Do weekenders change your dancing?

[DavidY]

...prompted by a comment by Under Par on another thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=126108#post126108)...

A well-known forumite told me on Sunday night that my dancing had noticeably changed (I'm hoping she meant for the better :blush: ) over the weekend at Southport. Which sounded very positive. But I also remember someone else telling me almost exactly the same thing at Southport last September, and I have a feeling that between the two weekends I relapsed into whatever I was doing before.

So I'm wondering if:
(a) weekenders have a noticeable and hopefully positive effect on my dancing but
(b) it's only temporary and will wear off after a few weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Gojive]

...prompted by a comment by Under Par on another thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=126108#post126108)...

A well-known forumite told me on Sunday night that my dancing had noticeably changed (I'm hoping she meant for the better :blush: ) over the weekend at Southport. Which sounded very positive. But I also remember someone else telling me almost exactly the same thing at Southport last September, and I have a feeling that between the two weekends I relapsed into whatever I was doing before.

So I'm wondering if:
(a) weekenders have a noticeable and hopefully positive effect on my dancing but
(b) it's only temporary and will wear off after a few weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Without question, YES! :) .

I can't recall exactly which weekenders have done it for me (I've been to around 25 so far), but I know I've come away from some, if not most, having taken my dancing to another level (or at least in another direction!). In addition, I have also been inspired by week long dance holidays on: "Jive 'n Cruise 2004", "Beach Boogie", and more recently, "Ceroc in Barcelona".

I can't put my finger on exactly why, but something has clicked with me during so many of these events. Maybe it's the concentration of workshops and freestyles? - I dunno. But yes, for me they've been invaluable, and well worth every penny :cheers:

[jivecat]

YES, for sure, definitely.

I think the combination of intensive practice, a wide variety of new & stimulating partners and incredibly good music is what does it for me.

The first Southport was a revelation. It gave me so much confidence to realise that I could dance with all these people and somehow cope. Even if I was just barely hanging on in there with following it opened up new doors. And having opened them is the first step to going through them....

At every stage of development it has been useful to dance with partners that are more skilled than me because it has helped me to notice & analyse what I can't do, so I can work on it. And there are always droves of them at weekenders, and thanks to all of them for being patient with me.

The effect does wear off a bit after a week or two at home but it's still a useful consolidation time. And I don't think that the new knowledge, skill, whatever just disappears, it's just that progress goes in steps, you go up a steep curve, then things flatten out a bit, but the overall result is upwards.

[Little Monkey]

YES!!

I've yet to see if I'll relapse or not..... Maybe my dancing at the weekend was just a fluke?

LM

[Lory]

Oh Yes, very much so, the transformation in my dancing is quite amazing....

From 2am on Monday morning I was doing tripple spins with complete ease, no wobbling or faultering at all. I was also, quite happy doing drops (I suppose dancing with some of the best dancers in the country might have helped a little bit too :whistle: )

My confidence to try new 'styling' things grows as well :waycool: for some reason I seem to loose all inhibitions and just go for it ( that could also be the fact I don't have to drive home, so I can afford to have a couple of 'looseners' :blush: )

The trouble is, in my experience, all that balance, confidence and flare seems to vanish, the minute I get home! :tears: :tears: :tears:

[Dazzle]

Have to say I felt my freestyle died over the weekend :tears: . I had dances with some great individuals including forumites such as Lory :worthy: . I think I was in awe at such a gathering of national and international dancing wonders that I was temporarily phased by it all.

I have to say that since my return home, things have improved somewhat and a lot of what I saw and learned over the weekend is starting to slowly kick in (I HOPE!).

[Lynn]

So I'm wondering if:
(a) weekenders have a noticeable and hopefully positive effect on my dancing but
(b) it's only temporary and will wear off after a few weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Yes! Very much so. I find it so frustrating. And agree with Jivecat that its the combination of lots of dancing and varied partners and music that stretch my creativity. My dancing at the start of a weekender is usually pretty poor (though much helped by the fact that my first few dances are with forumites - Dave H - how many assisted spins did I do?!!) and as the weekend goes on it improves till by the last evening I'm almost confident enough to ask guys up to dance.

My consolation is that each weekender I seem to start at a better level and finish at a better level than the one before so it is still progress over time.

I think its particurlarly the case as I don't really get to dance much between weekenders - eg aside from this Saturday when a few of us are getting together for an informal evening, I won't be dancing any MJ until the next Southport weekender. :tears: I find it really frustrating as I think my dancing would maintain a better level if I could dance even 1/2 hour freestyle per week. In fact, and this may sound daft but I don't care :rofl: , I'm going to make sure I spend some time each week dancing by myself in my living room to good music to try and least maintain my levels of MI.

[stewart38]

...prompted by a comment by Under Par on another thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=126108#post126108)...

A well-known forumite told me on Sunday night that my dancing had noticeably changed (I'm hoping she meant for the better :blush: ) over the weekend at Southport. Which sounded very positive. But I also remember someone else telling me almost exactly the same thing at Southport last September, and I have a feeling that between the two weekends I relapsed into whatever I was doing before.

So I'm wondering if:
(a) weekenders have a noticeable and hopefully positive effect on my dancing but
(b) it's only temporary and will wear off after a few weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Generally speaking I find the standard of dancing is much higher at weekenders then at standard dance classes, for reasons already discussed.

Im sure i improve try new things 'ham things up' , even smile somtimes !

This soon goes when im back at regular venues. :sad:

[Zebra Woman]

..
A well-known forumite told me on Sunday night that my dancing had noticeably changed (I'm hoping she meant for the better :blush: ) over the weekend at Southport. Which sounded very positive.


Yes David, that was me wasn't it? It was great dancing with you, you seemed more relaxed, smiley, confident, creative, musical.....everything :clap: :hug:

And you weren't the only one, the same was true for everyone I danced with :worthy: . Plus the women looked like they had that same weekender groove. :worthy:



But I also remember someone else telling me almost exactly the same thing at Southport last September, and I have a feeling that between the two weekends I relapsed into whatever I was doing before.

So I'm wondering if:
(a) weekenders have a noticeable and hopefully positive effect on my dancing but
(b) it's only temporary and will wear off after a few weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

In my experience it does wear off. :sad: But luckily a bit of the improvement is for keeps. :grin:
It is so depressing coming back to reality, but I have a way of coping -

Whenever I hear a track that was played on a weekender, I try to find someone I'd danced with on the weekender and during the dance I look only at them (or even close my eyes) and imagine us back in the blues room again. Sometimes it works really well. At the end of the track I wake up and realise I'm at Hipsters/Ashtons/Kent House/Twyford/Chesham.... :rolleyes: Which is the next best thing IMO. :whistle:

[Starlight Dancer]

Definitely. I found that being exposed to so many varied types of dance styles and dance teachers has spiced up my Ceroc a thousand fold. It's also very inspirational to be amongst so many dancers and teachers who are brimming with so much enthusiasm for dance. It's that inspiration that encourages me to take my dancing further.

[Trish]

Yes, I find the same thing, especially the confidence thing to do with styling etc. I think part of it is because you're not going to be judged for these things. I sometimes feel if I do double spins, or something a bit different with my arms etc back home people just think "ooh look at her showing off". After a couple of Cambers though I've got more confidence, and don't care as much what I look like to other people. I've come to the conclusion that they'll just have to get used to it! I'm sure my dancing would improve further if I could go to weekenders more often really, but you can't have everything, and as ZW said, just have to hold on to the feeling sometimes :clap: .

It's also been interesting dancing with my friend DJ this week - he's been to Southport (which I couldn't go to unfortunately :tears: ), and has come back dancing better than ever after being inspired by Viktor and Amir! I hope it continues :nice: !

[Gadget]

erm... is it just me that thinks it's a dumb question: you go to a weekend full of workshops that teach new moves and how to dance better, then have lots of partys to practice them and lots of good dancers to practice with and gain inspiration from...

...I would be more concerned if anyone returned from a weekender without changing! :what:

[DavidY]

erm... is it just me that thinks it's a dumb question: you go to a weekend full of workshops that teach new moves and how to dance better, then have lots of partys to practice them and lots of good dancers to practice with and gain inspiration from...

...I would be more concerned if anyone returned from a weekender without changing! :what:I'm good at asking dumb questions. :)

But in my case I didn't choose many workshops last weekend that would directly translate into knowing more moves or dancing MJ better. I did things like the Waltz, Salsa, and the spinning workshop which, although it's MJ, wouldn't make much difference to my dancing straight away (I need to practice :blush: ). So in my case I'd be surprised if the workshops had much effect and equally I wasn't practicing much of it later.

You're right that there were lots of fab and inspiring dancers :worthy: around. However I'm not skilled enough to copy the fab leaders and I'm not sure what the mechanism is by which leaders can pick up better leading from fab followers.

So I don't think it's a totally dumb question - maybe a partly dumb one. :)
Yes David, that was me wasn't it? :hug: :blush:

[David Bailey]

But in my case I didn't choose many workshops last weekend that would directly translate into knowing more moves or dancing MJ better. I did things like the Waltz, Salsa, and the spinning workshop which, although it's MJ, wouldn't make much difference to my dancing straight away (I need to practice :blush: ). So in my case I'd be surprised if the workshops had much effect and equally I wasn't practicing much of it later.

I speak from almost total ignorance (no change there then :) ), but I'm not sure if most of the weekender workshops would teach you more than if you'd gone to a specific workshop outside of a weekender environment, as:
- With all this drunken debuachery and dancing till 6am+ going on, I'd imagine that people would maybe not concentrate quite so much on learning as on, well, having fun.
- If the average class size is quite large, you clearly won't get as much attention
- Some of the classes were meant presumably to be "fun" or "taster" classes in different styles

I'd imagine that most of the benefit would come from simply doing a hell of a lot of dancing, rather than the classes.


...I would be more concerned if anyone returned from a weekender without changing! :what:
Indeed, think how sweaty they'd be if they didn't change :eek:

:whistle:

[under par]

I'm good at asking dumb questions. :)

But in my case I didn't choose many workshops last weekend that would directly translate into knowing more moves or dancing MJ better. I did things like the Waltz, Salsa, and the spinning workshop which, although it's MJ, wouldn't make much difference to my dancing straight away (I need to practice :blush: ). snip
:

I went to a Camber a couple of years ago and did loads of lessons, came home and could hardly remember anything as it was all blurred in my mind. I had taken on too much. :angry:

Since then I have used weekenders for the freestyle mainly with a promise to myself to do 2 or 3 classes and take from those classes one or 2 good moves or sequences of moves that suit me. :flower:

I practice those couple of moves in my freestyle all weekend so the are ingrained in my memory not a blurry hfodfiodjayuiu!!

Using one or more small moves from a different style of dancing tango hip hop etc also adds to the fun.

[Gojive]

Yes, I find the same thing, especially the confidence thing to do with styling etc. I think part of it is because you're not going to be judged for these things. I sometimes feel if I do double spins, or something a bit different with my arms etc back home people just think "ooh look at her showing off". After a couple of Cambers though I've got more confidence, and don't care as much what I look like to other people. I've come to the conclusion that they'll just have to get used to it! I'm sure my dancing would improve further if I could go to weekenders more often really, but you can't have everything, and as ZW said, just have to hold on to the feeling sometimes :clap: .

It's also been interesting dancing with my friend DJ this week - he's been to Southport (which I couldn't go to unfortunately :tears: ), and has come back dancing better than ever after being inspired by Viktor and Amir! I hope it continues :nice: !

I think you've highlighted one of the less obvious reasons for dance development at a weekender there Trish :clap: . I too find I will do moves, try styles, and generally play around (in the dance sense of course) a lot more than I would back home. I can't say for sure why this is (although I think the 'show-off' bit you mentioned probably figures highly in my sub-conciousness), but I certainly feel I can be more extravagant at 3am in the Blues Room, than at 10pm in say Aldershot :)

[Lynn]

I'd imagine that most of the benefit would come from simply doing a hell of a lot of dancing, rather than the classes. Yep. I did 9 workshops on the first weekender, now do about 2 per day and pick fun ones, taster ones for different styles or if there are ones where I want to see particular teachers. Or sometimes I watch rather than take part esp if there are extra women (if there are extra men and I am about I will join in the class). Another reason I do workshops is that its a nice way to mix in and meet new people - if you have had some fun working out a move with someone in the rotation its nice to find them later for a dance.

So for me its all the dancing that makes the difference - not just quanity - but quality - its the variety of music, styles and partners. I deliberately made sure I spent time in each room - (though with the great music in the latin and blues rooms I wasn't in the main room that much - but made sure when I did go in I danced. And I'm not saying the music in there wasn't good, just that the other two were more my style).

So even with the great line up of teachers that John and Wes always have, for me its the great line up of DJs and all the lovely dancers who get me up (I'm still too shy at asking :blush: ) that improve my dancing.

[bigdjiver]

One thing that struck me whilst looking through the program was that each class only occurred once, so there had to be a lot of do this and miss that decisions. Some of the classes seemed to be very popular too, and perhaps could have benefited from smaller numbers. For these reasons it might be worth considering having some of the more popular classes repeated next day.
There is also the overwhelmed with information factor. Lessons are learned better if they are repeated after a short while. Having the class repeated would give people the opportunity of attending it twice, and really embedding the lessons learned. There could be minor differences to ensure the interest level was maintained for second attenders. I would think that this should only apply to a few of the classes.
It might even be possible to have a few free slots and have repetition by volume of requests. I am sure that some classes had an unexpectedly high wow factor, and word would get around about what people had missed.

[Cruella]

Have to say I felt my freestyle died over the weekend :tears: . I had dances with some great individuals including forumites such as Lory :worthy: . I think I was in awe at such a gathering of national and international dancing wonders that I was temporarily phased by it all.

I have to say that since my return home, things have improved somewhat and a lot of what I saw and learned over the weekend is starting to slowly kick in (I HOPE!).
I had a couple of great dances with you. Although i was surprised to find you were male :blush: Your forum name suggests to me you are female, sorry :whistle: You are a fab dancer so would like to see you dance if your freestyle hadn't died!!

[KatieR]

I remember earlier this year in April when Nicky and Robert came to Adelaide, I had never been to a weekender or any workshops... my Ceroc was literally everything I had learnt in classes. I have to say my dancing increased 150% after the 3 day workshop weekend. Where your general ceroc class is more aimed at getting the masses to dance in freestyle, the workshops definately enable you to fine tune what you are doing. My styling improved and actually learnt a proper technique to spinning which has also helped tremendously.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the Southport weekend due to work committments but will definately be attending a few weekenders and weekend workshops in the future when Im not too busy cleaning toilets... (dont ask!! :eek: )