lose him from Southport.

One thing I would like to see, is DJ feedback forms, to weed out the "not so hot " DJ's , same for the teachers.

OK, you will get some constant whingers who like to diss everyone, but also you get an overall feel of what people like.

Being a corporate trainer I am used to feedback forms, which gives you a guide to how others think you are doing....

Do we like feedback forms for DJ's and teachers?

Martin, we listen to and welcome all dancers comments. Feedback is something we encourage and though we monitor the Forum at frequent intervals, Forumites can always email us direct at info@jiveaddiction.com

:cheers:

David Bailey
7th-February-2007, 05:25 PM
I agree with your sentiments but
I'm sorry to have to inform you, ... when I went in the Latin room on Friday night, it was definitely Salsa and Merengue playing and I think most of your average MJ'ers would have found it hard to dance to.
Salsa? Really? Actual, honest-to-God salsa music, not some weird Gypsy Kings or Ricky Martin thing? :confused:

If so, I'd be surprised - that'd be a first, there were maybe 2 salsa tracks per night at most in the past Southport weekenders.

Shodan
7th-February-2007, 05:34 PM
Salsa? Really? Actual, honest-to-God salsa music, not some weird Gypsy Kings or Ricky Martin thing? :confused:
I was in the latin room quite a lot. Some of it was a bit iffy, but I had many a good salsa and cha-cha dance in the latin room. :nice:

Dance Demon
7th-February-2007, 05:36 PM
Salsa? - that'd be a first, there were maybe 2 salsa tracks per night at most in the past Southport weekenders.

Wasn't it just the same track played twice?.........maybe not, it probably just sounded like that:D

Lynn
7th-February-2007, 05:45 PM
Did my first ever AT class, and am now desperate to learn more.:drool: Didn't realise that had been your first class when I asked you for an AT dance - it was lovely.

Salsa? Really? Actual, honest-to-God salsa music, not some weird Gypsy Kings or Ricky Martin thing? :confused:

If so, I'd be surprised - that'd be a first, there were maybe 2 salsa tracks per night at most in the past Southport weekenders.There was real salsa in the Dance Den after a salsa class. We came in for the WCS freestyle and there was what must have been the last track in the practice time. 15 mins later when the track ended...

We did get to watch Super Mario freestyling - he'd clearly stuck around right to the end of the practice time.

Feelingpink
7th-February-2007, 05:46 PM
Salsa? Really? Actual, honest-to-God salsa music, not some weird Gypsy Kings or Ricky Martin thing? :confused:

If so, I'd be surprised - that'd be a first, there were maybe 2 salsa tracks per night at most in the past Southport weekenders.Well, I danced to at least one salsa track with the lovely Jango Nigel in the Latin room - beautifully led but neither of us was up for a second. :confused:

WittyBird
7th-February-2007, 06:07 PM
Wittybird, any chance of posting the pics of the breakfast club that you took even if they will scare little children?

Sure will do them tonight when I get home :D

CJ
7th-February-2007, 06:09 PM
Got to agree. Must admit that the main reason I was DJing at Southport (like many instructors and DJs before me) was to raise my profile and get better known on the national circuit. However, that didn't happen as there was no publicity for the DJs:(

Is the best way to do this not just to play a damn fine set?!?:confused:

MartinHarper
7th-February-2007, 06:14 PM
Is the best way to do this not just to play a damn fine set?!?:confused:

If there's damn fine music I spend it dancing or listening, not peering behind the DJ booth trying to work out who's playing it. That's why guides as to who's DJing (and announcements when DJs switch over) are a good thing in my book.

Martin
7th-February-2007, 06:31 PM
Martin, we listen to and welcome all dancers comments. Feedback is something we encourage and though we monitor the Forum at frequent intervals, Forumites can always email us direct at info@jiveaddiction.com

:cheers:

That is great, you and Wes do a fab job and I know you put your heart and soul into it, which is visable to the dancers.

I was suggesting a paper feedback form, available on the front desk, which will assist people to give direct and time pertinant comments which might well create an even better (if that is poss) week-end.

I consider this would give you a greater range of feedback, that you might otherwise not see.

Not in any way taking away the great job you do. Simply a suggestion, that I have seen to be benificial.

under par
7th-February-2007, 06:31 PM
Just wanted to reiterate something commented on before which I don't think has been given a big enough airing... the dancefloors were absolutely brilliant:yeah:

There has been such an improvement on the Southport dancefloors since the first SP but last weekend the flooring in the blues room were:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: .


They were more even, faster and slidier than ever before.... even the temporary floor laid in the marquee over the decking was superb.

I can recall dancers suffering sore knees at the early SP 'cos of the floors but there will have been very little of that last weekend .

Well doe J & W
:cheers:

robd
7th-February-2007, 06:59 PM
{Stuff about the fab Southport floors}


:yeah: * 1000

Fast but not like an ice rink. Perfect.

