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View Full Version : Storm 06; the aftermath



tiger
5th-March-2006, 02:06 PM
Well,was the hype justified? Good+bad thoughts please.

El Salsero Gringo
5th-March-2006, 02:08 PM
Well,was the hype justified? Good+bad thoughts please.I wasn't there but I thought it was fabulous!

Piglet
5th-March-2006, 02:19 PM
I wasn't there but I thought it was fabulous!
:yeah: Me too! Absolutely brilliant :D

Andy McGregor
5th-March-2006, 03:35 PM
I wasn't there but I thought it was fabulous!This is one of those rare occasions when I agree with ESG. The only thing that would have made it better would have been the presence of ESG, David James, Barry Shnikov, Piglet, tiger and me.

David Bailey
5th-March-2006, 05:12 PM
I wasn't there but I thought it was fabulous!
Absolutely :yeah: - well worth the money I paid for it, I thought.

ducasi
5th-March-2006, 11:21 PM
Without even being there, I apparently played a "big role" in it being "really great" for at least one person. (Perhaps by the very fact that I wasn't there... ;))

Will
6th-March-2006, 02:43 AM
Kate & I got back from Storm around 6pm and now I've caught up on some zzzz's.....

WOW!!!

Ceroc have just raised the bar on weekenders by about 10 levels!

Firstly, I will say that the accomodation is just the same as any other dance weekender. I'm afraid if you want luxury on that front you still need to book a hotel room off site.

However, the dance experience was almost unrecognisable from any other dance weekender I've ever been too. The operation was on a much larger scale than previously seen. The size of the team of people on staff was in particular way in excess of the norm, which meant that everything from check-in to the number of different rooms to dance in, availability of equipment, mics, djs was all top notch. The whole thing had such a slick professional feel to it.

As far as equipment and facilities were concerned, there were 5 different rooms to chose from, each with different classes going on during the day, and different genres of music for freestyle during the evening. Because of the number of different rooms, the fact that there was over 1500 people there didn't seem to mean it felt as crowded as you might expect either. In fact, with hindsight I'd personally say that if you going to provide that much choice and dance space, you might want to up limit of the number of people attending.

Whilst on the subject of equipment and facilities, the amount of and the quality of the dance flooring laid down was one of the biggest steps forward of the whole weekend. Apparently, it had to be brought to site by a 7-ton truck!!!

As well as that, the staging provided was also a big improvement. In the downstairs room, rather than using the little built in stage on the side, Ceroc brought in an enormous mobile stage that towered so high that any teacher suffering from vertigo might have been tempted to pull a sickie.

Professional lighting was brought in, light stensils of the Ceroc logo wizzing around everywhere, and you couldn't move for massive 30 foot drapes advertising Ceroc Storm / Escape.

Huge rear-projection units were installed in the 2 biggest rooms with live feed from the relevant stages so that everyone could see properly. (Live feed from the main room was also piped into all the chalets so you could watch from the comfort of your sofa if you were to knackered to get up).

The teachers DVD was all shot by the end of Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning it had been edited, reproduced on printed DVD's, boxed up, and was on sale in the main foyer.

Then there is the classic weekender hot potato..... WATER. Well Ceroc's solution typified the whole weekend. They provided FREE CHILLED MINERAL WATER from those office style vending barrels.

No that wasn't a typo, it really was FREE CHILLED MINERAL WATER, and they'd typically be set out in various places in groups of 3 vending barrels so that you never had to even queue for it either. (Of course the Diva in me wants to know why it wasn't Evian, :mad: )

If I were to offer my opinions of what didn't work, then I'd say that I'm not sure the pole dancing is a good idea. It personally feel it could lead to attracting more of the sort of clientelle (sp?) that give organisers headaches down the line (i.e. sleazy).
I'd also say that if you're going to have 5 dance areas, then let in another few hundred people.

In summary, I wasn't sure what to expect as this was Ceroc's first weekender. But Mike, Linda, Bradders and the team.... :respect:

Absolutely Awesome.

Will

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 05:09 AM
....
The whole thing had such a slick professional feel to it.
....
Absolutely Awesome.


Just got back in and its nearly 4 am so im going to keep this brief (well, maybe not).

Totally agree with Will's comments. :yeah:

I have said it before and I will say it again, Ceroc really do have the edge over anybody else in the game when i comes to the smooth operations of events.
So many things were introduced into this weekend that it really did raise the bar in dance weekenders.
When Will says there was lots of quality temporary flooring he really isnt kidding. It must have taken the team DAYS to get it all down but it was magnificent. The surface was perfectly adequate to dance on and there was lots and lots of it :nice: . The quality of it would put many venues to shame! I can honestly say I wouldnt have been against them selling another few hundred tickets. With the amount of dance space the evenings looked busy but still plenty comfortable.
Along with this were the little things - the free tailoring sets and the free poncho things (not sure how you spell it). The films shown in the boudoir and the film channel on the tv's dedicated to dance films - brilliant. The choice of rooms with such a wide selection of music - again brilliant. The free water, the more efficient teaching layouts, the speedy checkins, the extra activities, the number of fans and air movement systems :eek: amazing!!

If this wasnt enough the biggest plus for me was the ability to take my car onsite to unload my stuff - something I wasnt able to do last time. Yes, it was a £50 deposit but as long as you hand your ticket back in within an hour you get it back. Ceroc had also organised the availability of a manned car park a 5 minute walk away down the road and this was all put up on the website plenty of time before the event.

Ok, this is obviously sounding like a party political broadcast for the Ceroc party so, as always, I will balance it with the things I think could reasonably be improved upon for the sake of constructive criticism. Firstly the cabaret timing - saturday 9:30pm + Sunday 8:30pm. We got there at 8:30 on the sunday expecting to see a very early cabaret and, low and behold, it was not on. I have to admit i didnt really expect the cabaret to be on at 8:30 in the evening :nice: Neither cabaret slot adhered to the times so why put it in the brochure?. Little thing but a thing nevertheless.
Secondly, why close the blues room at 5am? When it closed on saturday there must have been over 100 people in there. We know its allowed to go on later so, with a willing dj, why not?

These are small points which may well be added on but overall I was seriously impressed with the whole operation. No other weekender I have been on has what this had. Southport still has 2 big plusses going for it IMO - summertime and a gorgeous (but small) blues room, but Ceroc really have done the business on weekenders.

AND

It appears they have timetabled 8 weekenders into the year now. They have been busy bees.

Sleep now.

Missy D
6th-March-2006, 09:42 AM
I had a great time at Storm although i was still a little unwell from the week before and slept lots. The chalets had been done up since i last stayed in them. Me and Dee shared the new sofa bed which was really comfy (she is my sister so no R.M comments please). We were frozen the first night but the chalet warmed up the following day. The music was great so i was running from one room to the next to catch the best tracks. I did find there were alot of beginners and danced with a couple of men that hadnt danced before. Having the free water was fantastic - no long queues at the bars!

One thing really annoyed me and upset my friday was about the unloading but i will discuss this with Mike and Linda away from the Forum.:devil:

Another thing that cannot be helped are those bl@@dy seagulls! How big are they? How loud are they at 7am onwards? Kinda hope birdflu arrives in time for the next Camber:whistle:

Well done to the Storm crew! I can see a lot of hard work went into this whole event:respect: :clap: :clap:

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 11:09 AM
I have thought of something to add that I would like to see in the future. I feel terrible for suggesting it givent the amount of work the team must have put into such a well run event BUT.....

A larger dance space in the boudoir (or any room that hosts afternoon dancing) woud have been nice. People seemed to cope ok with the carpet but I dare say Butlins wouldnt like it :nice:


Oh and, if its possible for next time, I would like the whole complex moved slighty to the left :grin:

Chef
6th-March-2006, 11:30 AM
Oh and, if its possible for next time, I would like the whole complex moved slighty to the left :grin:

My left or your left?

Whitebeard
6th-March-2006, 11:40 AM
My left or your left?

That would be right wouldn't it. And right's right ;-)

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 11:41 AM
My left or your left?

I cant be too absolute in my requirements as I wouldnt have as much leverage to complain when its not done exactly how I want it :grin:

TheTramp
6th-March-2006, 11:52 AM
How about 3 feet in the air (ladders provided)?

Tessalicious
6th-March-2006, 11:53 AM
I wasn't at Storm, but I know how important it was to the organisers that it went really well, and how much work they put in to make sure that it did, and I'd just like to say, all credit to them for apparently achieving that over and above anyone's expectations. :worthy:

I'm really glad you all had such a great time, and I only wish I'd been able to come and see it for myself. Next time, I am so there.

Lounge Lizard
6th-March-2006, 01:59 PM
A larger dance space in the boudoir (or any room that hosts afternoon dancing) woud have been nice. People seemed to cope ok with the carpet but I dare say Butlins wouldnt like it :nice:

Don't think Butlins would care what went on at Camber......it is a Pontins resort:wink:

Bigger Andy
6th-March-2006, 02:23 PM
I thought that 'Storm' was run really well and, overall, was a success.

Starting with the registration - there were no queues and it all went really smoothly.

:worthy: All the classes were good. The idea of Yoga or Pilates at the start of the day was popular.

However, the Pontins staff and the appartments were the usual. :sad:
It took me 90 minutes before I got the electricity on in my apartment !:sad:
The way the reception staff treat you makes you feel like a naughty little boy back at school.

I definitely DON'T like the idea of charging people £50 just to drop off their luggage if they arrive late. My girlfriend arrived late, after dark, and did not have £50. Potentially, they were sending her to another car park further away with a long walk with her luggage. This shouldn't happen to a woman on her own.:mad:

Tazmanian Devil
6th-March-2006, 03:13 PM
Ouch My feet hurt


Probably the best dance weekender I have been to :worthy:

Well Done To Mike, and Crew for all the hard work and effort that went into organising the event :clap:


On arrival there was no que of cars outside and the reception was absolutely brilliant, Straight into the cyclone dance zone (lower hall for those who didn't go) where we were welcomed by a big team of crew who assisted us with form filling and getting our wrist bands, keys etc we didn't have to wait about at all :clap:

The halls were decked out beautifully with flooring going right up to the edge of the hall in the cyclone dance zone, also in the Thunderball room (upstairs hall) Tables and chairs were kept to a minimum having only small clusters of them as opposed to lining the edges of the halls to create even more dance space :clap:

Classes (although I only done the pole dancing) were very good. I sat and watched a few in between freestyling.

The Boudoir (The pub) Nice touch!! Sack the Dj was on in the day so we could freestyle to our hearts content. Only problem with the boudoir was there could have been more flooring layed down but hey it's all trial and error and we danced in every available spot anyway. Juat a shame more people didn't sign up for the slots as poor Richard :worthy: :worthy: (non forumite) ended up doing every slot from the time it opened on friday until 13:15 on sunday! Not complaining about his music though as if it wasn't for him and us roping him into it saturday morning we would have had no freestyle until 12:30 Sunday which was actually his schedualed slot :worthy: :worthy: Great sets sunday afternoon also the pub was heaving it was great :clap:
The pub quiz in the afternoon seemed to go down well to my surprise, but the film straight after well The pub was empty. Could have had more freestyle!! Again it's trial and error. The films were on the telly also so you could watch them in your challett. Another nice touch actually while I am on that subject, Dance films on the telly in your challett throughout the whole day was lovely!! I personally only got to see a little bit of dirty dancing when I returned to my challett for a coffee at 12:30 this morning but lots of people were praising the idea.

Freestyle Nights' absoultely fantasic not too crowded but yet still lots of people to dance with :clap:
No Lunch time freestyle on Saturday :sad: That was very disappointing!!
Although Sundays afternoon freestyle was great then straigt intop the pub for great sets but Zebra Woman and Sheena :worthy: :clap: :worthy:

Meeting more forumites Oh my god :eek: too many to actually mention but will mention Dave Hancock :yum: :drool: Absoultely great to meet you :worthy: Our dances were Out of this world I just hope it's not too long till we dance again!! :worthy: Also Frank and Sheena :worthy: Again great to meet you and the dances were amazing, Thank you also for the after hours gathering at your challett food and Champagne were lovely thak you :clap: Although I do have a migraine :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Oh my god I appear to have wrote a book!! Photos to follow. :kiss: :hug:

dee
6th-March-2006, 03:17 PM
I definitely DON'T like the idea of charging people £50 just to drop off their luggage if they arrive late. My girlfriend arrived late, after dark, and did not have £50. Potentially, they were sending her to another car park further away with a long walk with her luggage. This shouldn't happen to a woman on her own.:mad:




:yeah: Sis and i didn't know anything about this, luckily she had brought her debit card with her as we didn't have much cash on us at the time. We were told we could drop our stuff off for £50 but have to be back within an hour or they would debit £50 from the card :eek: either that or we would of had to of lugged our stuff 400 yards from the car park in the dark :mad: apart from me getting very annoyed over this i had a great weekend :clap: there were lots of beginners some had never even danced before :what: i didn't attend to any classes as i seemed so tired due to lack of sleep.

Was also nice to meet some more forumites :hug: thanks to all that danced with me. Well done to all the people that organised Storm :cheers:

SilverFox
6th-March-2006, 03:56 PM
Wow, what a stunning weekender.

To the postings from PaulF and Will :yeah:

Storm was in a totally different league from the standard Camber fare.

Best bits:

Not having fast swing music played in the 'Blues' room. The pace was deliciously chilled. Marc Forster's Friday night set and John Baker's Saturday night set were quite literally the best sets I have had the pleasure to dance to. Hours and hours of seamless laid back blues, latin and soul. :worthy: :worthy: :drool:

The standard of the dance floors in the main rooms. The permanent ones were cleaned and polished beautifully, the temporary flooring was perfect. There was even a team of carpenters repairing any damage every morning after we all left.:respect:

DJ ZW on her debut perfomance at the decks (with a little help from DJ Substance:cool: ).Wonderful set. :clap: :clap:

Franck & Sheena's little early morning gathering. :rofl: :rofl:

The whole event smacked of professionalism, putting us the punters first. There was no penny pinching to be seen anywhere. True value for money.

(Mike Ellard was even standing at the site exit this morning, personally handing out free bottles of water to every car leaving!)

Roll on Breeze in October. :waycool:

btw. 6am finishes please!

:cheers:

Spin dryer
6th-March-2006, 03:58 PM
A fab weekend. Thank you forumites for so many lovely dances.

Georgious dancer
6th-March-2006, 04:16 PM
I'm tired, hungry and my feet hurt, but I don't care becasue I just had a fantastic weekend!:clap: :clap: :clap:

I've only been dancing for 8 months and this was my first weekender. I got my ticket last minute and didn't really know what to expect, but I can certainly say it was WICKED!:clap:

I thought the event was run really well, I was particularly impressed with the check in, so quick and efficient. The classes that I did were brilliant, loved the blues ones and it was great to give the Rhumba a go even if it did fry my brain:confused: . Like Taz said a freestyle Saturday pm would have been great, but the evening freestyles were fantastic. It was great to have the choice between the classic ceroc stuff and the more chilled tunes downstairs, plus the large dance area meant it was never too crowded! So Congrats to Mike and team!:clap:

Besides all the fantastic dances that I had (Thanks to everyone I danced with), what I really enjoyed was meeting so many lovely people, especially you forumites! It was the first time that I had meet most of you and it was a pleasure.:grin: (Although I'm not sure that's wat the woman in the room above Frank and Sheena's would say:rofl: )

Hope you all had as good a wknd as I did. I'm off to eat, sleep and rest my feet before I pick Taz up to go Swanley (we must be mad!).

killingtime
6th-March-2006, 04:43 PM
Without even being there, I apparently played a "big role" in it being "really great" for at least one person. (Perhaps by the very fact that I wasn't there... ;))

You did :D. I went back to the flat to get a shower and relax a bit and fell asleep! Had it not been for your text message (which woke me up) I would have probably slept right through and missed a storming night. So thanks for texting me!

It was a really good event. I had a few good workshops but it was really the freestyle that did it for me I had many lovely :drool: dances.

Cruella
6th-March-2006, 04:52 PM
Fantastic weekend! The attention to detail was amazing. The only negative i can think of was the 4.30 & 5.00am finishes, i could have easily danced for another couple of hours. So many highlights to the weekend including the Karaoke. Dirty D, Wittybird and Wacko had me crying with laughter. :respect: (Why does Wacko feel the need to undress in public all the time :rofl: ) Thanks to Paul F for teaching me the basics in the Waltz and the Rhumba, you're a great teacher.:hug: The post dancing parties at Franck and Sheenas haven't had that much fun in ages :wink: . Although i do think it was unfair to blame me for all the noise.:tears:
Really enjoyed the company of so many like minded (immature) people. :kiss:

Clive Long
6th-March-2006, 04:53 PM
:yeah: All the points already about the organisation (although the parking drop-off £50 deposit was scummy).

Personal Highlights
**************

I can't think of a poor or mediocre dance the whole weekend

Meeting and dancing with Martin Harper

Franck's connection and lead class. Franck is a teacher of clarity and genuine warmth and humour.

The dance psychology workshop. Loads to think about from that. And what did 50% of the women want from men when they are dancing? "I want you to smile at me when we are dancing".

The quality and speed of production of the DVD. Available for sale on the Saturday. As always the "little" things. The backcloth for the teachers being a light, motttled grey rather than charming pictures of Pearly Kings and Queens. This means it is really clear what the teachers are demonstrating and just looks professional. (are some of the classes missing? :confused: )

Dwaine (DirtyD) and WittyBird's karaoke duet "Endless Love"

The amount of dance space. I did some amazing walks / runs with one partner up and down the side of the main hall.


Personal Lowlights
**************
Feet aching mid-Sunday afternoon that limited my dancing.

Wimping out of Franck's the party as my body feeling like it had been put through a mincer in the short walk from the Queen Vic to the chalets. I'm sure if I had gone to the party all thoughts of pain would have disappeared. It is just that bed seemed the sensible option at that moment.

It all had to end.

Thanks
*****

WittyBird for driving there and back (even though every 30 minutes there was a low groan followed y "oh, f***, my feet!").

Les Snell for organising the tickets and the food.

Lory
6th-March-2006, 04:57 PM
A truly wonderful weekend!

:yeah: To everything that's been said so far and to add some bits which haven't...


I had a brief chat with Mike about the Boudoir (queen Vic) and commended him for opening it. :clap: It was a lovely little retreat, somewhere we could go and have a bit of social time as well as the other things it offered!

DJ Zebra's set in there was fabulous and went down extremely well!!! :respect:

I did mention to him about the dance floor being so small and his view was, he wanted it to remain predominantly as a social space, with the dancing taking a much lower priority and in that sense it worked well!;) The music wasn't at a level where chatting was impossible and a few couples could dance at a time. Making it very chilled and perfect for a Sunday afternoon! :drool:

One of my highlights of the weekend was the Ballroom practice and the WCS hour (unfortunately, that was on quite early in the evening, so it wasn't as well attended as it might have been but nevertheless, it was very appreciated!

The checking in was very welcoming and ran seamlessly. :cheers:

The wrist bands which had caused so much fuss beforehand, were no bother at all and instantly forgotten about as soon as they were on!:nice:

The overall numbers was IMO perfect! Space to 'really dance' and yet enough to make a good atmosphere, I personally would like to keep the numbers the same!:flower:

The was virtually NO queue at any bar, at anytime!:grin:

The floor was superb! And may I add, finished off very neatly round the edges!:worthy:

The gender balance seemed to work! Apparently there were nearly even numbers in all the classes! (I think there will always be a lack of experienced men in ratio to expeienced women but i think we can all accept that)

The extra fans were brilliant!:grin:

I admit I didn't venture upstairs that much in the evenings BUT that was only because the music down below was so damned good!:respect:

Kev and I got to practice our WCS and TANGO loads!!!! :clap:

The DVD is top quality AND was ready to purchase on SUNDAY!

