Your first ever weekender

[Sparkles]

I thought it might interesting to see what people thought the first time they ever went to a weekender.

I'm sure everyones' experiences are very different so I'd like to know:
* Which weekender did you go to first?
* What made you decide to go to a weekender?
* What was the best thing?
* What was the worst thing?
* What thing surprised you the most?
* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:

[Sparkles]

To get the ball rolling I'll answer my own questions...

* Which weekender did you go to first?

Southport September 2004

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?

I was offered a free ticket. I don't think I would have even considered going to a weekender if it hadn't been for that. For one thing I hadn't been Cerocing very long and didn't know many people and for another I hardly had any money!

* What was the best thing?

Overcoming my fear of not knowing anyone and making firm friends that have lasted ever since.
One person who was instrumental was MinnieM :worthy: - she 'took me under her wing' somewhat and introduced me to lots of lovely forumites who not only asked me to dance but also bothered to spend some time talking with me and getting to know me.

* What was the worst thing?

Feeling completely out of my depth in the blues room and not being physically or mentally prepared for how draining the weekend would be.

* What thing surprised you the most?

How many people there were :eek:!
I guess I expected it to be about double the size of a normal freestyle night in London (so say 500-600 people). Nothing could have prepared me for around 1000 people!

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?

I had a fantastic time overall and I knew that it would be the perfect place for Foxy and I to go to together!

* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:

I was miffed that I wasn't prepared for the fancy dress at the first weekender so this wasn't at my first weekender, but the second... the fancy dress theme was 'Wild, Wicked and Wacky' and I had a very skimpy outfit to wear... it took about a bottle of wine just to get me out the chalet in it! I was so nervous!!

So come on the rest of you... tell all! :cheers:

[Lynn]

I thought it might interesting to see what people thought the first time they ever went to a weekender. Good thread. My first weekender had a big impact on my dancing, esp as it came a few weeks after the last regular class in NI for what was to be almost 2 years.

* Which weekender did you go to first?
Southport May 2004.

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?
I read about weekenders on here, thought they sounded fab, and someone pointed out that Southport was an easy location to get to from NI so I thought I would give it a go - and brought 7 others with me from NI.

* What was the best thing?
Seeing the Blues Room - the music, the dancing - wow!

* What was the worst thing?
Seeing the Blues Room - the music, the dancing - help!

* What thing surprised you the most?
That so many lovely dancers really didn't mind if I made a few mistakes.

* What made you go to another one/book another one?
The things I had learned, the way my dancing was stretched by dancing with so many different people, the friendliness of the dancers, meeting forumites, buying shoes, the whole experience.

And the fact that there was by that stage no MJ in NI so going on another weekender was the only way I could get to dance again!

* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share
Hmm, might keep those to myself...:innocent:

[ducasi]

* Which weekender did you go to first?

Southport – June 2006

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?

Everyone else was going – I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

* What were the best things?

Meeting folks I knew only on the forum.

My dances with L. :awe:

* What were the worst things?

Waking up to ants everywhere.

That it had to end.

* What things surprised you the most?

How much I enjoyed it.

How late I danced.

How few workshops I did.

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?

The hope that the ones in the future will even be half as good as the first one.

* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:

I was especially impressed by the consistently high standard of dancing going on around me. Doubly impressed when some of these amazing dancers had nice things to say about me. Never met a hot-shot the whole weekend. :flower:

[foxylady]

* Which weekender did you go to first?

Jumping at the Woodside in 2004 (or was it 2003 ? eek )

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?

I learnt to Lindy with James Hamilton back in the old days, and I wanted to see him again (also I had lost loads of weight so I wanted him to see how gorgeous I was :wink: )

* What was the best thing?

The classes were superb. I met Rhythm King who was really friendly and introduced me to some other people...

* What was the worst thing?

That the Lindy crowd was quite stand offish. Despite being a competent (albeit rusty) lindy dancer, I wasn't in the in-crowd so few would dance with me

* What thing surprised you the most?

Doing Dan Baines Hip hop class and coping

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?

Sparkles :- the BFG and the June southport 2005 (and I've never looked back ! :kiss: )

[DavidB]

* Which weekender did you go to first?
Camber
* What made you decide to go to a weekender?
Asked to do a cabaret
* What was the best thing?
Not dropping Lily
* What was the worst thing?
The accomodation
* What thing surprised you the most?
The accomodation
* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
Ceroc Oxford Easter Tezer had rooms you didn't mind sleeping in.

[WittyBird]

Never met a hot-shot the whole weekend.



I really must try harder next time :D

[David Bailey]

* Which weekender did you go to first?
A one-off salsa / MJ weekender, sometime in the later 1990's as I recall. I think it was a Brean Sands?

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?
I wanted to do both dances and thought I'd be bored MJ-ing all weekend.

* What was the best thing?
Being able to swap dance styles all weekend.

* What was the worst thing?
Hundreds (literally) of women over - lining the outside of the dance floor in rows waiting to pounce :eek:

* What thing surprised you the most?
See above :)

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
I had a nice time, but I didn't learn much - all the classes were big and very disorganised. The freestyles were nice, but the accommodation was a bit of a shock.

* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:
Very few people can do both dances to a reasonable level. OK, that's not particularly helpful, but it's the only thing I can remember :blush:

[Gojive]

* Which weekender did you go to first?

Partyweekender, Warmwell - circa 1998 :eek:

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?

I was 'dragged' along to it by my dance teachers of the time. I think I'd been dancing just a few weeks, and was intending to sit and watch with a beer or two....

* What was the best thing?

Never getting the chance to sit and watch with a beer or two! I couldn't believe how often I'd end up dancing instead :blush:

Also, dancing to a live band for the first time was truely mind blowing to me :waycool:

* What was the worst thing?

Not getting a chance to drink the beer or two! :yum:

Seriously though, a guy had massive heart attack on the dance floor, and sadly died that night :(

* What thing surprised you the most?

The friendleness of such a large number of dancers in one place, and the fact that there wasn't one ounce of trouble breaking out between men with a drink in their hands - something I'd come to expect to happen, coming from Gillingham as I did at the time.

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?

I was quite simply hooked on the atmosphere.

[Lory]

* Which weekender did you go to first?

Camber May 2003 (pre- forum days)

* What made you decide to go to a weekender?

A few people I'd met in the dancing world, were regulars at them and said I'd love it! They were right!

* What was the best thing?

The best thing was the laughter...And being able to have a drink and not worry about driving home! I went with my friend Joanne, an old school mate, who'd started dancing 3 weeks before me (now a Ceroc teacher) and I swear we turned back to 12year olds, we never stopped laughing from the time we left home. We hardly knew anyone, which was also very exciting.

* What was the worst thing?

Not being able to sleep, at ALL. I'd never experienced anything quite like it. My body was a wreck and yet I just couldn't get to sleep..:sick: :tears: I now take sleeping tablets at all weekenders.;)

* What thing surprised you the most?

How much my dancing improved in just 3 days!:na:

* What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
Meeting and making friends with so many new people.
.
* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share I remember seeing this large and lively group erecting a gazebo on the grass near us and lovely wafts of BBQ'd food creeping over, they were dressed in Hawaiian fancy-dress, drinking cocktails and playing outrageous games (winnie:really: ) and I thought, aww it'd be really nice
to do something like that. Anyway, Joanne and myself sat looking out the window, when all of a sudden 2 cocktails came our way!

I've since found out it was Mr and Mrs Underpar and their friends.:worthy: :hug:

[Dizzy]

Which weekender did you go to first?
Southport September 2005

What made you decide to go to a weekender?
I had been dancing for 6 months and I had never been to a weekender before. After reading about them on the forum, I decided to try it out and go.

What was the best thing?
The atmosphere, The people, meeting forumites, The Blues Room, dancing until morning...... :drool:

What was the worst thing?
I had a chalet on my own so I felt quite lonely as I didn't really know many people either.

What thing surprised you the most?
The fact that I could stay awake and dance until dawn - I thought that I had gone past that age :whistle:

What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
The atmosphere, the people, The Blues Room, dancing until morning... :D The overall Southport Buzz!!

Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:
What happens on a weekender stays on a weekender :innocent:.

[Sheepman]

Which weekender did you go to first?
Butlin's, Weston-Super-Mare, 1992.
Not a weekender in the current sense, no lessons, no all night dancing. Just a group of about 35 of us on a music weekender, along with a few thousand muggles.

What made you decide to go to a weekender?
It was organised by friends, and sounded like fun, and more sociable than the weekly classes. (Even Saturday night freestyles were practically non-existent then!)

What was the best thing?
There were 2 things that stand out. In the main ballroom, for about 2 hours on the Saturday night, the DJ kept announcing "And here's something for the non-jivers." He wanted us to stop monopolising the dancefloor, but of course we just kept on, and on, and on dancing. :D He was probably used to rock & rollers who would only dance to one style & speed of music.
The other thing was after the ballroom closed (1 a.m. or was it even midnight!! :eek: ) we all piled into the diner, which was done up in '50s style, we put the jukebox on, and before long the tables were pushed back giving room to dance. All so spontaneous, I recall the faces of many muggles pressed against the windows, wondering what on earth was going on!
Oh, and a third thing, the bit where we were jamming, each doing a few seconds showing off, my bit was jumping and spinning 2 & 1/2 times in the air and still landing upright, I couldn't even attempt that nowadays. :sad:

What was the worst thing?
The canteen food!

What thing surprised you the most?
The guy that dressed up with a gorilla mask, it was such an improvement! :devil:

What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
Because it was brilliant fun from start to end, even without much dancing.

Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share :flower:
I ached so much! This wasn't just from dancing either, though I wasn't used to dancing for more than 2 hours in a night. The aches built up starting from the Friday afternoon, when I'd been chasing after a mugger. Laserquest on the Saturday (my first time, & brilliant fun!) And lots of table tennis on the Sunday. Nowadays I just stick with the dancing, it's much easier on the body!
More remeniscences ... there's a proper name for this move, which we did in an empty room next to the diner. You are in a circle with arms linked, a minimum of 4 people, (we had about 16) you travel around in the circle until you have enough speed and the ladies feet leave the ground - we were going so fast they were practically horizontal!

I'm sure there are some great (embarrassing?) photos somewhere in a box. I'm now going to spend the day lost in memories!

Greg

[Winnie]

*
[B]* Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share I remember seeing this large and lively group erecting a gazebo on the grass near us and lovely wafts of BBQ'd food creeping over, they were dressed in Hawaiian fancy-dress, drinking cocktails and playing outrageous games (winnie:really: ) and I thought, aww it'd be really nice
to do something like that. Anyway, Joanne and myself sat looking out the window, when all of a sudden 2 cocktails came our way!

I've since found out it was Mr and Mrs Underpar and their friends.:worthy: :hug:

I didn't realise you'd seen us play outrageous games :blush:

[Gadget]

What constitues a "Weekender" ? Do you have to stay in the same place as the events?

[fletch]

What constitues a "Weekender" ? Do you have to stay in the same place as the events?
Good point :what: can I calss next week end as a Weekender, I am in competition with under par:cheers:

[Tiggerbabe]

Which weekender did you go to first?
Southport - think it was May 2004.
What made you decide to go to a weekender?
We were asked to perform the "Chicago Cabaret" on the Saturday night.
What was the best thing?
The sheer number of dancers and the amazing dances I had with people I knew and didn't know.
Nachos in Linda's chalet, with Linda, Sherwin, Sam and Tiger Pants at about 6am - yes, the seeds had been sewn even at the first event!
Our last cabaret rehearsal which was held outside the chalets, on the grass, in the sunshine ending in a round of applause from a host of people watching from the balconies - brilliant fun!
What was the worst thing?
Sherwin's car breaking down which meant we were all late in getting there on the Friday. Leaving on the Sunday afternoon - :tears:
What thing surprised you the most?
The number of people and luggage we managed to get in the other cars so that everyone made it down safely.
What made you go to another one/book another one (or if you didn't and never will, why won't you)?
Couldn't wait to do it all again :clap:
Plus any other information or anecdotes you'd care to share
One of my lasting memories is of David Chu almost collapsing in hysterics when he was given the official title of "shirt lifter" for picking up the guys shirts when they rip them off in the cabaret, and of the smile on his face when he finally got a dance with Jive Brummie.