Feelingpink
7th-February-2007, 07:15 PM
Is the best way to do this not just to play a damn fine set?!?:confused:Someone played a "damn fine set" in the blues room one night (sorry - can't remember which one as it's all just a highly pleasurable blur now) ... and I have no idea who he was. :tears: Boooger.

Gav
7th-February-2007, 07:18 PM
Just wanted to reiterate something commented on before which I don't think has been given a big enough airing... the dancefloors were absolutely brilliant:yeah:



:yeah: * 1000

Fast but not like an ice rink. Perfect.

:yeah: Unlike certain people :rolleyes: , I struggle with more than 1 spin usually. Either because the floor's too slippery and I end up on my 4rse or because the floor's too slow and I just can't get around.
1.5 & double spins were working this weekend! :clap: :worthy:

Yes woodface, 2 is fine for me, I don't want to do 12!

PretzelMeister
7th-February-2007, 07:21 PM
Just wanted to reiterate something commented on before which I don't think has been given a big enough airing... the dancefloors were absolutely brilliant:yeah:
~snip~Well done J & W
:cheers:

:yeah:

Lee Bartholomew
7th-February-2007, 07:34 PM
:yeah: Unlike certain people :rolleyes: , I struggle with more than 1 spin usually. Either because the floor's too slippery and I end up on my 4rse or because the floor's too slow and I just can't get around.
1.5 & double spins were working this weekend! :clap: :worthy:

Yes woodface, 2 is fine for me, I don't want to do 12!

Thats why Northfleet is good.

The floor was so quick last week even I was scared. Will teach you some spin techniques at Camber (as long as certain forumites aren't about :whistle: )

WittyBird
7th-February-2007, 07:41 PM
As Requested - The Dirty Breakfast Stop Ups ! :D

Jamie
7th-February-2007, 07:44 PM
Whoop dirty stop up breakfast club!! :respect:

Lory
8th-February-2007, 12:35 AM
Whoop

Jamie, you really should see a doctor about this, it seems to be happening rather a lot lately :whistle:

FoxyFunkster
8th-February-2007, 01:25 AM
As Requested - The Dirty Breakfast Stop Ups ! :D

Had an amazing time last weekend although i missed the hardcore breakfast club gathering on sunday morning but i`m not going to miss the next one in june! Parker and Jessica were sensational as were Vincent and Flavia. I thought the general vibe over the whole weekend was brilliant(respect to all the fancy dressed forumites) and i`m sure june`s weekender with Jordan and Tat will be as good if not better despite the notable absentees from some of the fantastic Dj`s who played at this weekender, they will be sorely missed..........see everyone in camber next month.......

Rick
8th-February-2007, 11:11 AM
IT'S SNOWING!! Big time:clap: I can't possibly drive to work:whistle: so i'll post instead!

I had yet another fantastic Southport. Southport was my first ever weekender and I have been to every one since. Total:respect: to John and Wes for another amazing line up of teachers.

I thought I would try WCS this time and was blown away by the quality of Parker and Jessicas teaching. I'm inspired to really try and crack this style.

Mr Under par and Lory have pretty well covered what I thought about the weekend. There were one or two areas for improvement and Wes has already said these will be addressed. Can't arque with that!

I also don't think I had a bad dance all weekend (only being refused once by someone who "wanted to dance on her own":confused: :confused:
The standard was so high. It was great to have room to move across the floor as this what I like to do (tango style)
The floors were indeed just right and watching Yuval slide across the floor with various dancers such as Mrs Under Par and Naomi from barnstable was a highlight of my weekend.:respect:

Other highlights were dances with Zebra woman, Lory, Caroline from Cornwall, trying the cha cha in the latin room with Cruella (how do look so damn fine at breakfast time?? (witty's photos) makes me wonder if you 'athletes' would pass being randomly tested in the morning. I thought I had done well to last till around 6am each night only to find that everyone i asked stayed up later:sad:
Every dance I had with Alex from Twickenham. gorgeous
Loved doing the Tango with Manal and I think she liked it too as she didn't take over this time and make me do gay ochoes (which curiously I quite liked :eek: :eek: )

Top highlight was seeing some one I met in Torquay walk through the door on Friday night. Loved all our groovy dances:drool:

Next one Storm - hopefully see you all there

Rick

WittyBird
8th-February-2007, 11:20 AM
Cruella (how do look so damn fine at breakfast time?? (witty's photos)

It's called photoshop :na: :na:

wicked blue
8th-February-2007, 11:23 AM
will be back in June for some more please!!! :clap:

robd
8th-February-2007, 11:34 AM
Naomi from barnstable

Cruella pointed out how fantasticaly musical she was and it wasn't until I danced with her that I could really appreciate it. Her isolations were amazing.