The cloakroom was a brilliant idea, it cut down considerably on the 'clutter' of winter coats on every available chair!:nice:

And lastly, they managed to get the weather just right too!:na:


:cheers: Congratulations to Mike, Linda, Bradders and all the crew! :cheers:

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 05:26 PM
what happened to my very long post :tears: :tears: something has eaten it :tears:

My feet still feel sore :tears: no thanks to those who decided to tread on my toes the weekend - think I might loose a couple of toe nails :eek:

Will post my comments again later if my post doesn't appear

need zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

SilverFox
6th-March-2006, 05:41 PM
Not quite sure why there's a fuss about the £50 parking deposit. The email from Storm clearly stated that a deposit system would be in operation to prevent the site getting clogged with cars. Taking a few minutes to read it would've saved you guys the grief. :flower:

Without it people would just dump there cars anywhere and everywhere even after the site was full.

At least the organisers had the foresight to book and reserve an entire off-site overflow car park, thus preventing the usual parking ticket carnage.

Tazmanian Devil
6th-March-2006, 05:45 PM
Valid Point. Have some rep :kiss: :hug:

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 05:45 PM
Im amazed. I have been reading through this thread so far and I am even more impressed with how much effort the team must have put into this event.

I am a little dissapointed that the £50 deposit fee has caused a bit of a cloud. Considering it is an IMPROVEMENT on not having the chance to drive on at all after, say, about 5pm I despair when I hear people knocking it.
Last camber (non-ceroc) I had to lug my bags a mile and a half as they wouldnt let me in and they had no system in place to render aid. That annoyed me. This time Ceroc, through no financial benefit that I can see, had arranged to at least provide something to help people out (which it certainly did) and people knock it. It was advertised well before that this was here together with the fact that Pontins (sorry LL :) ) will only let x number of cars on.

I am not just just talking about what has been said on here but rather as a result of a bit of an ugly scene caused by a couple of dancers at the reception desk at 9pm on the friday as i was checking in. They were kicking up an almighty fuss about the £50 deposit. Mike was behind the counter dealing with it flanked by a security guard. He was absolutely brilliant considering the amount of abuse he was getting. I can only imagine how much flak an organiser gets at these events.

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 05:46 PM
Not quite sure why there's a fuss about the £50 parking deposit. The email from Storm clearly stated that a deposit system would be in operation to prevent the site getting clogged with cars. Taking a few minutes to read it would've saved you guys the grief. :flower:

Without it people would just dump there cars anywhere and everywhere even after the site was full.

At least the organisers had the foresight to book and reserve an entire off-site overflow car park, thus preventing the usual parking ticket carnage.


You sneak :grin:

Got in there while i was typing. Totally agree :cheers:

Cruella
6th-March-2006, 05:51 PM
You sneak :grin:

Got in there while i was typing. Totally agree :cheers:
He's obviously got faster fingers!!

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 05:53 PM
Short Storm post ..........

Having been to many Weekenders (all dance styles) Mike Ellard has appeared to put all the best bits together PLUS more to make this a brilliant success :respect: and of course the fantastic Bradders who must have been working 24/7 the past few months :worthy::respect: and to all their lovely helper - it was great to see so many franchisees and all working hard too :clap: :eek:

Most things have been said above and agree with them all :flower:

At the time, my only disappointment was too much latin (I am an R&B gal) and the tempo far too slow for me - however, now thinking back there was some fantastic music played :respect: and by all the DJs - you all did us proud (my fave was Dan Hudson) First time I have heard a Tiggerbabe set and it was awesome :worthy:
.......and...... ZW in the Boudoir :respect: we want more :clap:

BTW I arrived at 1:30pm to make sure I got a good parking space, only to find a big queue in front of me :really: and by the time they openned the gates at 2pm I would think the queue was considerably longer. However we all moved swiftly in and within no time we were all 'registered' and 'banded' - well done to all :flower:

just seen this :-

I can only imagine how much flak an organiser gets at these events
Having worked at many events ..... this is soooooo true, however, if this was the only incident it shows how organised the team were

Tiggerbabe
6th-March-2006, 05:55 PM
Have to echo the above sentiments :respect:
What an amazing weekend
Not much I can add except my sincere appreciation for the team who put the whole event together.
I had an absolutely brilliant time - first time I've ever been to Camber Sands and I really didn't know what to expect.

From the smooth check-in to the tv footage of the classes in the main room (was fab to watch H's men only style class from the comfort of the cafe). There were people on the Ceroc Reception Desk all the time, at all hours of the day :D Incredible that you could get the DVD on Sunday lunchtime :D

Floorspace was great and the extra flooring that had been laid in the blues room was fab to dance on. Have to say I didn't spend any time in the main dance hall either as I couldn't tear myself away from the chill-out music.

I had a blast playing in the Blues Room on Saturday night and as for John Baker's set :worthy: just amazing!

I'll disagree with Will and say that I think the pole dancing is a great idea - it was ladies only, I went to the class and it was bloomin' hard work - total respect for the girl teaching, she was fab and made it all look so easy (sorry, I've forgotten her name).

And with regards the deposit for dropping off your luggage, ok £50 is a lot to ask but it's not like you didn't get it back. It was certainly mentioned in the e-mail I got before I went so if I'd not been lucky enough to get a parking space it wouldn't have been a surprise - also if the deposit charge was only £10 (random figure) I'm guessing a lot of people would have happily paid up and then just parked their cars on site leading to huge problems traffic-wise.

Personal highlights for me were meeting all the forumites there, totally amazing dances (not naming names, but you know who you are :wink: ) the fab Pontin's Karaoke staff asking the punters if they wanted more "Sack the DJ" toons or Karaoke and leaving us to it when they got their reply :hug:, dj-ing in the Blues Room on Saturday night, dinner with Lory and Kev on Saturday :drool: and, as usual, the after party parties - a total blast :rofl: :rofl:

A special mention for Mike Ellard himself, who worked tirelessly the whole weekend :respect:

LMC
6th-March-2006, 06:02 PM
For all those out there who are wishing they'd gone now, don't worry, it was awful.

No, it's no good, I have to burble a bit. It was absolutely wonderful. If the SP blues room had been there and the dancing went on until later, then it would have been heaven. Wow.

I had an amazing time.

:yeah: to lots of the above, so I'll just add some new stuff...

Workshops:
Yoga on Saturday morning - fantastic, set me up for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up in time on Sunday.

Amir's musicality: sorry, I bailed on this one after 10 minutes, because I would rather have had the "other version". I didn't feel like I would get much out of learning a routine, so having been agonising over "which workshop", I skedaddled off to Franck's French Connection 1 - great revision of the basics and will hopefully improve my leading.

Waltz: Mike covered just the right amount of material and I lucked out with partners, so really enjoyed this one.

Emma's Ladies Sabotage: very disappointed. Sorry Emma, but I was. I was 'expecting' to be shown how a woman could hijack standard common moves and this class met that expectation in exactly no way whatsoever.
What is the earthly point of teaching a routine in a sabotage class? - I bailed after 10 minutes and watched most of the rest from the chalet. A couple of useful things, but mostly, I couldn't help thinking "those moves simply do not appear that often in freestyle". *** was that thing where the man assumes a crab-like position for the woman to walk over him? And a half moon? :what: I'll shut up about that one now as I wasted very little time on it and at least got some good laughs - but wanted to feed back for 'next time', as I gather that less than 50% of people who started the class finished the class - and suspect that their reasons for leaving were the same as mine.

Franck's French Connection 2: The highlight of that one for me was making Franck blush. I did, honest :D Oh yeah, and it gave me the best pointers I've had for a long time in what, exactly, I need to work on.

The only three things I would 'gripe' about are:
1) the lack of DJ lists - please can we know who's playing where and when - blackboard or similar for the Sack the DJ slots.
2) the air con/fans were good, but only if you were stood right by them - the rooms were still very hot: if it had been warmer outside then the temperature may have been impossible.
3) My feet hurt. Hell, it was worth it.

High point: Sunday afternoon in the boudoir... :drool:
Low points: Hitting a 'wall' at about 10 pm on Saturday, after which I got my second wind and had an even better time. Going home :tears:

Finally (at last!) - I heard a comment that Storm doesn't quite have the same friendly atmosphere as SP - the exact words were "it feels commercial and impersonal". Of course it's commercial - and why not? I agree with everything everyone has said about how smoothly it all went and would just like to say that I don't think it's fair to compare with other weekenders - each has their own "personality" - and what really makes it is the people. I had some absolutely fabulous dances with too many people to mention - thank you to all. Sorry I snuck off without saying goodbye to so many of you, but all those farewells would have made me cry because I didn't want the weekend to end. Thank you all for making the weekend so special (especially Lynn, for being the best chalet sharer ever :hug: )

Paul F
6th-March-2006, 06:10 PM
Good idea about the DJ lists. That would have been nice. Also agree about the sabotage thing. We were sat in the chalet watching it totally bemused as to how a guy kneeling on the floor bent double backwards can be classed as a sabotage move. Still very entertaining though and taught with Emmas great enthusiasm.

I cant really comment on the other workshops as i didnt do any of them but as for the friendliness of Storm compared to SP - what was that person on about :really:
I love the SP weekender too but cant say it has any more or less of a friendly atmosphere. Lets face it, they are pretty much just variations on a theme which means its hard to make any one more friendly than the other.

Stuart
6th-March-2006, 06:14 PM
I'd never been to a weekender before and didn't quite know what to expect but I had an absolutely brilliant time.

I had some brilliant dances and picked up lots of useful stuff. Can't wait to go back next year.

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 06:30 PM
I agree with what everyone has said

Karaoke - Dirty Dee and WittyBird - a Classic - it should have been included on the DVD

To all you Forumites that I have met :respect: :respect: :respect: :love: :awe:

The only Gripe that I had is that you could not enter the site without showing the bl**dy wristbands ---FAIR COMMENT
But if you went to the Loo downstairs you had to show it again every blumming time you wanted to re enter the blues room, and again every time you went upstairs I thought that was just OTT and really got on my nerves.

Apparently The Double Trouble class was a bit of a disaster mainly cos there were so many men there and the teacher kept insisting that the people who had arrived with fixed partners should be joining the class and therefore spent half the time trying to sort out the rows - as it was a fixed Gender Ratio maybe the best idea would be to have fixed partners only on Double Trouble. I didn't go to the class myself as I had not got partners to do it with - A Certain Lady had already prebooked herself with another couple that we went with - Leaving me all alone in the Karaoke:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

But other wise a very well organised and thought out event Which will now make Franko and Jive Holiday Club update their agenda making it all the better for us punters

:cheers: :clap:

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 06:41 PM
Wasn't it great having most of the teachers out on the floor dancing with anyone who asked them - including the Oz God Mark Harding - what fun :respect:

stewart38
6th-March-2006, 06:41 PM
(Mike Ellard was even standing at the site exit this morning, personally handing out free bottles of water to every car leaving!)


[/SIZE]



Can I say he was still handing out water at 2pm when the last car left :whistle:

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 06:46 PM
Wittybird and Wacko had me crying with laughter. :respect: (Why does Wacko feel the need to undress in public all the time :rofl: )

...

Really enjoyed the company of so many like minded (immature) people. :kiss:


I blame A Certain Lady Myself for leaving me all on my own whilst she went off to do a Double Trouble Class instead of keeping me in check like she normally does:blush:


Plus at least people recognised me:eek:

David Bailey
6th-March-2006, 07:05 PM
Wow, so many comments. I'm almost tempted to post a review myself :na:

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 07:07 PM
Wow, so many comments. I'm almost tempted to post a review myself :na:
We missed you David :really: why didn't you come :sad:

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 07:24 PM
To all you Forumites that I have met :respect: :respect: :respect: :love: :awe:

:cheers: :clap:

Forgot to Say that my weekend was made all the more special having met so many of you forumites:awe: :love: :respect:

and Minnie you were absolutely fabxxx


Fletch - I think I am in love - I would drop my trousers for you anytime :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

too many of you to mention by name:blush: mostly cos I have already forgotten half your names - thats the trouble with dementure you know - blummin dentists

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 07:37 PM
...and Minnie you were absolutely fabxxx........
awe shucks :innocent: :blush: thanks :flower: and thanks for the great dance, what fun :clap: ................ I just love happy people :yeah: :yeah:

Shaz
6th-March-2006, 07:42 PM
Wish I had gone now :sad: I have never been to a weekender as my partner doesn't dance, mind you for £29 I might try Camber 2007 - if they are still keeping to the same format that is :innocent:

Out of interest, with all the extra stuff written above and with many booking at £29 PLUS all those amazing classes - is this a 'Lost Leader' :confused:

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 07:58 PM
Wish I had gone now :sad: I have never been to a weekender as my partner doesn't dance, mind you for £29 I might try Camber 2007 - if they are still keeping to the same format that is :innocent:

Out of interest, with all the extra stuff written above and with many booking at £29 PLUS all those amazing classes - is this a 'Lost Leader' :confused:
To be honest not all that many places went for £29, there were six of us in our chalet and the average cost (bearing in mind that one place was free) was about £60

But the cost of the accomodation is almost irrelevant as the value is well worth it - I am lead to beleive that Ceroc did not make a large amount on the event infact they must have lost money (I heard just one of the banners they were displaying cost about £2000 and they had loads dotted all over the place!!!!)


But if you have not been on one of the weekenders I strongly suggest you kick the other half into touch and get out there:eek: It worked for me:grin: :grin: :grin:

David Bailey
6th-March-2006, 08:01 PM
We missed you David :really: why didn't you come :sad:
Errr, I didn't fancy it? Sorry... But OK, just to join in, here's my review :)

The whole event was massively organised - almost regimented, in fact. Whilst it was very nice not to have to queue, the "no-one in till 2pm if you're not on the list" rule meant that a few organisers, teachers and franchise owners were turned away at the gate, which proably ruffled a few feathers :whistle:
Armbands, yuk. Bring back wrist-stamping, I say. :mad:
The amount of effort, organisation, efficiency, and professionalism shown by the organisers puts Certain Other Events Going On In That Venue to shame. It's called competition, guys; live with it. And hopefully this will raise the standard for weekenders all over. :clap:
On a similar theme, I notice that Ceroc haven't yet been deluged by lawsuits from women who couldn't get on the weekender. Hey, maybe this crazy gender-control thing isn't a completely dumn idea after all? :innocent:
Dressing-up; what happened to that? Where did all these women in jeans come from? I thought weekenders were supposed to be glamorous - Fletch seemed to be the only one in a dress at some points :rolleyes:
Armed police on a Friday night - what was all that about then? :eek:
Brrrr.... COLD! My goodness, we keep on complaining about it, but the organisers never seem to arrange the weather for us. It's not good enough, guys; please try harder next time. :)
Slightly more seriously, was it just me, or were everyone's sheets a bit damp? And, blimey, £15 on lekky heating over the weekend, that's a lot of tokens :eek:
Lovely to see all the forumites congregating in their usual spot downstairs; but guys, would it kill you to mingle a bit? :rolleyes:
... because the standard of the other dancers, well, wasn't quite what I'd hoped sometimes... :sad:


Overall, :respect: to the organisers, but... I dunno... it wasn't quite for me; I think the target audience was more aimed at weekender virgins / dance beginners, and I didn't really gel with most of them. On the other hand, I'm well-known as an anti-social beggar, so there's nothing new in that, and we've all got to start somewhere.

But anything that raises the bar this high for organisational excellence has to be applauded - and I'll be there as eagerly next year as I was this time round. :innocent:

jivecat
6th-March-2006, 08:04 PM
I agree with most of the comments above re how good it was etc.; it has set a standard that Franco's Camber in particular will have to work at matching. The little details like the Boudoir, the free water, the free rain poncho, video facilities etc made a lot of difference.

I was concerned about the £50 charge to drive on to the site, but the gate staff accepted my debit card which was extremely accommodating of them, seeing as I didn't have £50 on me.

I did far more workshops than I normally manage - something to do with sleeping until 3:30 am on Sat night/Sun morning. therefore missing most of the action. Oh well, £29.......:rolleyes:

I really liked having such a good choice of workshops, with Frank's Lead & Follow and Dance psychology 2 being especial highlights for me.
I was disappointed by some, as there was a predictable dependence on routines. I was hoping for something interesting from the "feel the music" and "body and soul" offerings, but it would appear that they were merely routines. Sorry if I missed something as I left after the introductory 5 minutes.
The chacha routine went far too fast and most of the people in there could barely lead into the basic step pattern, let alone do any figures correctly to the rhythm, but got "taught" them anyway. Nice try at labelling the classes at the appropriate level and reminding people, not sure if it really worked.

Excellent balance of Men/Women. I'd like to know the exact proportions, it seemed to work better than Southport, even. Given that there are now good alternatives I don't think I'll go to any weekenders that don't promise a 50:50 ratio, or near it, in future.

I really enjoyed the Sabotage routine in spite of the fact that it was totally cheesy. Emma's routines look brilliant when she does them, but seem to lose their magic when attempted by anyone else! The guys who spent all their time grovelling on the floor on their arthritic knees getting their keks all dusty deserve some respect for being good sports- I would have walked out if the ladies had had to do that. I did quite enjoy the dominating bit except when faced with MartinHarper, he's far too scary! At the end I came out with two clear basic sabotage moves that I thought I could use in freestyle - the manspin and the octopus - which is more than I can say for many workshops.

The pole dancing was great fun and didn't feel sleazy to me- it's the audience that makes it sleazy! Perhaps we could have belly-dancing next time as well? Lap-dancing, anyone?

One thing that I thought was missing was high quality guest teachers specialising in one particular dance form, and delivering a series of workshops eg. the Tango series at Scarborough and the WCS teachers (Yuvall and Natalie) at the MJC, both of which were really worthwhile. But I guess Ceroc want to showcase their own teachers.

I really liked the chance to do short bits of freestyle in between the classes and having plenty of room to dance all weekend was FANTASTIC!

As usual the evening freestyles were the most educational bits as well as being sheer dance heaven. Thanks to all who danced with me, I really appreciate it. (Especially the thorough rummaging.:innocent: )

I really enjoyed meeting some more forumites, who as usual, looked nothing like how I'd expected they'd look, except perhaps Tasmanian Devil. Though I somehow thought she'd have long, red curly hair, can't imagine why!:flower:

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 08:12 PM
I really enjoyed meeting some more forumites, who as usual, looked nothing like how I'd expected they'd look, except perhaps Tasmanian Devil. Though I somehow thought she'd have long, red curly hair, can't imagine why!:flower:
Well to say that Taz is the one person that submits more photos than anyone else on the Forum, I can not understand why you thought that she had long red curly hair:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

jivecat
6th-March-2006, 08:20 PM
The photos are usually so tiny it could be anybody in them! I don't even recognise the people I already know!

steamroc
6th-March-2006, 08:22 PM
:yeah: It was great!! The only disapointment was that the DVD didn't include the Cabarets (I know Sunday's was too late).

The team cabaret on Sunday night was excellent, especially as in true performing arts style it went on dispite an injury. - I just can beleive that there was less than a day's rehearsal.:clap: :clap: :clap:

Minnie M
6th-March-2006, 08:35 PM
:yeah: It was great!! The only disapointment was that the DVD didn't include the Cabarets (I know Sunday's was too late).

The team cabaret on Sunday night was excellent, especially as in true performing arts style it went on dispite an injury. - I just can beleive that there was less than a day's rehearsal.:clap: :clap: :clap:
Welcome steamroc .......... :flower:

Andy McGregor
6th-March-2006, 08:51 PM
Overall, :respect: to the organisers, but... I dunno... it wasn't quite for me; I think the target audience was more aimed at weekender virgins / dance beginners, and I didn't really gel with most of them. On the other hand, I'm well-known as an anti-social beggar, so there's nothing new in that, and we've all got to start somewhere.

But anything that raises the bar this high for organisational excellence has to be applauded - and I'll be there as eagerly next year as I was this time round. :innocent::yeah:

I was busy on Saturday night otherwise I might have thought harder about going. However, like David, I had a beginnery premonition about Storm ....

LMC
6th-March-2006, 09:25 PM
OK, I already said that the people make the weekender. I've decided not to be tactful any more and will say that if I had gone to Storm on my own or as part of a small group, I would almost certainly not have enjoyed myself nearly so much. But the same would apply to any weekender.

The number of people was sometimes overwhelming: I found myself stood on the side of the main dance floor a few times not knowing who to ask next! The number of guys who were obviously surprised and pleased at my following was, to me, a comment on the general level - I wouldn't consider myself "that good". It was good to have the "safety" zone of a reasonably large group of friends/acquaintances who all know each other to varying degrees.

Owing to flare up of the RSI in my shoulder on Saturday, I was reluctant to ask "unknowns" - you can turn down someone who asks you, but if you ask them, you're kind of stuck - it shouldn't make any difference, but it does somehow feel easier to ask someone to be gentle or not to do certain moves if you have "given" them the dance rather than vice versa.

Ceroc has a "don't say no" culture, but after 8+ hours of dancing with anyone who asks, I feel like I'm allowed to choose - and did in fact turn someone down at 4.30 am today purely because I was too tired to 'take a risk' on dancing with someone I didn't know (I told him I was resting and did sit that track out) Everyone is tired in the early hours of the morning and people don't want to be bounced around and pretzelled to death in the blues room :mad: - perhaps some information on weekender etiquette (as opposed to normal freestyle etiquette) should/could be developed?

All of this could apply to any weekender with a high proportion of beginner dancers - this is Ceroc's first weekender, and it was a damn fine effort. Given limited holiday, I would put Southport and the BFG first. But I'd go to another Ceroc weekender. The gender balance worked very well.

A further thought on workshops - the scheduling seemed a bit strange sometimes - there would be a whole bunch of beginners workshops at the same time with nothing or only one thing for intermediate dancers, followed by a whole bunch of intermediates, with very little or no choice for the beginners for that hour.

Lou
6th-March-2006, 10:19 PM
I did quite enjoy the dominating bit except when faced with MartinHarper, he's far too scary!
:rofl:

Pah! That's my second favourite hobby. :whistle:

jivecat
6th-March-2006, 11:10 PM
:rofl:

Pah! That's my second favourite hobby. :whistle:


Blimey, did anyone actually read as far as that?? Well done, that man!:wink:

jivecat
6th-March-2006, 11:14 PM
......dumn........

Hah!
Or did you mean damb?

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 11:30 PM
:respect:
Hah!
Or did you mean damb?
:respect:

or Damn or Dumb

or Dump or even damp:confused: :confused: :confused:

thewacko
6th-March-2006, 11:32 PM
The photos are usually so tiny it could be anybody in them! I don't even recognise the people I already know!
try clicking on the photos, and you will normally get an enlargement come up

:flower:

Whitebeard
7th-March-2006, 12:17 AM
Blimey, did anyone actually read as far as that?? Well done, that man!:wink:

Lou's a girly - and no one outscares her ;-)

Tazmanian Devil
7th-March-2006, 01:35 AM
I really enjoyed meeting some more forumites, who as usual, looked nothing like how I'd expected they'd look, except perhaps Tasmanian Devil. Though I somehow thought she'd have long, red curly hair, can't imagine why!:flower:
I do hope thats a good thing that I was as expected :nice: Well except the hair of course but it is long just brown and straight. :flower:

Lou
7th-March-2006, 08:19 AM
Lou's a girly - and no one outscares her* ;-)

Here we go again! :rofl:



*.....Except for bunnies.....

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 09:20 AM
Hah!
Or did you mean damb?
Dumb, appropriately.


with Frank's Lead & Follow and Dance psychology 2 being especial highlights for me.
Did you mean "special"? :whistle:

TA Guy
7th-March-2006, 11:17 AM
Only my second weekender ever, and the last one was a while ago so prolly unfair to compare them, but whilst I left the first disappointed (hence waiting so long before going on another), Storm was simply fantastic. Same response from my chaletmates. Fantastic entertainment, fantastic atmosphere, fantastic dancing. Deffo going again.

Well done Ceroc.

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 11:20 AM
Yes to all the positive comments

I did walk of at one lesson as extra men and I’m a drama queen (might have been at least 3 extra men :sad: )

It is the little things that make the difference, but I don’t drink water so I still have the water bottle given out on my departure

Given I was delayed in leaving (check for nails on the off site parking please :sad: ) I saw the 'work' going on to remove the 'tons' of stuff after midday so a great thanks to ALL those that made the event work.

Don’t think we need two cabaret sets however , thought the Sundays was better and well done to those girls who had only practice a few hours on the Sunday

I think the age range was bit younger then the normal camber ?

Not sure why they need to 'Advertise' the VIP meeting. These things go on which is all well and good but why advertise it , gives the impression of special and different ??

Not sure why there were a few announcement rubbing it for those that didn’t secure the £29 offer ??

Anyway great event, I've got about 75 pics to post :whistle:

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 11:23 AM
The dance psychology workshop. Loads to think about from that. And what did 50% of the women want from men when they are dancing? "I want you to smile at me when we are dancing".





Yes this was very interesting, i attended Saturdays one

Hope they have them again

jacksondonut
7th-March-2006, 11:26 AM
:respect: :respect: :respect:

Still recovering from the Weekend....:yeah: My thighs are killing me.. :rofl:

Never really made it upstairs for more than one dance on Friday, Saturday OR Sunday... spent all my time downstairs having a totally brilliant time.. THE MUSIC WAS THE BEST..... LOVED IT..

Went completely mad on Sunday and let my hair down... hence the aching thighs... never before have I gone for it, in such a big way.. (maybe the large amounts of RedBull and Vodka, and Cherry Liqueur Choccies had something to do with it..) :whistle:

Just like to echo the comments made about Storm.. saves repeating it all again..:yeah: :respect: :respect:

FOR ME ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT....

Big thanks to all the fantastic Forumites... wonderful dances, male and female.. :drool: :drool: so much laughter and fun.. and SO MANY beautiful smiley :nice: :nice: people. So many new ones too I met for the first time, all terrific . :flower: :flower: Truly can say I have NEVER smiled so much for a whole weekend (also have aching cheeks..) my chalet pals were crazy..

Had many awesome moments, with such gorgeous guys... never to be forgotten.. A GREAT BIG THANKYOU XXXXX luv ya all, especially the REALLY smiley ones.. xx

ROLL ON THE NEXT WEEKENDER.. I WILL be there...

NB enjoying looking at the piccies posted.... didnt have a camera, so appreciate all you guys posting them.. :hug: and thanks ZW for the yummy, choccy, thingy you whipped out of your bag and shared with me... whatever it was it hit the spot and kept me going :flower: :flower: loved chatting to you all too.:D

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 11:26 AM
sorry chaps last thing

The pole dancing doesnt do it for me. Or Lap dancing as it was introduce as

I know there try to move away from the seedy image that historically this type of dance is connected with but------

I a girl in short pants wrapping herself around a pole ??

If they had a guy

Anyway if the ladies are ok with it Id suffer it again :sad:

Sheppy
7th-March-2006, 12:02 PM
Just to add my impressions...

The good - room to dance even upstairs on Saturday Night, Marc's 3 hour set downstairs on Friday night, plenty of free water.
The bad - over packed classes downstairs, THE HEAT especially upstairs, come on folks surely there has to be a better way than portable air conditioners that add yet more moisture to the air...

All in all pretty good and I'll book the next one assuming the numbers are the same. Now how about adding a "floorcraft" class for all the first time weekenders who aren't able to dance in one spot when its crowded.

Tiggerbabe
7th-March-2006, 12:19 PM
The pole dancing doesnt do it for me. Or Lap dancing as it was introduce as.......Anyway if the ladies are ok with it Id suffer it again :sad:
:rofl: Good of you, Stewart.
I didn't see the cabaret but enjoyed the class I attended. :grin:

dark horse
7th-March-2006, 12:47 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?

Dan Hudson
7th-March-2006, 12:55 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?


Please justify that statement.. in what way was it not as good? :flower:

SilverFox
7th-March-2006, 01:00 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?You'd know would you? According to your other posts you were at Blackpool.:mad:

DavidY
7th-March-2006, 01:02 PM
Now how about adding a "floorcraft" classExcellent idea for a class. Cordon off a corner with tapes or something and get people to practice dancing in a tight space.

You'd probably have to insist on protective clothing (knee pads/shin pads/no heels allowed) during that particular class though..

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 01:05 PM
You'd know would you? According to your other posts you were at Blackpool.:mad:
Hey, be fair - I wasn't there either, and I still provided a detailed review :)

Maybe there should be a vicarious review section :innocent: ?

70 to go... 70 to go...

SilverFox
7th-March-2006, 01:07 PM
Hey, be fair - I wasn't there either, and I still provided a detailed review :)

Maybe there should be a vicarious review section :innocent: ?

70 to go... 70 to go...I despair.... *head in hands smiley*

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 01:09 PM
I despair.... *head in hands smiley*
:rofl:

Well, no-one's called me on it yet, so I figured it had to be good. Hmm, I think I'll have a go at reviewing Blackpool now... :na:

SilverFox
7th-March-2006, 01:12 PM
:rofl:

Well, no-one's called me on it yet, so I figured it had to be good. Hmm, I think I'll have a go at reviewing Blackpool now... :na:Shouldn't you have added "69 to go"?

I wonder where I could order one of those......:devil:

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 01:14 PM
Shouldn't you have added "69 to go"?

I wonder where I could order one of those......:devil:
Yeah, I spotted that, that's why I didn't put it in, 'coz I've got so much class.

Anyway, that's 67 now, my 69 was over very quickly.

Tiggerbabe
7th-March-2006, 01:20 PM
can he pull it off next year at the same price?
Seems he can :D the next big Ceroc Weekender Breeze (http://www.ceroc.com/breeze/) has prices starting at £29 :clap:

Lynn
7th-March-2006, 01:25 PM
My review...

A very well organised event.:respect:

Check in was fast and straightforward. The wrist bands weren't too much of a problem, though I did get stratched a few times by guys wristbands (the tip is to round off the sharp corners with scissors before dancing).

The free chilled water was fabulous - and much appreciated. (Although the carpet round the ones upstairs was wet as I discovered after trying to dance just after getting a drink - my poor shoes!)

Plenty of space to dance - and even numbers - was great.:clap:

Despite the cold weather, once we had the chalet warmed up it was fine - I didn't even need my hot water bottle the last night (well I suppose it wasn't actually night any more by the time I was going to bed at 6:30am!)

As per usual I only did a few workshops - I'm not overly keen on 'routine' workshops. The dance pschology ones were good (not least because you could sit down - standing for an hour in a workshop uses up 'foot time' that is better used actually dancing IMO.) Also enjoyed Franck's lead and follow workshop.
The Boudoir on Sun afternoon...:drool: thanks to Marc, ZW and Tiggerbabe - eventually had to drag myself away to eat and get ready for the evening.

Possible improvements...More dance floor area in the Boudoir and a sheet listing the DJs in there. Lists of DJs in each room and times. Dancing later - esp the last night. I really didn't want to stop (despite very tired feet!).

I wasn't happy about my dancing on Fri night - more in terms of how I felt about it than anything else - but of course that affects how I dance. The dance psychology workshop on Sat helped put me in the right frame of mind for that evening and I had some of my best dances on Sat night.

I loved the music downstairs and could have stayed there all the time but I did go upstairs every so often and had a variety of dances up there - some lovely ones and some...not so good... Had to adopt some defensive dancing to protect my shoulders and arms.

I was planning on asking lots of guys to dance but in the end I didn't that much and wish I had more. :( No change there then. (I did have a little game with myself upstairs 'I'll count to ten and if a guy hasn't asked me to dance I'll go downstairs or go and ask one'. I got to 8 a few times - and I did ask some.)

Personal highlights - some really :drool: dances. Various lovely forumite dances - I won't list them all. Meeting new forumites and someone I hadn't seen for years. Sharing with such a fab chalet mate (:hug: LMC)

Low points - Fri night at one stage I did feel very detached from everything. I think I just needed to chill out and have a hug - or a dance where I didn't feel I had to try as hard. (I need to have a range of dance partners I can ask and know it doesn't matter what goes wrong, for times when I feel like that - one dance like that can make a difference.)

Having to go home knowing my next 'big' event isn't till Southport in June.

Lynn
7th-March-2006, 01:26 PM
Seems he can :D the next big Ceroc Weekender Breeze (http://www.ceroc.com/breeze/) has prices starting at £29 :clap:But only for 'sharing with a stranger' not for sharing with someone you know - cheapest option is £59 - for exactly the same level of accomodation.

Lory
7th-March-2006, 01:32 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?

You'd know would you? According to your other posts you were at Blackpool.:mad::yeah:

How would you know:confused: :angry: (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showpost.php?p=209835&postcount=54)

DavidY
7th-March-2006, 01:52 PM
But only for 'sharing with a stranger' not for sharing with someone you know - cheapest option is £59 - for exactly the same level of accomodation.According to the printed brochure for Breeze you can still book a Budget option with 2 people at £29 each, if I understand it correctly.

But for next year's Storm it looks like that won't apply (from the prices in the Storm booklet) & you have to share with a stranger.

Raphael
7th-March-2006, 02:06 PM
What can I say after so many glowing statements? :nice: But here goes! :D :respect::o

I personally go without any preconceived ideas or expectations; this works for me. :waycool: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/ /><o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT face=<font color=" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>I can then immerse myself in the good, :nice: the wonderful :wink: and the sublime:yum: <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>I chose, not to go upstairs, but then I could not see any reason to do so; with so much wonderfully provocative and challenging music, together with, so many wonderful dancers downstairs.:hug:

<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>And as for the DJ's all i can say is :respect: :worthy: :respect: :worthy: :respect: :worthy: what an amazingly intuative bunch of people you are, I wish i could have 10% of the talent expressed over the weekend, AMAZING
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT color=blue><FONT face="Times New Roman">It was so much “FUN”, :grin: feet have only just come back to life thank you Wittybird for the help, don’t think I would have lasted Sunday without it. <FONT face=Wingdings><FONT face=Wingdings>:flower:
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>It was so nice to meet so many of the forumites and eventually try and put names to faces.:cheers: :hug: <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, for all of the fun and happy faces it really helped to make my weekend.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=blue>I was impressed with the professionalism and the shear effort and dedication that went into organising this event, having worked in this field for a number of years, and having seen so many calamities, I take my hat off to the organisers. “Well done”, lets hope this now raises the standard for all weekenders.


<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=green>But not to put a totally unbiased point of view, and purly from a technical point of view; (the engineer in me), I think the venue needs to sort out its electricity charges, i dont use that amount of electricity in my office in a week.


<FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><FONT color=blue>Personally i cannot wait for the next Ceroc weekender, if this is the standard may it long continue.:cheers: :clap: :clap:

fletch
7th-March-2006, 02:15 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?
Who are you? and where were you? not at STORM
:angry:

PATHETIC

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 02:20 PM
Who are you? and where were you? not at STORM
:angry:
Yeah, he's probably just a false mouthpiece or something... Oh, hold on a second, I'm getting a sense of deja vu here... :na:

Blimey, the guy posts a 1-liner comment, is all - what's all this aggro? :confused:

Lynn
7th-March-2006, 02:20 PM
According to the printed brochure for Breeze you can still book a Budget option with 2 people at £29 each, if I understand it correctly.

But for next year's Storm it looks like that won't apply (from the prices in the Storm booklet) & you have to share with a stranger.Doh - I was going by the one in this Storm booklet. I'm still tired and going almost straight from the airport to a 3 hour business meeting last night didn't help.

Russell Saxby
7th-March-2006, 02:26 PM
Not as good as southport. lot of hype. can he pull it off next year at the same price?

Seems to me like sour grapes..

Why would it need to be at the same price anyway.... and yes I have every confidance next year will be better...

Who votes we get Franck to change this guy's name to Old Nag? Oh and that is me being polite... other suggestions welcome.

TiggsTours
7th-March-2006, 02:32 PM
kAll in all, I thought it was a superb weekender, for all the reasons that have already been mentioned (sorry, haven't had time to read them all).

The only criticisms I have are:

The £50 deposit giving you an hour to drop your luggage if you arrived late - OK, I know there are restrictions on parking for fire regulations, and there needs to be, but this was so badly done! First of all, making out it was Pontins policy, not a Ceroc decision. So many people who were there go to Pontins for Franco's dos, so know its not Pontins policy, what on earth made Ceroc think people wouldn't know (a Pontins security person told me that this is due to fire regs, Franco just chooses not to let people know, and risk a huge fine instead (which would, incidentally, also be imposed on anyone parked on the verge)). Next, taking people's credit cards and threatening to keep them after an hour was just plain wrong, even bordering on illegal! Finally, the car park was just next door, and people could drop their luggage then head off to park the car, but that wasn't explained, and if they were going to do that, they really should have had staff along the route between for safety purposes at least.

Saturday night (pre-midnight) music was just awful! There was a dedicated latin room, but that didn't stop the other rooms playing excessive latin for at least an hour as well! There really should be some communication between DJs so they play a good selection of music, to suit everybody's tastes.

There really weren't enough classes aimed at advanced level. I know they said that the weekend would be aimed at beginne/intermediate, but there were 5 rooms for teaching, I don't think that dedicating one of them to advanced dancers would have been too much to ask, maybe doing half classes & freestyle in that one, and the other 4 rooms for beginner/intermediate.

(Dare I even mention, some of the Cabaret?)

I would say that I would definately do a Ceroc weekend again, but, I do prefer the music, the level of teaching and the intamacy of Rock Bottoms still, so they would still be my first choice.

Franck
7th-March-2006, 02:33 PM
I had a brilliant time at STORM! :D

Everything was smooth, from the organization (so much to oversee and it all ran perfectly), the music (a brilliant selection of DJs and genuine choice of music in all the rooms), the venue (I had no issues with the accommodation, even though I had one of the basic chalets, we still fitted 25 dancers for the after party party :wink: ) and the dancers... WOW! What can I say? Some had expressed reservations that the standard might be lower as it clashed with Blackpool, but I had some of my best dances ever, with incredible followers and watched many amazing guys, all so inspiring! A special mention to Kev, who gave me my best ever dance as a follower, I'm sorry I hi-jacked a few breaks, but :worthy: :respect: and thanks for the meal on Saturday night, it was perfect.
I can't compare STORM with previous Camber week-enders as I had never been, but it definitely stood up to comparison to Southport, yes I missed having dances on the outdoor patio, but having a larger 'Blues' room made a huge difference...

I loved teaching my classes, and only wished I had longer than one hour for each class.

I liked the free water fountain and cheaper water bottles available from the bar and I didn't mind finishing at 5.00am so much, as we continued the party with food / drink and much laughter ( Cruella :whistle: ).

I had a wonderful Thai massage, great value and helped me recharge the batteries for the Sunday night dance...

I really couldn't believe the DVD was available when I came in for Breakfast on the Sunday and was being displayed on a monitor so you could see the excellent quality before buying it. With so many classes and teachers, it was impossible to see it all, so getting the DVD is the next best thing.

The week-end finished way too soon, 25 hours of solid dancing for me, 12 hours of sleep over the 3 nights and many new friends as well as meeting old ones... Thanks to Minnie for the dances, being you, introducing everyone, and helping out on the Monday morning... :D

So well done Mike, Bradders and everyone involved, I had the best time, and definitely want to go again :clap:

jiveknight
7th-March-2006, 02:41 PM
I thought Storm was great :nice: ,

Mike and all his team obviously worked very hard to provide something above and beyond what previous weekends have. :clap: Well done!

Although I only got to see Sunday night :( due to having a gig up north on Saturday night), everyone I talked to had been having a great time.

Luckily we did quite an early set upstairs so we got loads of time for dancing too; thanks for your dance Witty! I missed Missy D though, I was expecting a dance :sad: . I mainly hung in the blues room downstairs - good music and dancing going on there.

Great atmosphere! Good to see all the friends I have met from all over and everyone new that I met were very friendly (many forumites included - although I didn't know all the names) and our set/show was well recieved, so as a performer and a dancer too I enjoyed the night. :clap: A great end to a weekend's touring, would like to stay for a whole weekend :waycool:

Cheers! :cheers:

Lee
7th-March-2006, 02:50 PM
A few comments: :whistle:

Great idea – essential for future events :clap:
Check in (in the Cyclone room)
Manned over flow Car park
Great Ceroc Staffing levels
Raised Stages for Teaching
Lighting
Large Screens
Gender Balance – worked a treat :worthy:
Free Water & Cloakrooms
No smoking policy
Live TV feed from Thunderball room. :clap:
Workshop DVD – well done Mas!!!!!
Well Being offering, I had my first ever massage :yum:
Extended dance floor, expected a nightmare, but it proved ok.
Video Clinic – nice idea, may use in future.
Freestyle in Tempest Studio (great Latin music), but know one used it/knew about it.

Nice Touch – not essential for me :worthy:
International Dance films
Pole dancing (for ladies)
Beginners classes
Private lessons
Lunchtime quizes or the Boudoir
Sack the DJ
Tempest Studio
Lambada showcase (Cabaret)

Not impressed with:mad:
Kingdom of Dance shop (limited supply)
Jive Aces in Concert (not my taste) :(
Free Style music on sat night in main room (ended up down stairs all night)
Seagulls – all I need when I go to bed a t 5am, to be woken at 6am – 10am.
Limited day time freestyle

Crap Classes :angry:
Sabotage – was a choreographed routine, should have just taught specific Sabotage moves to top 6 hated ceroc moves for ladies and then taught men how to counter act them. Learnt more from dancing with a lady one evening who tried to Sabotage a few of my moves, I loved it.

Mens Styling - was a choreographed routine, will never use those again. Loved watching the teacher dance later as a follower though.

I heard the womens styling class was a joke.

Fancy Footwork – Oh my god, watched the demo and left.

Double Trouble – OMG!!!! :mad: Get someone else, Mr Sweeny put all the ladies off doing the class, I want to learn double trouble, but his moves are so sleezey. What are ceroc doing!!!!

Intro into Lambada – they forgot us Cerocers don’t get taught footwork, the class was just too dam hard. Loved the Cabaret though. :worthy:

Great Classes
Howard & Nicola (they are now in back in my ‘good books’) :cool:
Cuban Blues :D
Latino Ceroc Style:D

Gutted that I missed: :sad:
Lead & Follow
Jango - Amirs Classes
West Coast Swing
Val & Dave
Stylised Dips & Seducers

Ceroc have exceeded all expectations and are now back in my good books. Stopping Jive Time weekenders until further notice.

:cheers: :clap: :hug: :worthy:

Lee

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 03:09 PM
:clap:
[
Not impressed with:mad:
Free Style music on sat night in main room (ended up down stairs all night)
Limited day time freestyle


Lee

If your downstairs all night you ar hardly hearing upstairs music on saturday which was fine main stream stuff :sick:

There was dancing during the day in the bar area, sunday afternoon was one of my highlights ,so what does limted day time free time mean :sick:

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 03:14 PM
There was dancing during the day in the bar area, sunday afternoon was one of my highlights ,so what does limted day time free time mean :sick:

sod all probably

sorry meant limted day time free style ,mean :blush:

Lee
7th-March-2006, 03:24 PM
If your downstairs all night you ar hardly hearing upstairs music on saturday which was fine main stream stuff :sick:

There was dancing during the day in the bar area, sunday afternoon was one of my highlights ,so what does limted day time free time mean :sick:

Sorry you feel sick. :confused:

:rolleyes: i moved between rooms, just didn't stay in the main room as i didn't enjoy the music. The people i was with also said they were not as impressed with music upstairs. JUST MY OPINION.

I'm just quickly listing my thoughts on the weekend, incase Mike E wishes to view this thread for improving future events.

The dance area in the pub was the size of my bedroom, didn't bother checking it out, actually i never gave it a thought after seeing it friday arvo.

I just felt that daytime freestyle, compared to Jivetime was limited, but Ceroc did have 15 minutes between each class which was a nice touch.

Hope it's not car sickness.

Lee

Frenchy
7th-March-2006, 03:25 PM
Was impressed with the whole lot!
It was very well organised, hardly any delay in the schedules. and this is a miracle, believe me! I deal with events all the time.
I take my hat off to mike (my beret of course!)
:clap:

DavidY
7th-March-2006, 03:28 PM
As far as I can tell, both Blackpool and Storm were well organised, and lots of people had a great time at whichever event they went to. From the posts, it doesn't feel like either event was short of good dancers.

I think it's a really positive thing that there can be two big events on the same weekend and for both events to go so well. :clap:

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 03:30 PM
.

The dance area in the pub was the size of my bedroom, didn't bother checking it out, actually i never gave it a thought after seeing it friday arvo.


Lee

If you had checked out you would have seen 30 + forumites in there, pics to follow

Point taken

I wish they had the main Ballroom for free style say 2-4pm there is demand for it

Zebra Woman
7th-March-2006, 03:47 PM
I had a brilliant time at Storm too, far better than I was expecting! :clap: :clap: :clap:

I will definitely go again.


Good Points:

The Check-in queue was very well designed and managed,

The best bit of all....The music in the downstairs room was fab IMO, I loved the way there was just hardly any fast swing and so many other genres of music got a decent look in and it all seemed to flow. Jon Baker's set was absolutely excellent :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: . I was delighted to see that Marc got a slot in the end, loved that. :worthy: :worthy: :worthy:. Loved Sheena's set too, absolutely yummy, oh yes Ian Morgan he was a dark horse, he played some very interesting music indeed.

The floors were great. I have always preferred the Camber blues room to SP because the floor is smooth to enable me to dance there all night every night. I only had two dances upstairs over the whole weekend.

The Downstairs room never seemed to get as oppressively hot as it did at Jive time weekenders. Maybe it was the combination of slower music, slightly fewer numbers (a good thing IMO), far more chillers. Much better anyway.

Bradders and Mike Ellard seemed to be omnipresent, always after feedback and taking action. I was really impressed with them and their team.

The Gender balance worked well, although there was bit of a man shortage on Saturday night. What was that all about?

Loved the extras, the sack the DJ slot was right up my street. The Karaoke sounded like a blast, I wish I'd seen that.

Franck and Sheena's after dance party, thank you guys,:hug: that was hilarious :rofl:.

Bad Points:

No DJ Schedule. :sad: This was a nightmare for me as it's all I care about. Not knowing who was playing in the blues room was dreadful. If I'd known if or when Jon Baker had a set upstairs I would have ventured up there but I had no idea which DJ's were playing, other than a few snippets from Bradders and hearsay. Were there really 50 DJs? I kind of hope not. Sack the 'DJ Organiser' I would say. On the plus side, I think the reason Marc got his slot was down to organisational **** ups, so the cloud did have a silver lining.

My own fault this one. I didn't put enough tokens in the meter on Friday night. So my oh so smug 'coming home to a hot bed' plan failed yet again. :tears: Mr & Mrs Par enjoyed my downfall so much, I could hear them laughing from our chalet .:rofl:

The wrist bands were a bit irritating, I would prefer more papery ones.

More dance flloor area in the Boudoir would have been nice.


All in all a fabulous weekend. Big well done to Mike Ellard and the team :clap: :clap: :clap:

Paul F
7th-March-2006, 05:05 PM
The £50 deposit giving you an hour to drop your luggage if you arrived late - OK, I know there are restrictions on parking for fire regulations, and there needs to be, but this was so badly done!.



Are you reading the same thread TT?

First of all, making out it was Pontins policy, not a Ceroc decision.
Pontins policy / Ceroc policy??? There are 500 parking spaces, period. You dont need a policy to manage that.


So many people who were there go to Pontins for Franco's dos, so know its not Pontins policy, what on earth made Ceroc think people wouldn't know (a Pontins security person told me that this is due to fire regs, Franco just chooses not to let people know, and risk a huge fine instead (which would, incidentally, also be imposed on anyone parked on the verge))
Did you actually read this post before you submitted it to check it makes sense? Franco does not control how many cars are allowed to park in the site, neither does Ceroc. Ceroc had the decency to negotiate a way to make things, at least, a little bit easier. You seem to be implying that Franco lets everyone park on site at the risk of a big fine. What a load of rubbish. I carried my bags a mile and a half last time as there were 500 cars already on site. No way in there!


Next, taking people's credit cards and threatening to keep them after an hour was just plain wrong, even bordering on illegal!
This obviously implies you questioned many people on their usage of this system. I dont know what was said but I highly doubt they threatended to keep their cards. I spoke to 2 people who thanked the security guards for allowing them to leave their debit cards as they had missed the emails and website updates informing them of the policy.


Finally, the car park was just next door, and people could drop their luggage then head off to park the car, but that wasn't explained.
I agree. Instead of the email updates, the chance to ask people at ceroc venues and the website updates I think Mike and Bradders should have visited everyones house and told them personally. Maybe even hire a skywriter so those on the way could see it. Geesh!



After reading the comments on here I remembered a couple of other things that I wasnt all together happy with.
Firstly the music on the Friday night in the blues room. I didnt like it. All too 'familiar' slow tunes. I ended up going back to my chalet early (about 2am). Personal preference though so I dont consider it a really bad thing.

The floorcraft that somebody referred to. It was pretty awful at times. There were 2 guys doing regular drops and dips on the small fixed dancefloor in the blues room. This was happening on Saturday night. One of the guys was the weirdo that kept shouting out "Woooo" every now and again. :sick:

The price of the private lessons sickened me to my core. I have never done a private lesson at any weekenders so had no idea how much they cost. I was reading through the brochure and noticed the price ........
£50 per hour!!!! :really: :mad:
I am currently being trained by former world and current UK ten dance champions. These teachers have been dancing since they were 6 and (the guy) teaching since he was 12 years old. They have lived with dance in so many forms and have one of the most extensive armouries of knowledge I have ever come across. Their cost......£38 per hour.
I suppose you could say that a teacher is worth what someone will pay for them but I cant help but feel this is WAY over the top.

jacksondonut
7th-March-2006, 05:07 PM
I think the reason Marc got his slot was down to organisational **** ups, so the cloud did have a silver lining.

More dance flloor area in the Boudoir would have been nice.

Having Marc play was one of the highlights of my weekend!! WELL DONE!!:clap: :clap: :clap: luv ya lots:respect:

and one and only regret.....:sad: I never visited the Boudoir and all I have heard so far.. well, it sounded fab... damn and blast it..... looks like I missed out a bit there....:tears:

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 05:10 PM
.


The wrist bands were a bit irritating, I would prefer more papery ones.



What if you had a shower or bath ? :whistle:

TheTramp
7th-March-2006, 05:10 PM
The price of the private lessons sickened me to my core.

No really Paul. Say what you mean. Don't hold back.... :rolleyes:


I am currently being trained by former world and current UK ten dance champions. These teachers have been dancing since they were 6 and (the guy) teaching since he was 12 years old. They have lived with dance in so many forms and have one of the most extensive armouries of knowledge I have ever come across. Their cost......£38 per hour.
I suppose you could say that a teacher is worth what someone will pay for them but I cant help but feel this is WAY over the top.
For some reason, I looked into the cost of a dance lesson with Camilla Dallerup. That'll set you back £90 for a 45 minute lesson.

All of a sudden, £50 for an hour doesn't seem so bad.... :what:

Paul F
7th-March-2006, 05:18 PM
No really Paul. Say what you mean. Don't hold back.... :rolleyes:


For some reason, I looked into the cost of a dance lesson with Camilla Dallerup. That'll set you back £90 for a 45 minute lesson.

All of a sudden, £50 for an hour doesn't seem so bad.... :what:

Absolutely. It all comes down to what a person is willing to pay but, as i say, I found it a bit on the steep side :rolleyes:



Dont worry. I will always say what I mean :grin:

Tiggerbabe
7th-March-2006, 05:18 PM
£50 per hour!!!!
That was the charge for a private lesson at Southport, too.

TheTramp
7th-March-2006, 05:19 PM
For some reason, I looked into the cost of a dance lesson with Camilla Dallerup. That'll set you back £90 for a 45 minute lesson.

Although, for some reason, I thought that was totally worth it. Just wish I had £90 :tears:

fletch
7th-March-2006, 05:21 PM
What a weekend........ THE best ever :clap:

and why?

from the moment we approached Camber there were signs directing you, so you new you were going in the right direction, that was the start of a very professional weekend, every detail was covered, I could go on but take it from me nothing was missed :respect:

THE MUSIC

fabulous, Robs set upstairs on Sunday, earth wind and Fire, and the Snake Thank you:flower:

Just when we thought Mark wasn't DJ ing he was on Yerrrrrr totally brilliant:worthy:

Well done 'OXO' your first Blues set on Sunday 10.30 till 1am :respect:

THE DANCES

Toooooooooooooo many good ones to mention, but I did manage a dance with Mike Ellard and Mark Harding.:waycool:

ACCOMMODATION

Fine, no more or less than expected. but we were in the block next to the blues room, so squeezing your feet into a pair of high heels after dancing for 8 hrs to walk home wasn't to bad.:what:

HIGH LIGHTS

Frank's party after the venue on Saturdy/Sunday (just remind me not to ask him for sympathy if I have a migraine):whistle:

Sunday afternoon chilling and dancing in the pub :flower:

And totally unexpected, to be given a bottle of water on our departure by Mike and asked for feed back over the weekend, nice touch.:respect:

Roll on the next.

Paul F
7th-March-2006, 05:22 PM
Although, for some reason, I thought that was totally worth it. Just wish I had £90 :tears:

I must admit i havnt looked at her resume but im guessing she has got a few things going for her which would justify that price.

stewart38
7th-March-2006, 05:27 PM
All of a sudden, £50 for an hour doesn't seem so bad.... :what:

you could book my sister for £100 an hour but she knows F**** all about dancing. IT solutions

Seems very reasonable :grin:

SilverFox
7th-March-2006, 05:30 PM
you could book my sister for £100 an hour but she knows F**** all about dancing. It's sitting up and begging for it isn't it?.....


Sorry Stewart:flower:

Cruella
7th-March-2006, 05:34 PM
It's sitting up and begging for it isn't it?.....


Sorry Stewart:flower:
And you have the cheek to say i'm cruel.:rolleyes:

David Bailey
7th-March-2006, 05:40 PM
Maybe even hire a skywriter so those on the way could see it. Geesh!
Could they? 'Coz that'd be cool - I might even come along, despite the wristbands, to see that... :innocent:


I was reading through the brochure and noticed the price ........
£50 per hour!!!! :really: :mad:
I am currently being trained by former world and current UK ten dance champions. These teachers have been dancing since they were 6 and (the guy) teaching since he was 12 years old. They have lived with dance in so many forms and have one of the most extensive armouries of knowledge I have ever come across. Their cost......£38 per hour.
I suppose you could say that a teacher is worth what someone will pay for them but I cant help but feel this is WAY over the top.
I've helped at a private class that was £80 / hour - it's a free market, you're "worth" what people will pay. You might as well say that Kingdom Of Dance rip you off with shoe prices (and they do - £55 for Blochs?). But, they're there, and they're available, and you're paying for the opportunity and the experience.

Also, as (I believe) many Storm teachers weren't paid, the opportunity to make dosh from private classes is their incentive to come down, do the big classes, etc.

Little Em
7th-March-2006, 06:24 PM
For all those out there who are wishing they'd gone now, don't worry, it was awful.

No, it's no good, I have to burble a bit. It was absolutely wonderful. If the SP blues room had been there and the dancing went on until later, then it would have been heaven. Wow.

I had an amazing time.

:yeah: to lots of the above, so I'll just add some new stuff...

Workshops:
Yoga on Saturday morning - fantastic, set me up for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up in time on Sunday.

Amir's musicality: sorry, I bailed on this one after 10 minutes, because I would rather have had the "other version". I didn't feel like I would get much out of learning a routine, so having been agonising over "which workshop", I skedaddled off to Franck's French Connection 1 - great revision of the basics and will hopefully improve my leading.

Waltz: Mike covered just the right amount of material and I lucked out with partners, so really enjoyed this one.

Emma's Ladies Sabotage: very disappointed. Sorry Emma, but I was. I was 'expecting' to be shown how a woman could hijack standard common moves and this class met that expectation in exactly no way whatsoever.
What is the earthly point of teaching a routine in a sabotage class? - I bailed after 10 minutes and watched most of the rest from the chalet. A couple of useful things, but mostly, I couldn't help thinking "those moves simply do not appear that often in freestyle". *** was that thing where the man assumes a crab-like position for the woman to walk over him? And a half moon? :what: I'll shut up about that one now as I wasted very little time on it and at least got some good laughs - but wanted to feed back for 'next time', as I gather that less than 50% of people who started the class finished the class - and suspect that their reasons for leaving were the same as mine.

Franck's French Connection 2: The highlight of that one for me was making Franck blush. I did, honest :D Oh yeah, and it gave me the best pointers I've had for a long time in what, exactly, I need to work on.

The only three things I would 'gripe' about are:
1) the lack of DJ lists - please can we know who's playing where and when - blackboard or similar for the Sack the DJ slots.
2) the air con/fans were good, but only if you were stood right by them - the rooms were still very hot: if it had been warmer outside then the temperature may have been impossible.
3) My feet hurt. Hell, it was worth it.

High point: Sunday afternoon in the boudoir... :drool:
Low points: Hitting a 'wall' at about 10 pm on Saturday, after which I got my second wind and had an even better time. Going home :tears:

Finally (at last!) - I heard a comment that Storm doesn't quite have the same friendly atmosphere as SP - the exact words were "it feels commercial and impersonal". Of course it's commercial - and why not? I agree with everything everyone has said about how smoothly it all went and would just like to say that I don't think it's fair to compare with other weekenders - each has their own "personality" - and what really makes it is the people. I had some absolutely fabulous dances with too many people to mention - thank you to all. Sorry I snuck off without saying goodbye to so many of you, but all those farewells would have made me cry because I didn't want the weekend to end. Thank you all for making the weekend so special (especially Lynn, for being the best chalet sharer ever :hug: )


just looking at comments on Emma's class..... dont think you need to say sorry.... cuz she never looks on here... in fact she is not even registered!
but as you said you expected something and did not get it... i think when a class is given a certain title... it can mean many things... you expected to b shown how to sabotage 'standard moves' ..... i wonder if someone else 'expected' to be shown int moves only, seen as it was a int class.? this is quite difficult sometimes from a teachers point of view when coming up with stuff for these classes. though i see where you were coming from with your comments.:flower:

i looked back thru this thread and someone thought that the ladies style class was a joke...... this was one of the classes that i taught.
now putting my own personal feelings aside on this rather abrupt comment.

in the class was style points for ladies spare arms, body rolls, posture in various positions, a little footwork, head flicks... little things like that all put together in a routine. the reason for this is so that it is easier to remember. rather than teach a load of moves then you go away thinking..'what was the first one again?' you remember everything, and after the class you can disregard things you dont like and practice the things you do! :wink:

now i have got that all of my chest, im off to go and practice putting classes together that will keep everyone happy!!!.......................................... ...
:rofl:

:flower:

Lee
7th-March-2006, 06:34 PM
i looked back thru this thread and someone thought that the ladies style class was a joke...... this was one of the classes that i taught. now putting my own personal feelings aside on this rather abrupt comment.



Apologies for the rather offensive comments earlier regarding the ‘crap/joke’ classes, I’ve been having a very useful PM with another offended person about this, and had not thought about the implications on the wording. :hug: :hug:

My comments were written with little thought for individuals feelings, please accept my sincere apologies for this, I would never speak to people like that face to face, internet chat seems to do something to me to me.

If I were to explain my terminology, I should have said 'the classes were not what I expected from the class schedule and therefore I was disappointed some of them'.

Maybe, a more detailed brief could be made for future events to overcome this.

Lee

Jive Brummie
7th-March-2006, 06:38 PM
...now i have got that all of my chest, im off to go and practice putting classes together that will keep everyone happy!!!.......................................... ...
:rofl:

:flower:

:worthy:

Kev F
7th-March-2006, 06:40 PM
I had a fantastic time and enjoyed every minute of the whole weekend. I'll try not to repeat too many of the wonderful angles......

The key points, which made it fab, were the gender balance and general better usage of the facilities provided.

Mike Ellard had obviously put a lot of thought into the event :respect: and I think that the healthy competition will motivate other organisers to raise their game plan. At least, I hope so, so as to provide better events every year for us dancers. But I also hope it doesn't make the competition drop away all together as a monoply isn't good either.

It was very good to see the dancers who've never experienced a weekender. I spoke to cerocers who had never even been outside of their local venue :eek: This will hopefully make them aware of the array of options available to them on the dancing scene and create new young blood throughout the venues

It's not just the event, but the people too who make it special, so i would like to thank all the wonderful forumites who made it just perfect.:flower: :flower:

DavidY
7th-March-2006, 06:45 PM
but as you said you expected something and did not get it... i think when a class is given a certain title... it can mean many things... ..which was my point when I started this thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7798). :whistle:

I noticed that Amir started his musicality class (and possibly others - I didn't do them) with a very clear statement that there were different ways to teach musicality and this one would be by learning a choreographed routine. So everyone knew what they'd get at the outset. :clap: :respect:

Whereas at the first of the two men's styling classes (Alex's on Saturday) we didn't really have much idea what we were going to get (a choreographed routine) - the class could have been advertised as a Men's Solo Hip Hop class and still been the same.

BillCo
7th-March-2006, 07:23 PM
Best weekend I have been to so far. Well done Mike , Dave and the others involved in the event. :respect:

I enjoyed teaching at the event as well and disagree with Jivecats comments
on my Cha Cha routine.

Shame I missed Paul's smooth latin class. :tears:

Bill.

Little Em
7th-March-2006, 08:04 PM
Apologies for the rather offensive comments earlier regarding the ‘crap/joke’ classes, I’ve been having a very useful PM with another offended person about this, and had not thought about the implications on the wording. :hug: :hug:

My comments were written with little thought for individuals feelings, please accept my sincere apologies for this, I would never speak to people like that face to face, internet chat seems to do something to me to me.

If I were to explain my terminology, I should have said 'the classes were not what I expected from the class schedule and therefore I was disappointed some of them'.

Maybe, a more detailed brief could be made for future events to overcome this.

Lee
Apology accepted, i appreciate it was a comment that was thrown in and :flower: did not mean offence!

I think it is so hard to name a class and i may start to ask the organisers to add in a little statement on what is 'generally' going to be in the class! so it at least gives them an idea!
never mind i didn expect everyone to like the class we all have diff ideas of a good time dont we!!

PM and tell me what you would expect more of in a style class as i have a few more teaching opps in for this year for this class, and it would b good for me to hear feedback on what people want to learn.....:nice:

Em x

bigdjiver
7th-March-2006, 10:21 PM
Judging from the reactions, congratulations are due to all who helped organise Storm. The dance floor that was laid has received good feedback. It would seem that Ceroc have found a supplier that can meet price and quality criteria. This opens the possibilty of Ceroc running their championships at a different venue, and perhaps making the championships a weekender, or even a long weekender.

tomboh
7th-March-2006, 10:42 PM
I'm really pleased you all had a great time at Storm. One day...


when a class is given a certain title... it can mean many things

I couldn't even begin to teach people how to dance, but I've spent some time presenting things I do know for about half an hour or so over the past few years.

I've found myself in front of audiences of various sizes, different levels of enthusiasm, and often just a different vibe on the day.

I think the title you choose for your presentation matters lots and sets your audience's expectations. I try to use titles that seem a little unusual but give a fairly good idea of what I'll cover, and I often spend as long thinking them up as I do working out what I'll talk about.


i looked back thru this thread and someone thought that the ladies style class was a joke...... this was one of the classes that i taught.
now putting my own personal feelings aside on this rather abrupt comment.

I've found myself overhearing others' criticism, which sometimes hurts. But most people who complain will never get up there and do it themselves. I guess it's easier to complain than improve things.

But having persevered, I find people look forward to hearing what I have to say and tell me lovely things afterwards. The steps to teaching well feel just like the steps to performing well. Overcoming challenges makes life fun.

Last year, I heard that a Danish mobile phone company developed a system influenced by one of my talks. I also got some constructive, yet negative feedback from that talk. Despite the negativity, it's great to know that I didn't waste my effort.

I guess teaching dance must have the same feeling - audiences don't always get it. Perhaps sometimes only a small number get it, but it clicks.

Oh, and Lee, your humility rocks!

DianaS
8th-March-2006, 12:32 AM
An unusual weekender...
Best bits
Seeing all the forumites and having loads of hugs and great dances!! great both guys and girls!!

Bad bit
What I would do for some really nutritious great cooking to keep me going...
I know they can't do any thing about the catering but we can dream eh?? reminds me of a good bit though the pub down the road did seriously excellent meals:worthy:

Sad bit
Going to bed at 4 and not seeing the sun rise over the dunes. :sad:

Happy bit
Marks set Absolutely brill!! Could not stop dancing track after track after track it just didnt stop, I was on a roll and carried on and on.. Walking down the beach on Monday morning picking up shells, scaring the locals

Best class
Uhhm Must have been either Amirs tango or the cuban blues or the ladies styling or...

Worst thing about the classes
Sometimes lots of beginners stuff at the same time and not an intermediate / advanced option:confused:


The teachers put every thing they had into their classes and dare I say it I feel the beginning of the end for the ceroc bounce and definately a more sophisticated of ceroc emerging which is stylish, fun and leaving behind some of the elements (ie awful moves and technique!) that epitomised its earlier days

MORE POWER TO THEM I SAY

FirstMove
8th-March-2006, 12:44 AM
I'm impressed. Really impressed. In fact, I think our biggest worry should be that now Mike Ellard has found his true calling in life as an event organiser, he'll start doing lucrative weddings, rock concerts and bar-mitzvahs. There'll be no time left to do Weekenders.


My weekend in pieces:-



Friday

-Freestyle

Arrived too late to any classes. Danced till 2am. Some of the music
downstairs latter on seemed a bit fast. The music upstairs was a bit weird at times.
Plucked up the courage to introduce myself to several forumites, ably assisted by the legend that is Martin Harper. WittyBird began a weekend long tradition of sticking her tongue out at me at every opportunity :confused:.



Saturday



-Fast and Furious (Simon Borland)

Slightly scary that Simon remembers my name when we've only met twice before. I think Fast and Furious is more a statement about Simon's teaching style than his routine, but no worries mate.


-Gentlemen's club (Alex Faulkner)

Having read other peoples' comments, I have to say, I enjoyed this. I incorporated some backside thrusting into my dancing last night in Cheltenham without noticeably scaring anyone.


-The 'X' Styles (Gordon Pownall)

Granted I've got no idea how I'll ever lead the First Move Paso Doble, except shouting "First Move Paso Doble", but overall, my favourite class of the weekend. Maybe it was the free chocolate :drool:


-Body and Soul (H)

My local teacher, so pleasantly surprising that H taught a whole set of moves I haven't seen before. Shame I've already forgotten them :blush: .


-Lambada (Gary & Marisa)

Way too fast for me. Not sure if I even got the basic footwork right. I'm slightly suspicious of any beginners class that teaches a scary dip.


-Total Blues (Howard & Nicola)

I was rubbish at blues. I still am.


-Bingo

Not intending to play this, but passed the time until the cabaret. Was so brain dead it didn't occur to me I should use all 5 cards, not just the top one :angry:


-Cabaret I

Will :clap: and Kate :drool:. Need I say more?


-Freestyle

Managed to dance through to kicking-out time. John Baker played an excellent set. Shame he doesn't play more of his smooth tracks at his regular Ceroc nights :mad: .



Sunday



-French Connection II (Franck)

Well explained by Franck, but unlikely to get me anywhere with my local dancers. A *Strong* Lead is expected in these parts or I get complaints. Something to store away until the next weekender :waycool: .


-Mind Games (Leanne Lowish)

Not really what I expected. The emphasis seemed to be on personally making your dance experience better, when personally I'm much more Zen about things I can't possibly control.


-The Hop (Simon White)

I did Lindy at Southport in June and got nowhere, as well as thoroughly dispirited. This lesson has rekindled my interest in all dances bouncy.


-Smooth Jive (Val & Dave)

Great moves, but I think fatigue was setting in as I kept forgetting the order of the moves. Now of course I've forgotten the moves and the order and the … err … thingies


-Jango 2 (Amir)

Lots of Ladies told me how awful I was at this. I bow to their judgement.


-Cabaret II

The lambada was pretty spectacular. Congrats to Emma's Showgirls.


-Jive Aces

I used to hate the Jive Aces, as their music always seemed too fast. They've slowed right down, played decent songs and were quite entertaining. I had a brill dance to their last song, which was really fast :confused:. Chaps, all is forgiven.

-Freestyle

Dancing to 1:30am. I didn't really get "In the zone", but fatigue was beginning to kick-in. Had a really special dance to Feel Good Inc. Somehow my partner and I ended up body rolling and sliding half way across the Thunderball room floor and it just seemed right. Afterwards she asked "What style was that?" …. Mine :cool:



Other stuff

Having the Thunderball room lessons on telly was a brilliant. It was also a good way to check out what sort of music was playing without leaving the chalet

The goody bags were a nice touch, although so far I've only eaten the lolly.

We were one of the first cars in the off-site car-park. What was all the fuss? I read the Email, brought £50 and dropped-off my stuff within an hour. Job done.:confused:

Maybe I missed it all, but there seemed to be a shortage of standard cheesy Ceroc songs, like Kylie and Rachel Stevens. I need the rough to appreciate the smooth. Others in my party complained about this all the way home (5 hours :sick:)

PS I have to mention it in every thread … Tina Arena - Just Say No! :eek: :eek: :eek:

thewacko
8th-March-2006, 01:49 AM
you could book my sister for £100 an hour but she knows F**** all about dancing. IT solutions

Seems very reasonable :grin:

so let me get this right £10 for six minutes . . .



. . . hey I didn't know you wre WittyBirds Brother:what: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Minnie M
8th-March-2006, 02:07 AM
..........found his true calling in life as an event organiser, he'll start doing lucrative weddings .............etc.....
He already does weddings ........ and he is EXCELLENT at it ..... he even gets the old Aunties & Uncles up there MJ'ing :respect: :worthy: :yeah:

BTW I didn't get any water :( or the goodbye ta-tar :sad: I left the camp at about 9:30am - decided not to go to sleep, just in case I overslept :blush:

thewacko
8th-March-2006, 02:20 AM
ok Having read through quite a few of these posts I feel that I can add a few more comments - for what they are worth

Remembering that I suffer from . . . extreme amnesia!!!!


Mike Ellard , greeting!!! people as they left - well I tried to collar him during the weekend to express my thanks for such a great weekend but just did not get a chance - and getting the chance to thank him as a mere minion on my way out was just great

My greatest respect to Virginia from Ceroc Kent (who I know had a very great personal input into the whole event and yet has not been mentioed personally during the whole thread) Hey the Lady was Brilliant and YES I Did witness her Crying . . . nice to know she is a real person!!!!!!


My Personal Highlights must be meeting up with and Dancing with . . . (oh **** my street kred is so going down hill at the moment) . . . YES You Forumites.

It affected my lady friend so much - you have all known her as "A Certain Lady" for quite a while that she has finally sucummed to joining the forum (her forum name is "A Certain Lady" which also explains why she was late meeting me tonight before we went to Greenwich - she was on the bl**dy Forum!!!!:mad:


My bad Points - apart from those scratching thread pulling wrist bands- Not realising Franks Classes were THE FRANK aka GOD and missing them all, and going to bed too early and missing all his after dance party's - oh and missing that woman upstairs and her megraine pains


My othe rbad points - not insisting to "A Certain Lady" that we do the Blues Classes

Managing to stay up long enough to only see the beginning of "Dan the Mans" DJ Slots - and missing out on most of the classes and not realising "Sack the DJ" in the Boudoir was in reality Freestyle:mad: :mad: :mad:


But I must admit IMO The best weekender I have ever been on

Minnie M
8th-March-2006, 02:33 AM
Bad bit
What I would do for some really nutritious great cooking to keep me going...
I know they can't do any thing about the catering but we can dream eh??

You should share with a single guy (as in never been married and always lived alone) next time Di - they make the best Chefs:worthy: even if they do leave the washing up to do :rolleyes:

thewacko
8th-March-2006, 02:57 AM
You should share with a single guy (as in never been married and always lived alone) next time Di - they make the best Chefs:worthy: even if they do leave the washing up to do :rolleyes:

Naw
you shared with the Previously married guys _ They have at least had the chance to have been made to learn how to cook:devil:




Hey I am not only reknown for my fantastic Full English but also wash up afterwards:devil: :devil: :devil: but if you feel inclined to wash up afterwards :grin: :grin: :grin:

WittyBird
8th-March-2006, 08:18 AM
. . . hey I didn't know you wre WittyBirds Brother:what: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: what are you insinuating?

stewart38
8th-March-2006, 10:16 AM
:rofl: what are you insinuating?


he is saying basically we look and act so alike, I think anyway :whistle:

Missy D
8th-March-2006, 10:20 AM
he is saying basically we look and act so alike, I think anyway :whistle:

Well yeah! Its a wonder ESG hasn't spotted this and put it on the 'look alikes' thread.:rofl:

LMC
8th-March-2006, 10:30 AM
PM and tell me what you would expect more of in a style class as i have a few more teaching opps in for this year for this class, and it would b good for me to hear feedback on what people want to learn.....:nice:

Em x
If you do an Advanced search on style in the title of a thread, there is loads on here. For me, style is not about moves or a routine - the moves are just tools to demonstrate style - e.g. using the spare arm, wiggling. And as you can't have style without technique, then posture, frame and connection should also be covered - even in a ladies only class, perhaps they would take turns leading just walking backwards and forwards to 'get' this - Franck's lead and follow classes from the DVD might give you some ideas to adapt?

I loved the style workshop at September Southport - Simon Selmon's partner (Taina?) had to step in at the last minute and did a *short* routine - just about 10 bars - which got us moving to music and "letting it all hang out" - so there is a place for routines. But she taught the routine v-e-r-y slowly. For example, it included a walk, so she stopped teaching the routine, and we did a bit of walking in different styles - e.g. "walk as if you're angry, walk sexy, walk in a hurry, walk as if you're window shopping - etc etc etc" - to make us aware of how our bodies behaved differently, even though the movement was, in theory, the same - i.e. walking!

HTH :hug:

Northants Girly
8th-March-2006, 12:37 PM
(Dare I even mention, some of the Cabaret?)
You havn't done but please DO!
I'd be interested to hear what folk thought as I didn't see any of it :rolleyes:

Agree with all thats already been said - a surprisingly great weekend :clap:

I would disagree to some extent re the gender balancing completely working though.
Don't think anyone else has mentioned this but I felt that there was a lack of men to dance with in the blues room on Sunday :(
(I heard it was even worse on Saturday)

When I've worked out how to download the pics I took on my new camera I'll post them :D

DianaS
8th-March-2006, 12:45 PM
You should share with a single guy (as in never been married and always lived alone) next time Di - they make the best Chefs:worthy: even if they do leave the washing up to do :rolleyes:
Only problem is they are also ususally gay and would rather share with your fella:cool:
Still if any guy gay or straight fits the bill and would like to entertain us for a weekend, send me a PM and I'll get a challet full of girls lined up for you!:)

Little Em
8th-March-2006, 12:53 PM
If you do an Advanced search on style in the title of a thread, there is loads on here. For me, style is not about moves or a routine - the moves are just tools to demonstrate style - e.g. using the spare arm, wiggling. And as you can't have style without technique, then posture, frame and connection should also be covered - even in a ladies only class, perhaps they would take turns leading just walking backwards and forwards to 'get' this - Franck's lead and follow classes from the DVD might give you some ideas to adapt?

I loved the style workshop at September Southport - Simon Selmon's partner (Taina?) had to step in at the last minute and did a *short* routine - just about 10 bars - which got us moving to music and "letting it all hang out" - so there is a place for routines. But she taught the routine v-e-r-y slowly. For example, it included a walk, so she stopped teaching the routine, and we did a bit of walking in different styles - e.g. "walk as if you're angry, walk sexy, walk in a hurry, walk as if you're window shopping - etc etc etc" - to make us aware of how our bodies behaved differently, even though the movement was, in theory, the same - i.e. walking!

HTH :hug:


yes i think i will have a little look at that advanced search...

I did say at the start of my class that the routine was there purely to remember everything, then you go away and take only the bits you want to remember an disregard the rest....

also in the class we did cover spare arm, walks, wiggling, and i spoke about posture/frame the whole way thru the class including lots of other things... just makes me think that maybe some people come to the class and dont actually listen/look cuz they are perhaps too busy thinking about what they think i should b doing....:rolleyes:

funny that. :confused:

thank you for your comments though, i think im gonna go lie down now......:flower: :hug:

jacksondonut
8th-March-2006, 01:00 PM
AI would disagree to some extent re the gender balancing completely working though. Don't think anyone else has mentioned this but I felt that there was a lack of men to dance with in the blues room on Sunday :(
(I heard it was even worse on Saturday)

When I've worked out how to download the pics I took on my new camera I'll post them :D

:yeah: Guess I kinda agree with that... I did notice that Sunday seemed a little thin on the ground with chappies to play with.... mmmm.. still didnt make me want to leave and go upstairs though..:D Fraid I cant seem to remember Saturday night... :confused:

Really looking forward to seeing your pics too.. wished I'd had camera..:sad:

:cheers:

LMC
8th-March-2006, 01:18 PM
... also in the class we did cover spare arm, walks, wiggling, and i spoke about posture/frame the whole way thru the class including lots of other things... just makes me think that maybe some people come to the class and dont actually listen/look cuz they are perhaps too busy thinking about what they think i should b doing....:rolleyes:

funny that. :confused:
No, they don't listen/look - and that's because the routine is too long. If you present moves, then people will think about the moves - because everyone gets self-conscious and doesn't want to be seen doing it wrong. Whereas everyone can walk. I include myself in all of that :na: - if you are the Em at the BFG, I'm sorry, but I bailed out of your style class there too, because the length of the routine scared me s***less and I just felt like an awkward idiot trying to follow the moves, which were taught too fast for me (although I know other people - including one of my good friends - got a lot out of that class :flower: ).

A shorter routine including all those things would be easier for people to remember, so they can concentrate on other stuff than the moves - i.e. technique. And it would give you time to put even more emphasis on the technique stuff :)

Paul F
8th-March-2006, 01:25 PM
You should share with a single guy (as in never been married and always lived alone) next time Di - they make the best Chefs:worthy: even if they do leave the washing up to do :rolleyes:

Best Chefs and Greatest Lovers

:grin:

under par
8th-March-2006, 01:34 PM
Best Chefs and Greatest Lovers

:grin:

I could be really 'orrid but its before the watershed...:blush:

Dan Hudson
8th-March-2006, 01:50 PM
:yeah: Guess I kinda agree with that... I did notice that Sunday seemed a little thin on the ground with chappies to play with.... mmmm.. still didnt make me want to leave and go upstairs though..:D Fraid I cant seem to remember Saturday night... :confused:

Really looking forward to seeing your pics too.. wished I'd had camera..:sad:

:cheers:

I did notethat at one stage I had Paul (jivep) Russell, Marc and Aussie mark sitting behind me eating chips cause they were so tired!!:what:

Hiding they were:whistle: and they didn't share the chips:sad:

Cruella
8th-March-2006, 01:56 PM
I did notethat at one stage I had Paul (jivep) Russell, Marc and Aussie mark sitting behind me eating chips cause they were so tired!!:what:

Hiding they were:whistle: and they didn't share the chips:sad:
They weren't hiding well enough, i still managed to find them there.:D

Tazmanian Devil
8th-March-2006, 01:57 PM
Plucked up the courage to introduce myself to several forumites, ably assisted by the legend that is Martin Harper. WittyBird began a weekend long tradition of sticking her tongue out at me at every opportunity :confused:.
:sad: Hey not me you didn't :tears: :tears: And after all that mischeif we caused on the sofa I don't even get an intro :tears: :tears:

Tazmanian Devil
8th-March-2006, 02:04 PM
It affected my lady friend so much - you have all known her as "A Certain Lady" for quite a while that she has finally sucummed to joining the forum (her forum name is "A Certain Lady" which also explains why she was late meeting me tonight before we went to Greenwich - she was on the bl**dy Forum!!!!:mad:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Yay A Certain Lady :clap: :clap:



and missing out on most of the classes and not realising "Sack the DJ" in the Boudoir was in reality Freestyle:mad: :mad: :mad:
I did tell you on Saturday :rolleyes: After getting Richard :worthy: :worthy: To entertain us like all day :worthy: :worthy:
You really must start writing things down dear your amnesia is getting worse :flower:



I did notethat at one stage I had Paul (jivep) Russell, Marc and Aussie mark sitting behind me eating chips cause they were so tired!!

Hiding they were and they didn't share the chips
Ahhh did they not?? :confused: I am sure I see you munching chips :whistle:

Little Em
8th-March-2006, 02:40 PM
They weren't hiding well enough, i still managed to find them there.:D


you would seek out anyway with that radar of yours!!:rofl:

TheTramp
8th-March-2006, 02:58 PM
for me (although I know other people - including one of my good friends - got a lot out of that class :flower: ).

A shorter routine including all those things would be easier for people to remember, so they can concentrate on other stuff than the moves - i.e. technique. And it would give you time to put even more emphasis on the technique stuff :)

Maybe then Em would be getting complaints from people who said that there was too much time taken, not enough taught, and a longer routine would be better!

While I don't participate in classes much myself, I'm well aware when I'm teaching, that some people will not find what I'm teaching in that class as useful as others. You'll never please everyone when teaching a class of a number of people. I think that suffice to say that you didn't find the class to be what you were after yourself.... :flower:

LMC
8th-March-2006, 03:06 PM
You'll never please everyone when teaching a class of a number of people.
:yeah:

Move along folks, nothing to see here - we're on PM and everything's cool, but I wanted to feed back publicly owing to the number of discussions I've had with huge numbers of people around all this kind of stuff because I'm so aware that my style needs so much work! Sorry for thread hijack.

FirstMove
8th-March-2006, 03:35 PM
:sad: Hey not me you didn't :tears: :tears: And after all that mischeif we caused on the sofa I don't even get an intro :tears: :tears:

I asked WittyBird to introduce me to lots of forumites, I guess you weren't about.:blush: I pretty much danced with every female downstairs on Saturday, so maybe we've danced.:flower:

Tazmanian Devil
8th-March-2006, 04:07 PM
I asked WittyBird to introduce me to lots of forumites, I guess you weren't about.:blush: I pretty much danced with every female downstairs on Saturday, so maybe we've danced.:flower:

well I danced downstairs all night saturday so hopefully we did dance (even with no intro)

*makes note to self* Words with witty later I spent most of the night sat with her and no intro :sad:

Tiggerbabe
8th-March-2006, 04:19 PM
I pretty much danced with every female downstairs on Saturday, so maybe we've danced.:flower:
mmmmn - I wonder? I didn't get introduced to him either Taz :tears:

LMC
8th-March-2006, 04:29 PM
Nor me :(

Maybe we danced without knowing FM - if not, then I'll getcha one day :wink:

under par
8th-March-2006, 04:33 PM
mmmmn - I wonder? I didn't get introduced to him either Taz :tears:

Nor me are we sure we are talking about the same event??

Tiggerbabe
8th-March-2006, 04:37 PM
Meant to say, one of the highlights of my weekend

Russel Saxby and Emma Pettit dancing to "I can't remember what" in the Blues Room on Saturday night.

Fantastic! Amazing! Incredible! and Wow! :worthy:

FirstMove
8th-March-2006, 04:45 PM
Nor me :(

Maybe we danced without knowing FM - if not, then I'll getcha one day :wink:

I know we didn't dance. :na:

jacksondonut
8th-March-2006, 04:50 PM
Nor me :(

Maybe we danced without knowing FM - if not, then I'll getcha one day :wink:

Nor me neither.....:tears: :tears: (goes off into the corner and sulks.....)

LMC
8th-March-2006, 04:56 PM
I know we didn't dance. :na:
Hope you're not going to tell me I turned you down now :rofl: - owing to shoulder RSI playing up I was being a bit cautious on Saturday and Sunday.

Never got to meet you either jacksondonut - hopefully catch you at Walthamstow on Sat :nice:

jacksondonut
8th-March-2006, 05:02 PM
Hope you're not going to tell me I turned you down now :rofl: - owing to shoulder RSI playing up I was being a bit cautious on Saturday and Sunday.

Never got to meet you either jacksondonut - hopefully catch you at Walthamstow on Sat :nice:

Sorry I missed you..:flower: Looking forward to Saturday.
:clap: :clap:

MartinHarper
8th-March-2006, 05:06 PM
General: slightly more men in most workshops I went to. Numbers seemed reasonably balanced during freestyles. Workshops were generally overcrowded, while freestyle bits were more spacious.

Afternoon
----------

Men's style with Alex - apparently clenched fists are stylish? Good fun. Slightly overcrowded, which made the punching out to the side feel a little hazardous. Routine was fun, and some decent points about MJ styling made along the way.

Sabotage with Emma - well, the brochure said that men would learn to "feel comfortable being sabotaged". I think the idea was that, in comparion to the taught routine, normal sabotage stuff would hold no fear for us. Some kind of innoculating effect. I thought that in a sabotage class, there could have been more emphasis on who was meant to be leading each bit.

Lead/Follow with Franck. Only made it to the second. I didn't get the hang of this "remote leading", or the idea about changing the point of connection from hand to hand. Overall, entertaining+informative.

Dance Psychology. Again, only made it to the second. I liked it generally, and I thought it was valuable to chat about what makes a dance enjoyable with other dancers, face to face. I did switch off a bit when the group got side-tracked down the "saying no" culdesac. Heard it all before. That aside, I thought this was a fantastic new idea for a workshop, and I hope that we see more along similar lines at other places.

Shim sham. For reasons that were not entirely clear, they taught this dance to a Big Bruthas remix of the classic track, which I wasn't fond of. If they wanted to make the Shim Sham relevant to an MJ audience, a better way would have been to get folks to dance MJ at the end of the routine, rather than expecting them to instantaneously learn swing.

"Smooth Operator" choreography. Well, it wasn't what I was expecting. Yes, at the end of the class, he did have a routine that kinda matched the music (on the second time through), but it seemed more by luck than by judgement. He promised the class an insight into the construction of choreographed routines. With random variations on random basic moves, it seemed more of an insight into the construction of regular weekly Ceroc classes.

Evening
-------

Saturday's Cabaret was mixed. We started with a couple demonstrating some lift/drop-happy Ceroc, which didn't inspire me. A team cabaret called "West Mid Swing" followed. This was ok, but I've seen the "dance showdown" idea done a lot better only recently, so again that left me somewhat cold. Emma's Greased Lightning cabaret was good fun. The pole dancing demo was convincingly non-sexual.

Sunday's cabaret was better. Emma's hat stealing routine was very good, especially having done her Sabotage class. Poor Alex. The showgirls piece had that joyous feel to it that comes with routines taught earlier that day. The Lambada demo was amazing - very different, very stylish - well worth seeing.

Jive Aces were.... well, they were themselves. I love them, I know others hate them, not much more that can be said. I thought they had a decent range of speeds for an MJ audience.

Music
-----

On saturday, I suffered from a Latino overdose. At one point, the choices of music were:
* Tempest room: "The Latin quarter"
* Big room: "Ceroc classics". Ceroc being a fusion between jive and salsa, it turns out that this often contains a substantial proportion of Latinish music.
* Downstairs: "Smooth and Slithery Latino + Blues". Again, it turns out that if you feed the description "Latino + Blues" to a variety of DJs from around the world, they'll all end up playing a substantial proportion of Latino music.

It all felt a bit too much like "one dance to the tune of another".
I also felt that the downstairs room dropped the tempo too early. At 2:30, the last DJ got on and said he'd be playing till everyone went home, and he'd been asked to stick to slower music. That's great, but the music being played was already 90% slow music, and it felt like the atmosphere of the room had nowhere to go: it was trapped by its earlier slowness. You can't wind down if there's nowhere to wind down from. I don't think this is a problem with the DJs - just the way the evening was setup.

Sunday I had a similar problem with an overdose of Tango-ish stuff (having also danced to some of ZW's lovely pub set), but I was able to remedy this by going upstairs to the main room. On Saturday I didn't feel like I had the same escape route.

There was meant to be some swing music in the Tempest room on both Saturday and Sunday night, but on both nights the DJ failed to arrive on time. Sure, the tiny and barren Tempest room was never going to have a great atmosphere, but who knows: maybe some music might have helped?

The fans were good, and generally kept the temperature livable towards the edges of the dance floor, but it was a bit roasty in the center. A few floor-level fans might have helped, but I guess there's not much that can be done.

I had some wonderful dances with forumites and non-forumites alike. Particular thanks to Clive Long. I was dissappointed to miss out on dancing with the likes of Cruella. Often I was glad just to sit down and watch folks like Mr. UnderPar weave his magic.

Dizzy
8th-March-2006, 05:19 PM
Sorry, I haven't had the time or energy to post anything on here yet and a lot of what has already been said, I agree with but my highlights of the weekend.

Doing West Coast Swing for the first time :clap: :clap:

Amirs Musical Interpretation Class :worthy:

Cuban Blues Class was fab - I have to say that I didn't take much in as I only had 3 hours sleep - I don't know how Marc and Rachel taught that class!! :worthy:

Sunday Afternoon in the Bar - Muisic from Marc, Alison and Sheena :drool: :worthy:

Dancing all night saturday night then Franck and Sheena's Post Dance party :love:

Dancing with so many good dancers :drool: :drool: :clap:

Meeting with the regular faces too!! :hug:

The organisation of the whole weekend was outstanding as already discussed on here and agree with all the good and bad points already raised.

What a fab weekend!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

FirstMove
8th-March-2006, 05:21 PM
.....

FirstMove
8th-March-2006, 05:21 PM
Hope you're not going to tell me I turned you down now :rofl:

You might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment :hug: :devil:

BeeBee
8th-March-2006, 05:38 PM
The highlight of that one for me was making Franck blush. I did, honest :D

:worthy: :rofl: :respect:
I didn't think that was possible - its usually the other way around!!

Lory
8th-March-2006, 05:38 PM
mmmmn - I wonder? I didn't get introduced to him either Taz :tears:
I did but then again, I'm not as scary as you lot! :innocent: :wink:

Franck
8th-March-2006, 05:42 PM
Lead/Follow with Franck. Only made it to the second. I didn't get the hang of this "remote leading", or the idea about changing the point of connection from hand to hand. Overall, entertaining+informative.I wish you'd mentioned it after the workshop, I would have been happy to spend some time explaining the concepts further...

I wish some of the classes had been longer, one hour just wasn't enough to explain everything and have enough time to practise properly. I reckon 2 hours would have been perfect, but that would have meant fewer classes...

Anyway :D
• Remote leading: It is difficult to get the concept as a lead, unless you're sure your partner is following you properly, so you get instant feedback.
The basic principle is to apply the 'leverage' exercise with the ribbon (which we did in the first class) and do the same without the ribbon, gradually extending the length of the (invisible and contactless) connection to any distance (e.g. across the room). If your partner can maintain a perfect connection (no slack in the ribbon) then you can lead her visually and start the dance remotely (even via a television set :wink: ). What you can lead at that kind of distance is limited but can be powerful stuff to start a dance. If you reduce the distance to a few inches, you should be able to lead most moves without contact.

• Transferring the connection: This exercise was designed to mirror 'real life' dancing by transferring the connection point from hand to hand whilst the other hand was used for styling (in the exercise we didn't do anything stylish, just drew patterns to keep it simple), and again, required a proper connection in the first place, with more time, I would have spent more time and changed partners more often to make sure you all got a chance to match with a partner who connected with you.
Basic idea was to establish a 'compression' connection (palm to palm) with one hand, and use the other hand to draw patterns, then as smoothly as possible, transfer the connection to the other hand, by increasing the level of compression in the other hand, and decreasing in the other, until you can start using the other hand for styling.
For followers, the exercise was designed to make them focus on the connection at all time, regardless of where it was. In Freestyle dancing, the connection often changes from hand to hand, and indeed to the hips, legs or other point of contact.
Sadly as I wasn't sure how much we would cover and the filming took place before the classes, I don't think that exercise was on the DVD...

I hope this helps, but please catch me next time we meet so I can show you in person. I'll be teaching that kind of stuff in more details at the Focus Residential Week-end on the 7th April ( a long way to come, but a very good value week-end = 2 nights Dinner, Bed & Breakfast + 4 workshops and 2 parties for £109.00) or at the BFG on the 12th-14th May.

Lee
8th-March-2006, 05:50 PM
I wish you'd mentioned it after the workshop, I would have been happy to spend some time explaining the concepts further...

• Remote leading: The basic principle is to apply the 'leverage' exercise with the ribbon (which we did in the first class) and do the same without the ribbon, gradually extending the length of the (invisible and contactless) connection to any distance (e.g. across the room).
• Transferring the connection: This exercise was designed to mirror 'real life' dancing by transferring the connection point from hand to hand whilst the other hand was used for styling (in the exercise we didn't do anything stylish, just drew patterns to keep it simple), and again, required a proper connection in the first place, with more time, I would have spent more time and changed partners more often to make sure you all got a chance to match with a partner who connected with you.

For followers, the exercise was designed to make them focus on the connection at all time, regardless of where it was. In Freestyle dancing, the connection often changes from hand to hand, and indeed to the hips, legs or other point of contact.

I don't think that exercise was on the DVD...



OMG, I watch your class on the DVD, and thought it was great. :respect:


Lee

Bubbalou
8th-March-2006, 06:19 PM
:respect: :respect: :respect: :respect:
Brilliant weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needed another day.................felt like unfinished business. I was not ready to come back down to earth and reality. Guess that means it was a wicked weekend.

I have been going to Camber twice a year for 4 years and this was definitely the best weekend. I can only echo what everybody else has already said about the floor and the water etc

But I reckon what makes it is the company...........which was great!

Roll on the next one

Lou xx:clap:

Puddy Tat
8th-March-2006, 07:08 PM
Everyone's already said all the things I would like to have said, but I just wanted to add my two-penny-worth too! :respect:

Although Storm was only my 2nd weekender it was absolutely fantastic and incredibly well organised. Well done to Mike, Linda, Bradders and the team, you all must've worked amazingly hard to make it such a slick operation and so efficient. :clap: :clap: :clap: I was particularly impressed with the check in process as there were plenty of crew around to welcome people and let them have keys with the minimum of queueing. Although the thought of the wristbands was not very appealing, once they were on your wrist you could forget about them until requested to show them on entering the main building.

Only one gripe - please will you arrange to have each day lengthened by a few hours - 28 hours a day should do it - because the weekend went far too quickly!!! :sad:

The music in the Cyclone room was fabulous and I had some amazing dances with some lovely people, who made the weekend very special. :drool:

I can't wait 'til the next one.

Love, Kate :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Clive Long
8th-March-2006, 07:10 PM
<< snip >>
Basic idea was to establish a 'compression' connection (palm to palm) with one hand, and use the other hand to draw patterns, then as smoothly as possible, transfer the connection to the other hand, by increasing the level of compression in the other hand, and decreasing in the other, until you can start using the other hand for styling.
<< snip >>

That's what I find tricky.

OK. Partner and leader compress (lets say palms) with equal pressure.

Leader intends to transfer the connection from connected to unconnected hands. Connected hand is withdrawn. Follower thinks "Aye, aye! Losing connection, I need to reconnect." So you lead a merry dance where the leader is trying to lose connection from a hand and the follower is trying to gamely retain the connection.

How do you get out of that?


Separately but sort of related
The opposite effect.
So many times in Tango "my" followers collapse their right arm and the frame disintegrates. I stop and ask them to balance the compression from my left palm. After the tenth time of this collapse, and I'm getting sick of this, I just say "push, push, for goodness sake!"

I am a bad person I know.


CRL

Franck
8th-March-2006, 07:26 PM
That's what I find tricky.

OK. Partner and leader compress (lets say palms) with equal pressure.

Leader intends to transfer the connection from connected to unconnected hands. Connected hand is withdrawn. Follower thinks "Aye, aye! Losing connection, I need to reconnect." So you lead a merry dance where the leader is trying to lose connection from a hand and the follower is trying to gamely retain the connection.

How do you get out of that?Well, I agree it isn't easy, the trick is to create the new connection before you decrease the connection from the original hand. you then have a double handed connection (briefly and can break the connection safely (in either hand). This is easier to demonstrate / feel than to explain in words. However followers have to make that kind of connection transfer all the time and are used to it, so it's not as tough as it sounds. When dancing a First move for example, you would transfer the connection from your left hand to your right hand to lead the (pivot) step out on beat 3 from the lady's hip (similar to leading an open first move) and you would then reconnect from the left hand on beat 5... Similarly in an Octopus, the connection changes from hand to hand depending on who's turning.

I apologize for hi-jacking that thread and will split it to a separate technical thread if anyone wants to continue discussing connection rather than STORM :nice:

Seahorse
8th-March-2006, 07:58 PM
Soooooo gooood!

I'm still buzzing with the excitement of meeting so many new people... who said the best dancers were from central london??? It's just not true!!

It exceeded expectations. I arrived at 4pm Friday and whilst walking around was struck with how much effort had been invested into the event...

I'm afraid that I was one of those migrants who drifted around from room to room trying out.... it was so refreshing... and yeah I was one of the diehards who had to be thrown out of the pop room on sunday night... but that was because I bumped into friends from Bognor and Southport.

The blues room was simply the best... DJ Substance/Jon Baker... need I say more?

Won't bore you with the stories but I can tell you that Storm has left me with many very happy memories.

Congratulations to Mike Ellard and his team.

Minnie M
8th-March-2006, 08:03 PM
mmmmn - I wonder? I didn't get introduced to him either Taz :tears:
nor me :tears: not sure if I got a dance either :tears:


Russel Saxby and Emma Pettit dancing to "I can't remember what" in the Blues Room on Saturday night.

Fantastic! Amazing! Incredible! and Wow!
:yeah:
I saw that too :clap: :respect: :worthy: :clap: :yeah:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 08:05 PM
Remote leading:
I've been working on this over the past few weeks as part of my Tango practice sessions - firstly leading with the lady's hands on my shoulders (i.e. my hands behind my back), then extending it so she has her eyes closed (so no visual signals either).

Today, I tried it with no contact at all (yes, she had her eyes open, don't be silly) - and it worked! I could lead all the basic steps - ochos, forwards, backwards, sides, giros, and even a cross - simply by leading with my torso. Great practise for both of us - she has to focus on following my torso lead, I have to focus on providing a clear lead that way.

I'd highly recommend this method for anyone, in any dance form, as a way of enforcing good lead / follow habits.

MartinHarper
8th-March-2006, 08:12 PM
I wish you'd mentioned it after the workshop, I would have been happy to spend some time explaining the concepts further...

Your explanation in class was great, Franck. I just couldn't get it to work. :)

Franck
8th-March-2006, 08:19 PM
Your explanation in class was great, Franck. I just couldn't get it to work. :)In that case if you didn't need more from me, I would have sent Sheena, who is great at adjusting her connection and would have helped you feel the difference and adjust your lead / connection :worthy:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 08:34 PM
Although the thought of the wristbands was not very appealing, once they were on your wrist you could forget about them until requested to show them on entering the main building.
Honestly, to me, wristbands are the dealbreaker - I just couldn't do it, no matter how good all the other stuff was :sad:

under par
8th-March-2006, 09:09 PM
Honestly, to me, wristbands are the dealbreaker - I just couldn't do it, no matter how good all the other stuff was :sad:


I don't know DJ sometimes you can sound so, so sensible then other times you make me despair.
Live and live good.............. surely a tiny piece of plastic attached to your wrist wouldn't stop you attending an excellent event.....life is far too short!


Live and let love:hug:

Mr Cool
8th-March-2006, 09:13 PM
Positives what a well organised weekend all credit to the Ceroc organisation. Great bunch of friendly dancers, super floors plenty of room to dance, free water Four venues and the Jive aces were superb, they go from strength to strength nice to see class musicians who can play dance music live such a rarity nowadays. The pub being open for sack the DJ however on sat anyway the music was not very imaginitive. the idea is sound but we need more space to dance all day :cheers: :cheers:

Negatives
I have to say the music upstairs lacked variety, there seemed to be little to choose between. The DJs were they playing the same collection?

The music downstairs particularly noticable sat. night was 90% slow R & B hardlly chalenging I did enjoy the odd Tango track but almost no swing or blood and guts blues unforgivable. :mad:
I for one need music to inspire me to dance. most of all I need variety. Frankly I thought the music rather boring.
FOR ALL HIS FAULTS FRANCO EMPLOYS A FAR MORE INTERESTING COLLECTION OF DJ'S WHO PLAY A MUCH WIDER RANGE OF DANCE MUSIC. :yeah:

I was not impressed by the cabaret on sat night. :rofl:
and a general comment about dance classes why is almost everthing based on choreographed routines even the mens styling class?
What is Jango about very little to do with Tango musicality or style from what i saw? :rofl:


:waycool: :waycool: :waycool: :waycool:

spikey blond
8th-March-2006, 09:19 PM
Now fully recovered from STORM and agree with all the positive comments I've read - really impressed with the organisation and attention to detail which made weekend a tremendous success. Went with great curiosity to see how Ceroc would manage a Camber weekend and can only sum it up as very professionally. Won't go into details as they have been more than extensively covered but congratulations to Mike Ellard for all his hard work:clap: :clap:

Avoided the dancefloor upstairs as held little appeal for me, generally found the standard of dance not very high and very 'bouncy' but downstairs was brilliant - great dances and fantastic music (thanks to Marc in particular - great sets!). Don't think the Tempest room really worked - out on a limb and not well attended - WCS sessions too early (dinner beckoned!!) Biggest regret not spending more freestyle time in the Boudoir (only managed about an hour on Sunday afternoon) - a little gem of a venue but could do with slightly larger dancefloor. Didn't do many workshops but thought Ladies Styling with Emma was geat fun and refreshing and quite a workout! Agree about DJ listing - more details next time please.

Danced into wee small hours all three nights downstairs and had wicked dances throughout. Danced with many 'forum-ites' but as a recent new member still trying to match faces and dance styles to forum names - no mean feat - Franck, PaulF and Silver Fox no problem but struggling to identify the rest! Any clues for me??

Definitely plan to go back next year but not too sure about 8 per annum, could be just too much of a good thing! Wonder how Franco's May Camber will now feel in comparison - still competition always good to make you raise your game!!

thewacko
8th-March-2006, 10:03 PM
I've been working on this over the past few weeks as part of my Tango practice sessions - firstly leading with the lady's hands on my shoulders (i.e. my hands behind my back), then extending it so she has her eyes closed (so no visual signals either).

Today, I tried it with no contact at all (yes, she had her eyes open, don't be silly) - and it worked! I could lead all the basic steps - ochos, forwards, backwards, sides, giros, and even a cross - simply by leading with my torso. Great practise for both of us - she has to focus on following my torso lead, I have to focus on providing a clear lead that way.

I'd highly recommend this method for anyone, in any dance form, as a way of enforcing good lead / follow habits.

Ah Grasshopper you learn your wessons well:rofl:

thewacko
8th-March-2006, 10:09 PM
Honestly, to me, wristbands are the dealbreaker - I just couldn't do it, no matter how good all the other stuff was :sad:
I have said it before and I will say it again - they were a pain in the ar*e

My partner got scratched to bu**ery, she also pulled threads in quite a few tops, and I got sick to death of having to show them everytime I went for a ciggy or a pee:mad: :mad: :mad:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 10:11 PM
I don't know DJ sometimes you can sound so, so sensible then other times you make me despair.
Then my work here is (nearly) done :)


Live and live good.............. surely a tiny piece of plastic attached to your wrist wouldn't stop you attending an excellent event.....life is far too short!
It's not a "principled stand against the Evils Of Wristbandhood" or anything - this is just me, I know I really couldn't enjoy myself with a piece of plastic wrapped around my wrist 24/7. A wrist stamp would be fine, but the feeling of it... :sick:

Others may be fine with it, but I hate that sort of thing - it's difficult enough for me to wear a watch, and as for any jewellery - :eek:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 10:13 PM
I have said it before and I will say it again - they were a pain in the ar*e
Thought they went around the wrist? :confused: :na:


My partner got scratched to bu**ery, she also pulled threads in quite a few tops, and I got sick to death of having to show them everytime I went for a ciggy or a pee:mad: :mad: :mad:
I've no objection to showing ID - but the idea of an unremovable piece of plastic? :eek: and double :eek:

El Salsero Gringo
8th-March-2006, 10:58 PM
Thought they went around the wrist? :confused: :na:


I've no objection to showing ID - but the idea of an unremovable piece of plastic? :eek: and double :eek:They're fairly standard when it comes to securing large sites for ticket-only events. Saves time policing the perimeter etc etc. Can they really have been that bad? Or would you prefer paying guests to be subsidising freeloaders who are willing to climb over the walls/fences/gates to get in and then can't be spotted? And believe me, there are those who will, no matter what the event.

Cruella
8th-March-2006, 11:08 PM
I didn't even notice my wristband after a while but i did get a few snags on my silk dress from the mens, which i was gutted about. I think if they changed the design of them slightly ie from scalloped to straight edged and the fastenings were flush. It wouldn't be a problem to wear them. It really is a small negativity in comparison to the fabulous weekend overall. Besides the girls ones were my favourite colour, pink.:clap:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 11:25 PM
They're fairly standard when it comes to securing large sites for ticket-only events. Saves time policing the perimeter etc etc.
I suspect the armed police were a pretty good deterrent :na:


Can they really have been that bad?
For me, yes. Seriously, can I not have a personal dislike? I've said "For me..." several times now - and again, I've not said "It's Evil", just that I couldn't stand them. Personally. Why is this a Thing? :confused:

Sheppy
8th-March-2006, 11:25 PM
As it was a few idiots (staff?) managed to gatecrash in the early hours, attempting to dance whilst drunk... :rolleyes:

They're fairly standard when it comes to securing large sites for ticket-only events. Saves time policing the perimeter etc etc. Can they really have been that bad? Or would you prefer paying guests to be subsidising freeloaders who are willing to climb over the walls/fences/gates to get in and then can't be spotted? And believe me, there are those who will, no matter what the event.

Tiggerbabe
8th-March-2006, 11:31 PM
Can they really have been that bad?
I'll say it again too - NO! They weren't,
I almost forgot I had mine on *no really!*
and having to flash my wrist at someone when I came into the building wasn't exactly a major inconvenience either (I find I usually have my wrists with me when I go out :whistle: )

Tiggerbabe
8th-March-2006, 11:34 PM
For me, yes. Seriously, can I not have a personal dislike? I've said "For me..." several times now - and again, I've not said "It's Evil", just that I couldn't stand them. Personally. Why is this a Thing? :confused:
Have you ever actually worn one for a weekend?

And it's a thing 'cause we're just trying to find a way to help you through this. You're important to us :hug: :flower:

Tessalicious
8th-March-2006, 11:44 PM
Tell you what DJ, maybe they'd let you put it round your ankle instead - then you'd have a good excuse for flashing some leg every time you enter the hall, and ankle-bracelets are very cool...

Or maybe that doesn't work so well for a guy :whistle:

David Bailey
8th-March-2006, 11:46 PM
Have you ever actually worn one for a weekend?
I got given a wristband by a lovely lady :flower: at the MJC in 2005, she had nothing but the best intentions, and I had nothing but love for her. Two minutes later, I practically had to gnaw my hand off to remove it.

That answer your question?


And it's a thing 'cause we're just trying to find a way to help you through this. You're important to us :hug: :flower:
Ok, now it's getting weird.

Tiggerbabe
8th-March-2006, 11:51 PM
Ok, now it's getting weird.
Only now?

NaturalMystic
9th-March-2006, 12:38 AM
Positives what a well organised weekend all credit to the Ceroc organisation. Great bunch of friendly dancers, super floors plenty of room to dance, free water Four venues and the Jive aces were superb, they go from strength to strength nice to see class musicians who can play dance music live such a rarity nowadays. The pub being open for sack the DJ however on sat anyway the music was not very imaginitive. the idea is sound but we need more space to dance all day :cheers: :cheers:

Negatives
I have to say the music upstairs lacked variety, there seemed to be little to choose between. The DJs were they playing the same collection?

The music downstairs particularly noticable sat. night was 90% slow R & B hardlly chalenging I did enjoy the odd Tango track but almost no swing or blood and guts blues unforgivable. :mad:
I for one need music to inspire me to dance. most of all I need variety. Frankly I thought the music rather boring.
FOR ALL HIS FAULTS FRANCO EMPLOYS A FAR MORE INTERESTING COLLECTION OF DJ'S WHO PLAY A MUCH WIDER RANGE OF DANCE MUSIC. :yeah:

I was not impressed by the cabaret on sat night. :rofl:
and a general comment about dance classes why is almost everthing based on choreographed routines even the mens styling class?
What is Jango about very little to do with Tango musicality or style from what i saw? :rofl:

:waycool: :waycool: :waycool: :waycool:

:clap:
Hear-hear!!
:clap:

Maybe a few additional thoughts...

Re DJs: I was very disappointed with one of our best local DJs who didn't play up to his high standards. It was the first time for him that he played for such a big crowd – because he was taken out of his comfort zone, he “played safe” and I can imagine that this applies to a number of DJs at the weekend, which resulted in a rather middle of the road performance.

Something else really worries me - POLITICS. There are very restricted rules to who was asked to teach and dj at the weekend. I think that this is wrong. In my opinion the best should be employed for such a big event.
Just and idea: "Sack the DJ" could be used as a platform for those DJs who have never played in a huge venue before– there could be a voting system, who of them should be allowed to play a session on Sunday or something along those lines.

Re lessons: In general I thought the level of workshops was very good, however, not enough emphasis on technique, especially for the gents. I understand that style and technique cannot be taught out of context; however priority in the style lessons should have style and technique and not fancy sequences.

Re Jango: I missed a REAL Tango workshop as Tango becomes more and more popular; it could have been offered like Ballroom, Blues and WCS workshops to do the Tango justice.
Jango – symbiosis of Jive and Tango? This is as many other things a matter of personal taste. It can work if you respect both their characters and don’t try to “rape” the Tango.

...as there is alway room for improvement... :wink:

El Salsero Gringo
9th-March-2006, 12:43 AM
Something else really worries me - POLITICS. There are very restricted rules to who was asked to teach and dj at the weekend. There are? Oooh.... do tell!

El Salsero Gringo
9th-March-2006, 12:44 AM
Two minutes later, I practically had to gnaw my hand off to remove it.Is that because it turned into a serpent and tried to bite your hand off? I've noticed that happens sometimes.

Lynn
9th-March-2006, 01:04 AM
Honestly, to me, wristbands are the dealbreaker - I just couldn't do it, no matter how good all the other stuff was :sad:I hardly noticed mine at all after a very short time. It didn't have any impact at all on my enjoyment of the weekend.


I don't know DJ sometimes you can sound so, so sensible... :rolleyes: :rofl:

Tazmanian Devil
9th-March-2006, 01:10 AM
I'll say it again too - NO! They weren't,
I almost forgot I had mine on *no really!*
and having to flash my wrist at someone when I came into the building wasn't exactly a major inconvenience either (I find I usually have my wrists with me when I go out :whistle: )
:yeah: :yeah: :yeah:
It bugged me at first but I soon forgot I even had it on!!

As to showing it on entering the halls etc it was only once per turn over of staff and I messed about a bit with the guys anyway (hiding my wrist and such as like) :rofl: :rofl:

Yliander
9th-March-2006, 01:34 AM
Honestly, to me, wristbands are the dealbreaker - I just couldn't do it, no matter how good all the other stuff was :sad:what is so bad about wristbands as away of identifing ticket holders? at least they can't loose them :D

ducasi
9th-March-2006, 01:41 AM
... at least they can't loose them :D I think if they were possible to loosen they would be such a problem.

I think we should let this drop. DJ doesn't like wrist-bands. Can't we all just accept that and move on?

Whitebeard
9th-March-2006, 04:11 AM
I think if they were possible to loosen they would be such a problem.

I think we should let this drop. DJ doesn't like wrist-bands. Can't we all just accept that and move on?

Yup, let's get back to basics. My local Dj got rave reviews at Storm. Yet tonight was mostly just the usual bouncy-bouncy stuff and most disappointing to me.

I did dance from time to time but, apart from a nice, though not truly inspired dance with a favourite partner, I really do get the feeling that I'm the odd one out as everyone else seemed to be having a ball.

Anyway, at last I've dared to start doing the slo comb with, what I hope, is an ever so slighty sexy wiggle. And something very similar, during the shoulder drop too.

Lou
9th-March-2006, 08:12 AM
Yup, let's get back to basics. My local Dj got rave reviews at Storm. Yet tonight was mostly just the usual bouncy-bouncy stuff and most disappointing to me.
When he's on form, John's fabulous. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't totally adore Dee Dee Bridgewater's Into My Soul. :drool:

However, often at his regular class nights, he's not that inspired. Many's the time I've found myself with a lovely partner but only Shania, Elton or some very anonymous club track to work with. :rolleyes:

Missy D
9th-March-2006, 08:39 AM
I found wearing the wristbands ok. First it was put on my right wrist which i realised would get in the way all the time whilst dancing so, I slipped it off and put it on my left wrist. Infact i came back sunday night (yeah hamsters, cats etc to attend to) and only took it off monday.

Tiggerbabe
9th-March-2006, 08:46 AM
When he's on form, John's fabulous. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't totally adore Dee Dee Bridgewater's Into My Soul. :drool:
First time I'd heard that song when John played it at the weekend, it's now in my collection too, and will definitely be getting an airing very soon. :D

Lou
9th-March-2006, 09:00 AM
First time I'd heard that song when John played it at the weekend, it's now in my collection too, and will definitely be getting an airing very soon. :D
I might've known you'd like it too! :rofl:

Tiggerbabe
9th-March-2006, 09:07 AM
I might've known you'd like it too! :rofl:
What can I say - we've got taste :hug:

David Bailey
9th-March-2006, 09:15 AM
Something else really worries me - POLITICS. There are very restricted rules to who was asked to teach and dj at the weekend. I think that this is wrong. In my opinion the best should be employed for such a big event.

I thought the teacher line-up looked OK - are you thinking of anyone in particular? Was it "Ceroc-affiliated teachers only"? Even if it was, that makes sense - it's a Ceroc event after all.


Re Jango: I missed a REAL Tango workshop as Tango becomes more and more popular; it could have been offered like Ballroom, Blues and WCS workshops to do the Tango justice.
Ooh, them's fighting words :)

Actually, I agree - given the amount of Tango available now in other weekenders, both classes and milongas, that seems a strange omission. Possibly not the market the organisers were aiming for, however?


Jango – symbiosis of Jive and Tango? This is as many other things a matter of personal taste. It can work if you respect both their characters and don’t try to “rape” the Tango.
But I guess it's OK to "rape" the Jive? :innocent:

Can I refer you to the "Jango - how's it work then? (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7313)" thread for discussion on this?

David Bailey
9th-March-2006, 09:19 AM
Is that because it turned into a serpent and tried to bite your hand off? I've noticed that happens sometimes.
Maybe we're both watching too much Evil Dead II... :eek:

LMC
9th-March-2006, 10:10 AM
As it was a few idiots (staff?) managed to gatecrash in the early hours, attempting to dance whilst drunk... :rolleyes:
:yeah: :mad: - I got hit on by one practically incapably drunk guy and was sad to have to snap at him to p*** off and stomp off to get rid of him. Reminded me how nice and friendly and generally respectful of people's boundaries that most dancers are and what a "safe" night a Ceroc event is.

Re wristbands (yeah yeah, I know, but I haven't had my 2p worth yet :na: ) - I *loathed* the idea and was nearly tempted not to go. And pink :sick: - I hate pink! Then thought "That would be silly". The wristband catching on stuff was irritating and I know I scratched a couple of people with mine and got my hair caught on a couple of occasions :( . A thinner band with a fastening that's less likely to catch would be appreciated. Lynn and I trimmed the sharp corners on ours where they'd cut them to length, which helped. On the whole, better to have wristbands than not, but please make them removable - I really don't get the 'paranoia' around that - I honestly didn't notice mine mostly, but must admit that I really wanted to take it off before bathing or sleeping.

Msfab
9th-March-2006, 11:06 AM
Pink Wristband - I opted to have my wristband put around my ankle where it couldnt interfere with my dancing! The organisers could do with getting bands a bit longer so as they would fit round ankles of different sizes - ankles are generally bigger than wrists. Yes you girls that wore skirts would have a bit of trouble with tights etc, But id decided not to!

jacksondonut
9th-March-2006, 11:11 AM
Didnt have a problem really with the wristband... I even thought it was a lovely shade of pink and quite trendy really..:rofl: :rofl:

I remembered to take it off around tuesday night...... kinda got used to it being there I suppose....:yeah: (dont miss it, but not too worried if they use them again in the future...)

:cheers:

under par
9th-March-2006, 11:34 AM
:yeah: :mad: -. On the whole, better to have wristbands than not, but please make them removable - I really don't get the 'paranoia' around that - ....

If it removable then you might as well have a token or a ticket or a pass ....

A pass token or ticket can be passed from one person to another which
is what they are trying to avoid by making them almost permanent.

Its not rocket science really, if removed from one person it can be passed to another which allows those who haven't paid the opportunity to enter the event.

This could have the dual effect of unbalancing the delicate planned gender balancing the organisers have worked hard to achieve or increase the numbers too much so those who have paid cannot enjoy their dancing.

It did work reasoably well at storm.:clap:

But what we could really do with is various coloured wristbands that restrict access further.:whistle:

You know Boudoir could be restricted to Forumite access only.:cheers:

You could have a dance room where those with beginner wristbands are banned (sorry Trampy!) etc etc :rofl:

Or awristband allowing access to a room but only for perfectly formed dancers over 6'7"

you see where I'm going with this don't you.


I'll only be allowed into one room on the site with my wristband........my bedroom :sad:

I'll have to check to see who else has the same access:drool:

Lynn
9th-March-2006, 11:38 AM
I honestly didn't notice mine mostly, but must admit that I really wanted to take it off before bathing or sleeping.:yeah: And washing dishes.
Though I know what DJ means, I used the wristband to 'train' myself into wearing a watch again. (Which I really need to do, I can't keep explaining at the start of a talk that I'm really not checking my messages mid talk, I'm checking the time on my mobile.) And I did bite the fastener off with my teeth pretty soon after leaving the site on Mon morning.

NaturalMystic
9th-March-2006, 12:42 PM
I thought the teacher line-up looked OK - are you thinking of anyone in particular? Was it "Ceroc-affiliated teachers only"?

Yes. And I am also thinking of the DJs - e.g. John Ford and a few others


Ooh, them's fighting words :)

Actually, I agree - given the amount of Tango available now in other weekenders, both classes and milongas, that seems a strange omission. Possibly not the market the organisers were aiming for, however?


But I guess it's OK to "rape" the Jive? :innocent:

:respect: ... for either ... :wink:

ji vep
9th-March-2006, 12:56 PM
I found the weekend fantastic and made me want to go to more. It was well organised, the attention to detail was superb with extra touches like live feed to chalets, water on departure and also the production of the DVD in those time constraints.
I also found it great to catch with lots of friends and of course the drinking never hurts too (YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, DON'T YOU DAN HUDSON & RUSSELL SAXBY).
I really enjoyed teaching the Latino class in the Thunderball Room and thanks to everyone for the nice feedback.

My only negative comments about the weekend were that I had problems with the electricity meter in my (DAMP) chalet and getting my car bashed in the Pontins car park.
The car was a silver Audi TT who reversed out of the spot next to me and caught the rear offside wing of my silver Hyundai Coupe. The driver then (possibly unaware) drove off and did not leave any details.
I am therefore asking all Audi TT drivers to check their front nearside wing (passengers side) for any damage and if so please contact me via my user name.
My user name is the same as my registration plate if it helps jog the memory.

JiveP

PS: On a final note to Dan Hudson, whilst sitting behind the DJ booth, I did give you some chips, obviously I wasn't very memorable Sweetheart:kiss:

tsh
9th-March-2006, 02:26 PM
I thought that in a sabotage class, there could have been more emphasis on who was meant to be leading each bit.


:confused: It was a ceroc routine - there is no leading...

Having read the reviews, I don't feel I missed much - only Franck's class sounds like it would have been really interesting, and I really go to weekenders for the classes (which doesn't seem to be what most people on here want).

mostly people seem to be praising the organisation, which is nice, because it will hopefully encourage other places to offer free water. I don't buy water, it just annoys me if I have to keep filling up a bottle in the loos! There's no lost revenue - except that I'll probably drink less alcohol if water isn't accessible!

Wristbands - I don't mind wearing them, but dancing in them is not nice. I think I'll start taking sweat bands to weekenders, just in case I'm forced to wear one again. They just seem too keen to get tangled up with my partner's wristband.

Sean

Lucy Locket
9th-March-2006, 04:15 PM
Re: tiny water cups.

Maybe these next time????4728

Frankie_4711
9th-March-2006, 05:24 PM
Well Storm was my first weekender, and I enjoyed myself even more than I thought I would and that's really saying something!) - I will definitely be going again (trying to book Breeze at the moment). Gonna go out a limb here and say - Best weekend of my life!!:awe:

Wristbands did get a bit caught here and there (nearly decapitated a couple of guys!), but over all they were OK and I certainly wouldn't decide not to go just because I had to wear one. The copious amounts of water on tap was a fantastic idea, and my only criticism of the whole thing would be - when the heck were we supposed to eat, shower and sleep???:confused:

Well done and thank you to everyone involved!!:worthy:

fletch
9th-March-2006, 06:14 PM
(trying to book Breeze at the moment).

- when the heck were we supposed to eat, shower and sleep???:confused:


have you had any success in booking? cos I haven't but I do have blond moments, you only have to ask Franco about my booking in May and November.:blush:


and as for the rest, try and get an invite to a party after you might be lucky and get cheese on toast :yum: if not Jamie dodders always do it for me :drool: and sleeping, there always next week for that :D I think I had about 4.5 hrs all weekend ( I did get through 24 proplus):wink:

mrswhitecat
9th-March-2006, 06:47 PM
:clap: Frank & Sheena's workshop was a revelation. The scales literally fell from my eyes. All these years I thought following the lead meant you had to give over having any sort of will and submit unresisting to being pushed and pulled about - blow-up-dolly sort of style.

I've tried to put my learnings into practice since, but although I've come close - I'm not near the money shot yet. Problem seems to be relaxing at the same time as responding with equal and opposite pressure ...

My point is 2-fold : 1) thanks Frank for lamp lighting the path and 2) is there any way we could use Scotland as a sin bin for all lousy London leads / limp followers : (ASBO / compulsory attendance sort of thing at Frank's workshops?).

LMC
9th-March-2006, 06:51 PM
... is there any way we could use Scotland as a sin bin for all lousy London leads / limp followers : (ASBO / compulsory attendance sort of thing at Frank's workshops?).
*promptly starts a whip-round for the air fares*

Welcome mrswhitecat - where do you dance? :nice:

I did Franck's workshops in November at the BFG, they were even better second time around - you will improve with practice, promise (I did, which means anyone can :D )

mrswhitecat
9th-March-2006, 07:49 PM
*Welcome mrswhitecat - where do you dance? :nice:



Mostly central London - Fulham tonight, where a good few could do with compulsory attendance at the Storm dance psychology workshop.

:tears: Never mind trying to put into practice new technique - the anxiety levels are always high at Fulham since there's precious little kindness / love / feedback and most men look as if they would rather pee glass than smile.

I don't have a book of baby names or a joint mortgage proposal in my bag (and I wear my wedding ring) so where's the harm in a smile guys?

fletch
9th-March-2006, 08:07 PM
where's the harm in a smile guys?

I love guy's that don't smile its a challenge and if I don't manage it :really: I usually say something to shock 'em instead:devil: :eek:

MartinHarper
9th-March-2006, 08:07 PM
And pink :sick: - I hate pink!

Just turn the wristband inside out.

Danger Mouse
9th-March-2006, 08:11 PM
:And pink :sick: - I hate pink!

“Pink? Pink? Well, what’s wrong with pink? Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think. :D

fletch
9th-March-2006, 08:15 PM
“Pink? Pink? Well, what’s wrong with pink? Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think. :D
Nothing wrong with pink as long as is hidden under your dress :na: unlike the knickers I was wearing when I did my dare:eek: :sick:

Danger Mouse
9th-March-2006, 08:19 PM
Nothing wrong with pink as long as is hidden under your dress :na: unlike the knickers I was wearing when I did my dare:eek: :sick:

tell me more :wink:

fletch
9th-March-2006, 09:58 PM
tell me more :wink:
Have you not read the 'truth or dare' thread and looked at the STORM photo's:rofl:

El Salsero Gringo
9th-March-2006, 11:20 PM
On the whole, better to have wristbands than not, but please make them removable - I really don't get the 'paranoia' around that It's not paranoia - it's the *entire point* of them that they're not removeable. So you can't leave and give it to someone else to take your place. And so the organisers don't have to deal with the "I've 'lost' my wrist band" when in fact you've given it to someone else who hasn't paid.

Non-removeable wrist bands makes it very simple: no wrist band, no entry!

Whitebeard
10th-March-2006, 12:49 AM
However, often at his regular class nights, he's not that inspired. Many's the time I've found myself with a lovely partner but only Shania, Elton or some very anonymous club track to work with.

You really have got it in for Shania methinks. The only track I'm aware of hearing I quite liked. But it's C&W isn't it? - and perhaps you're a C&W hater. Pity to condemn a whole genre offhand. I grew up on a diet of Flash Gordon and Cowboy films at the ha'penny Saturday matinee. It's part of my musical heritage, only a part, but I rank Hank Williams as almost a genius and rate Country Swing as serious dance music.

I'm almost willing to bet, and one day I shall take myself up on it, that if I were to go to one of the local Country and Western dances I would find the music (taken as a whole), and usually live, more congenial to dance to than, dare I say it, my local Ceroc nights. But would I find dance partners? I have a nasty feeling that this is a tight knit and exclusive community demanding commitment to what in reallity is but a dream.

Or a nightmare? Almost gothic ;-)

Limpy Tink
10th-March-2006, 12:51 AM
“Pink? Pink? Well, what’s wrong with pink? Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think. :D

I couldn't agree more! I love pink :awe: and as for the wristbands - didn't notice them after the first 5 mins.... Not until Dave Rokov and Silver fox decided to revert back to their school days. How a simple job like checking wristbands could cause so much sniggering, I have no idea :rolleyes: . Something to do with "pink" and "rings" - it was all a bit beyond me :innocent: But I guess that boys will be boys!!:wink:

bigdjiver
10th-March-2006, 01:00 AM
Would people prefer computerised fingerprint technology to wristbands?

El Salsero Gringo
10th-March-2006, 01:40 AM
Would people prefer computerised fingerprint technology to wristbands?No!


and that, on its own, isn't long enough. So here's a picture of a polar bear in a snowstorm:




















:grin:

Lou
10th-March-2006, 08:39 AM
You really have got it in for Shania methinks.

You think?! :rofl:

There are only two types of music I hate. Country and Western.

Actually, my aversion to her merely goes back to Sherif's old Tuesday night classes at Yate Leisure Centre. Along with Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing", "Man I Feel Like A Woman" was played incessantly as a teaching track.

I suppose it could be worse. Someone might start to think that Coldplay is good MJ music. :shudder:

I didn't mean to be so harsh on John earlier. I am actually a huge fan of his freestyle sets. He gets some lovely tracks going, and for ages his venues were the only local place I could dance to Marc Anthony. And that's why I wasn't surprised about the rave reviews for his Storm set.

The weird thing is that I can immediately tell the difference between him & Tom, when they change over at the decks, however I know the man with the trousers once asked him about the music & John apparently replied that he tells Tom what to play! :D

So, my dear Whitebeard (or Whiteboard as I noticed you were called in another thread - that made me chuckle!), will you be going to the Hall of Walls on Sat? I'm sure John could be persuaded to play a blinder of a set.... :wink: (And I might be able to grab him for another dance, our Jive Aces track a couple of weeks ago was great fun!)

Frankie_4711
10th-March-2006, 08:57 AM
have you had any success in booking? cos I haven't but I do have blond moments, you only have to ask Franco about my booking in May and November.:blush:


and as for the rest, try and get an invite to a party after you might be lucky and get cheese on toast :yum: if not Jamie dodders always do it for me :drool: and sleeping, there always next week for that :D I think I had about 4.5 hrs all weekend ( I did get through 24 proplus):wink:

I sent off my cheque in the post last night, as the on-line booking isn't up and running yet - so will just wait patiently:whistle: and pray to hear back!

I did have some custard creams with me, and a bag of mini choc bars!

Think I had about the same amount of 'sleep', and no pro-plus! Even when I did finally manage to crawl into bed, I was so hyped up, I couldn't get to sleep! Oh well, it was all worth it - roll on October, that's all I can say!

kryton1
10th-March-2006, 09:32 AM
You think?! :rofl:

There are only two types of music I hate. Country and Western.

Actually, my aversion to her merely goes back to Sherif's old Tuesday night classes at Yate Leisure Centre. Along with Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing", "Man I Feel Like A Woman" was played incessantly as a teaching track.

I suppose it could be worse. Someone might start to think that Coldplay is good MJ music. :shudder:

I didn't mean to be so harsh on John earlier. I am actually a huge fan of his freestyle sets. He gets some lovely tracks going, and for ages his venues were the only local place I could dance to Marc Anthony. And that's why I wasn't surprised about the rave reviews for his Storm set.

The weird thing is that I can immediately tell the difference between him & Tom, when they change over at the decks, however I know the man with the trousers once asked him about the music & John apparently replied that he tells Tom what to play! :D

So, my dear Whitebeard (or Whiteboard as I noticed you were called in another thread - that made me chuckle!), will you be going to the Hall of Walls on Sat? I'm sure John could be persuaded to play a blinder of a set.... :wink: (And I might be able to grab him for another dance, our Jive Aces track a couple of weeks ago was great fun!)


You can tell its Tom DJ ing he has hair :grin:

Whitebeard
10th-March-2006, 08:11 PM
So, my dear Whitebeard (or Whiteboard as I noticed you were called in another thread - that made me chuckle!), will you be going to the Hall of Walls on Sat? I'm sure John could be persuaded to play a blinder of a set.... (And I might be able to grab him for another dance, our Jive Aces track a couple of weeks ago was great fun!)

Whiteboard? More like Whitbored the state I'd sunk into the other night. Need to take a lesson from the other Clive on how to turn a bad night into a good one. Yes I'm planning to be there on Saturday and will endeavour to leave my "I hate this bladdy music" hat at home. Your musicology leaves mine in the shade, I'd no idea that was a Jive Aces track, but I could see you were enjoying it.

Whitebeard
10th-March-2006, 08:54 PM
You can tell its Tom DJ ing he has hair :grin:

And he dances like a dervish. He was going away at it right in front of where I was sitting on Monday and I literally felt the earth move beneath me as the sprung floor took the strain.

tomboh
10th-March-2006, 09:42 PM
There are only two types of music I hate. Country and Western.

That kind of reminds me of <a href="http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1993/mullis-lecture.html">Kary Mullis's views on country music</a>:



There is a general place in your brain, I think, reserved for "melancholy of relationships past." It grows and prospers as life progresses, forcing you finally, against your grain, to listen to country music.


I remember this well because my friend cited it in an essay for her photography degree, referring to Mullis as a woman. I think the examiner didn't notice. :nice:

Seahorse
10th-March-2006, 11:19 PM
Mostly central London - Fulham tonight, where a good few could do with compulsory attendance at the Storm dance psychology workshop.

:tears: Never mind trying to put into practice new technique - the anxiety levels are always high at Fulham since there's precious little kindness / love / feedback and most men look as if they would rather pee glass than smile.

I don't have a book of baby names or a joint mortgage proposal in my bag (and I wear my wedding ring) so where's the harm in a smile guys?

That's quite harsh for all the men there. I was at Fulham last night as well as at Storm and didn't experience any of your observations and neither did my gorgeous partners... and I'm not one of the those who parades themselves infront of the stage!... BTW I like the danced psychology workshop - and Leanne also dances at Fulham. She seemed to be having fun.

DianaS
11th-March-2006, 04:23 PM
Then my work here is (nearly) done :)


It's not a "principled stand against the Evils Of Wristbandhood" or anything - this is just me, I know I really couldn't enjoy myself with a piece of plastic wrapped around my wrist 24/7. A wrist stamp would be fine, but the feeling of it... :sick:

Others may be fine with it, but I hate that sort of thing - it's difficult enough for me to wear a watch, and as for any jewellery - :eek:
Must admit that I had strop when they tagged me and exclaimed that the end would have someone's eye out. They trimmed it so that it couldn't possibly scratch anyone and like the prima donna that I am I was suitably molli coddled. The wrist band did become invisible and the only damage I did ALL WEEKEND was treading backwards on the lovely Minnie M with high heels and removing her toe nail in one fail swoop. She remonstrated, and I suitably embarrassed pretended it wasn;t me that it was my twin sister....
Never drink and jive:cheers:
Lethal

Minnie M
11th-March-2006, 04:35 PM
........the only damage I did ALL WEEKEND was treading backwards on the lovely Minnie M with high heels and removing her toe nail in one fail swoop. She remonstrated, and I suitably embarrassed pretended it wasn;t me that it was my twin sister....
Never drink and jive:cheers:
Lethal
Accidents do happen we all have them and cause them - it is the nature of the game :blush: however, a simple apology would have sufficed - it really did hurt lots :tears:

BTW I love to drink and jive :blush: (as many know) I feel as if I dance better - or maybe it is because I am not thinking about what my feet are doing and just enjoying the music :flower:

fletch
11th-March-2006, 06:01 PM
BTW I love to drink and jive :blush: (as many know) I feel as if I dance better - or maybe it is because I am not thinking about what my feet are doing and just enjoying the music :flower:

Yo make me :rofl: when you have been drinking I remember November :D

Lou
11th-March-2006, 06:11 PM
There is a general place in your brain, I think, reserved for "melancholy of relationships past." It grows and prospers as life progresses, forcing you finally, against your grain, to listen to country music.
Ah.... but I already have that area of my brain & it's devoted to Goth, Northern Soul and "The Last Thing On My Mind" by Steps. Perhaps I'll be immune. :flower:

killingtime
30th-May-2006, 04:28 PM
I finally wrote about Storm in my blog (http://wayofthedance.blogspot.com/2006/05/march-in-review.html) :D.

...

What?

ducasi
30th-May-2006, 07:28 PM
I finally wrote about Storm in my blog (http://wayofthedance.blogspot.com/2006/05/march-in-review.html) :D.

...

What?
What? :what: You have a blog!?!?! :rofl:

Good to see your thoughts on Storm. Looking forward to April in review now... :rolleyes:

killingtime
31st-May-2006, 11:20 AM
What? :what: You have a blog!?!?! :rofl:

:na:


Good to see your thoughts on Storm. Looking forward to April in review now... :rolleyes:

Well big things in April for me were Perth and the April Fools party. I didn't make it to the Edinburgh Ceroc party that month. Since I never take my camera anywhere I'm hoping to use other people's pictures for the BFG (OK, so that's May). I think pictures brighten up posts :D.

Dizzy
31st-May-2006, 11:44 AM
:na:

{snip}

I think pictures brighten up posts :D.


Speaking of which.......

I like that photo of us - thanks Gary :hug: :worthy:

Your wife
31st-May-2006, 01:27 PM
:mad: Sorry, but this thread is reading like a Ceroc party broadcast so I just have to say....

I am thoroughly f**ked off by the gender balance tactics Ceroc employ when trying to book spaces. In any other activity this would be considered sexist. About 20 dancing men asked if I was booked onto Storm leading up to the event and I could only reply "No, because I am a bird". In the real world more women dance than men, so far women havent been turned away from freestyles (however, give it time). Perhaps Ceroc could undertake a more aggressive marketing campaign to attract more men to dancing?:angry:

Anyway I went to the real Camber, the 24 hour dancing Camber, the fluffy Camber, and had a great time despite there being more women than men, simply because I was allowed to book. :nice:

killingtime
31st-May-2006, 01:51 PM
:mad: Sorry, but this thread is reading like a Ceroc party broadcast so I just have to say....

Sorry, we did enjoy ourselves there and that's why were are posting about it. We aren't trying to do some PR for Ceroc.


I am thoroughly f**ked off by the gender balance tactics Ceroc employ when trying to book spaces. In any other activity this would be considered sexist.

Except those that controlling gender balance is considered beneficial to the enjoyment of those involved (such as dating). Often night clubs will restrict the number of men going in. There was talk on this on the gender imbalance at weekenders (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6971) thread and also about the legality of gender balance (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7377) thread.

I'm a bit undecided on that point I do think that gender control can be unfair but I understand the reasoning behind it.

I’m sorry that you never got a chance to go though :flower:.

killingtime
31st-May-2006, 01:53 PM
I like that photo of us - thanks Gary :hug: :worthy:

Thank Lory; she's the one that took it. Or at least the one that posted it :flower:.

I like that photo too :D.

Your wife
9th-June-2006, 02:00 PM
There was talk on this on the gender imbalance at weekenders (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6971) thread and also about the legality of gender balance (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7377) thread.

I'm a bit undecided on that point I do think that gender control can be unfair but I understand the reasoning behind it.

I’m sorry that you never got a chance to go though :flower:.

Thanks, that made interesting reading!:respect: