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Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 11:20 AM
Think I must be the first one back ...............left Southport at 4:30am got back a coupe of hours ago

sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...................

Amazing weekend - the best ever !!!!! worth the long drive and the sore feet .... will post more later

sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...................

Almost an Angel
13th-June-2005, 11:51 AM
Well you're the first one to post anyway. :hug:

And before anyone asks no I'm not home too I'm at the Blackpool Office, and won't get home till 6.30pm :tears:

Note to self: Staying up till 4.30am and having to be in work at Blackpool by 10am is not conductive to working - however it was well worth it for all my fabulous dances and watching Jordan & Tatiana :worthy: :worthy: those guys are totally awsome.

Just need to stay awake and not get caught sleeping at the desk.
To aid this I have chocolate and lucozade which are kind of working
Just need sleeeeeep.

Angel xx

CJ
13th-June-2005, 12:11 PM
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There...

Almost An Angel: is that better?!!? :D

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 12:15 PM
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There...

Almost An Angel: is that better?!!? :D
that's not very nice :really: it was her birthday yesterday :clap: , you must be nice to our Angel (must get to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

Divissima
13th-June-2005, 12:53 PM
Well, I would like to say an enormous thank you to Silver Fox for his cocktail-making expertise on Saturday night. I am still salivating over the caipirinhas :drool: Very Brazilian in keeping with the Rio theme :waycool:

The highlight of the weekend for me was the Forum barbecue - so lovely to meet lots of new faces, not to mention catch up with old friends. I'm just sorry we arrived too late to make it to the forum reception on Friday evening.

Donna
13th-June-2005, 01:14 PM
I really wanted to go to southport over the weekend and to my surprise received a phonecall off my teacher saying he had some spare tickets! He was meant to give me a buzz on saturday so that me and my partner could meet him at the gates to pick them up......and he didn't!!!! Tried texting and phoning but no response.....I'M SOOOOOO UPSET! :tears: AND A MISSED NICKY HASLAM AND ROBERT WINTERS!!!! :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears:

Almost an Angel
13th-June-2005, 02:54 PM
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There...

Almost An Angel: is that better?!!? :D


Nope still trying to fall asleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

chocolate need more chocolate......

Minnie, get some sleep for me too. :hug:

djtrev
13th-June-2005, 02:56 PM
Arrived home at 6am having left Southport at 1am.I was planning on staying the night and travelling back during the day but I had had enough by midnight and decided it was time to go.My feet and knees just gave up!!It didnt make for a pleasant drive home but at least there was not much traffic to worry about.
It was so nice to meet up with you all again and to finally meet Frank,Tiggerbabe,Davissima,Trousers,Lyn,TWK,Tramp, Dance Demon,Peter Phillips.
It really was a fabulous weekend-very well organised.Well done to John and Wes.
The highlight for me was Jordan and Tatiana's cabaret.It was simply awsome.
The Forum BBQ was great fun.Well done to Lori and Danielle for getting that sorted. I have to agree with Davissima and say that the real star of the BBQ was Foxy.Those cocktails were excellent.I was so taken with the different colours and tastes that greed took over and I overlooked the alcohol content.Not good-sore head/somewhat woobly legs.
The mainstream/blues music was excellent,helped I might add by a very good sound system.I reserve judgment on the Latin;mainly because I hardly went in there and also the fact that it is not exactly my scene.
The DJ's deserve a lot of credit for providing such a lot of good and varied music.Its a shame they dont get better billing;like the teachers;they are just as important to a successful weekend.I would have loved to know who they were and where they were from.
How did Roger Chin get away with playing Hermins Hermits-I'm into something good and I would never have thought that I would see somebody MJ(even though it was a team effort)to Star Trekking!!
As far as I could tell there was only one DJ who came along with his Jukebox(PC) but I will give him the benefit of the doubt;at least I enjoyed his music.
Thanks to the Forum Possee-Linda(Minnie),Angelique,Lori,Northants Girly and Alison(ZW) for just being you-one day I will get the hang of your style of dance!
Finally to Angelique.Sorry about the Funky Jive lesson.I know how much you enjoy your Funky Jive dancing and I dont think I cut the mustard there.I will have to brush up on my "C" bumps.
Thank you all for another great weekend-I look forward to seeing you all again at the next one wherever that might be.

Rebecca
13th-June-2005, 03:35 PM
Just back. So tired I nearly drove over a roundabout just outside Southport. Bad bad bad. . . . Still, all absolutely worth the fatigue. I had an amazing time. Meeting the lovely forumites made it for me I have to say. :hug:

Some of the best dances I have ever had guys - you should be proud of yourselves.

The teaching was first class :worthy:

A bit concerned now about how severe the come-down is going to be as I've been rhythm-buzzing all weekend. As I was leaving this morning many of the hard-core who managed to make it through to the end mentioned various events coming up which I believe could help with this ever-developing addiction. Please PM me with what you said folks (u know who u are :) ).

Thanks again everyone for making me feel so welcome :flower:

Martin
13th-June-2005, 04:34 PM
I really wanted to go to southport over the weekend and to my surprise received a phonecall off my teacher saying he had some spare tickets! He was meant to give me a buzz on saturday so that me and my partner could meet him at the gates to pick them up......and he didn't!!!! Tried texting and phoning but no response.....I'M SOOOOOO UPSET! :tears: AND A MISSED NICKY HASLAM AND ROBERT WINTERS!!!! :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears:

Sounds a bit victim orientated, other option being, turn up and sort out when you get there. Worst comes to worst, plead with Wes and John on the gate...

Lynn
13th-June-2005, 04:57 PM
What a weekend! After being sensible and heading to bed at 2am on Sat I managed to stay till the end Sat and Sun night and it was worth it! Had some great dances, saw some fabulous dancers and of course it was great to meet more forum folk. :hug: Still a lot I didn't identify over the weekend but there is always next time! Thanks to those who organised the forum BBQ, wasn't it great we got a nice sunny evening?

And a big thanks to the DJs - some great music - esp enjoyed Marc's sets in the latin room and LL, DD and Trampy in the blues room - thanks guys! :hug:

Oh yes - and I got new shoes! :clap:

Divissima
13th-June-2005, 05:09 PM
Mobile reception on the site was just terrible - I couldn't get a signal all weekend and I know plenty of others found the same. Perhaps it was the same thing for your teacher? What a shame your plans were frustrated, Donna :(

Mr Cool
13th-June-2005, 05:11 PM
Just back. So tired I nearly drove over a roundabout just outside Southport. Bad bad bad. . . . Still, all absolutely worth the fatigue. I had an amazing time. Meeting the lovely forumites made it for me I have to say. :hug:

Some of the best dances I have ever had guys - you should be proud of yourselves.

The teaching was first class :worthy:

A bit concerned now about how severe the come-down is going to be as I've been rhythm-buzzing all weekend. As I was leaving this morning many of the hard-core who managed to make it through to the end mentioned various events coming up which I believe could help with this ever-developing addiction. Please PM me with what you said folks (u know who u are :) ).

Thanks again everyone for making me feel so welcome :flower:

I agree Rebecca I thought the teaching, freestyles, music and standard of dance were superb the blues room freestyles made it for me. I hardly bothered with the other rooms. I have a soft spot for Swing.
I have to say that you are a awesome dancer, I certainly enjoyed dancing with you ( Im the big shaven headed guy in black, no sleaves with the black braces ha. Hope you will dance with me in September.
:waycool: :waycool: :waycool: :waycool:

Little Monkey
13th-June-2005, 06:03 PM
Ah, what can I say....

Southport was..... Wow..... Wow! WOW!!! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....I'm aching all over!!!!!!!!!! But pain is good, when caused by too much dancing! :clap:

Hmmmmm, my friend just texted me asking if I want to go dancing tonight... I wonder if I can get my dance shoes on, or if my feet are still too swollen.. Ooooooh, I haven't danced for...... 14 hours! Getting withdrawal symptoms! :eek:

Little Exhausted and Happy Monkey

Cruella
13th-June-2005, 06:27 PM
Well after having only 11 hours sleep all weekend, have just had a couple of hours in bed. Still very tired and sore though, but hey wasn't it worth it. :D Wes and John :worthy: what an ace weekender, the best one i've ever done in 8 years!! I was hypnotised by Jordan and Tatiana, they were perfection and only 22!! :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: Made so many new friends, especially the scots who had some fantastic dancers amongst them and so friendly. :hug: :kiss: I now can't wait to come up in september. Sorry jive brummie and filthy cute for swearing at you but was very embarrassed at having to shake my a*s* on stage. Your class was such good fun and great teaching. :worthy:
Think i am going to have post weekender depression so will have to get myself down to Ashtons on sunday to catch up with some of you. Silverfox you can try and get some more strange noises out of me :wink:

Dreadful Scathe
13th-June-2005, 06:31 PM
Brilliant weekend. I met a few people at the Forum gathering but didnt have time to come to the BBQ for long, except to look for a corkscrew - which turned out to be Tobys. I brought it back at just the right time as he was already frisking the female attendees for it. (Males last I assume :) ). Sorry to all the people I didnt dance with and didnt speak to much - so may people so little time, not to mention my inability to come up with sensible conversation with people I dont really know. Im shy you know :)

After realising the main ballroom and latin room were too hot, I pretty much stayed near the bar in restaurant bit. Apologies to many followers for my mediocre dancing, of which there were many examples, but i did manage some decent dances too. The "Genius" t-shirt I wore Sunday/Monday is meant to be ironic :)

Special thanks to Lory, Minnie and Skippy - I felt like i almost did you all justice :) Who else danced with Claire from SDF TV fame? Fantastic dancer, but I didnt even attempt WCS - a few moves strung together does not a dance make :) er..as they say!

Best Southport yet! Well done Johnah & Wes, staff, DJs and the excellent teachers. :)

woo

jivecat
13th-June-2005, 06:31 PM
I managed to get home safely with the aid of a micro-nap at Keele service station to prevent me falling asleep at the wheel. Then I drove straight past my exit off the M6. :tears:

Hightlights-

*The forum barbie, especially the COCKTAILS. Ta very much, Silver Fox.
*Saturday lunchtime freestyle.
*Dancing with lots of lovely forum guys, old & new.
*Doing that swapping partner thingy :really: (much more innocent than it sounds) with Lynn, Ian & Marc in the blues room. I've never done that before.
*The Blues room all the time.
*Zahara's bellydance class.



A bit concerned now about how severe the come-down is going to be as I've been rhythm-buzzing all weekend. As I was leaving this morning many of the hard-core who managed to make it through to the end mentioned various events coming up which I believe could help with this ever-developing addiction.

I think there's an event at Bisley in a fortnight's time. The comedown was bearable after Camber in May, 'cos Southport was already looming. I think I need an interim fix before Southport in September.


I still don't know what happens at 6:00 in the blues room. (Ignore any advice I may have given on endurance freestyling, it obviously doesn't work.)

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 06:46 PM
...........( Im the big shaven headed guy in black, no sleaves with the black braces ......
:angry: Now he tells us :tears: was looking forward to meeting and dancing with you all weekend, was asking everyone :tears:

:worthy: to all all the new forumites I met this weekend :hug: all amazing dancers and really luffffffly people (new people for me to introduce to the others :whistle: )

The BBQ - yum yum yummy and great to see lots of the forumites together off the dance floor - however the Cocktails (and the barman :whistle: :blush: :drool: ) were :drool: :yum: :drool: especially my "Sex in the City"

Didn't "VERY soon to be" Mummy Smurf look amazing :flower: her eyes were sparkling and she seemed to be glowing

Was fantastic seeing forumites friends I haven't seen since last year seeing I missed Blackpool and the Champs - especially my special mate and hero Dance Demon - please please please organisers book him for a DJ set down South - his music is the bestest ever :worthy: :yeah: Mind you IMHO all the music was good this year - Sheepy WOT a great set, shame it was only the one :sad:

Mr. UnderPar and SDF Claire - wished someone had filmed them dancing - 6'8" + 4" nothing - and didn't they dance well :drool:

Dancing under the stars with the best dancers in the country to music by my favourite DJs - it doesn't get better than that

Special thanks to my chalet mates Jockey and Northants Girls, so easy sharing with you guys :hug: :kiss:

But the real thanks go to WES and JOHN :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: - such a shame your events are so far from Brighton :tears: I could do without the long drive

PS: Is anyone else loosing their voice ?

Little Monkey
13th-June-2005, 06:49 PM
Im shy you know :)


Yes, painfully so....... A bit like me, in fact! :rofl:

There were soooooooooooooooo many forumites I never got to meet! And so many people I danced with who I never got the names of!!! There was one guy in particular that I danced with on Saturday night in the blues room (cool, very neat black beard, wearing black, if I can remember right??) who was just soooo fab, and I really wanted another dance on Sunday, but never saw him after teatime.... :( And then there was a guy who I had lotsandlotsandlots of brilliant dances with in the blues room, who would grab me for a dance whenever he saw me standing next to the dance floor without a partner. And all the lovely dances with Mr. Par. And Luca. And Magic Hans. And Martin Harper. And Rythm King. And Rob. And the Lovely Roy. Andandandandand......... Don't get offended if you're not on my list - there were too many fanctastic dances to remember all the names!!!!!!

Lovely to meet Minnie M, who kindly introduced me to lots of other forumites I had never met before!

Oh, and just before I go............. LITTLE MONKEYS DO NOT BARBEQUE WELL! :mad: :tears: Despite being self-basting.... :(

Little (Well Smoked) Monkey

Trousers
13th-June-2005, 06:51 PM
Yeah second most of the above, Cool weekender,

So many really good dancers to watch and be jealous of, I really must get the memory enhancement kit for my old and befuddled brain because apart from the Waltz (which was really cool actually) I can remember zilch!

It's great to put some faces on some handles in here - everyone I know, knows zillions of people so that was cool too.

If I danced with you Ta! I had some groovy ones.

Right then washing powder in the left slot, 50 T shirts in the hole and how many pairs of trousers? Is this the real Aftermath?

Dreadful Scathe
13th-June-2005, 06:51 PM
I just thought of a negative - a couple of female friends complained about innapropriate touching a.k.a groping by a couple of guys. Anyone else experience this? Its a real shame as that sort of thing can spoil what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend!

Little Monkey
13th-June-2005, 07:00 PM
I just thought of a negative - a couple of female friends complained about innapropriate touching a.k.a groping by a couple of guys. Anyone else experience this? Its a real shame as that sort of thing can spoil what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend!

Yes, unfortunately...... I danced with one very drunk guy in the bluesroom on Saturday night (morning?? ;) ), who made sure to 'accidentaly' brush against my chest, grope my bum etc. I very nearly punched him, but decided to just stalk off the dance floor instead. But everyone else I danced with were lovely!

LM

djtrev
13th-June-2005, 07:45 PM
I coudn't understand why every, and I mean every, partner that I danced with in the main room couldn't follow my lead on a variation of the Neck Break.
I have just been on to the guy that does my teaching and he tells me it was a move that him and his partner had come up with.No wonder no bugger knew what I was doing.

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 07:54 PM
I coudn't understand why every, and I mean every, partner that I danced with in the main room couldn't follow my lead on a variation of the Neck Break.
I have just been on to the guy that does my teaching and he tells me it was a move that him and his partner had come up with.No wonder no bugger knew what I was doing.

:yeah: I think that must have been the move Wes tried on me, I thought he was trying to strangle me with my own arms :what: he kept telling me to relax :innocent: I didn't know what relax had to do with dancing with him, he is a good dancer and a thorough nice chap, why should I be stressed dancing with him :really: then the penny dropped and I relaxed my arms more - what a silly move :whistle:

Simon
13th-June-2005, 08:12 PM
that's not very nice :really: it was her birthday yesterday :clap: , you must be nice to our Angel (must get to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
She's reached a good age (two weeks after I did!). But I was teased with the rumour of a birthday celebration involving 3 gorgeous girls, champagne and chocolates. Sadly no invite for me! :sad:

Was so tired driving home that I was pinching my leg to keep my eyes open until we got to the M5 and swopped drivers (very bad!). But this was only 2 hours after I finally plucked up the courage to ask Tatiana to dance so maybe my dreamy state is understandable! :whistle: (At the end of my dance she complimented me on my shirt! :what: :tears: The ropey WCS probably wasn't worth a comment!). By the way, great set from John (who he?) on Sunday am. Full of good soul tracks.

Big thanks, too, to my chalet mates (Janice, Keeley and Nick). Spent a lot of the weekend crying with laughter. Terrific fun. :clap:

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 08:19 PM
......... I finally plucked up the courage to ask Tatiana to dance

Noooooooooo..... I wish I had been there to watch that :tears: your WCS IMO is the best lead of all us mear mortals even a certain Frenchman admired it :whistle: - mind you Dale (sorry Groovy Dancer) and Tat :worthy:


Big thanks, too, to my chalet mates (Janice, Keeley and Nick). Spent a lot of the weekend crying with laughter. Terrific fun. :clap:
Hmmmm..... didn't we know it, we were next door :mad: and they didn't invite us in :tears:


By the way, great set from John (who he?) on Sunday am. Full of good soul tracks.
:worthy: :yeah: :worthy: :yeah: :worthy: DJ supremo Dance Demon

Dance Demon
13th-June-2005, 08:24 PM
By the way, great set from John (who he?) on Sunday am. Full of good soul tracks.
:

T'was me Simon. It wasn't planned that way. I had been asked before I went on after the Legendary Peter Phillips :worthy: ...if I would play some WCS stuff, so I obliged with some swingin blues. Then I played "Guilty" by Al Green, and things just sort of turned quite souly after that. A lot of the tunes in that set were personal favourites of mine...like Groovin' by the Young Rascals, but it just seemed to fit the occasion, and the West Coast swingers had a ball...especially Jordan and Tatiana, who were just awesome to watch :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: .......I will probably post some more of my thoughts later, but too tired at the mo...all these early morning sets have taken their toll...got home with the help of Pro plus... :rofl: ..

Danielle
13th-June-2005, 08:26 PM
Wanted to say a big Thank you to everyone there this weekend.

Had an amazing time, was totally inspired by so many amazing dancers there, if not a little intimidiated :blush: have booked for september and am planning to get some serious practise in first (hopefully then i won't be a total chicken and spend all night working up the nerve to ask for one dance!!!)

I also thought the attitude of many of the teachers and top dancers there was brilliant, very approachable and happy to dance even with relative beginners like me :D

Highlights were, well our BBQ!!!! thanks Vince for your amazing cocktails!

Jordan and Tatiana who were so approachable and put so much time into to helping absolutely everyone with there dancing.

Marc and Rachel who (as well a being such a lovely couple) were dancing all the time, really inventive and put lots of effort into every dance with everyone - they looked like the were having a ball all weekend!!

being able to watch so many fantastic dancers!!

And Peter Phillips Awesome 4some class - i haven't laughed that much in a ages, excellent entertainment!! :worthy:

Ok this list is going on a bit now :blush: ...............i loved the whole thing everyone there was brilliant!!!

Thanks John and Wes!!! :worthy: :worthy:

foxylady
13th-June-2005, 09:47 PM
What fabuous weekend !
I had a ball !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too many highlights to mention every one, but absolutely loved Dance Demon's set on Sunday night/Monday morning.... dreamstate dances to dreamstate music.......:swoon:

Forum bbq ,and cocktails was a blast. Huge thanks to SilverFox for reasons multifarious, but especially for letting me be his helper... I had such fun...

Thanks to the many gorgeous and glorious men that allowed me to wrap myself around them in the name of dance... :devil: :wink:

and thanks to Sparkles for persuading me I should go to Southport in the first place :worthy:

and how lovely to find that John (of John and Wes) was the same John that I went on a ceroc holiday in barcelona with several years ago.... I had no idea.
Superb weekend John and Wes !!!

and despite dancing till all hours last night, and a long drive home (albeit with Lory entertaining me the whole way :wink: :blush: ) I still feel wide awake and wonder why I'm not out dancing !!!

Foxy

Oh, and Dale, sir :worthy:, you are a gentleman :blush:!

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 09:59 PM
I'M SOOOOOO UPSET! :tears: AND A MISSED NICKY HASLAM AND ROBERT WINTERS!!!! :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears: :angry: :tears:
Come to MJC they are there the weekend after next 24th June - not long to wait :flower:

(wish Jordon & Tat could be with us a little longer :worthy: great teachers, amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing dancers and quite happy to dance and mix with all of us in the freestyle - watching them freestyle felt like our own personal cabaret - wow, wow and wow again :yum: :worthy: :drool: )



Oh, and Dale, sir , you are a gentleman ! :confused:

Yogi_Bear
13th-June-2005, 10:05 PM
[QUOTE=jivecat]*Doing that swapping partner thingy :really: (much more innocent than it sounds) with Lynn, Ian & Marc in the blues room. I've never done that before.
QUOTE]Ditto to that - many thanks to Lory and Zebra Woman and ?(sorry, forgotten) for the swapping partner dance, and thanks to Lory for letting me drape her across the railings...

Yogi_Bear
13th-June-2005, 10:08 PM
Back eventually after the scenic route through the Peak District.
So many superlatives about the weekend - just one for now....Jordan and Tatiana :clap: :clap:

drathzel
13th-June-2005, 10:16 PM
Just back. So tired I nearly drove over a roundabout just outside Southport. Bad bad bad. . . . Still, all absolutely worth the fatigue. I had an amazing time. Meeting the lovely forumites made it for me I have to say. :hug:



I think i made it just out of southport before falling asleep...no i wasnt driving!

It was nice to meet forumites that we didnt know before. Smooth i still dont know who u are...did we dance? I havent a clue who i danced with from the forum so if you danced with me and know it then thanks!

As a souhtport virgin i didnt know what to expect but it was a fab weekend and i made it to the end friday and sat nights and 5 am on sun (was ill and had to go sleep) It was such an experience (including being roped into, ever so nicely, pressing the play button and sound buttons for Marc and Rachel's Cuban blues class!) and i dont know what to do with myself tonight...ne one up for a dance?


:hug: :flower:

drathzel
13th-June-2005, 10:24 PM
I just thought of a negative - a couple of female friends complained about innapropriate touching a.k.a groping by a couple of guys. Anyone else experience this? Its a real shame as that sort of thing can spoil what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend!


Yes unfortunately. I was in the main ballroom on sunday night. The guy spent the whole dance looking down my top or doing moves that involved stoping me by my breasts. Grrr...... however mad i was i did not let it stop my fab weekend :hug:

Minnie M
13th-June-2005, 10:28 PM
...............made it to the end friday and sat nights and 5 am on sun
I stayed till 6am Sunday morning my feet couldn't any longer :eek: only to find it finished at 6:45am :eek: :eek:

Lory
13th-June-2005, 11:35 PM
Where do i start :what:

Firstly I'd like to thank FoxyLady, for first class chauffeuring, :worthy: I knew from the minute we headed off, the smooth drive was the start of a sublimely smooth weekend!
Great Cd's from Sparkles, made specially for the journey, plus lot's of gossip and singing and expectations verbalised, helped to set the perfect mood! :na:


Angelique, as always, was a complete nutter, to share with! :hug: Pure entertainment! (she's great at washing up too :flower: ) Hmm, I'd like to know who she was dancing with, when she told me she was dancing in the 'upstairs room' most of the night :confused: :rofl:

Franck and Sheena. ... phwoar, how did you know that hot Nachos and a beer, was exactly what I needed at 6-30am on Sunday morning, on my way back to the chalet? I went home a very happy and contented bunny! :cheers:

Classes; I confess, I know it's silly with the calibre of teachers there but I only managed three, I was burning the candle at both ends as it was.

But a huge thanks to Phil (Hey, I know your a forum voyeur, creep :wink: ) for doing J&T's WCS with me and to the lovely Mr Fitz for being the perfect partner for the Blues and Aussie close moves! :drool:

I've had so many wonderful dances, in fact, I only had ONE bad one all weekend (yes, I think I got the same very drunk, gropper on Friday/Sat too, that was the reason I left so early... 5-30am) :(

I thought the all Cabaret showcases were awesome, (how the hell did Jorden catch Tatiana's head inches from the floor, after doing four unassisted spins :eek: :worthy: ) its just a shame that the bits in the middle were so cringeworthy! :sick:

Underpar had one of the best costumes yet again this time IMO but to all those who made extra special efforts, it really added to the atmosphere! :D

The BBQ; WOW how perfect was that? The sun was shinning, DJ TWK's music filling the air, along with the lovely cooking smells, duvets spread en masse om the grass, Silverfox, impressing us all with his 'Cocktail flaring' skills and we even had our very own fire juggler! :clap: And best of all, friends, old and new enjoying a good giggle together!

Back to the dancing, I keep having flashbacks to certain moments and I can't contain the smile, I really don't want to mention anyone individuals because I'm bound to forget someone and I'd be totally mortified, cos as I said, you guys and you KNOW who you are, are just fabulous! I was made to feel sooo special! :hug: :hug: :hug:

Music, need I say it..... the early mornings AND the lunchtime sets, were just pure ambrosia. :drool:


Someone asked what happened when the last song was played at 6-30ish? Well, the last remaining hard-core nutters, all cheered and clapped and then asked for MORE....and they got it! :cheers:

Then some of us had a group stretch (which I reckon should be official) :grin:


I must make a quick apology to everyone who got a full blast of my singing, I just can't help it, as I've sad before, I sing when I'm happy! :blush: To SimonR, I know you love it really! :D

Wes and John, Well done guys, you've done it again, (you can get some sleep now)! ;)

My only concern for next time is, that the Blues room might have out grown its self, anyone else agree?

MartinHarper
14th-June-2005, 12:41 AM
Thanks to everyone who danced with me, and a particular thanks to Minnie for getting me to socialise with the forum folks despite my best efforts to hide away in the big room.

We've talked a bit elsewhere about reviews and such, so a few thoughts:

Jordan and Tatiana did a great job on WCS and Hustle. I loved Jordan's precise teaching - I always felt I knew exactly what I should be doing, even if I wasn't yet capable of doing it. Slick class management, too. For me, they taught the best classes of the weekend.

I was impressed with Nigel and Nina's Blues class, but my expectations were very high after so many positive comments on the forum and elsewhere, and they didn't quite meet those expectations. It felt like they were hampered by the sheer scale of the audience, so I'll look out for their names on other, smaller, events.
The "Turbo Jive" class by N&N was... different. I particularly liked the demonstration of a complex move done to fast music. I disliked the routine they taught - it felt too much like Lindy. I was expecting to learn how to dance MJ to fast music, not how to inflict swing on unsuspecting MJ followers...
N&N also did a "Spinning and Style" class, which turned out to be more like "spinning, because falling over is unstylish". This I liked - it went along at a brisk but non-scary pace, lots of excellent advice and exercises. Despite Nina's comments about the goodness of men spinning, I'll steer clear of double spins when I'm leading. It makes followers frowny.

Amir's Jango was good. Still can't do it. It's a fabulous dance to look at, but I'm not sure how realistic it is to attempt to learn it solely from weekend events.
I was impressed by Viktor's class on men's styling. He was very good at going back over what he'd taught earlier, so I felt like there was a higher chance of some of it sticking. More stuff to practice in front of a mirror...

I liked the look of the "Funky Jive" that James and Melanie taught - it came with a definate style, and it all seemed to fit together nicely. Personally, I wasn't a fan of a couple of the moves they used ("Pretzel Pulse", and some move with the lady ducking whilst spinning), but I still enjoyed the class.
Lead/follow was sometimes sketchy. I was never clear on the lead for the start of the "Pulse". Also, I thought they could have placed a little more emphasis on the "C bumps" being lady-led. There was one woman in the class who had a superb lead for it, but I didn't feel the others lead. I suspect the guys were anticipating too much, me included.

I did a couple of solo classes: the warm-up Charleston from Sue Freeman, and a "Funky Street Dance" from Brady and Lindsay. Both great fun. I particularly liked Sue's energy and enthusiasm - very welcome in a wake-up class. On a similar note, Paul and Catriona's "US Nightclub two step" class served as a nice cool-down class prior to dinner.

I thought scheduling a double trouble class at the same time as a ladies only style class may have been a mistake, particularly given the whole event's positive attitude to fixed parners. I took the opportunity to have a wander around instead, so it didn't bug me too much.

Sleep is good.

stewart38
14th-June-2005, 09:41 AM
Ok still very good etc etc but


Too many men :whistle:

Awesome foursome involved lines of men holding hands what was that all about didn’t wait to find out

Another class I attended half walked off mid way through

Not sure if a cabaret should be about asking 3 guys stripping of for Mickey’s pants? Surprise surprise they didn’t do it. If you can’t fill an hour reduce it to 30 mins or bring in a Spot line routine etc or another performer?

Queue for drinks very long sometimes

Sparkles
14th-June-2005, 10:06 AM
After catching up on some of my sleep I just have to say what a great weekend I had!

It was so nice to meet up with so many forumites (although I still seem to have missed a lot of you – hopefully we’ll meet soon) and dance with so many wonderful people.

Thank you to Franck and Sheena for putting up with me during the day on Saturday – and I should have been a good girl and put my sunscreen on :blush:, I’ll know better next time.

Big :worthy: to both Sheepman and TWK for their sets – brilliant music as always (and next time I will most definitely wear trousers to dance in the latin room! :what: ). DD and Trampy never disappoint me with their sets, thank you guys :flower:. I definitely agree though that the DJ schedule should be billed just as the teachers classes are – maybe John and Wes would be able to include that in the booklet next time (please!).

The forum BBQ and cocktail party was great, thanks to SilverFox, Lory and Danielle for organising it! I especially enjoyed it when the guys decided to keep us warm when the sun went down – best ‘hot water bottle’ in the world!

I’m so proud of myself for asking Jordan to dance. The hardest part was walking up to him and asking him, he’s a fantastic lead and so even with my limited knowledge of WCS I really enjoyed our dance. I’m really annoyed that I missed KGD and Sheepy dancing with Tatiana though – and the impromptu freestyle J&T did on Sunday – I would have really liked to see that.

I didn’t experience any inappropriate touching (I kind of expect it from Aleks :rolleyes: so she doesn’t count!). The only negatives I would say were the limited number of bar staff in the blues room – it was taking on average 20mins just to get a drink (and some people were complaining of much longer waits), and the hideous ‘extras’ during the cabaret – there was no need for some of it, I wanted to see the professionals dancing and that’s it! It was so hot in there that Sal and I thought we were going to pass out, and I know it ruined RK’s back to be standing still for so long. Next time please cut the non-sense and let us get on with the dancing.

Thank you to Foxylady for a great journey (and for not getting upset with me when I fell asleep in the car).

S. x

Lynn
14th-June-2005, 10:11 AM
I stayed till 6am Sunday morning my feet couldn't any longer :eek: only to find it finished at 6:45am :eek: :eek: Yep! I had taken my shoes off thinking it was all finishing - ended up dancing barefoot with Ian and Marc doing that swappy thing. They are so good that!! :worthy: :hug:

Lynn
14th-June-2005, 10:34 AM
Also...

Jordan and Tatiana :worthy: :worthy: esp in the blues room... they are coming over to Ireland in Oct for a country dance festival, must try and get down to see them in action again!

And of course John and Wes :hug: :worthy: :hug:

Tiggerbabe
14th-June-2005, 10:38 AM
I had a blast!

Thanks everyone :hug: sooooooo many fab dances all weekend (girls and boys) - there were other rooms than the Blues Room ?????????

Sunday afternoon (no prizes for guessing where) - :drool: :drool: (even got to spin a few toons - thanks Marc, no pressure eh? )

Huge well done John and Wes :D
- and whoever cooked the bacon for that roll I had yesterday morning before we left :worthy:

Lounge Lizard
14th-June-2005, 10:49 AM
Ok still very good etc etc but
Awesome foursome involved lines of men holding hands what was that all about didn’t wait to find out
That was needed to achieve the 'technologic' step.
the natural progression for the awesome foursome is the awesome team - this was our first try at a group move

Shame you did not wait cos it was lots of fun - but if you did not like the holding hands bit then doing a class to the Frog song, cuddling the other guy in mans front lean or finishing with auld land syne and the oky-coky may have not been to your liking either.
you would have enjoyed the ladies pendulum tho :wink:

awesome 4some - probably the silliest class of the weekend - if you were there the above will make sense - if you were not it was a bit of fun to end the weekend classes with - sorry if it offended anyone.
Peter

stewart38
14th-June-2005, 11:02 AM
That was needed to achieve the 'technologic' step.
the natural progression for the awesome foursome is the awesome team - this was our first try at a group move

Shame you did not wait cos it was lots of fun - but if you did not like the holding hands bit then doing a class to the Frog song, cuddling the other guy in mans front lean or finishing with auld land syne and the oky-coky may have not been to your liking either.
you would have enjoyed the ladies pendulum tho :wink:

awesome 4some - probably the silliest class of the weekend - if you were there the above will make sense - if you were not it was a bit of fun to end the weekend classes with - sorry if it offended anyone.
Peter

Just though it was meant to be fix 4 people doing stuff like you do with 3 but only with 4 ? My mistake. Ive held mens hands many times re barn dancing etc no worries

There was another class , late sunday that started with a tripple step but guy was doing double step on stage ?

Re the heat in main ballroom , why didnt they have fans pointing upwards instead of along the floor

Anyway it was good and thanks lory and others re the barbeque :flower:

Must have danced with a least 5 or 6 new forumites of here

I would like to think any comments I make are just observations and not intended to critise a wonderful event.

jivecat
14th-June-2005, 11:41 AM
Too many men :whistle:





DON'T get me started!

WELL DONE, John & Wes, for a noticeable reduction in the serried ranks of wistful ladies around the dance floor! Keep up the number-balancing policy.

johnah
14th-June-2005, 11:47 AM
Yes unfortunately. I was in the main ballroom on sunday night. The guy spent the whole dance looking down my top or doing moves that involved stoping me by my breasts. Grrr...... however mad i was i did not let it stop my fab weekend :hug:

Ladies,

Accidents do happen from time to time but, if any man makes you feel uncomfortable or carries out inappropriate moves on the dance floor or elsewhere for that matter, please tell either Wes or I because we'll put a stop to it immediately!!

BobbyA
14th-June-2005, 11:47 AM
Absolutly fantastic event! :) New to forum too, so didn't get a chance to know any of the forum members.. Maybe i'll get to know you all before September :P :P :P :P

Lou
14th-June-2005, 11:56 AM
Absolutly fantastic event! :) New to forum too, so didn't get a chance to know any of the forum members.. Maybe i'll get to know you all before September :P :P :P :P
Hi Bobby! Welcome to this forum. :hug: I'm sure you'll have a lot of people looking forward to dancing with you in September. ;)

stewart38
14th-June-2005, 12:25 PM
DON'T get me started!

WELL DONE, John & Wes, for a noticeable reduction in the serried ranks of wistful ladies around the dance floor! Keep up the number-balancing policy.

Just saying in the 3 classes I attended there was extra men thats all :sick:

No way am i suggesting its ok to have '40 women' move on as per camber

jockey
14th-June-2005, 12:29 PM
I have to say a big thankyou to Minnie who drove- thhe journey back was a tour de force. WE left at 4 15 a.m. monday morning and after an anxious start when the computer wouldnt work we found the right motorway going in the correct direction; after a slight delay around Oxford we sailled around the M25 just after 9 00 and back in Brighton for 10 30 in time for me to go to work at 11 00!
Thanks to Silver Fox for the cocktails and it was really nice to meet loads of forumites foooor the first time at the barbeccue; everyone was great and all of you dance wonderfully well.
Joseph and T were super and good teachers.
Viktoooor was on top teaching form on Sunday annnd I has a fab dance with Nikki H who, in contrast to some teachers, really puts herself around on the dance floor wiith us punters.
It was great to see some old friends again (Ann who is not on the forum, Ray and Jane, Rachel Toby and Clare Simon aand Nicole etc) and maaake new ones. XX

SilverFox
14th-June-2005, 01:24 PM
Such a fabulous weekend! :waycool: :waycool:

My first Southport and I am sooo hooked.

A few highlights for me:

After revelling n the amazing latin set from Marc on Sunday am, only to find out that the Kenobe was going 'Back2Back' for an impromptu killer sesh 'til nearly 5am. :waycool: :clap:

Marc and TwK - the Latino Dream Team. Encore. :worthy: :worthy:

Having Foxylady very kindly offer to be my Buxom Serving Wench at the BBQ. She makes a mean Caipirinha and can certainly shake them. :devil:
Thanks to Lory, TwK & Danielle too for making it such a success. :flower:

The Awesome 4some class by Peter and Co. was the funniest class I have ever been to. A whole hour of giggling was the perfect antidote to sleep deprivation. Top drawer LL! :rofl: :worthy:

Dance Demon's blues sets. :drool: :drool: :drool:


Thank you all so much for your kind comments about the cocktails. I really had a lot of fun making them and I'm glad you enjoyed them. (Some more than others eh, Angelique... :blush: :rofl: )
Oh, and a huuuge sorry to Tiggerbabe. 'twas my hips...they kept me in the Latin Quarter. :blush: :blush: :flower:

Can't wait for September. :cheers:

Almost an Angel
14th-June-2005, 01:29 PM
She's reached a good age (two weeks after I did!). But I was teased with the rumour of a birthday celebration involving 3 gorgeous girls, champagne and chocolates. Sadly no invite for me! :sad:



The said party did happen - we did look for you but couldn't find you.
Both Mie and I were looking for you. :tears:

The celebration did indeed go ahead and involved not 3 but 5 gorgeous girls, champagne, chocolate and strawberries as advertised and one very smiley person. As for what we got up too .........
I'll leave it to your imaginations ................ :devil:

Failing that you might be able to pry it out of me next time you see me.

Angel xx

RoyBoy
14th-June-2005, 01:46 PM
Fabulous weekend, soooo many good memories/dances.
The w/shops that I managed to attend were superb with a very high standard of teaching. The organisation was spot on. Well done Wes and John.

Respect to the DJ’s, you guys deserve greater recognition.

A huge thank you to all you gorgeous ladies that allowed me the pleasure of your company on the dance floor.

The only fly in the ointment (actually there were two)

a. Missed the forum bar B q – bummer
b. Cabaret night. The cabarets were excellent, J&T being gobsmackingly awesome. But was marred slightly by a couple of embarrassing items (nuff said)

Dammit, just found another fly.

c. Forgot to book for September – gonnea have to pay an extra £20. Did I mention I’m a Scot.

drathzel
14th-June-2005, 01:51 PM
Ok still very good etc etc but


Too many men :whistle:



I didnt find that problem.


Ladies,

Accidents do happen from time to time but, if any man makes you feel uncomfortable or carries out inappropriate moves on the dance floor or elsewhere for that matter, please tell either Wes or I because we'll put a stop to it immediately!!

This is good to know thanks! Altho i dont think i will put up with it in future and do a Little Monkey and storm off.

Petal
14th-June-2005, 01:55 PM
I just thought of a negative - a couple of female friends complained about innapropriate touching a.k.a groping by a couple of guys. Anyone else experience this? Its a real shame as that sort of thing can spoil what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend!

Thankfully didn't experience it but that was because two friends who were unfortunate enough to "dance" with one of the guys warned me and i avoided him.

Petal
14th-June-2005, 01:57 PM
By the way, great set from John (who he?) on Sunday am. Full of good soul tracks.

:

That would be the dance demon. :clap:

Simon
14th-June-2005, 01:58 PM
I loved Jordan's precise teaching - I always felt I knew exactly what I should be doing, even if I wasn't yet capable of doing it. Slick class management, too. For me, they taught the best classes of the weekend. Woman on rotation complained to me of Jordan, "I wish he wouldn't talk so much"!!! :confused: She was obviously born with the WCS gene so must instinctively know exactly where to put her feet without instruction. :wink:

PeteK
14th-June-2005, 02:00 PM
Awesome weekend - now v tired, feet v sore, but what a fantastic time.

Many thanks to Silver Fox for cocktails, and the BBQ was inspired.

J&T fantastic WCS classes, also Viktor's style class.

Brilliant music & great atmosphere, especially around the bar by the blues room in the early hours of Fri nite.

drathzel
14th-June-2005, 02:04 PM
.

Brilliant music & great atmosphere, especially around the bar by the blues room in the early hours of Fri nite.

Going to agree with you there. It was fab on Friday night/Sat Morning, most people fadded soooo early but the ones who remained stuck out the pace and were chucked out by dd at 6:15 (i think) It was an amazing feeling to dance the sun rise!

Little monkey, how many days to go? :whistle:

under par
14th-June-2005, 02:13 PM
Got to hand it to John and Wes for putting on the best weekender I've been to.(it's always such a pleasure to see the organisers and their wives out all night dancing with everyone...keep it going it was brilliant :clap: :clap: )

The quality of the music was to die for. Well done to all the DJs. :worthy: without the great music especially in the blues room late on i could easily have tired and gone to bed......BUT ..............I just could not stop dancing for all 3 nights (my laundry bag is testament to that!!!)

I only did a few classes and the absolute tops were Jordan and Tatiana. They oooze class :worthy: :worthy:

Their performance on Saturday night BRILLIANT.......their freestyling in the blues room on Sunday i felt privileged to be there awesome:cheers:

Victor was on absolute top form dancing with Nicky Haslam on Sunday night too, they managed to clear most of the floor whilst everyone stared on in wonder for 3 or 4 tracks.....way to go!! :worthy: :worthy: the applause well justified.


The Barbque was great so many forumites chilling out together WOW!

Silver Fox wicked cocktails :yeah: .To all those who organised both that event and Fridays gathering a big BIG THANKYOU

To Melissa who painted my face at the Barbque it really made the fancy dress for me.

To kgd who nearly died of shock as I approached him in my fancy dress (I,m still smiling about that one :rofl: :rofl: )

To Sassy1 with whom I created a brand new move...........managing (unintentionally)to remove the white gold ring off her finger whilst doing a double comb :rofl: :rofl: I could not stop laughing :flower:

To each and every one I danced with thankyou. :cheers: :worthy: :hug: :flower:

negative point for me was the slowness of bar staff too as already mentioned.

Any body got any photos to post???

I have a couple if someone could PM me with how I post them on a thread.

Finally I have to thank Dan who I met at the Barbque, who at regular intervals approached me with different lady dancers on his arm....."this is ...... she wants to dance!" at which point he would walk off and leave me. :flower: :rofl:
I had some great dances, met loads of new people and want to know how much Dan charges for PIMPING :rofl: :rofl: :worthy:

Little Monkey
14th-June-2005, 02:19 PM
there were other rooms than the Blues Room ?????????


Noooooooooooo....? Really? Who told you that??
BTW - the set you did in the above mentioned room on Sunday (early evening) was FAB! I was meant to be having tea, but all I wanted to do was get up and dance!!!!!! Playlist....?

Oh, and Drathzel.... 94 days to go....... :wink: :rofl:

LM

drathzel
14th-June-2005, 02:38 PM
Oh, and Drathzel.... 94 days to go....... :wink: :rofl:

LM

Woo hoo! :clap: :clap:

Of the whole weekend i only got one photograph (dunno why think i was busy dancing to take pics)

Any caption comments would be great (its pretzelmiester and bridget)

Tiggerbabe
14th-June-2005, 02:58 PM
BTW - the set you did in the above mentioned room on Sunday (early evening) was FAB! I was meant to be having tea, but all I wanted to do was get up and dance!!!!!! Playlist....?

:rofl: :rofl: You listening John and Wes? :wink: :whistle:
Wasn't my set Little Monkey, it was Marc Forster who was playing the toons - I only covered for a little while whilst he went to ..........well, let's just say he needed excused.

ads
14th-June-2005, 03:26 PM
So can anyone tell me what Nicky and Robert's workshops were like were they good and well attended and what about their caberet's?

Zebra Woman
14th-June-2005, 03:33 PM
Well that was my favourite weekend ever. Well done John and Wes, I really don't know how you're going to top that one....

High points included

The Forum gathering :cheers: . Bardsey made labels for the new forum members off the cuff as well as dishing out the ones we'd ordered. Thanks Bardsey (not that I actually needed one :blush: ).

The Forum BBQ. How fab was that!!! Well done to SF and his assistants. Easy Spice and I had the job of transporting the cocktails, and of course quality assurance testing. My favourite was the 'Silver Fox Special'. I knew when I couldn't say those words that I'd had enough...I think the alchohol affected my judgement cos I left my marshmallows unattended near Simor R and Phil - big mistake. :rofl:

Cabaret - The most incredible dance performances :worthy: :worthy:
The fancy dress outfits were awesome (especially Under Par :rofl: )
Mikey's MC 'entertainment' was really rude and embarrassing to watch I was losing the will to live and seizing up from sitting on the floor for too long. The whole cabaret slot dragged on for an hour, when really half an hour would have been far better, with an MC providing a short link.

Latin Quarter - I loved it in there. Friday night seemed to finish before we were ready.Thanks to John and Wes for giving TWK a spontaneous slot after Marc on the Saturday night. THANK YOU :cheers: Both sets were blinding :worthy: :clap: And the floor was lovely and smooth. I would prefer the blues room to be in the Latin Quarter because I found the blues room floor too hard on my feet. I had to give the blues room a rest on Saturday as I'd overdone it in there on Friday night.

Blues Room - The music and dancing during the day was amazing, really great sets. Where else can you dance all day and all night? The nights were incredible, no words are sufficient. LL and DD surpassed themselves :worthy: :worthy: . I have never seen so many fabulous dancers all in one room before, it was quite scary. Just watching Jordan and Tatiana dance was amazing, and they danced with loads of other people too. Inspiring.

Like Lory I will name no names. I had so many fantastic dances. Thank you to everyone who danced with me. You know who you are :flower: :worthy: :hug:

Apart from the cabaret the only snag I can think of was water and the floor surface in the blues room, and getting served at the bar in the Blues room.

Did anyone else notice how clean the air was up there? :grin: I fell all hayfevery now I'm back :tears: .

ZW :flower:

MartinHarper
14th-June-2005, 03:45 PM
Woman on rotation complained to me of Jordan, "I wish he wouldn't talk so much"!!!

My favourite quote of the weekend was from Jordan: "place your weight over the front part of the heel of your right foot". I think I'm going to need bigger feet...

william_ceroc
14th-June-2005, 04:51 PM
I just thought of a negative - a couple of female friends complained about innapropriate touching a.k.a groping by a couple of guys. Anyone else experience this? Its a real shame as that sort of thing can spoil what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend!

I too herd of a friend who was treated in the same manner in the main Ball room on the Sunday night, not only groping her in the same way but also putting his hand up her skirt as far as he could, then saying it was a move he had got taught. I think it is really sad that this girls lasting memmory of such a fantastic weekend should be spoiled by such a creep, I hope that anyone who knows of this said person, makes sure he gets shamed and is never allowed to take part in a dance weekend. This was an assault carried out infront of hundreds of people and video, I am sure someone must know who he is!

I have to thank Jiveaddiction for making south port a fantastic weekend, I had my best dance night ever on sat and I can even forgive Dance demon for kicking us all out at 7am, what a Dj what night what a weekend................

Dance Demon
14th-June-2005, 05:27 PM
Fab Weekend :clap: :clap: :clap: ...........I can't really comment about what went on in the main hall or the latin quarter, as I didn't manage to get there....spent the whole weekend in the blues room. I listened to every set that was played there, and there was a great mixture of DJing styles. Paul Amos played some great up tempo sets for those who love a good old jive, whereas Peter Phillips and Trampy played a more sedate type of set. I was on last on Friday & Saturday night and it is quite hard to follow such high calibre DJs and try to play stuff that hasn't already been played. managed to keep going 'till around 6.15 am on Friday night, and 7am on Saturday night. Thankfully Trampy swapped sets with me on Sunday night to let me have an early night (4.30am :rofl: ).....I didn't get to many workshops, but did do J&Ts WCS ones :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: .....Also james & Melanies Funky Jive class was great fun. I love watching these two teach, ..they have sooooo much enthusiasm. I did the music at Brady & Lindsays Funky Street Dance & Boogie Woogie workshops, and everyone seemed to have great fun there too.......I noticed that the only workshops to have extra men were the latin passion and the other "sexy" moves class.......maybe that tells us what the women think of these classes :wink:
I also got to meet lots of forumites that I'd never met before, and got some fab dances with Mrs Under Par, Angelique, Lory, Zebra Woman to name but a few, and of course it was ace to see my pal Minnie Mouse again....really glad you managed to get there Minnie :hug: :hug:
Finally a huge thanks to John & Wes for organising another top weekend, and for inviting me to DJ.....I had a great time :cheers:

MartinHarper
14th-June-2005, 05:40 PM
.....

cutey
14th-June-2005, 05:46 PM
:kiss: Well Good Morning to you all, sorry afternoon!
What a fantastic weekend.... :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: This was my 2nd weekender and oh my god do I ache from head to toe. :tears:
Amongst all the great dances I had my best one was with Jordan, sorry Simon. For those who did dance with him, Jordan that is. I am sure you will all agree he is a pure dream to dance with: :worthy:

Take care all and hope to see you all soon. Cutey :flower:

DON'T FORGET JANE AND RAY'S LEAVING PARTY ON 13th AUGUST at TWYFORD. We are all going to miss you two very very much! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Cruella
14th-June-2005, 05:55 PM
Does anyone know what happened about the missing bags on friday night? Was someone caught? I'm presuming (and hoping) that it was a non dancer!!
That for me was the only negative about the whole weekend.
I think that maybe it would have been a good idea to have the free water in the blues room like they had in the other two rooms, it would have freed up the barstaff to serve other drinks quicker.
I have digital photos to post can someone PM me as to how to post them please. :flower:
Thanks to everyone i danced with, was high on adrenalin all weekend, can't believe i managed to dance til 6am all three nights.

under par
14th-June-2005, 06:28 PM
Does anyone know what happened about the missing bags on friday night? Was someone caught? I'm presuming (and hoping) that it was a non dancer!!
.

From what I know the suspects for the thefts were seen taking some bags to the toilets and rummaging through for cash.
they did take up to five bags that where recobvered minus the cash.
The suspects got wind they were being followed and soon disappeared off the camp. They were quite disinctive and had they returned after Friday night they would definitely have been nabbed.
Police came and took details of all the witnesses and descriptions. also forensics came to check for figerprints etc.

IMHO i do not think they where dancers.

John and wes dealt with it brilliantly, announcing the problem straight away which raised the awareness of everybody and lead to the culprits being scared off.

I do not know if the police have progressed the matter.

DavidY
14th-June-2005, 06:43 PM
a. Missed the forum bar B q – bummer
But I was teased with the rumour of a birthday celebration involving 3 gorgeous girls, champagne and chocolates. Sadly no invite for me! :sad: I missed the Forum BBQ too :tears: - I didn't know where or when it was (I'd forgotten about it and only found out when I met Cruella coming back after the end of it).

So here's my suggestion for next time - could there be some sort of noticeboard/ message board where folk could leave each other messages (at least the ones they're willing to make public...)? Would that be helpful?

Little Monkey
14th-June-2005, 06:55 PM
Mikey's MC 'entertainment' was really rude and embarrassing to watch I was losing the will to live and seizing up from sitting on the floor for too long. The whole cabaret slot dragged on for an hour, when really half an hour would have been far better, with an MC providing a short link.


:yeah: How does he get away with it? Less of that, please.... :( And I agree it all dragged on for a bit too long - my back was totally destroyed after standing there for so long, and I had to go back to my room for some painkillers and rest before resuming dancing! :tears: Fortunately I shared chalet with Dr. Muppet, who supplied me with some marvellous tablets, hence saving my weekend! :clap:



Did anyone else notice how clean the air was up there? :grin: I fell all hayfevery now I'm back :tears: .


Errrr...... No? I felt all hayfevery when I was down there!

Oh, and Cruella - there was pitchers of water at the end of the bar in the blues room, at least on Sat and Sun night. Sometimes they ran out of glasses, tho, and you still had to stand around for ages.

And while I'm writing - HUGE thanks to Maxx for driving, thanks to Skippy for cooking breakfast on Monday, and hugs and kisses to Franck for the delicious waffles on Sunday! Mmmmmmmmm.... :drool: I might have to copy him and bring my own waffle maker in September..... If there's space in the car.....

LM

jockey
14th-June-2005, 07:13 PM
:kiss: Well Good Morning to you all, sorry afternoon!
What a fantastic weekend.... :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: This was my 2nd weekender and oh my god do I ache from head to toe. :tears:
Amongst all the great dances I had my best one was with Jordan, sorry Simon. For those who did dance with him, Jordan that is. I am sure you will all agree he is a pure dream to dance with: :worthy:

Take care all and hope to see you all soon. Cutey :flower:

DON'T FORGET JANE AND RAY'S LEAVING PARTY ON 13th AUGUST at TWYFORD. We are all going to miss you two very very much! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:
I was 2 feet away from you and Jordan during that dance and it was a joy to watch; also, I saw you and Simon doing some stuff in the bar section of the blues section out of peak time which looked good. I hate naming names but Littleemcee did it for me plus Rebecca, Ann (nonforum), Victoria (nonforum, star of the future and to be competing with Keith of CHANCE TO DANCE), Rachel,a friend of Victorias who said "that was pants" when she missed one whose name I forget, Sheila (rthanx for help WCS) and everyone who said "yes". I refused 0 dances but sadly was on the receiving end of a few..

jivegirl100
14th-June-2005, 07:29 PM
Ladies,

Accidents do happen from time to time but, if any man makes you feel uncomfortable or carries out inappropriate moves on the dance floor or elsewhere for that matter, please tell either Wes or I because we'll put a stop to it immediately!!

Hi, I am a forum voyeur but had to comment on this thread - one guy in the blues room on Sunday night did this to me too - some sort of weird drop which involved him ending up with his head resting on my chest. I'd got wise to it the second time, and managed to get my hand inbetween his head and my heaving bosom!!! For the record he was short, straggly long-ish greying hair, early/mid 50's.

Other than that, had an absolutely FABULOUS weekend, brilliant dances, had the best dance ever to "All that Jazz" with the lovely Alan - don't know if he ever reads this forum but it was grrrrreat!!

See you all in September

Claire (could be seen on Saturday night brandishing a red feather boa) :cheers:

jockey
14th-June-2005, 07:44 PM
So can anyone tell me what Nicky and Robert's workshops were like were they good and well attended and what about their caberet's?
HI "ads". I did both classes,
The int/adv class comprised a teapot wrap followed by aaan elbow spin (ladys elbow); then man steps into a guita walk (mans right to ladys right) taking the spare hand with mans spare hand; then a left handed archies spin; collect spare hand and double overhead turn and finally man turns both hands connected keeping one hand low and combing lady with t"other (we were oop north..).
The close moves class on the Sunday comprised a pretzel ending with lady astride mans left leg, "wiggle down"; bump lady out take ladys right hand with mansright; pull lady through on a long arm and man leads a c/w turn then takes spare hand, wrap lady in front and turn her to face 3 0"oclock to man 12 0clock whereupon lady sensually turns to 12 0"clock and pushes up on mans thighs till both standing, both step back close together (booth facing forward of course), body ripple (went well); out of that with shake hand hold; lady walks forward as man takes other hand to block, face, turn lady keeping mans left low into chest slide dip.
packed out but men over (big time). Also of note was that Nikki came on the mike at start of sundays routine and explained that their demo on Saturday night was "extemporaneous" (her word) and so freestyled. That may explain something about that bit of the cabaret which I didnt see cos I had left (Idont want to see a cabaret peppered with jokes about knickers etc etc).

stewart38
14th-June-2005, 07:53 PM
From what I know the suspects for the thefts were seen taking some bags to the toilets and rummaging through for cash.
they did take up to five bags that where recobvered minus the cash.
The suspects got wind they were being followed and soon disappeared off the camp. They were quite disinctive and had they returned after Friday night they would definitely have been nabbed.
Police came and took details of all the witnesses and descriptions. also forensics came to check for figerprints etc.

IMHO i do not think they where dancers.

John and wes dealt with it brilliantly, announcing the problem straight away which raised the awareness of everybody and lead to the culprits being scared off.

I do not know if the police have progressed the matter.

Friends van got broken into, i think people just have to be careful

Minnie M
14th-June-2005, 08:45 PM
If you need a J & T top up :-

http://www.mydancelesson.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=0&func=fileinfo&parent=category&filecatid=429

Lynn
14th-June-2005, 10:02 PM
Re the cabaret – I also thought ½ hour would have been long enough. I had a seat with a great view (though was sharing it with a friend so it wasn’t that comfortable) but I felt sorry for those who were standing for an hour. I thought the dancing was great and the parade of costumes was appropriate for the Rio theme as it had that carnival procession feel. But even with the seat, I felt really tired after sitting so long for the cabaret and had to go back to the chalet for a rest for an hour.

Forgot to say – thanks to Minnie for again introducing me to several forumites I hadn’t met before. :hug: And a big thanks to all the forumite guys for all the lovely dances! :hug: :flower:

I have a resolution for the next one – ask more guys to dance – I think I only asked about 3 times the whole weekend. Its not really that I am shy, :blush: more that I feel my dancing a bit inadequate compared to others, and yes I know that shouldn’t matter but that’s how I feel – so its nice that there are some forum guys I know I can ask.


(lots of well remembered move descriptions)...lady walks forward as man takes other hand to block, face, turn lady keeping mans left low into chest slide dip. I didn't think I could do that dip (wary of bending backwards as it seems a particularly easy way to hurt your back) til you came round in the rotation - you made it so easy, thankyou :worthy: (and sorry I kept forgetting your real name :blush: )

Latin Quarter - I loved it in there. Friday night seemed to finish before we were ready.Thanks to John and Wes for giving TWK a spontaneous slot after Marc on the Saturday night. THANK YOU :cheers: Both sets were blinding :worthy: :clap: I had left the latin room just before 3am as I thought it was finishing and missed TWK’s set :tears: - would loved to have heard it. It’s a pity that it wasn’t announced that the latin room was staying open longer.

Did anyone else notice how clean the air was up there? :grin: I fell all hayfevery now I'm back :tears: Yes! I had noticed this last time as well and was looking forward to my hayfever easing as hayfever plus about 3 hours sleep per night would have left me feeling pretty miserable. I didn’t have it in Spain either. So whatever I am allergic to mustn’t have been there. Hmm – my hayfever disappears when I go away dancing – do you think I could get the doctor to prescribe regular dancing weekends as a hayfever cure? :rofl:

Maxx
14th-June-2005, 10:09 PM
:rofl: :rofl: You listening John and Wes? :wink: :whistle:
Wasn't my set Little Monkey, it was Marc Forster who was playing the toons - I only covered for a little while whilst he went to ..........well, let's just say he needed excused.

I thought it was fab too, nearly had to leave my tea and go dance :D

Can somebody twist Marc's arm to find out what he played? All I know is one of the tracks was "La ????? by Soraya (It was around 6ish on Sunday evening).

Cheers to all for a great time, particularly LM, Skippy, Yvonne and Burge.
Maxx

under par
14th-June-2005, 10:17 PM
I thought it was fab too, nearly had to leave my tea and go dance :D

Can somebody twist Marc's arm to find out what he played? All I know is one of the tracks was "La ????? by Soraya (It was around 6ish on Sunday evening).


Maxx

I had a massage booked at 1815 and nearly cancelled c'cos the tunes where make my feet dance so much.....way to go Marc! :worthy:

DavidY
14th-June-2005, 11:01 PM
I think the most memorable freestyle time for me was towards the end of TwK's set in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Latin Quarter.

I had lots of fab dances at various other times during the weekend, but at that particular time I had a long succession of lots of really lovely dances (mainly with forumites). So a big Thank You if you were there. :hug: :flower:

Daisy
14th-June-2005, 11:53 PM
:kiss: DON'T FORGET JANE AND RAY'S LEAVING PARTY ON 13th AUGUST at TWYFORD. We are all going to miss you two very very much! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Thanks Cutey....... your going to make me start crying and once I start I won't be able to stop. :tears: :tears: :tears: :tears: :tears: :tears: :tears:
Bit like talking really! :whistle:

Great weekend. Thanks so much to John & Wes for all the hard work and organisation.

Fantastic dancing from J&T, Nikki & Rob etc but my highlight has to be watching Amir dance with Nicole Cutler in the cabaret.......he was awsome! :clap: :worthy:

Had a dance with Jordan too and it was LOVELY JUBBLY :drool:

Great to meet up with everyone again and to meet new faces. BBQ was a laugh, especially helping Simon & Phil to nick Zebra Womans marsh mallows!! Simon was playing 'fluffy bunnies' so he stuffed them all in his mouth at once! SORRY :sad:

Why wasn't TwK playing a longer set? He brought the latin quarter to life at 3am when we were all flagging. Would also have liked some more up-to-date R&B type WCS music played in the bar, rather than all the traditional swing. Jordan was playing some fabulous stuff on Sunday afternoon.

Going to miss ALL you guys when we go BUT, who knows, we might plan our visit home to coinside with next years Southport Spectacular!! :clap: :clap:

LOL Jane xxxxxxxxxx :flower:

PS Hope you can all get to Twyford on the 13th August

Dance Demon
15th-June-2005, 12:14 AM
Can somebody twist Marc's arm to find out what he played? All I know is one of the tracks was "La ????? by Soraya (It was around 6ish on Sunday evening).


Track you are referring to is called " las Ruinas En Mi Miente" and is indeed by Soraya. It's a fab track. Marc heard me play it at the Beach ballroom in Feb. and asked what it was. He now uses it for his Cuban Blues classes. he played some other fab stuff on Sunday evening ....maybe he could post the playlist if he can remember it.

MartinHarper
15th-June-2005, 12:19 AM
I had some useful anonymous feedback on my earlier post that mentioned a "Funky Jive" class, so I thought I'd elaborate. The following is all strictly in my opinion as some random intermediate, and I'm only posting about it because I paid for it.


I thought they could have placed a little more emphasis on the "C bumps" being lady-led.

James and/or Melanie did briefly say that the C bumps was lady-led, and roughly what the lead was. This is how I knew that it was a lady-led move! :) Intellectually, I had all the required information.
My experience was that the class as a whole didn't apply this knowledge. This hindered my learning, as I find it hard to learn these things on a purely intellectual basis. I also found myself falling into the anticipation trap.

It would have helped me if they had placed a little more emphasis on the move being lady-lead, and gone over in a little more detail what that meant in practical terms. It was mentioned, but more could have been made of it.


I was never clear on the lead for the start of the "Pulse".

I'm pretty sure the Pulse thing is leadable, incidentally - I just don't know how to lead it. It's not unusual for teachers leave me feeling unclear on the lead for particular moves, though some are much better than others. I'm sure there are other folks on the forum who did the class, so I might start a seperate thread to ask about the lead for this particular move fragment.

Looking at the class as a whole, the primary emphasis was definately on the "funky" style that the class was named for, with lead/follow and other technique elements taking second place. The class also moved at a brisk pace - teaching four or five moderately complex moves in the space of an hour. Lots of people love that stuff and find too much talk about lead/follow to be dull or useless. There's room for a wide variety of teachers and classes in the modern jive world.

Zebra Woman
15th-June-2005, 12:06 PM
Had a dance with Jordan too and it was LOVELY JUBBLY :drool:
It looked LOVELY JUBBLY too :worthy:



Great to meet up with everyone again and to meet new faces. BBQ was a laugh, especially helping Simon & Phil to nick Zebra Womans marsh mallows!! Simon was playing 'fluffy bunnies' so he stuffed them all in his mouth at once! SORRY :sad:
:rofl:
That was so worth it to see Simon's face, I have never seen him crying with laughter before...very cute :rofl:



Why wasn't TwK playing a longer set? He brought the latin quarter to life at 3am when we were all flagging.
Yes twk played a fab set :clap: :cheers: :clap: :cheers: :clap:

After Friday night's Latin seeming to finish prematurely at 2AM, I asked Wes and John if Twk could fill in on the Saturday night at 3AM. They wanted to be sure it was the right thing to do and waited before giving the go ahead at 2.50AM on Saturday night. I did whizz about in the blues room trying to find TwK and then let as many people as I could know he was on. I'm so sorry I missed you Lynn :tears: . Spontaneous was better than nothing, and the pairing of Twk and Marc worked particularly well too.

Maybe next time the Latin Quarter will be running for longer and TwK and Marc Forster will be billed . :flower:

Maybe as well the DJ list will be posted out to us in advance.... :devil:

Jive Brummie
15th-June-2005, 12:30 PM
I had some useful anonymous feedback on my earlier post that mentioned a "Funky Jive" class, so I thought I'd elaborate. The following is all strictly in my opinion as some random intermediate, and I'm only posting about it because I paid for it.



James and/or Melanie did briefly say that the C bumps was lady-led, and roughly what the lead was. This is how I knew that it was a lady-led move! :) Intellectually, I had all the required information.
My experience was that the class as a whole didn't apply this knowledge. This hindered my learning, as I find it hard to learn these things on a purely intellectual basis. I also found myself falling into the anticipation trap.

It would have helped me if they had placed a little more emphasis on the move being lady-lead, and gone over in a little more detail what that meant in practical terms. It was mentioned, but more could have been made of it.



I'm pretty sure the Pulse thing is leadable, incidentally - I just don't know how to lead it. It's not unusual for teachers leave me feeling unclear on the lead for particular moves, though some are much better than others. I'm sure there are other folks on the forum who did the class, so I might start a seperate thread to ask about the lead for this particular move fragment.

Looking at the class as a whole, the primary emphasis was definately on the "funky" style that the class was named for, with lead/follow and other technique elements taking second place. The class also moved at a brisk pace - teaching four or five moderately complex moves in the space of an hour. Lots of people love that stuff and find too much talk about lead/follow to be dull or useless. There's room for a wide variety of teachers and classes in the modern jive world.


Hey Martin,

Thanks for your feedback on my ability to teach and the 'Funky Jive' class at this weekends Southport. I don't believe feedback in any way shape or form is a bad thing and only goes towards enhancing my teaching ability. In hindsight, I now know that for special cases like yourself (not meant to sound derogatory, by the way :flower: ), more emphasis will be placed on the real nitty gritty of a move as opposed to the overall shape etc of the move. I must be honest though, I did talk to you all at the start and say that if any of you had any questions on any of the moves then please don't hesitate to ask them...this is something I do in all my classes with great effect. I do remember at one point however asking you how you were getting on (little realising it was your good self at the time), in response you rather publicly told me and fellow dancers in the near vacinity that you in fact "hated" the class...which brings me on to think, why were you in there in the first place? Hopefully your "hating" of my class didn't hinder the learning of the people (somewhere in the region of about 200 of them) who actually did like it.

You've given me much to think abut Martin and I shall ensure that I will now strive to please all the people all the time.

Take care,

James & Melanie :flower:

Lory
15th-June-2005, 12:34 PM
Link to Southport photo's (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=126268#post126268) :)

Lynn
15th-June-2005, 12:47 PM
I did whizz about in the blues room trying to find TwK and then let as many people as I could know he was on. I'm so sorry I missed you Lynn :tears: Ah well, there is always September - can we have a repeat?
Maybe next time the Latin Quarter will be running for longer and TwK and Marc Forster will be billed . :flower: That would be great. Pretty please John and Wes? :flower:

I don't know about the main hall as I wasn't in there much, but the music I heard in the latin and blues room was fab. I know I did all the endurance stuff - changing shoes, snacking, pacing myself etc - but what really kept me going to stay up and dance all night was the great music! :worthy:

MartinHarper
15th-June-2005, 01:39 PM
Oh, hi James - was wondering if you were reading.


I did talk to you all at the start and say that if any of you had any questions on any of the moves then please don't hesitate to ask them...

Well, if I can take you up on that kind offer:
1) The lead for the "pulse" bit of the Pretzel Pulse - what is it?
2) Is the double-speed element of the Pretzel Pulse necessary to smoothly go into the pulse section, or is it something that can be seperated out? I'm wary of double speed pretzels at my level of dancing - might it be dangerous?
3) On the second move, how do I ensure that my partner doesn't feel ill from spinning whilst looking at the floor? Should I save the move for particularly good spinners?
4) Also, how do I lead her to tuck her chin in? In freestyle, would I end up smacking her upside the head?
5) On the Handless Backhander, how do I lead the right timing? It seems like a standard lead will result in the move taking an extra count over the timing you were asking us to use, which changes the style of the thing.
6) On the C bumps, who is leading the "bump away" element prior to the seperation? Is that still lady-lead? Is the original lead re-asserted at that point? Is it a mutual thing?


You rather publicly told me and fellow dancers in the near vicinity that you in fact "hated" the class...

My recollection is that you asked me how I was finding the two moves that you'd taught at that point, rather than the entire class. I replied, honestly, that I hated the two moves (not quite moves from hell (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5525), though). I'm sorry you thought I was dismissing the entire class on that basis - sounds like a communications glitch somewhere.

Thanks for the class,
-Martin

Lory
15th-June-2005, 03:39 PM
Reading through this thread......

What have we collectively decided would make the next one better?

1. Water machines in the blues room

2. A time sheet of Dj slots to be given in advance

3. More fans in the main room

4. The Blues room to move to the latin quarter for the last hours?

5. The Cabaret to be shorter, with NO cringy extras

6. Raised mats around the water dispensers, like they have at swimming pools, to keep our shoes dry.

7. A designated forumite notice/message board

8. More staff in the blues room bar

Anymore??

Most of these things are quite trivial really and could easily be amended for next time...

Any comments JonnaH or Wes? :flower:

johnah
15th-June-2005, 03:52 PM
IMHO i do not think they where dancers.



Sadly, all the info we have been able to gather indicates that they WERE dancers. We were very close to catching them too but by the time we had gathered the info we needed by the early morning and were able to alert gate security, they had already left the site.

Personal possesions were recovered, but cash and a mobile phone were not I'm afraid. The prime suspects were women.

The dancing community is very trusting of fellow dancers, but even amongst us there are thieves at work as has been discovered all around the country in the recent past. And, a female is less conspicuous than a male looking to take a handbag!

Make no mistake if we catch a thief, we will do all we can to ensure they never attend another venue anywhere again, as one thief who was a dancer has discovered!

stewart38
15th-June-2005, 03:56 PM
Reading through this thread......

What have we collectively decided would make the next one better?

1. Water machines in the blues room

2. A time sheet of Dj slots to be given in advance

3. More fans in the main room

4. The Blues room to move to the latin quarter for the last hours?

5. The Cabaret to be shorter, with NO cringy extras

6. Raised mats around the water dispensers, like they have at swimming pools, to keep our shoes dry.

7. A designated forumite notice/message board

8. More staff in the blues room bar

Anymore??

Most of these things are quite trivial really and could easily be amended for next time...

Any comments JonnaH or Wes? :flower:

3. Think if fans had been pointing upwards as intended they may have worked better same type as Chesham use ?

4. I still like the idea watching the sun rise ,dancing a bit outside, seems to match the music

I think its sad fact of life outside people do come on to these sites and 'take' stuff and the venue maybe not as 'safe' as std club venues .Maybe just a note on the notice board ie watch your belongings ?

Petal
15th-June-2005, 03:58 PM
Hey Martin,



You've given me much to think abut Martin and I shall ensure that I will now strive to please all the people all the time.

Take care,

James & Melanie :flower:

You could really please you loyal perth followers by repeating your funky jive class on a thursday night very soon. :worthy: :clap:

Ps. You can never please all of the people all of the time, but your not far from it.

Jive Brummie
15th-June-2005, 04:38 PM
Oh, hi James - was wondering if you were reading.



Well, if I can take you up on that kind offer:
1) The lead for the "pulse" bit of the Pretzel Pulse - what is it?
2) Is the double-speed element of the Pretzel Pulse necessary to smoothly go into the pulse section, or is it something that can be seperated out? I'm wary of double speed pretzels at my level of dancing - might it be dangerous?
3) On the second move, how do I ensure that my partner doesn't feel ill from spinning whilst looking at the floor? Should I save the move for particularly good spinners?
4) Also, how do I lead her to tuck her chin in? In freestyle, would I end up smacking her upside the head?
5) On the Handless Backhander, how do I lead the right timing? It seems like a standard lead will result in the move taking an extra count over the timing you were asking us to use, which changes the style of the thing.
6) On the C bumps, who is leading the "bump away" element prior to the seperation? Is that still lady-lead? Is the original lead re-asserted at that point? Is it a mutual thing?



My recollection is that you asked me how I was finding the two moves that you'd taught at that point, rather than the entire class. I replied, honestly, that I hated the two moves (not quite moves from hell (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5525), though). I'm sorry you thought I was dismissing the entire class on that basis - sounds like a communications glitch somewhere.

Thanks for the class,
-Martin

All good questions and ones I'll be happy to answer in a pm rather than waste peoples time by writing them all down on this public forum...

Lindsay
15th-June-2005, 06:48 PM
5. The Cabaret to be shorter, with NO cringy extras


Em, I can explain that one. Two of the cabaret team were asleep, 5 minutes before we were due to perform. I didn't realise, with everything else that was going on. I told Mikey, and he skillfully managed to 'extend' the cringy stuff for just over 20 minutes. Sorry about that- on behalf of the 2 boys (who shall remain nameless) but thank you Mikey! All in all an exceptional weekend, don't know how John & Wes can top this one. Well done guys :worthy:

Lynn
15th-June-2005, 07:07 PM
6. Raised mats around the water dispensers, like they have at swimming pools, to keep our shoes dry. This is a good idea. I had to keep asking people with trainers etc on who were already at the water, to get me some as I stood on the very edge of the pool!

Wes
15th-June-2005, 07:22 PM
Reading through this thread......

What have we collectively decided would make the next one better?

1. Water machines in the blues room

2. A time sheet of Dj slots to be given in advance

3. More fans in the main room

4. The Blues room to move to the latin quarter for the last hours?

5. The Cabaret to be shorter, with NO cringy extras

6. Raised mats around the water dispensers, like they have at swimming pools, to keep our shoes dry.

7. A designated forumite notice/message board

8. More staff in the blues room bar

Anymore??

Most of these things are quite trivial really and could easily be amended for next time...

Any comments JonnaH or Wes? :flower:

Thanks for the good advice Lory, please be assured that John and I do read these comments and will act on them wherever appplicable and possible. :yeah:

FirstMove
15th-June-2005, 10:05 PM
Hurray, I'm finally awake enough to post on here. What a weekend!

I managed to attend the maximum 20 classes, but paid for it by being too tired on Saturday night to watch the cabaret or even put on my Rio costume. :sad:

My fave class was Sue Freeman's Charleston warm-up. :clap:

All of the classes with triple steps (hustle,WCS,Latin Jive,Bogie Woogie) completely defeated me :tears:

Best moment: doing my first ever lift in Performance Routine part II. I probably shouldn't have started with a move that involves turning the Lady upside down. Luckily no harm done.

Worst moment: realising that the two (fearless/mad) rotating ladies didn't want to perform in the evening :flower:

I danced the C-bumps with various people in Cheltenham on Monday night. The ladies there are all primed for you next week MartinHarper.

Thank you to everyone who made it all possible ... I'll be back :)

DavidY
15th-June-2005, 10:48 PM
3. Think if fans had been pointing upwards as intended they may have worked better same type as Chesham use ? Someone told me that those fans are actually supposed to be pointing along the floor. The logic is that they blow air further into the room, whereas if you point them upwards the air is stopped by peoples' bodies or the roof, or is blown up above the dancers.

However whichever way you point them, I don't think they made the air any cooler - they just move it around. I'd vote for some sort of air conditioning that actually cooled the air.

MartinHarper
15th-June-2005, 11:44 PM
Someone told me that those fans are actually supposed to be pointing along the floor.

Yep.
Also, this way they have an uplifting effect on women in short skirts.

angelique
15th-June-2005, 11:48 PM
Yep.
Also, this way they have an uplifting effect on women in short skirts.


:yeah: :angry:
I noticed that in my Rio costume and I think so did everybody else who managed to get a preview of my " big " knickers!!! :rofl: :rofl:

Northants Girly
15th-June-2005, 11:55 PM
:yeah: :angry:
I noticed that in my Rio costume and I think so did everybody else who managed to get a preview of my " big " knickers!!! :rofl: :rofl: :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

william_ceroc
16th-June-2005, 12:40 AM
sorry but liked the blues room where it was
nice to be able to chill outside when we all got to hot
and was nice to see the sun come up as we all danced away the night
as for most other things I think Wes and J have got it so right
Lets hope the whole weekend goes on and on

Thanks guys for working so hard to make it one of the best dance weekends in the uk


J W

under par
16th-June-2005, 08:52 AM
sorry but liked the blues room where it was
nice to be able to chill outside when we all got to hot
and was nice to see the sun come up as we all danced away the night
as for most other things I think Wes and J have got it so right
Lets hope the whole weekend goes on and on

Thanks guys for working so hard to make it one of the best dance weekends in the uk


J W

Me too! the blues room = the amphitheatre of dreamy music .

Consideration might be given to upgrading the flooring for the dance weekend but the venue where the doors open out onto the decking (where am I going to go on my promenade walks during the breaks in the music if the doors to the decking weren't there eh! :angry: ).

the sunlight slowly shiimering through the glass as the clock slowly ticks towards dawn can only be in the bar area. Please pretty please

Tiggerbabe
16th-June-2005, 09:30 AM
Me too, I loved the Blues Room - spent almost the whole weekend there.

OK it did get really crowded at times, and I did think for a tiny while that it might be good to move it to a bigger room, on reflection though, I think I like it best where it was.

I spent most of Friday evening/night dancing outside on the decking - it was just so wonderful.

Sunday afternoon/early evening there was just brilliant - and as it heated up, the doors were opened - *bliss*

And a dance with Mr Under Par with no promenade walks would be unthinkable. :hug:

Dance Demon
16th-June-2005, 10:10 AM
I love the blues room where it is too. It has a really nice cosy feel......I also like it because the decks are right next to the dancefloor, and you get a better feel for the atmosphere, and what is happening, so you can adjust the music accordingly. The only thing I would change would be that i would close the patio doors as the crowd starts to thin out in the early morning. I was bl**dy frozen during the early morning sets, as it got a bit breezy, and everyone moved down to the floor in front of the bar....but I was stuck up on the top floor. I tried to close the doors a couple of times, but you needed a key, and they kept blowing open again :tears: :tears: ......but everything else about the blues room venue is perfect IMO....

Lynn
16th-June-2005, 11:12 AM
The only thing I would change would be that i would close the patio doors as the crowd starts to thin out in the early morning. I was bl**dy frozen during the early morning sets, as it got a bit breezy, and everyone moved down to the floor in front of the bar....but I was stuck up on the top floor. I tried to close the doors a couple of times, but you needed a key, and they kept blowing open again :tears: :tears: ......but everything else about the blues room venue is perfect IMO.... I noticed you doing that and thought it must have been pretty cold where you were sitting as the wind was blowing right in. It was fine if you were up dancing but cold to be sitting by that time of the morning.

Lynn
16th-June-2005, 11:15 AM
Yep.
Also, this way they have an uplifting effect on women in short skirts.I noticed that I had a 'fan assisted skirt' in the latin room! :rofl: And I also discovered that if you walk past one of the fans at the wrong angle they can have an uplifting effect even on longer skirts! :blush:

under par
16th-June-2005, 11:21 AM
I noticed that I had a 'fan assisted skirt' in the latin room! :rofl: And I also discovered that if you walk past one of the fans at the wrong angle they can have an uplifting effect even on longer skirts! :blush:

I know even I had real problems on Saturday night :whistle: :rofl:

Sparkles
16th-June-2005, 11:54 AM
Em, I can explain that one. Two of the cabaret team were asleep, 5 minutes before we were due to perform. I didn't realise, with everything else that was going on. I told Mikey, and he skillfully managed to 'extend' the cringy stuff for just over 20 minutes. Sorry about that- on behalf of the 2 boys (who shall remain nameless) but thank you Mikey! All in all an exceptional weekend, don't know how John & Wes can top this one. Well done guys :worthy:

Granted that the cabaret team needed extra time to get ready (and I know this is not your fault and am in no way blaming you) - but there are ways and ways of keeping a crowd entertained and I did not appreciate the manner in which it was done this time round.
Maybe less offensive diversions can be thought up in case a similar event happens again?
S. x

Lory
16th-June-2005, 12:13 PM
4. The Blues room to move to the latin quarter for the last hours?
Well I'm glad we've sorted that most people want the Blues room to stay where it is... that's why point number 4. had the question mark :wink:

I only mentioned this point, as a few people had mentioned to 'me' over the weekend, their concern over the the dance floor being too crowded during certain sets and the floor being a bit rough.

DD, I suppose Jon and Wes could always supply you with a HEATED blow fan :D

Wes
16th-June-2005, 12:23 PM
I love the blues room where it is too. It has a really nice cosy feel......I also like it because the decks are right next to the dancefloor, and you get a better feel for the atmosphere, and what is happening, so you can adjust the music accordingly. The only thing I would change would be that i would close the patio doors as the crowd starts to thin out in the early morning. I was bl**dy frozen during the early morning sets, as it got a bit breezy, and everyone moved down to the floor in front of the bar....but I was stuck up on the top floor. I tried to close the doors a couple of times, but you needed a key, and they kept blowing open again :tears: :tears: ......but everything else about the blues room venue is perfect IMO....
ONE FUR COAT ORDERED ! (you'll look great in it ):cheers:

drathzel
16th-June-2005, 02:07 PM
ONE FUR COAT ORDERED ! (you'll look great in it ):cheers:

He'll look like a pimp :rofl: :rofl:

Get him some bling bling while you at it!

Dance Demon
16th-June-2005, 02:29 PM
He'll look like a pimp :rofl: :rofl:

Get him some bling bling while you at it!

Yo!!! I gots to look good fo' ma hoes n' bitches........... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Wes
16th-June-2005, 02:58 PM
DD
We will not be supplying you with those, just the attire!
(But it doesn't mean to say that we won't consider it for the future). :wink:

Lounge Lizard
16th-June-2005, 03:00 PM
Yo!!! I gots to look good fo' ma hoes n' bitches........... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
so
DD will be dressed in full PImp regalia for his next southport set - all those in favour say AYE

Little Monkey
16th-June-2005, 03:05 PM
so
DD will be dressed in full PImp regalia for his next southport set - all those in favour say AYE

AYE!!! :rofl:

LM

Dreadful Scathe
16th-June-2005, 03:42 PM
(where am I going to go on my promenade walks during the breaks in the music if the doors to the decking weren't there eh! :angry: )


That really is a terrible altitude you have Under Par!! :)

Dreadful Scathe
16th-June-2005, 03:45 PM
so
DD will be dressed in full PImp regalia for his next southport set - all those in favour say AYE
He has a zoot suite - does that count ? he can borrow some of your medallions and he'sset ;)

Minnie M
16th-June-2005, 03:59 PM
He has a zoot suite ....
The three piece version :whistle:

Dance Demon
16th-June-2005, 04:01 PM
The three piece version :whistle:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: .......yep......with matching scatter cushions... :wink:

drathzel
16th-June-2005, 05:28 PM
so
DD will be dressed in full PImp regalia for his next southport set - all those in favour say AYE

AYE
:worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

Mr Cool
16th-June-2005, 07:09 PM
[QUOTE=Minnie M]:angry: Now he tells us :tears: was looking forward to meeting and dancing with you all weekend, was asking everyone :tears:

Minnie I always dance with you. Pity you cant make the Swing weekend at torquay tommorow I will probably turn a few Swing dance snobs upside down just to anoy them. i like to get a reaction See you at the MJC
Sat night. :waycool: :waycool: :waycool: :waycool:

Minnie M
16th-June-2005, 07:14 PM
Minnie I always dance with you. Pity you cant make the Swing weekend at torquay tommorow I will probably turn a few dance swing snobs upside down just to anoy them. See you at the MJC
sat night :waycool: :waycool: :waycool: :waycool:
:eek: know who you are now :blush:
thanks for the dances - see you at MJC :hug: :kiss:

johnah
17th-June-2005, 03:45 PM
Well I'm glad we've sorted that most people want the Blues room to stay where it is... that's why point number 4. had the question mark :wink:

I only mentioned this point, as a few people had mentioned to 'me' over the weekend, their concern over the the dance floor being too crowded during certain sets :D

Can't say I'm surprised by the result of a random sample. A few [very few] dancers have made similar suggestions before about the Blues Room being relocated. It's current setting is quite unique, and this adds considerably to its all round ambience and atmosphere. I believe it's the perfect Blues venue and that's why dancers love to dance there until, for some, past 6am every morning!

:cheers:

jivecat
17th-June-2005, 11:19 PM
Can't say I'm surprised by the result of a random sample. A few [very few] dancers have made similar suggestions before about the Blues Room being relocated. It's current setting is quite unique, and this adds considerably to its all round ambience and atmosphere. I believe it's the perfect Blues venue and that's why dancers love to dance there until, for some, past 6am every morning!

:cheers:

Well, the same dancers also like to dance until 6am in the blues room at Camber as well, so I think that says more about the dancers than about the room!

I agree that it has it's own ambience, particularly when it's warm enough to have the verandah doors open , but it can get very overcrowded, the floor is not in very good condition, it is very public therefore lacks an intimate atmosphere and the fact that it is in two sections is a disadvantage. It would feel more spacious if it didn't have a ramp and a rail running up the middle of the space, though these have been a creative inspiration to a few people :whistle:

skippy
18th-June-2005, 12:04 AM
:hug: Hey Everyone....
What a fab weekend I haven't stopped talking about it all week. :yum:
I was a Southport Virgin and will definately be back................unfortunately not till next June :tears:
Thankyou to John and Wes for a well organised event, I know how hard it is pleasing everyone. :clap:
Only one complaint that we needed bigger rooms for the workshops (Latin)
thankyou to my fixed partners, Dale, Mr Fitz, Luca, David Y, Pete, and oh course John (you span well by the end of Nina's class) dizzie but well. :eek: And what can I say about my much talented Jango partner..... Mr Fitz (look forward in practising this weekend.) :flower:
Thankyou for putting up with me asking for dances-Simon R, Clayton, Simon Gee, oh course the lovely Phil. :blush: Well must go still trying to catch up with my sleep.

Gail x :kiss:

PS Smirf you where fab too. Best dance we very had .....thanks x

Danger Mouse
19th-June-2005, 09:51 AM
I’ve been following this thread since it started and I’m starting to think I went to a different Southport than most of you. I hear nothing but ‘blues room’ this and ‘blues room’ that. Anybody would think Southport only had a blues room.

I don’t know the exact figures but I would think that for every 1 person dancing in the blues room there were another 10 dancing and equally enjoying themselves in the main room. Now if it weren’t for the majority dancing in the main room there wouldn’t be a Southport, if there weren’t a Southport there wouldn’t be a blues room.

I’m not a top-notch dancer myself and I do find it more difficult to dance to slower blues type tracks. That said I still prefer dancing to the pop/club type beat, therefore naturally I spent all my time in the main room (Yes the ‘Main Room’ there was one) and damn good it was too if not a little hot. I guess being a pop dancing pleb I shouldn’t be posting on this forum well that’s certainly the perception I’m picking up from this and other posts recently.

Who else out there spent all their time in the main room and had a damn good time???? Speak up…..

Dance Demon
19th-June-2005, 11:37 AM
Hi ther DM.........get out the wrong side of bed this morning?
I don't recall anyone slating what happened in the main hall, or anyone saying, " I went to the blues room because the music in the main hall was cr*p. A lot of the people who have posted here have said they danced mainly in the blues room because they liked the atmosphere, and the music that was being played there. Some people have said they spent a lot of time in the latin room. That has just been the opinion of the people that have chosen to post. I'm sure we would all like to hear from people like you who enjoyed the main hall more. In fact I'm sure John & Wes would appreciate that feedback too. There's nothing elitist about people saying they enjoyed themselves in one place or the other. We would all be happy to hear how good the main hall was. You are most likeley being too harsh on yourself by describing yourself as a "Pop dancing pleb".....most of us dance to pop music every week at venues all over the country. Take a chill pill DM...we don't really need any more arguments for arguments sake....... :cheers:

djtrev
19th-June-2005, 11:41 AM
Very good point DM.
I spent most of the early part of the evenings in the main room and enjoyed it immensly.The music was varied and good to listen to as well as dance to.
I made a point of finishing my nights off in the blues room as the music in there tends to be somewhat more condusive(sp?) to late night dancing.

Whether we (they) like to admit it or not there is an element of 'elitism' in the MJ/Swing/Blues/WCS dance scene.To a relative outsider it would seem criticism of blues room dj's is not allowed;praise only please:whistle:Whereas on the other hand 'main room' dj's can come in for a lot of stick.The same thing happened at Camber,which I thought was very unfair.

Lynn
19th-June-2005, 11:54 AM
Clearly the main hall was popular - there were loads of people in there! That goes without saying.

However - I don't have a regular venue but I would guess that the main room music style probably most closely resembles most people's regular freestyle nights. Which is exactly what some people want - the music they like at their usual freestyles with some new music and a longer evening with a great crowd of new people to dance with. Great! But others want the latin room or blues room - and a lot of people can't get that style of music on a regular basis - so at a weekender like this it is a special treat. Therefore they really enjoy it, spend more time in there and talk about it on here. That's what I love about it and I'm certainly not 'elite' in any way, in fact I worked out recently that aside from weekenders I've only been to 2 'proper' intermediate classes ever!

Little Monkey
19th-June-2005, 12:07 PM
Gosh!

I never knew I was elitist because I prefer blues to pop..... :tears: I loved the blues room, and stayed there most of the weekend.... I did dance in the main hall, too, and there were some fab toons there, too, but my personal preference is blues.... And I'm not a "top notch dancer" either, just loooooooooove "playing" around on the dance floor to some really good blues or old swing music. :drool:

Judging by how many people danced in the main hall (it was so packed you could hardly move at times!), it was extremely popular with the majority of dancers. Actually, all the dance rooms were packed. Some of my friends spent most of the time in the Latin room, so I hardly saw them all night! So that just means that the organisers know exactly what we want, and deliver it! They cater for all tastes! Well done guys, I'm totally hooked, and am coming back for more in September! :clap: And yes, I will probably spend most of my time in the blues room again, sorry.... :blush:

Roll on September!!!!!

Little Blues Monkey :cool:

jivecat
19th-June-2005, 12:11 PM
I’m not a top-notch dancer myself and I do find it more difficult to dance to slower blues type tracks. That said I still prefer dancing to the pop/club type beat, therefore naturally I spent all my time in the main room (Yes the ‘Main Room’ there was one) and damn good it was too if not a little hot. I guess being a pop dancing pleb I shouldn’t be posting on this forum well that’s certainly the perception I’m picking up from this and other posts recently.

Who else out there spent all their time in the main room and had a damn good time???? Speak up…..

I'm not keen on pop music that has a heavy, persistent beat. I find it quite tiring to dance to, and conserving energy is very important on a loooong weekender night, so I kept out of the main room mostly. But I had some really good times in there around 3 - 4 o'clockish when the music had slowed down a bit and the crowds had gone to bed. It's also good to go in there to find a good variety of fresh partners - e.g. people who won't set foot in the blues room. It could be yoohoo! In fact I'm sure I've danced with you at some time or other? It wasn't that Strictly Sinful class at S'port last year, was it? (Oops, damn, shouldn't have mentioned that......)

Banana Man
19th-June-2005, 12:22 PM
Very good point DM.
I spent most of the early part of the evenings in the main room and enjoyed it immensly.The music was varied and good to listen to as well as dance to.
I made a point of finishing my nights off in the blues room as the music in there tends to be somewhat more condusive(sp?) to late night dancing.

Whether we (they) like to admit it or not there is an element of 'elitism' in the MJ/Swing/Blues/WCS dance scene.To a relative outsider it would seem criticism of blues room dj's is not allowed;praise only please:whistle:Whereas on the other hand 'main room' dj's can come in for a lot of stick.The same thing happened at Camber,which I thought was very unfair.

I thought the music in all the rooms was great as on the whole there were always plenty of people dancing. I saw a lot of teachers and top MJ competitors in all the rooms, many often moving from room to room, for me that says all the music was generally top quality! :worthy:

Personally, I'm more inclined to give praise publically and criticism privately. I didn't have a DJ programme and I can't remember which sets I saw, so I can only comment on DJs I recognise or made a point of saying hi to. Roger Chin is capable of playing a whole range of music and adapted his sets to suit the room he was in, :worthy: Having said that I preferred DDs music and having read his playlists on the forum was really looking forward to listening to it. Glad he got to do an earlier set on Sun night/Mon morning - the best set of the weekend - for me. Marc and Toby in the latin room were great and I had some fab dances there but couldn't make the most of it as I was missing my fav dancer.

I think djtrev's use of Elitism could appear valid:
"when things are organized for the benefit of a few people with special interests or abilities: The accusation of elitism seems unfair as the festival presents a wide range of music, with something to please everyone."from Cambridge Dictionary

I don't have experience of MJ classes outside of Ceroc, but IMHO there is a limit to how far people can progress in terms of their enjoyment of the moves and the music. Some people are happy with that and use weekenders to broaden their knowledge and experiences. Other dancers find that learning different styles and dancing to more challenging music is a better route for them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Southport was fab :clap:, there was something for everyone. IMHO the blues room appealed more to a certain type of dancer as this was the only place they could find music they could dance their styles to for most of the time. By its very nature, this directly appealed to "a few people with special interests or abilities" and good luck to them, they paid their money the same as anyone else.

Minnie M
19th-June-2005, 12:28 PM
Colin Shaul's set in the main hall was awesome :worthy: a good mixture of old and new, swing and pop - can't comment on the other DJs as I didn't stay arround for long to hear them, but feedback was very good. Didn't stay long in the Latin room, couldn't breath in there :sick: Missed Marc & TWK but was DD was in the Blues room (say no more)

- however, I personally don't like dancing in very large areas, I find the vastness (if that is a real word) intiminating and I definitely have to ask for a dance in there which I don't mind, but it feels wrong and uncomfortable scouting around the edges looking for someone to dance with, especially as most dancers who hang around the edges are women waiting to be asked :(

IMO The music in the Swing/Blues room was constantly great :worthy: perfect for my taste, and it was hard to leave plus everyone one there was so keen to dance, no one was left sitting :yeah: and there were even times I just wanted to sit and listen :flower:

Dance Demon
19th-June-2005, 12:51 PM
Whether we (they) like to admit it or not there is an element of 'elitism' in the MJ/Swing/Blues/WCS dance scene.To a relative outsider it would seem criticism of blues room dj's is not allowed;praise only please:whistle:Whereas on the other hand 'main room' dj's can come in for a lot of stick.The same thing happened at Camber,which I thought was very unfair.

Erm....a wee bit off the mark there Trev.........Trampy came in for some criticism on another thread after Southport, ...about his final set in the blues room :) ..
Personally, I always listen to constructive criticism about anything I do, including dancing. This was only the second weekender I have DJd at, so am a relative newbie compared to the likes of Peter Phillips, Trampy, Roger Chin ..et al......I play for the people, so what the people say is important. I also listen to advice from more experienced DJs. If someone thought I was playing the wrong type or tempo of music, I would take it on board. I only DJd in the blues room, and spent a lot of time in there, listening to other DJs sets. partly because I enjoy that type of music, mainly because I wanted to know what they had played, so that I didn't duplicate any tracks. Hence the reason I didn't get to any of the other rooms. I did request to Wes that I would like to do a set in a different room, but unfortunately there weren't enough sets to allow this. We do DJ at normal MJ nights, and are not exclusively blues room DJs. The DJs that perform in the blues room are all very experienced guys, and have gained their popularity by listening to peoples comments and taking heed of criticism when it is given.

Dreadful Scathe
19th-June-2005, 12:52 PM
I’ve been following this thread since it started and I’m starting to think I went to a different Southport than most of you. I hear nothing but ‘blues room’ this and ‘blues room’ that.

Call it an educated guess, but thats possibly because the people who posted so far spent most of their time in the blues room. I suppose they could have made up stuff about their time tap-dancing on Saturns outer rings with Jordon and Tatiana, but Id rather hear honest opinions about actual experiences.

I for one would like to hear what the other rooms were like, because I was rarely in them. So hearing comments about the good points of other rooms is preferable to hearing people whining about what others have posted. Every thread on this forum that turns negative is generally due to someone moaning about other peoples posts. Instead of moaning, how about a constructive counter view and no assumptions about the evil agendas of others.

This is not directed at you alone, lots of people have been guilty of this in the past.


Now if it weren’t for the majority dancing in the main room there wouldn’t be a Southport, if there weren’t a Southport there wouldn’t be a blues room.

That'll be called 'stating the bleedin obvious'. Why does this sound like a 'them' and 'us' post? Whats wrong with just telling us about your good experiences in the main room - and the latin quarter too if you were in there? Are you just argumentative by nature?


I guess being a pop dancing pleb I shouldn’t be posting on this forum well that’s certainly the perception I’m picking up from this and other posts recently.

sigh! repeat the mantra 'Positive positive positive' - think of something positive to get across in every post. It makes the forum a happier place :).

Rhythm King
19th-June-2005, 01:07 PM
I suppose they could have made up stuff about their time tap-dancing on Saturns outer rings with Jordon and Tatiana,


Explains why you were dressed like that, on Saturday night :wink:

Bearing in mind I missed out on Saturday completely, post cabaret :sad: I spent most of my time in the Blues Room, with some regular forays into the Latin Quarter, and an occasional appearance in the main room. The reasons? Firstly the music - I enjoy the mainstream pop and dance tracks, but I get it at most of the regular venues I go to, and like a change. Secondly the atmosphere in the Blues Room was more to my liking, given the mood I was in at the time. Thirdly, the ventilation was much better, - insulated like a South Atlantic Bull Elephant Seal as I am, the opportunity to get out quickly for a breather and cool down, or indeed dance by the open windows was just too tempting.

If people enjoyed other rooms, then post and tell us why and share the good times with us.

R-K :cheers:

stewart38
19th-June-2005, 01:17 PM
Call it an educated guess, but thats possibly because the people who posted so far spent most of their time in the blues room. I suppose they could have made up stuff about their time tap-dancing on Saturns outer rings with Jordon and Tatiana, but Id rather hear honest opinions about actual experiences.

sigh! repeat the mantra 'Positive positive positive' - think of something positive to get across in every post. It makes the forum a happier place :).


Im sorry sarcastic comments like this enforce an elitism on the forum

The point made was valid 90% of people danced in main room 90% of the time

Its just a fact 90% of the forum danced 70% of the time in blues room

why not just say sorry couldnt comment on main room as wasnt there, but hey no better way of putting people of I guess then posting like that. They were not whining, maybe some hot shots need to move in with the masses

why do things relating to Mickeys post keep being taken out their valid points

Banana Man
19th-June-2005, 01:21 PM
why do things relating to Mickeys post keep being taken out their valid points

The posts seem to have been moved to the Sleazebags thread, as that was where the comments first started. http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5616

David Bailey
19th-June-2005, 02:49 PM
Whether we (they) like to admit it or not there is an element of 'elitism' in the MJ/Swing/Blues/WCS dance scene.
Not only do we admit it, we talk about it. A lot. :innocent:


To a relative outsider it would seem criticism of blues room dj's is not allowed;praise only please:whistle:Whereas on the other hand 'main room' dj's can come in for a lot of stick.
Seems to be some element of truth there. I'd imagine it's much easier to please a crowd, if you're already playing the type of music that crowd wants to hear...

Conversely, if you're playing a "standard" MJ music set, not only do you have to try to please everyone, you also have to consider (I presume) that you shouldn't play too much blues / latin, because you'd be treading on the toes of those specific rooms.

Plus, people at weekenders have a high set of expectatios, and are possibly more judgemental and opinionated than on a normal weekday.

So playing the "non-blues" / "non-latin" music is probably even more of a challenge.

Although, I'm still not totally sure what "blues" is :blush:

Cruella
19th-June-2005, 03:11 PM
The point made was valid 90% of people danced in main room 90% of the time

Its just a fact 90% of the forum danced 70% of the time in blues room



Unless you monitored all the dancers at Southport all of the time i can't quite see how these percentages can be 'fact' :really:
The draw for me to the blues room was not only the music but the fact that it was the only room you didn't get the 'sauna effect' from as soon as you entered. :whistle: I still danced in the other two rooms throughout the weekend though. But i would 'guess' that i spent approx 67.8 % of my time in the blues room. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

ducasi
19th-June-2005, 03:37 PM
Although, I'm still not totally sure what "blues" is :blush: As far as dancing is concerned... nor me, but blues music I do understand and rather like. John Lee Hooker is a musical genius. ZZ Top are also blues masters. (I'm thinking of their lesser-known work, not the likes of "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs", which is still great music, but I'm not sure if I'd call it blues.)

Never thought of it as music to dance to, but I'm just listening to "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", and thinking it'd be cool to dance to, though a bit too slow for me.

Not so sure about some of the blues music I have here – either way too slow or lacking a strong, regular beat.

Can people dance to "Leave My Wife Alone" or "Walkin' The Boogie"?? :really:

Dreadful Scathe
19th-June-2005, 06:29 PM
Im sorry sarcastic comments like this enforce an elitism on the forum

Enforce an elitism? I see what you're getting at but the original comment criticised others for talking about what a good time they had. Whats wrong with Danger Mouse simply posting what a good time he had ? Why the negative? I felt the sarcasm was fully justified to point out how silly I thought the original post was. Does sarcasm normally make one Elite? :) Yeah you're right I am elite. (n.b that was sarcasm)




The point made was valid 90% of people danced in main room 90% of the time


The point was stupid though :) Its a made up statistic. Anyway, 59.5% of the people at Southport travelled round all 3 rooms. 68% of west coast swing dancers were in the blues room but 5% of them still called it the restaurant. 65% of people who liked chart music were in the main room 78% of the time. 56% of people had more than 4 changes of clothes in the evening. 2.5% of men were wearing a cravat. 100% of the people on this forum couldnt care less about this and would just like to hear what a good time ANYONE had in ANY ROOM THEY WERE IN. Thankyou. :)



Its just a fact 90% of the forum danced 70% of the time in blues room.

Yes but what percentage of them have been on a daytime talk show?



why not just say sorry couldnt comment on main room as wasnt there, but hey no better way of putting people of I guess then posting like that.

I do try to be funny y'know, and i do try to bring things into perspective. You can hardly expect people to spend their time saying 'sorry couldnt comment on Blackpool pleasure beach/sydney opera house/hanging gardens of babylon/rings around Uranus* because i was in the blues room all night' - theres a big list of places where I wasn't. Would people not be more interested in my opinion, and yours and Danger Mouses if it was about places we were?



They were not whining, maybe some hot shots need to move in with the masses

Move in with them? Well I do require the services of a butler and a kitchen maid its true. They can stay in the back wing of the house. :)

It seemed like whining was a decent description for such a purposeless negative post. I can also say that out of everyone who has posted about the good time they had at southport, not one of them would i consider a 'hotshot' !



why do things relating to Mickeys post keep being taken out their valid points

I was making a sarcastic reply about a ost criticising people who werent in the main hall for not talking about the main hall. Whats that got to do with Mikey exactly ?





*snigger

Danger Mouse
20th-June-2005, 06:05 AM
Hi ther DM.........get out the wrong side of bed this morning?
I don't recall anyone slating what happened in the main hall, or anyone saying, " I went to the blues room because the music in the main hall was cr*p. A lot of the people who have posted here have said they danced mainly in the blues room because they liked the atmosphere, and the music that was being played there.

Let me try and explain, I wasn't in any way knocking the blues room, everybody to their own that's what I say, if people wanted to spend all night in the blues room then that is their choice and good luck to them.

I was merely pointing out that most of the comments on this thread were about the blues room YET the vast majority of people were in the main room <<full stop>> It can’t be denied.

Therefore it does seem that most of the people who post regularly and saw fit to make comment on Southport are 'Blues room fans' and thus are not a true representative collection of people who attended Southport as a whole.

So I'll repeat the comment at the end of my original post, which might put some context to what I was trying to say:

Who else out there spent all their time in the main room and had a damn good time???? Speak up…..

Danger Mouse
20th-June-2005, 06:27 AM
Call it an educated guess, but thats possibly because the people who posted so far spent most of their time in the blues room. I suppose they could have made up stuff about their time tap-dancing on Saturns outer rings with Jordon and Tatiana, but Id rather hear honest opinions about actual experiences.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.



I for one would like to hear what the other rooms were like, because I was rarely in them. So hearing comments about the good points of other rooms is preferable to hearing people whining about what others have posted. Every thread on this forum that turns negative is generally due to someone moaning about other peoples posts. Instead of moaning, how about a constructive counter view and no assumptions about the evil agendas of others.

I wasn’t whining, read the last line of the original post very carefully and you might just see what I was trying to do.


That'll be called 'stating the bleedin obvious'. Why does this sound like a 'them' and 'us' post? Whats wrong with just telling us about your good experiences in the main room - and the latin quarter too if you were in there? Are you just argumentative by nature?

Did I ruffle you feathers? Have I hit a raw nerve? As for being argumentative, your reply to my post is by far the most argumentative of them all, pot calling the kettle black me thinks.

drathzel
20th-June-2005, 09:24 AM
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.




No but it is the highest form of intelligence :rofl: especially for a smurf

Lory
20th-June-2005, 09:41 AM
I’ve been following this thread since it started and I’m starting to think I went to a different Southport than most of you. I hear nothing but ‘blues room’ this and ‘blues room’ that. Anybody would think Southport only had a blues room.

Who else out there spent all their time in the main room and had a damn good time???? Speak up…..
I'm sorry not more people have mentioned the Main hall too, I would have loved read a few reviews. :)

But having read through the whole thread, I've heard no criticism of the music played 'anywhere' either and I can't personally comment about something I didn't witness very much for myself.

One of the reasons I love weekenders so much, is that there's a whole room dedicated to the music I'm passionate about! :clap: There isn't a venue local enough to me, where I can get my fix. :sad:

I've come to the conclusion that us Blues fans are a fairly rare bread, :blush: compared to the mainstream lovers and it's only at weekenders, that there's enough of us, from all over the county, to fill the niche and make it worth while. :cheers:

I imagine most of the people who have written to celebrate the music in the Blues room, are in the same boat as me?

I suspect, we all go to our local venues each and every week and dance too mainstream music, like that, that was played in the main room and have a great time :nice: but its rare treat for us, when we get to indulge ourselves properly.

So, it isn't any surprise to me, that people rave over the things they don't get to do every week. ;)

One quick note, I did venture into the main hall, when on a couple of occasions, the music in the blues room became a bit too 'swingy' for my personal taste, (others were clearly enjoying it and it's only right that everybody's tastes are catered for ;) ) and the music I heard in there was fine but MinnieM has highlighted a point which until now, I hadn't really thought about but I too find the Main hall too big for me, I feel a bit lost and I don't like scouting round the edge either. :sick:

I'm glad you had a good time too :nice:

skippy
20th-June-2005, 10:11 AM
I personally spent more of my time in the Blues room but did rotate around to the other rooms..(not seeing most of my friends for most of the night) The music was ace all weekend and I take my hat off to all the DJ's for keeping us all entertained for so long a time. :clap: :hug:
I did find the main hall very hot but the music was fun, while the Latin room was alot cooler later on when slightly less peolpe were there, and the blues was great cause you could sit outside and chat but still watch what's going on.
Everyone catered for......... :cheers:

Zebra Woman
20th-June-2005, 10:44 AM
One of the reasons I love weekenders so much, is that there's a whole room dedicated to the music I'm passionate about! :clap: There isn't a venue local enough to me, where I can get my fix. :sad:

I've come to the conclusion that us Blues fans are a fairly rare bread, :blush: compared to the mainstream lovers and it's only at weekenders, that there's enough of us, from all over the county, to fill the niche and make it worth while. :cheers:

I imagine most of the people who have written to celebrate the music in the Blues room, are in the same boat as me?


Yes definitely true for me, I'm a very rare bread(sic)...One of those homebaked wholemeal ones with seeds on top..... and nuts :rofl:



One quick note, I did venture into the main hall, when on a couple of occasions, the music in the blues room became a bit too 'swingy' for my personal taste, (others were clearly enjoying it and it's only right that everybody's tastes are catered for ;) ) and the music I heard in there was fine but MinnieM has highlighted a point which until now, I hadn't really thought about but I too find the Main hall too big for me, I feel a bit lost and I don't like scouting round the edge either. :sick:


Yes did the same thing .... but probably stayed for longer. I had a long spell in the Main hall late on Friday night. The Latin had finished, and the Blues room was playing fast swing (has to be done ;) ). I loved John Baker's set and I couldn't leave until he had finished :clap: I could tell on Saturday Roger Chin had done some good work too although I missed it...any reports?

Sunday night I made an effort to catch John Baker's late set and he did it again :clap: . I hate to admit it but I felt more comfortable in the Latin Quarter/Main Hall in some ways. I have to be honest and admit I found the blues room a little intimidating at times. I take full responsibilty for feeling that way . I knew most of the people in the blues room and I know they are really friendly people. I don't feel people in the blues room were elitist or cliquey at all. I just felt a bit in awe of the standard of dancing that all...:blush:

<'arrrgghh' ......runs and hides>

Northants Girly
20th-June-2005, 10:58 AM
I could tell on Saturday Roger Chin had done some good work too although I missed it...any reports?It was good - had some of my best dances of the whole weekend during this time :grin:

DavidB
20th-June-2005, 11:36 AM
Given a choice, I avoid the Blues room at weekends. This is for one simple reason - I don't really like Blues music. Even worse is when it is a Swing & Blues room, because I like Swing music even less. I'm usually in the main hall.

I do tend to stagger there later on when it has the only bar that is still open :cheers:

David

Little Monkey
20th-June-2005, 12:29 PM
I don't feel people in the blues room were elitist or cliquey at all. I just felt a bit in awe of the standard of dancing that all...:blush:

<'arrrgghh' ......runs and hides>

Ah well, it's a good thing people like me hang around in the blues room to lower the standard of dancing, and make it less intimidating, then! :wink:
I knew I had a purpose in life! Woo-hoo! :D :rofl:

Little Monkey

spindr
20th-June-2005, 12:42 PM
[Slightly tongue in cheek]

There's two ways to progress your dancing -- become an expert and know everything about nothing -- or become a jack of all trades (dances) and know nothing about everything. I guess all the experts will congregate where the music and partners suit them -- and the jacks (and jills) of all trades will circulate.

So, my guess is that the Blues Room was simply where all the "cursed Jive experts (see link for details of curse)" (http://www.salsamafia.com/index.php?Load=Salsa_Curse.html) ended up?

[/Slightly tongue in cheek]

SpinDr who knows nothing about nothing :)

Lynn
20th-June-2005, 12:44 PM
Ah well, it's a good thing people like me hang around in the blues room to lower the standard of dancing, and make it less intimidating, then! :wink:
I knew I had a purpose in life! Woo-hoo! :D :rofl:

Little Monkey :yeah: Me too!

But I know what ZW means - especially down at the bar area, so many fab dancers I would have felt shy dancing near them. Not complaining as it was inspiring to watch (and there were fab dancers in all the other rooms too, they just seemed to be more concentrated in the blues room). I alternated between watching and dancing at the other end of the room.

I love that different people like different rooms and think its a mark of the good planning of John and Wes and good DJs in all the rooms.

Lory
20th-June-2005, 12:54 PM
Ah well, it's a good thing people like me hang around in the blues room to lower the standard of dancing, and make it less intimidating, then! :wink:

I only ever notice the person I'm dancing with at the time, so didn't feel at all initmidated but looking back retrospectively, I'm sure I did my fair share to water down the standard by the bar too! :sick:


become an expert and know everything about nothing -- or become a jack of all trades (dances) and know nothing about everything. I guess all the experts will congregate where the music and partners suit them -- and the jacks (and jills) of all trades will circulate. Damn, your quite right, I'm rubbish at dancing fast! :tears:

Little Monkey
20th-June-2005, 12:57 PM
Damn, your quite right, I'm rubbish at dancing fast! :tears:

Me on the other hand, I'm great at dancing fast!!! :whistle: I simply hijack all the moves!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Ahem.....

Monkey retires to her dark corner

stewart38
20th-June-2005, 01:59 PM
:wink:
Unless you monitored all the dancers at Southport all of the time i can't quite see how these percentages can be 'fact' :really:
The draw for me to the blues room was not only the music but the fact that it was the only room you didn't get the 'sauna effect' from as soon as you entered. :whistle: I still danced in the other two rooms throughout the weekend though. But i would 'guess' that i spent approx 67.8 % of my time in the blues room. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

No only needed to monitor forum dancers to see where they spent their time

According to my spreadsheet I had you down as '67.7%' but will amend accordingly :wink:

MartinHarper
20th-June-2005, 04:44 PM
I for one would like to hear what the other rooms were like.

On Friday the main room was overcrowded, so I spent most of my initial time dancing to "Modern Jive with a Latin Flava", on account of there being space. Given the description, I felt that there was an excess of "Flava". It seemed the music was aimed at Salsa (etc) dancers, or MJ dancers who danced a little Salsa, rather than "pure" MJ dancers who wanted a Latin feel. That's fine, but wasn't clear to me in advance.

On Sat and Sun I chose to spend most of my time in the main room, as the numbers had evened out. The music was good, but felt formulaic at times. In particular, I overdosed on those tricky "quiet bits (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5570)".

Overall the music was of a high standard, consistent with other weekenders I've been on.

Dreadful Scathe
20th-June-2005, 05:16 PM
According to my spreadsheet I had you down as '67.7%' but will amend accordingly :wink:

see, now thats much better. Funny :)


Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

but..but..it was sarcasm with a point. :)



I wasn’t whining, read the last line of the original post very carefully and you might just see what I was trying to do.

I read all the words very carefully and its a great last line that made a good point. It was all the lines preceding it I was complaining about. :) As I said, albeit sarcastically, I'd like to hear about the other rooms too, but I can hardly comment as I wasnt in them.



Did I ruffle you feathers? Have I hit a raw nerve? As for being argumentative, your reply to my post is by far the most argumentative of them all, pot calling the kettle black me thinks.


Surely 'scathing' rather than 'argumentative', at least that was the intention :). You clearly disagree, but I felt your post was waaaay to negative. You said 'lets hear more about other rooms' with lots more words and an unfriendly tone.





aaargh teeth...┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘

Little Monkey
20th-June-2005, 05:38 PM
Its just a fact 90% of the forum danced 70% of the time in blues room

Nononono, my dear sir - I personally spent about 90% of my time in the blues room, apart from the times I was attending classes in other rooms... :whistle:

And I'm not an elitist hot-shot. I aim to lower the standard of dancing by dancing there myself to make it less intimidating for dancers who think they have to be elitist hot-shot fanbloodytastic dancers to dance there! :wink:

Actually, I'm pretty happy there's not as many people who enjoy dancing to blues, as there are people who enjoy dancing to pop, otherwise the blues room would be too crowded! :D

Oooooh, but I liked the floor area in front of where Kingdom of Dance had set up shop - super slippy! You could spin forever!!!! Woooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! :clap: So when my feet got tired from the floor surface on the verandah or in the blues room, I went there for a couple of dances. Fab!

Spinning Monkey

Little Monkey
20th-June-2005, 05:39 PM
aaargh teeth...┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘ ┌█┘

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! :tears:

You know Little Monkey gets scared when you bring out the teeth! :tears:

David Bailey
20th-June-2005, 06:35 PM
On Friday the main room was overcrowded, so I spent most of my initial time dancing to "Modern Jive with a Latin Flava", on account of there being space. Given the description, I felt that there was an excess of "Flava". It seemed the music was aimed at Salsa (etc) dancers, or MJ dancers who danced a little Salsa, rather than "pure" MJ dancers who wanted a Latin feel. That's fine, but wasn't clear to me in advance.

OK, I have now found yet another bugbear (that's good, 'coz I was running short, and in danger of turning into Mr Reasonable Popcorn-Eater.)

Salsa is not Modern Jive. And it annoys me when people promote Ceroc as something to do with salsa - it ain't. I quote "Ceroc is a fusion of salsa and jive".

What? :what: How's that work then? Half a charanga then half a pop-beat? :mad:

OK, some (many) moves can be exchanged between the two dances with varying degrees of success - but as we've already discussed, the same could be said of many other dances. MJ is not Tango, Rhumba, cha-cha, waltz, etc - it's Modern Jive.

I know why it's described that way, to make it sound "sexy", but it bugs me. Salsa has it's own identity and very definite musical style, and dancing salsa to MJ, well, that's just a bit weird.

Dancing a Latinised version of MJ, importing moves and style from Latin dances such as salsa, that's fine. Doing a Salsa room, in a MJ weekender, is also fine (I for one would spend 99% of my time there, if we're talking statistics again). But please, let's not confuse the two.

Whew, I feel much better now :grin:

Lynn
20th-June-2005, 09:38 PM
Dancing a Latinised version of MJ, importing moves and style from Latin dances such as salsa, that's fine. Doing a Salsa room, in a MJ weekender, is also fine (I for one would spend 99% of my time there, if we're talking statistics again). But please, let's not confuse the two. Glad to hear someone say that as I hear people talking about salsa music in the latin room and OK, I was only in there a couple of hours both nights but I've never heard a salsa track played. Music you can salsa to, perhaps - but not salsa music. I'll salsa to salsa music, but anything else, I'll MJ to, maybe with some salsa styling if appropriate. And I liked the latin room just as it was.

Lounge Lizard
21st-June-2005, 10:51 AM
OK, I have now found yet another bugbear (that's good, 'coz I was running short, and in danger of turning into Mr Reasonable Popcorn-Eater.)

Salsa is not Modern Jive. And it annoys me when people promote Ceroc as something to do with salsa - it ain't. I quote "Ceroc is a fusion of salsa and jive".

What? :what: How's that work then? Half a charanga then half a pop-beat? :mad:
snip...
I know why it's described that way, to make it sound "sexy", If a non dancer asks '"what is modern jive" the easiest way to explain it is with comparisom to another dance style
eg - like rock & roll but slower - this would put many off methinks
"like Salsa but danced to modern chart music" - this could raise interest mehopes
Salsa is more widley known than MJ and lots want to learn/dance it (but most never get round to it)
so I find using Salsa as a comparison when promoting is easy and simple, but not misleading............yes we do teach cross body moves or variations for MJ, so moves danced in Salsa can and are used in MJ (and visa versa)
peter

Lynn
21st-June-2005, 11:05 AM
Iyes we do teach cross body moves or variations for MJ, so moves danced in Salsa can and are used in MJ (and visa versa) I noticed Viktor taught a CBL variation in a class at Southport. I have no problems with salsa moves being used in MJ - the key defining difference between salsa and MJ for me is the music.

Yliander
21st-June-2005, 11:31 AM
If a non dancer asks '"what is modern jive" the easiest way to explain it is with comparisom to another dance style
eg - like rock & roll but slower - this would put many off methinks
"like Salsa but danced to modern chart music" I generally go with "it's partner dancing that can be done to modern chart music"

Sheepman
21st-June-2005, 11:45 AM
Phew! It looks like the storm has blown over! I can't believe I bothered reading all that stuff! Can we go back to discussing how good the w/e was yet?

This was my first time at Southport, so although I'd been given descriptions, I didn't really know what to expect. The music, dancing, and lessons (mostly Jordan and Tatiana for me) were fabulous.

I do think the policy of trying to balance the sexes really works, (even though there were some fab tracks I missed, because there was no one to dance with :tears: ) If there is a large imbalance, it seems to me that numbers are likely to dwindle much earlier in the night, because there are a large number of people just having to sit out too much and not joining in the fun.


Well, the same dancers also like to dance until 6am in the blues room at Camber as well, so I think that says more about the dancers than about the room!

I agree that it has it's own ambience, particularly when it's warm enough to have the verandah doors open , but it can get very overcrowded, the floor is not in very good condition, it is very public therefore lacks an intimate atmosphere and the fact that it is in two sections is a disadvantage. It would feel more spacious if it didn't have a ramp and a rail running up the middle of the space, though these have been a creative inspiration to a few people :whistle: :yeah:
My most enjoyable dances by far were in the blues room, and yes, the atmosphere in there was great, but I would have spent a lot more time in there, (rather than soaking my feet in the bath :nice: ) if it hadn't been so overcrowded. I also had problems with the floor in there, which helped to cause a knee injury on the first night.
(Worry not, lots of blues helped to cure it :whistle: )

At first it didn't feel right, dancing in such bright lights, especially when the sun comes up, but I suppose I got used to it. It does feel less intimate than a darkened blues room though. The huge advantage it had, as far as I was concerned, was that it was the only place where it wasn't so hot, (though at times it was too cold, I did feel for DD having to suffer that chilly breeze non stop.)

One non-forumite friend asked me to post a few comments, and I think they are relevant. She did enjoy most of her dancing, but says she won't be going back to Southport. The prime reason was the overcrowding. She danced mainly in the blues room, and was forever being bumped and battered. She did point out that because of the access onto the floor there, and with 2 small dance floors, a higher proportion of the floor is taken up with people just coming and going around the edges, so squeezing the dancers into an even smaller space. I had wondered if the ramp up to the floor could be roped up or something, to prevent people using this route as a main thoroughfare from the outside, but this wouldn't really work, as you need more than one path to get onto the dancefloor.

The second reason she was unimpressed was the lack of opportunity to dance wcs. With Jordan and Tatiana there she had hoped for more wcs lessons, and at a higher level. This seems reasonable to me, as J&T had attracted many of the best wcs dancers that I know of in the country. Yes, there was plenty of wcs going on in the blues room, but generally not in the peak hours, when it was just too busy.

Another problem my friend had, was with the cabaret, (nothing to do with the compering etc.!) She was dancing in the Latin room prior to the cabaret. The music was scheduled to continue in there, but there was no announcement made that the cabaret was about to start. When she checked the time and went into the main hall, it was already too late for the start, and there was no way she could get a viewpoint where she could see anything.

Greg

jivecat
21st-June-2005, 12:04 PM
I do think the policy of trying to balance the sexes really works, (even though there were some fab tracks I missed, because there was no one to dance with :tears: ) If there is a large imbalance, it seems to me that numbers are likely to dwindle much earlier in the night, because there are a large number of people just having to sit out too much and not joining in the fun.

Yes, the equal sexes policy made a big difference to my enjoyment an is definitely something I ask about before booking on a weekend event.
Well done, John & Wes for taking this on board.



The prime reason was the overcrowding. She danced mainly in the blues room, and was forever being bumped and battered.

Greg

I always found room to dance in the main hall on the auxiliary bit of floor over on the left hand side. But then the music wasn't always to my taste!

On Sunday evening I went back to the chalet at midnight, 'cos my feet hurt and I was exhausted from being elbowed and kicked, lay on the sofa for three hours and was just getting changed to go out again when my flatmates arrived home. "You're not going out at this time??" they chorused. But I did and enjoyed several more hours of fab dances on a much emptier floor.
Can't recommend this course of action for everyone, though!

Lounge Lizard
21st-June-2005, 12:11 PM
I was fortunate to DJ each room on Saturday - the venue was not overcrowded, there was plenty of room in the main hall and latin room, the extra dance area was underused, but when you walked into the main hall it did look sooo busy and unless you went to the other side of the room you would not see the space.

I think the blues room would work in the bigger hall, Latin in the bar area worked in the afternoon....but could the bar area floor be sanded to remove the ridges, or overlayed with chipboard?
peter

stewart38
21st-June-2005, 12:49 PM
I do think the policy of trying to balance the sexes really works, (even though there were some fab tracks I missed, because there was no one to dance with :tears: ) If there is a large imbalance, it seems to me that numbers are likely to dwindle much earlier in the night, because there are a large number of people just having to sit out too much and not joining in the fun.

Greg

Im lost on that one , you missed out as no one to dance with but nos ok. women tend to leave earlier then men . Think it better to have a women who really wants to go then have a reluctant man roped in at 11th hr






One non-forumite friend asked me to post a few comments, and I think they are relevant. She did enjoy most of her dancing, but says she won't be going back to Southport. The prime reason was the overcrowding.

Greg

maybe same one who said that to me, apart from blues room for a few hrs I didnt think it was major over crowded


[quote]

Danger Mouse
21st-June-2005, 01:18 PM
I was fortunate to DJ each room on Saturday - the venue was not overcrowded, there was plenty of room in the main hall and latin room, the extra dance area was underused, but when you walked into the main hall it did look sooo busy and unless you went to the other side of the room you would not see the space.

Spot on, well I suppose you had the advantage of a bird’s eye view. :wink: I spent all my time dancing on the ‘extra’ dance floor which never once got over crowded & for me was just perfect to dance on. The correct slippyness (is that a word) for me and the joins not noticeable.

Sheepman
21st-June-2005, 01:31 PM
I'm sure I did my fair share to water down the standard by the bar too! I didn't notice anything watered down when we danced! :blush:
But I certainly could have done with hosing down afterwards! :really:

Greg

Minnie M
21st-June-2005, 02:08 PM
eg - like rock & roll but slower - this would put many off methinks
That be the music rather than the dancing

R'n'R dancing is slower than the music it is danced to, as they use the backstep which is not used in MJ


I generally go with "it's partner dancing that can be done to modern chart music"
:yeah:
and quote, similar to the dancing in the film "Dirty Dancing"

Lounge Lizard
21st-June-2005, 02:20 PM
That be the music rather than the dancing

R'n'R dancing is slower than the music it is danced to, as they use the backstep which is not used in MJ
Yup agree, as dancers we understand this, but a quick reply without waffle to a muggle is better when a known comparrison is used - the Dirty dancing
thing is a bit old hat now wheras with Salsa I find this gets more positive interest
it would be nice for MJ to be recognised as a 'stand alone dance' but all to often a reply to "I dance modern jive" is "oh yes I (or my mum) used to do Rock & Roll as well".............but what the hell has this got to do with southport....oops

Raphael
22nd-June-2005, 05:36 PM
I would just like to say it was great fun meeting everybody the majority for the 1st time.

The level of Danceing in the blues room was excellent, Thank you Alison, Karen and Lory for letting me know of the event, already trying to sort out my schedule so that i can come back later in the year.

I would also like to thank the organisers for all there hard work. :nice: :clap:

And the DJ's for without them and there hard work it would not have been the same. :clap: :cheers: :worthy:

Minnie M
22nd-June-2005, 06:17 PM
I would just like to say it was great fun meeting everybody the majority for the 1st time.

The level of Danceing in the blues room was excellent, Thank you Alison, Karen and Lory for letting me know of the event, already trying to sort out my schedule so that i can come back later in the year.

I would also like to thank the organisers for all there hard work. :nice: :clap:

And the DJ's for without them and there hard work it would not have been the same. :clap: :cheers: :worthy:
Thank YOU for all the lovely dances :flower: :kiss: :hug:

foxylady
22nd-June-2005, 06:50 PM
I would just like to say it was great fun meeting everybody the majority for the 1st time.

The level of Danceing in the blues room was excellent, Thank you Alison, Karen and Lory for letting me know of the event, already trying to sort out my schedule so that i can come back later in the year.

I would also like to thank the organisers for all there hard work. :nice: :clap:

And the DJ's for without them and there hard work it would not have been the same. :clap: :cheers: :worthy:

Was so nice you were there !!! thanks for all the lovely dances and chin tickles :wink:

Lory
22nd-June-2005, 07:11 PM
already trying to sort out my schedule so that i can come back later in the year.


:clap: I really hope you CAN come, I mean, who else could I turn to, when I need an emergency calf massage :confused: :hug:

Your not too bad to dance with either! :wink: :D

David Bailey
22nd-June-2005, 07:55 PM
thing is a bit old hat now wheras with Salsa I find this gets more positive interest
In other words, it's marketing. Salsa is sexy, MJ is not.
There's another word for marketing...


it would be nice for MJ to be recognised as a 'stand alone dance' but all to often a reply to "I dance modern jive" is "oh yes I (or my mum) used to do Rock & Roll as well".............but what the hell has this got to do with southport....oops
20 years ago, salsa was not seen as sexy - it was the name of a type of sauce. It's taken a lot of hard work, lots of promotion, lots of energy and lots of selfless (OK, and selfish!) effort, to promote salsa as a dance form.

If people involved in the business never try to promote MJ as a dance form, and always rely on "Oh, it's like salsa", I think that's both lazy, and not helping to promote MJ as a dance.

MJ is a damned good dance, let's take the time to explain it to people. Who knows, they might like it... :innocent:

Andy McGregor
23rd-June-2005, 01:00 AM
20 years ago, salsa was not seen as sexy - it was the name of a type of sauce. It's taken a lot of hard work, lots of promotion, lots of energy and lots of selfless (OK, and selfish!) effort, to promote salsa as a dance form. We could try promoting MJ as being something to spice up a salad :waycool:


If people involved in the business never try to promote MJ as a dance form, and always rely on "Oh, it's like salsa", I think that's both lazy, and not helping to promote MJ as a dance.

MJ is a damned good dance, let's take the time to explain it to people. Who knows, they might like it... :innocent: To be serious for a moment. David has a point. Saying something is like something is to live in it's slipstream, to tie your fortunes to it. You will always be seen as second to the thing you aspire to be like.

I think we should at least say 'better than salsa' :clap:

David Bailey
23rd-June-2005, 08:55 AM
I think we should at least say 'better than salsa' :clap:
Whoaa.... :eek:

How about "Better than line-dancing"? :innocent:

Hmmm, sounds like a thread idea...

Dreadful Scathe
23rd-June-2005, 02:43 PM
and quote, similar to the dancing in the film "Dirty Dancing"

theres a small minority of Patrick Swayzes :)

angelique
25th-June-2005, 12:31 AM
Yo!!! I gots to look good fo' ma hoes n' bitches........... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:kiss:
especially whilst he playing "some toons for all his players out there...."


Feel a bit of Akon comin' on :clap: :cheers:

angelique
25th-June-2005, 01:01 AM
Hi guys, sorry for the delay in posting but have been working ever since and this is the frist chance really to get on here. :sad:
Have read this thread with GREAT interest and don't know what else there is to be said.
For me it was probably the best weekender I have been on :clap:
and didn't matter where I danced ,what room, at the time I was doing it, it was THE best time or room there was! :drool:
I was soooooooooo lucky to meet some many nice new people and have soooooooo many nice gorgeous lovely dances with the guys...you know who you all are :grin: and I did the best ever classes with the best ever partners I could have had! :clap: :kiss: djtrev :drool: steve :drool:
I laughed , I cried, I felt good , I felt bad and useless, I felt wonderful, I ached , I danced on air, I felt intimidated and absolutely useless, I felt like a princess ...what more do you want out of a weekender? And all for the price of what? :what:
I only have one complaint....it ended all too soon and left me wanting even more!

I particularly enjoyed dancing upstairs and using petrol in the chalet..... :rofl: :rofl:

DON'T ASK...just talk to Lory! :flower:

djtrev...get practising them "C-bumps"...I will be round to critique :wink:
Steve....stop worrying and enjoy! :whistle:

Brown Eyes
25th-June-2005, 02:07 PM
Hello

Only just got round to posting on the forum after the Southport weekend.
(This is my first posting on the Forum – I thought I’d go for the name ‘brown eyed girl’ as I love dancing to that track … and I’ve got brown eyes … oh, and I’m a girl – but it’s already taken – so I’m simply ‘brown eyes’.)

If you’re wondering who I am – if you were at the BBQ at Southport I was the one with the face paints.

What a fantastic weekend. Lovely people, great dances. I think I might be a little bit addicted!

Oh, and Debbie – Hope you enjoyed the birthday - loved the melted Toblerone with strawberries / grapes / bananas!!

I’ve just had a look at the photos from Southampton – there some good ones.

Considering Southport in September now

Look forward to see you in the future.

Melissa (brown eyes)