Loved doing the Tango with MsFab and I think she liked it too as she didn't take over this time and make me do gay ochoes (which curiously I quite liked :eek: :eek: )


I have been subjected to gay ochoes (interesting name!) by Msfab too and I liked them also. She leads them very well.

angelblue
8th-February-2007, 11:35 AM
Yes it was a bit quieter than the summer events but I enjoyed the space and there was still a very high level of dancer there.

The teaching line up was probably the best of any event I've been to and the caberet acts were stunning.

I was just gutted that I had to miss the Sunday evening for jury service today and then wasn't required till later in the week:tears:

My highlight was the Sunday afternoon when I had some absolutely fabby dances and thought the music in the afternoon was brilliant.

Hi dave , its carron from liverpool (scouse wcs little person) who tried to get you to stay sun night!!

Well dont worry as it actually turned out that sat night was better than sun so you didnt miss out on that much more xx

see you soon x

Cruella
8th-February-2007, 11:59 AM
It's called photoshop :na: :na:

You should have utilised it alot more on Robd then, he looks a bit ill!
That'll teach you to rep Witty for dissing me. LOL

WittyBird
8th-February-2007, 12:04 PM
You should have utilised it alot more on Robd then, he looks a bit ill!
That'll teach you to rep Witty for dissing me. LOL

I was waiting for his shirt to rip :whistle:


HULK NOT HUNK :rofl:

Cruella
8th-February-2007, 12:06 PM
I was waiting for his shirt to rip :whistle:

He did eat rather a lot of chocolate over the weekend!

CJ
8th-February-2007, 01:20 PM
Have been slow to reply but here goes...

Good:
not much.

Bad:
with hindsight, am worried about my blues room set. It was fairly low key, cos I figured people would want to slide in gently, warm up, get into it big style, then come down again: I may have been wrong:blush: and should have gone in with some bad ass faster blues tracks...

Ugly:
paying for breakfast cos I'm a dill:tears:
Trampy's last set on the Sun. For about an hour and a half, I wanted, NEEDED to sit down. I would thank my partner, make my way to the chairs and ***:angry: :angry: :confused: :rolleyes: :tears: :D :D :D :D , another top drawer tune. Oh, God it hurt.

Fantastic:
floors.
I have to say, I liked the arctic chill coming in from the marquee: it really kept me dancing longer.
Liz's waistcoat....:whistle: :whistle:
Blackpool, here we come...:worthy:
Fletch's icey reception!!!:rofl:
Taz dance:love:
Some amazing dances. Truly breathtaking dances.:respect: :awe:

Highest high:
The energy that was in the main room right up until 06.00 Sun morning was truly awesome.:eek: It was an absolute privelage to play that set, and to part of such an amazing vibe. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who danced in that room from 3-6.:clap: :clap:

One thing I wanted to say was that as part of the aerial class, we did about 30 mins of stretching, and it was great. It really played a part in my fitness and stamina. Would it be worth considering a stretch class first thing each morning (11.30:D ) to give us the tools to keep going?:D

Nessiemonster
8th-February-2007, 01:39 PM
with hindsight, am worried about my blues room set.

CJ, I Lurved your blues room set :drool: . I thought the music was Awesome. I really enjoyed hearing actual blues in the blues room! :respect:

IMO, you're never going to make everyone happy, but I know of several folk who really enjoyed your set in there. Same again another time, please... :cool:

ducasi
8th-February-2007, 04:25 PM
CJ, I Lurved your blues room set :drool: . I thought the music was Awesome. I really enjoyed hearing actual blues in the blues room! :respect:
:yeah:

Have exactly ZERO complaints about the music over the weekend. Well, maybe not zero, but none worth mentioning. ;)

BeccaB
8th-February-2007, 04:45 PM
Right taken my time replying as with work and uni I still haven't caught up on this whole sleep thing, so I apologise for mistakes in advance as I may have my eyes closed :what:

Firstly I must thank my chalet mate killingtime for the company he was fab to share with. Also Freya for making me an honourary Scot and letting me joing their dressing up on Sat. And the others who made me feel welcome in especially on saturday. :cheers:

The extra space in the blues room was fantastic and meant you could move and find space, plus you'll never get it right with the temperature but the chill was great after lots of dances :cool:

Must agree with most people about the floors they were totally fantastic. But on the bigger classes like Vincent and Flavia's the extra space in the main room has its use, I found myself on the carpet in the AT class, can we not have extra floor in there too?

Don't think I had a bad dance all weekend, and it was a refreshing change from home with lots of people I don't dance with.

The WCS classes were great Parker and Jessica were awesome (had to use their words!) And Vincent and Flavia were exceptional and it was great to see them dancing on the night too, although I missed out on getting Vincent very jealous of you lucky ladies who got hold of him (and his bum! :rolleyes: )

And finally I think I'll end on the music, even tho people are saying there were a few odd tracks played I loved hearing the variety of music, as I went go to Southport for the variation from my local venues and for a wider choice in music, if I heard the same stuff at Southport it would just be annoying. So a big thank you to all the DJs for their fab music. (Even tho I made the mistake of walking through the main room when Ecuador was on :tears: , hate that song and got asked to dance! Never refuse a dance so I grinned and beared it and the dance was lovely).

John and Wes as always you did a great job and I'm looking forward to June and Sept already, I've not told anyone else this but ........

You're my favourites! :worthy:

Now where are the photos again?

MartinHarper
8th-February-2007, 04:56 PM
I really enjoyed hearing actual blues in the blues room!

Oh, was that CJ? I think I was in the tent at the time. Regardless, I agree, the genuine article blues was very welcome.

TheTramp
8th-February-2007, 07:07 PM
Ugly:

Trampy

Seems reasonable.... :rolleyes:

Jamie
8th-February-2007, 07:10 PM
CJ, I Lurved your blues room set :drool: . I thought the music was Awesome. I really enjoyed hearing actual blues in the blues room! :respect:

IMO, you're never going to make everyone happy, but I know of several folk who really enjoyed your set in there. Same again another time, please... :cool:
I'll second that! :clap:

fletch
8th-February-2007, 09:04 PM
photo's from SP

Me and UP matching (I like matching)

it looks like I have 'lech' on the back of my 't' shirt :rofl:

FirstMove
9th-February-2007, 12:41 AM
Bored with doing laundry, so time for a review :)

Friday

Icebreaker Class

Typical MJ icebreaker class, nothing too hard or exciting. Made
a mental note not to do any more of Adam's classes. See below…

Dance the Blues

Nice moves from Nigel. Unlike the last time I did a late night Blues class at Southport, the room wasn't packed :clap:

Freestyle

Danced through my dance card of forumites. Some unusual music played - but I like a challenge :) Bluesing in the tent was a perfect temperature for me :) I tended to find the inside blues room too hot :eek: Early to bed at 0330 so I could do some classes in the morning.

Saturday

Swing Basic 6 x2

Yuval got the room swinging, we all now know not to hold onto the elbow or else…
Maybe a bit too much gab. Highlight was Yuval grooving to the Windows start-up jingle (Thanks Trampy :rolleyes: )

WCS x2

First lesson repeated stuff I've done before, so I just about kept up. The second class was too hard for me. My brain melted and I abandoned any idea had of going to Weston :(. Not sure syncopated moves should be in beginner classes.

Street Jazz

I thought Joseph and Sadie did an ace job of getting us through the routine, by any means possible. MJ is clearly not good preparation for Street Jazz. The dance-off at the end was fun and their impromptu dance at the end was great. Shame they couldn't stay for the evening and show us all of it.

Walk like a dancer

Not to my taste really. Nothing really wrong with the class, but I didn't come away feeling I'd learnt anything or with anything to practise.

Cabaret/Fancy dress

A bit disappointing not to see the wild aerials. No real problems with Mikey's compering, much better than Ceroc's Bingo :). Maybe a light-hearted DWAS competition for anyone who wants to take part, with DVDs for prizes?

Freestyle

I had some really bad dances around midnight, where I seemed to be hitting and stepping on everyone, dancing in treacle and generally waiting for the arm-jive police to bundle me into a van and take me to a seedy nightclub in down-town Ainsdale. Luckily, I danced with Plum next and every dance after that was brill. :clap: Heard "Now I can dance" in the main room :( Bed at 0630.

Sunday

Swing

Quite funny to see Yuval trying to explain some of the moves. He only had to say, "Do a basket and a yoyo with rock step - triple step - triple step footwork" and he'd have halved the length of the class :)

Breaks and Hesitations

I'm not usually one to miss the breaks, but Nigel whipped out some music I didn't know and I missed them all. Lesson learned I hope :cheers:

Latino Jive

Despite the Icebreaker class, I decided to give Adam another chance - and had the best class of the weekend! :worthy: I watched the demo and thought "Nice, but useless in freestyle". I was completely wrong. The routine was well taught, fitted the music nicely and worked every time I tried it sections of it in the Latin room later.

Tango for Jivers

I think it's been said already, but this was more of a Jive for Tanguerros class. Learned some new footsweeps though :)

Advance (sic) Modern Jive

Graham was really struggling to get the class to do what he asked, see MH's comments above. It didn't seem particularly difficult, but given how much Ladies seemed to be struggling with it, my lead must need some work. It all went swimming with my last partner in the rotation, so I persuaded her to stay for the aerials class :)

Aerials

When I saw "Aerials - all levels" in the book, I didn't realise this was literal! Yuval taught this well, considering the size of the class. Each time we practised it, it got a bit easier… but then my knee gave way for some reason. Luckily my partner was unhurt. My knee made a loud bang as it hit the floor, but didn't hurt afterwards :confused:. Yuval heard and came to stand right by us. The next time was easily our best attempt, so we agreed to quit while we were ahead :)

Freestyle

Went to get my sharps back from MH after the aerials class to find the Blues room virtually empty. What was all that about?

I was in the Main room when LL said it was his last track. I thought fair enough, time for bed. The tracks kept coming, so I kept dancing :) I would never had some fun and rather silly dances with Fletch, Caz, MH, Freya and Jamie otherwise :) :respect: Found myself going to bed at 0700, the time I normally get up for work on a Monday :eek:

My 4th Southport and easily the best MJ weekender I've been on so far :clap: :worthy::waycool: :cheers: :cool: :D :nice:

Gus
9th-February-2007, 09:32 AM
Advance (sic) Modern Jive

Graham was really struggling to get the class to do what he asked, see MH's comments above. It didn't seem particularly difficult, but given how much Ladies seemed to be struggling with it, my lead must need some work. It all went swimming with my last partner in the rotation, so I persuaded her to stay for the aerials class :)
Was wondering about the easrlier critisism of Graham's classes. Haven't alwys been a fan of his teaching style but its three years since I've seen him in action. Although I wasn't doing his Sunday AM class (was his DJ Bitch) I was thoroughly impressed by how he taught and how he picked on particular technical points ... and thoroughly unimpressed by about half the class who, for reasons known only only to themsleves, seemed incapable of follwoing was he was clearly saying :sad: Maybe its a sad fact that some peoplke will insisit on doing clases a level above their capability? Don't really know but from a teachers perspective I thought Graham did well. My only 'criticisim' (point of view really) is that I would have teaught to slower music to give people more pf a chance. Having said that, nice routine with some good techinical points ... a rareity for an MJ class.

David Bailey
9th-February-2007, 09:44 AM
Although I wasn't doing his Sunday AM class (was his DJ Bitch) I was thoroughly impressed by how he taught and how he picked on particular technical points ... and thoroughly unimpressed by about half the class who, for reasons known only only to themsleves, seemed incapable of follwoing was he was clearly saying :sad:
So are you saying "The class was a success, but the students failed"? :devil:

DavidY
9th-February-2007, 05:23 PM
The site isn't live yet, but it promises to have pics from all jive addiction events, including last weekend:

http://www.luminousfrog.co.uk/There's still nothing there, though. Anyone know when they're likely to appear?

Gus
9th-February-2007, 07:33 PM
So are you saying "The class was a success, but the students failed"? :devil:No ... I was saying the teacher taught what it said on the can and some of the students weren't up to it. He isn't the first teacher, and won't be the last, to suffer that way.

djtrev
9th-February-2007, 11:27 PM
Was wondering about the easrlier critisism of Graham's classes. Haven't alwys been a fan of his teaching style but its three years since I've seen him in action. Although I wasn't doing his Sunday AM class (was his DJ Bitch) I was thoroughly impressed by how he taught and how he picked on particular technical points ... and thoroughly unimpressed by about half the class who, for reasons known only only to themsleves, seemed incapable of follwoing was he was clearly saying :sad: Maybe its a sad fact that some peoplke will insisit on doing clases a level above their capability? Don't really know but from a teachers perspective I thought Graham did well. My only 'criticisim' (point of view really) is that I would have teaught to slower music to give people more pf a chance. Having said that, nice routine with some good techinical points ... a rareity for an MJ class.

Been on the sauce again Gus:whistle: :whistle:

Caz
10th-February-2007, 03:00 PM
photo's from SP

Me and UP matching (I like matching)

it looks like I have 'lech' on the back of my 't' shirt :rofl:

can't remember this one being taken of me and Jamie ????:rofl:

Gus
10th-February-2007, 03:43 PM
Been on the sauce again Gus:whistle: :whistle:Nope ... tenuous wifi connection, blinding headache and was trying to speed type as I should have been in work 15 minutes ago ... OK ... lousy excuse ...:(

Back on thread .... was wondering about the Latin romm ... does it really work. Played a few sets there and wandered in a few times over the weekend and never really saw it busy. On my Sat 3am slot my planned playlist was mainly nu-Tango, Salsa and Tango .... all of which went out of the window when I looked at what the dancers actualy wanted to dance to. The problem is that 'Latin' may be too wide a remit. You could get anything from 'out-there' Nu Tango, Salsa, Latin House etc etc. What do dancers really want?

Lost Leader
10th-February-2007, 04:37 PM
Right that's it, I have surrendered to the mighty surge of raving about how good Southport is and sent off my booking for June. So that should be one less Southport virgin wondering what it would be like if only I gave it a try. Roll on the summer :cheers: :clap:

TheTramp
10th-February-2007, 04:46 PM
Back on thread .... was wondering about the Latin romm ... does it really work. Played a few sets there and wandered in a few times over the weekend and never really saw it busy. On my Sat 3am slot my planned playlist was mainly nu-Tango, Salsa and Tango .... all of which went out of the window when I looked at what the dancers actualy wanted to dance to. The problem is that 'Latin' may be too wide a remit. You could get anything from 'out-there' Nu Tango, Salsa, Latin House etc etc. What do dancers really want?

Was busy in there when I was DJing there. But that was at a fairly main time.

I think the point is that it's a MJ room, with a latin style. It's not a salsa, or a tango, or a samba etc. room. And if DJs play that, then the majority of people will leave. At least, that's what I think, and that's what I play when I'm DJing in there.

David Bailey
10th-February-2007, 06:10 PM
Back on thread .... was wondering about the Latin romm ... does it really work. Played a few sets there and wandered in a few times over the weekend and never really saw it busy. On my Sat 3am slot my planned playlist was mainly nu-Tango, Salsa and Tango .... all of which went out of the window when I looked at what the dancers actualy wanted to dance to. The problem is that 'Latin' may be too wide a remit. You could get anything from 'out-there' Nu Tango, Salsa, Latin House etc etc. What do dancers really want?
I agree that "Latin" is waaay too wide a category. For example, I certainly wouldn't consider Tango to be Latin music, in either variety.

To me, Latin music is generally clave-based - so something you can dance within the "core family" of clave-based dances to (cumbia, rumba, cha-cha, son, salsa, mambo, bachata and so on). OK, there are loads of other Latin dances (e.g. merengue), but that's the way I'd like to see it portrayed.

"Latin" music, to me, doesn't mean "Pop, but sung by someone vaguely Latin / Hispanic" music.

I want to see a separate Tango ("nu"? What's "nu" mean?) category, there's more than enough variety in Tango music to create a wide range of tracks.

(Oh, and :clap: to Utopians for adding a tango (yes, even "nu" :rolleyes: ) label for the "coming next" display :) )

Dance Demon
10th-February-2007, 07:33 PM
I played my first ever set in the Latin Room on Friday night. It was the last set from 2am-3.30am. i had planned on playing a mix of more up tempo stuff (cha cha etc) and slower stuff. However Toby had kinda mellowed things out at the end of his set, so i tried to blend mines in where his left off. The room wasn't very busy when I took over, and about the same numbers stayed the course 'till the end of my set. Must admit that any time I went into the Latin room it was never really busy. Did try out what I'd learned in Vincent & Flavia's AT class with Lynn on Sat night ( thanks for being patient:flower: )......I think that because there were less people at this weekend, the main hall & the Latin room tended to be a bit quieter than usual. Will be back to normal in June no doubt:clap: :clap:

Simon
11th-February-2007, 08:03 PM
During the cabaret on saturday, I was slightly disaapointed by their cabaret not being as spectacular as usual until it was announced that Jessica was pregnant - Congratulations to both her and Jordan :clap: :clap: I wonder if this wonderful news will restrict Jordan from travelling to Southport in June or for Jessica from travelling to Weston in April? :whistle:

tsh
11th-February-2007, 09:00 PM
No ... I was saying the teacher taught what it said on the can and some of the students weren't up to it. He isn't the first teacher, and won't be the last, to suffer that way.

I felt that he was trying to use some unusual moves to make everyone think about their connection and stuff. The first move wasn't helped by us facing away at the critical moment and not being able to watch how the lead needed to work (that's why I tried it facing the 'wrong' way round). People struggled, but by the end of the class there seemed to be a significant improvement when I got back round to where I'd started...

Sean

Msfab
11th-February-2007, 11:25 PM
I wonder if this wonderful news will restrict Jordan from travelling to Southport in June or for Jessica from travelling to Weston in April? :whistle:


It was mentioned today at Bisley that Parker may be joined by Brandi Tobias (Not sure on the spelling) in April

MartinHarper
13th-February-2007, 01:26 AM
So are you saying "The class was a success, but the students failed"? :devil:

The students were apparently trying to demonstrate that if you put a million monkeys in a room and make them dance, eventually they'll create an advanced Modern Jive routine, by pure chance.

Gus
13th-February-2007, 09:45 AM
I felt that he was trying to use some unusual moves to make everyone think about their connection and stuff. The first move wasn't helped by us facing away at the critical moment and not being able to watch how the lead needed to work (that's why I tried it facing the 'wrong' way round). People struggled, but by the end of the class there seemed to be a significant improvement when I got back round to where I'd started...

SeanI aplogise for confusion caused. I was talking about the \intermediate class .... my fault .. I think the original comments made referred to the advanced class. Since Southport a few dancers complained that the pace was a bit too fast. Sorry:blush: Having saids that, I think if you can keep up with the pace, he has a lot to offer. At least it was one of the few MJ classes. I think I understand the logic but personally if I was on a MJ weekender I might like to do some MJ classes?:whistle:

Lounge Lizard
13th-February-2007, 12:11 PM
At least it was one of the few MJ classes. I think I understand the logic but personally if I was on a MJ weekender I might like to do some MJ classes?:whistle:
:yeah: it is as if modern jive classes are either not good enough or not fashionable at a modern jiver weekender
I remember at camber MJ classes were few & far between and used to be put on at the same time in different rooms.:(

But other dance styles at weekenders do help with style, contact, etc.
And no way do we want a weekender of nothing but Modern Jive/Ceroc Classes
getting the balance right will never be easy.

Now there is a WCS weekender - which I am sure is a result of Southport raising the profile of WCS at the weekenders
Will a Tango weekender be on the cards?
LL

TheTramp
13th-February-2007, 12:30 PM
Now there is a WCS weekender

Maybe there'll be MJ classes there! :rolleyes:

David Bailey
13th-February-2007, 01:09 PM
:yeah: it is as if modern jive classes are either not good enough or not fashionable at a modern jiver weekender
Well, to be fair, you can get MJ classes anywhere; but a weekender's an opportunity to try out specialist or different forms. Or it should be, at least.

At the moment, it's an opportunity to say you did a class with Anton and Erin, glossing over the fact that 300 other people also did the class and you didn't actually learn much... :rolleyes:


Will a Tango weekender be on the cards?
There are lots of AT weekenders and holidays already.

Lynn
13th-February-2007, 01:47 PM
There are lots of AT weekenders and holidays already.Yep - I've even been on one.

I love having the AT as an optional extra at weekenders like Southport because I enjoy dancing AT with people that I also enjoy dancing MJ with, but if I want to immerse myself in AT I'll go on one of the many weekenders already on offer. More MJ dancers are venturing into AT so MJ weekenders are including this as a way of adding something extra. I think Scarborough was possibly the first MJ weekender to have a dedicated AT set?

WCS seems to be growing in popularity and has definitely put roots down in the MJ world - again it seems to be Jive Addiction leading the way in providing opportunities to learn and freestyle it. :D

Cruella
13th-February-2007, 02:00 PM
WCS seems to be growing in popularity and has definitely put roots down in the MJ world - again it seems to be Jive Addiction leading the way in providing opportunities to learn and freestyle it. :D

I'm sure it won't be long before 'The company that shall not be named' jumps on the back of Jive Addictions success though!

Jamie
13th-February-2007, 02:08 PM
I'm sure it won't be long before 'The company that shall not be named' jumps on the back of Jive Addictions success though!

:yeah:

johnah
13th-February-2007, 02:19 PM
I'm sure it won't be long before 'The company that shall not be named' jumps on the back of Jive Addictions success though!

:yeah:

Ooooooh Cruella, please be careful, you may be in conflict with the said company's new Membership Rules.:whistle:

fletch
13th-February-2007, 05:15 PM
:yeah:

Ooooooh Cruella, please be careful, you may be in conflict with the said company's new Membership Rules.:whistle:

are you exempt if your and old member :confused:


:wink: :na:

jiveaddicted
15th-February-2007, 04:15 PM
Ah eventually i get round to posting!!!

For me this was on a par with last september i had an a brilliant time tho this time i didnt dance so much in the blues room i wasnt really feeling it for some reason. I did dance lots in the main room which i was loving this time round especially the extended monday morning stuff!!!! It was a lot of stuff ive never danced to before or even thought you could dance to.

The caberet was good but was a little dissappointed by Parker and Jessica not as on it as i thought they would be for there 2nd dance tho Jessica being pregnant cant have helped. Really loved Vincent and Flavia's Dance and my dance with Flavia was good tho bizzarly it was about my worst dance of the night as every dance after that was fantastic :grin: :grin: and Witty you should have licked him :wink:

The downside's

Having a stupidly busy week before hand and not getting chance to stock up on sleep it severly affected my stamina (i actually got more sleep at southport then i'd had all week!!!!)

The argentine tango lesson's being so busy i dropped out tho ive since started lessons in nottingham (so far ive had an hour and still cant walk :tears: )

Not having a cuban blues class or Marc DJing in the blues room!! :tears:

Not getting more dances with many of the people i wanted to dance with (im on a mission at monster jive and or daventry :grin: )

Highlights

Being at southport!!

My half an hour with Jivebunny in the marquee fantastic dances gave my night a real kick:nice:

My dances with tortoise they were all great even the immensley fast one monday morning :D

The arials class got talked into doing it but ended up loving it

Advanced jive class nice couple of moves for my slightly expanded repatoire :sick:

Getting great seats for the caberet

and having my first dance of the weekend with Rachel best start i could think of :grin:

All in all fantastic weekend roll on june

Big thanks to John and Wes

M :grin:

Lounge Lizard
15th-February-2007, 05:12 PM
I did dance lots in the main room which i was loving this time round especially the extended monday morning stuff!!!! It was a lot of stuff ive never danced to before or even thought you could dance to.

My dances with tortoise they were all great even the immensley fast one monday morning :D

M :grin:Thanks for the comments - It was great to play music that was way outside the usual MJ playlist, The 'Fast track was '5678's - Woo-Hoo' and:respect: to all that lasted the whole track
I would be great to do the same aagin in June (perhaps Sat Night sunday Morning where more dancers are about) - but if it happened could you (we) last to the Breakfast Club:whistle:

Next time I will leave the Video DJ'ing set up till we close (I expected everyone to drift into the Blues Room so packed it away at 4am:sad: )
Peter Phillips

fletch
15th-February-2007, 05:26 PM
Thanks for the comments - It was great to play music that was way outside the usual MJ playlist, The 'Fast track was '5678's - Woo-Hoo' and:respect: to all that lasted the whole track
I would be great to do the same aagin in June (perhaps Sat Night sunday Morning where more dancers are about) - but if it happened could you (we) last to the Breakfast Club:whistle:



I kept going into the blues room sun/Monday and kept coming back into the main room :what:
there wern't many of us in there but what fun :clap: I think it was the madder the better we all seemed to be on the same strange wave lenght:eek: I like been stupid :na: in IMO its :waycool:

Fab set LL count me in for June, I don't know what the rabble will make of us though :rofl:

Lounge Lizard
15th-February-2007, 05:51 PM
Fab set LL count me in for June, I don't know what the rabble will make of us though :rofl:
Err I think WE are the rabble in the main hall, the rest were the cool dudes:rofl:

fletch
15th-February-2007, 05:59 PM
Err I think WE are the rabble in the main hall, the rest were the cool dudes:rofl:

no one ever told me :eek: and I allways thought I was one of the cool kids :na:




:rofl:

Claire S
15th-February-2007, 11:40 PM
I found these on my phone today.
They were taken ~10am on Sunday morning...
(I have other pics, but am not at liberty to post them yet :wink:)

Freya
15th-February-2007, 11:59 PM
Me And Jamire are the Cool Kids...Or the hyper ones that got the ball rolling with Candyman by Christina! Aren't we fab!

Thanx LL for playing loadsa funky tracks!

fletch
16th-February-2007, 09:28 AM
Me And Jamire are the Cool Kids...Or the hyper ones that got the ball rolling with Candyman by Christina! Aren't we fab!

Thanx LL for playing loadsa funky tracks!

can I be in you gang :flower: :wink: :na:


yes I loved the funky tracks LL.........big box....little box......big fish.....little fish......:D

Cruella
8th-March-2007, 07:41 PM
Better late than never. :whistle:

WittyBird
8th-March-2007, 11:15 PM
Better late than never. :whistle:

OMG - did you have to drag those out! :rofl:

At least we won :D

Dance Demon
9th-March-2007, 12:20 AM
OMG - did you have to drag those out! :rofl:

At least we won :D

The first ones interesting Witty....I hope that's your tail that's between your legs...:what:

robd
4th-May-2007, 03:28 PM
Just reviving this one as I received my DVD yesterday for this event (I only ordered it last week)

Lots of forumites to be spotted including Fletch, ZW and OXOs doing the disco point :D, Fletch adjusting her assets and ZW preserving her (or Sharon's modesty (it's the Bowker effect :wink: ))

Vincent and Flavia classes and cabarets not included but guess this was to be expected though Flavia's birthday dance with Animaltalk is on there.

Interesting that they seem to have filmed the class refreshers in front of a green screen and this gives a weird green tinge blurring against the performers outlines against the backdrop.

Best part for me is Parker and Jessica's first cabaret - it's a masterpiece of understatement. Less can be more.

TA Guy
4th-May-2007, 06:01 PM
Just reviving this one as I received my DVD yesterday for this event (I only ordered it last week)

Lots of forumites to be spotted including Fletch, ZW and OXOs doing the disco point :D, Fletch adjusting her assets and ZW preserving her (or Sharon's modesty (it's the Bowker effect :wink: ))

Vincent and Flavia classes and cabarets not included but guess this was to be expected though Flavia's birthday dance with Animaltalk is on there.

Interesting that they seem to have filmed the class refreshers in front of a green screen and this gives a weird green tinge blurring against the performers outlines against the backdrop.

Best part for me is Parker and Jessica's first cabaret - it's a masterpiece of understatement. Less can be more.

Gotta say the DVD was excellent. Long wait, but worth it. Best of the bunch I have so far.

Shodan
10th-May-2007, 02:29 PM
Talking of February Southport...... met loads of new people there including one lady who last friday walked into my local jive venue in Exeter ! :really:

Bit of a shock, but lovely to see her again. Working down here in Devon now.

*Waves at Sara if she comes on here* Doh, we dont have a waving smiley, have some flowers instead :flower: