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animaltalk
14th-July-2005, 02:44 AM
Can I pose a question what do advanced/long term dancers want from weekenders and is anyone offering it?

1) Advanced move workshops
2) New dance styles
3) Crossover dance styles -eg Jango
4) Social - chance to catch up with friends round the country
5) Cabarets
6) Interesting music?
7) Dancing till the morning?
8) Style/Thematic workshops
9) Dancers of same standard
10) Competitions
11) Double trouble?
12) Musicality
13) ?

I have my wish list (sadly no one is offering it at the moment), but I'll see what others have to say first

Lounge Lizard
14th-July-2005, 09:26 AM
I think all these are offered at many of the weekenders already
1) Advanced move workshops - CAMBER, BEACH BOOGIE, ROCK BOTTOMS, SOUTHPORT
2) New dance styles - CAMBER, SOUTHPORT
3) Crossover dance styles -eg Jango - CAMBER, SOUTHPORT, ROCKBOTTOMS
4) Social - chance to catch up with friends round the country, - SOUTHPORT, ROCKBOTTOMS, BEACH BOOGIE
5) Cabarets - ALL
6) Interesting music? - ALL, SOME MORE THAN OTHERS
7) Dancing till the morning? - ALL
8) Style/Thematic workshops - SOUTHPORT,BEACH BOOGIE
9) Dancers of same standard - SAME STANDARD AS WHAT? - ALL BEGINNERS OR ALL INTERMEDIATES, NONE I IMAGINE, MIXED STANDARDS MOST, ADVANCED STANDARD - SCARBOURGH
10) Competitions - JIVETIME TRIED THIS AT CAMBER, BLUES & AERIALS - BEACH BOOGIE
11) Double trouble? CAMBER, SOUTHPORT
12) Musicality - MJC, BEACH BOOGIE, ROCK BOTTOMS, SOUTHPORT

13) ? - added by me:) ....
13) LIVE BANDS - PARTY WEEKENDERS
14) FASTER MUSIC - BOOGALOO WEEKENDERS
15) SLOWER MUSIC - BEACH BOOGIE, SOUTHPORT
16) INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS - SOUTHPORT, REBEL YELL
17 - OUTDOOR EVENT - WE TRIED THAT IN EASTBOURNE

so not sure what you are looking for
peter

Andy McGregor
14th-July-2005, 09:32 AM
I've experienced most of the dance weekender formats and I think the one that comes closest it Rock Bottoms. The one that comes closest to that list is Beach Boogie - but that's not a weekender.

David Franklin
14th-July-2005, 09:55 AM
I thought the original poster was asking what people would want, rather than how close anything came to that list. Some people might actively dislike things on the list.

For example - my impression is that a lot of dancers would rather not have the cabaret slots. Personally I've always found it one of the highlights, but I seem to be in a minority.

As a "idea from left field": I'm not sure we could make it work over here, but I really liked the comp/weekend I went to in Atlanta. Spreading the comp over 3 days minimized the "I've been standing watching stuff all day!" feeling and left lots of time for freestyle. Workshops cost $10 each, which seemed odd at the time, but had the advantage that people only did them who really wanted to do them - so everyone was a bit more dedicated. Of course, a fabulous hotel at reasonable prices and a weak dollar helped a lot as well and would be hard to replicate in the UK.

animaltalk
14th-July-2005, 12:38 PM
I raise this question because we had a discussion amongst the crew/experienced dancers and we found very few of the weekender classes rewarding/challenging/(what we really wanted).
We love watching cabarets and socialising and dancing till 5 in the morning, but frequently look at the classes and spend the day in bed/sunbathing/chatting. -

- And I was interested to find out if we were just a small pocket and were someone to provide something diffferent would be people be interested.

By the way this year so far we've done - Rbsx3, Southport, Bognor, Camber, Abdereen Beach Ballroom, Jive Met Swing, Warmwell. And we will be doing Beach Boogie, BFG, and others

Lory
14th-July-2005, 01:04 PM
I raise this question because we had a discussion amongst the crew/experienced dancers and we found very few of the weekender classes rewarding/challenging/(what we really wanted).
We love watching cabarets and socialising and dancing till 5 in the morning, but frequently look at the classes and spend the day in bed/sunbathing/chatting. - I like Cabarets too, as long as they don't go on too long and i'm seeing something I can't normally see on the average MJ night! :waycool: :clap:

I agree about the classes too, they're often too big for me to personally get anything out of, so I do the same as you, socialise etc...
and agree re dancing till dawn!


- And I was interested to find out if we were just a small pocket and were someone to provide something diffferent would be people be interested. :yeah: I would :)


By the way this year so far we've done - Rbsx3, Southport, Bognor, Camber, Abdereen Beach Ballroom, Jive Met Swing, Warmwell. And we will be doing Beach Boogie, BFG, and othersWOW :worthy: that's a lot, by anyones standards! :really:

David Franklin
14th-July-2005, 01:05 PM
I raise this question because we had a discussion amongst the crew/experienced dancers and we found very few of the weekender classes rewarding/challenging/(what we really wanted).As far as the classes go, my personal feeling is many things are really hard to teach in the course of a one hour or 90 minute class. In particular, I find the taster classes may be useful in letting you know whether a certain style is worth investigating further, but they can't really do much more than that.

I think there's scope for more classes in musicality - I've not seen much that goes beyond "finding the breaks". As I really like showcases etc., one thing I've thought would be fascinating is for a couple like N&N or Robert/Deborah to do a "case study" of a showcase. Explaining things like why they decided to put a particular move in a particular place, etc...

Making sure the participants are suitable for a class is tricky. I think there's part of all of us that would love an "exclusive" workshop for advanced dancers - as long as we were included, of course! But if we weren't included we'd probably be resentful. And such a scheme can be hard to police in practice.


And I was interested to find out if we were just a small pocket and were someone to provide something diffferent would be people be interested.You might want to consider doing something yourselves. Just meeting up and pooling knowledge (and moral support!) can be greatly beneficial. I know we get far more out of our shared practices with Mary and Tony that we do by ourselves. And if you share the costs, getting a specialised teacher in needn't be too expensive (I think! - never done it myself).

David Bailey
14th-July-2005, 05:21 PM
For example - my impression is that a lot of dancers would rather not have the cabaret slots. Personally I've always found it one of the highlights, but I seem to be in a minority.
I don't like any interruptions to freestyle - cabarets, exhibitions, competitions, you name it. Sitting around on a hard floor in a Really Big Circle is not why I go dancing...

A stand-alone cabaret, now, that's a different matter. That might work on a weekender - or even, a "cabaret class" as David suggested, showing how a routine is decided on; that'd be interesting.

Sort of like the "Ecuador" thing, but, you know, not to naff music :whistle:

under par
14th-July-2005, 05:25 PM
By the way this year so far we've done - Rbsx3, Southport, Bognor, Camber, Abdereen Beach Ballroom, Jive Met Swing, Warmwell. And we will be doing Beach Boogie, BFG, and others

Respect :worthy: :worthy:

Keep going :clap: :clap:

MartinHarper
14th-July-2005, 06:01 PM
a "cabaret class"

Well, "performance" classes exist. Rock Bottoms have always had them when I've gone. Also, Southport had one taught by Robert and Nicki. I don't know how rewarding/challenging they are for top level dancers, though.

The recent Rock Bottoms Lindy event had decent guidance for class levels, and went something like:

beginner = 0-6 months "regular" Lindy classes+freestyles
improver = 6-12 months
intermediate = 12mths-3 years
intermediate/advanced = 3-6 years
masterclass = dance god (I paraphrase)

If there was anyone there who found that the "masterclass" level didn't challenge them enough, they didn't say anything to me about it. I don't know how much MJ experience you're meant to have before doing int/adv classes at MJ events, though. I've not seen similar experience guidelines issued at MJ weekenders, so it's harder to judge.

As long as experienced dancers want to dance until 6am, it's going to be hard to get them interested in an advanced, challenging workshop at 10am.