Storm March 07, the aftermath

[Rebecca]

The caberets were great especially Simon and Nicoles one, it gave me goosebumps!

This was a wonderful routine - an absolute pleasure to watch

[Lynn]

Review

Due to personal stuff (sore back etc) I wasn't dancing well or enjoying dancing as much on Fri night and Sat daytime but as I relaxed into the weekend that improved by Sat night and was back on form. It meant I was sticking more than usual to familiar faces and gentle leads but I did still manage to have some nice dances with new people and don't think I had a bad dance all weekend.

I spent a lot of time in the WCS room, and as mentioned, loved the music in there. Small numbers but a big thanks to those who were there - esp a few experienced WCSers who took the time to dance with me and offer really helpful feedback. Perhaps it was partly because there weren't many people in there, but I felt that the WCS dancers who were there were welcoming and friendly to me, and as a newbie I appreciated that and tried to be equally welcoming to the WCS complete first timers who ventured in.

It was a pity that so few people were there - a lot of people came and looked in and left again as there weren't many about - more people would have given the room a vibe which would have attracted even more in. (I just persisted and stayed there even when there was almost no-one else because I'm in my 'make the most of every opportunity to learn and dance WCS' mode.)

Liked the COZ - some good sets in there. I also liked what I heard of the music upstairs, just being careful with my back meant I was more inclined to dance downstairs.

A few really yummy dances with leads I know and trust and can just relax into the dance and play with. Lovely.

Improvements would include DJ lists and if Ceroc are ever going to try a WCS room again, thinking about location and ways of encouraging enough dancers in. Or if they are going to play a lot of WCS music in the COZ then maybe an advertisted WCS set in there at some stage?

And I had a fab chalet mate

Funny that, so did I!

[fletch]

where to start........what a weekend.

arrived as everyone else did in a massive Storm apropriat realy, as we were at Storm and it seems to be causing a storm, but it didn't make a difference to me as BARMPOT move the car to my challet and put all my things into it for me allowing me to play with my mates for a while.


I don't think I have laughed so much on a weekender ever.

Fab company Fab dances,

Some highlights, I will think of more but my head still a bit fuzzeled.

Getting to know Anette and Eric a bit more wonderful DJ's lovely people, Eric you made me laugh so much when you got turfed of the stage while you were DJing Anette were we parted at birth?

Dales Kareoke with backing singers.

The lady who asked me 'do I get a prize if I find the other 5 Fletcherette's cos I can only find 5 out of the 10'

the guy who joined me for a Mowtown dance and blew me off the floor with his back flips and spins.


OXO's for playing 'Kiss me with your mouth' and reminding me of my Ex Steve Duffy

Tom Baker..... for all my dances.

Paul, what can I say, dances, 'The dance' and your lovely company, and the demonstration on Witty in the pub Sunday afternoon.

BARMPOT who totally pampered me all weekend, I can't count the amount times he ran backwards and forwards to and from the chalet for me, and doing us bacon sandwiches at 5.30 am and bringing them back to us in the 'blues room' I think the breakfast club is getting bigger.

Rob Ambridge, Eddie Grant at the end of the night, wow! I hadn't heard that for ages, your the tops.

Jamie well you were an unexpected guest, but you aren't a bit of trouble, well to look after anyway. and taking it so well

Mark and Rachel, for been Mark and Rachel love ya!

Val and Rocky what a team, such good fun. thanks for the party.

There was one low......Val had her coat taken at the end of the evening Monday morning with all her things in it, that's a BIG NO, NO you don't take from people, to$$er!

Totaly loved it wonderfull

[Lee Bartholomew]

i had a really fab weekend made even better by the people i had around me. The caberets were great especially Simon and Nicoles one, it gave me goosebumps!

Thanks. Screwed my cabaret up alittle. Hope it didn't show too much .

[Lory]

ending up on my *rse

ending up flat on my *rse

SA ended up on the floor

I'm glad it wasn't just me then!

I even saw Val floored too!!

[DavidY]

We only really participated in Paul F’s classes – Paul you were great, so natural. This was my 3rd WCS class at a weekender and Paul’s teaching really made the concepts stick like no-one I’ve seen before him.

I did all 5 of Paul's WCS classes and learnt a lot.

Also a big Thank You to Paul & Catherine (?sp) for doing an extra "consolidation" class at 10pm on Sunday night where they zoomed through all 16 of the moves they'd taught at the weekend. I hope the people who'd turned out to do some WCS freestyle didn't mind too much, because this was really helpful to us WCS newbies...

[under par]

I'm glad it wasn't just me then!

I even saw Val floored too!!

Well I spent the whole of my time at Storm sat on my *rse ... due to a sprained ankle

A pint of guiness, or 6, a few red wines and an early night ... but I did get to chat with so many well wishers that I would normally only danced with thanks to you all for your concern.

Mrs Par had a great time especially enjoying Paul F WCS lessons. I've never seen him teach before but I sat and watched his lesson on Saturday evening. I thought he and his demo did a great job of getting over the lesson and was very impressed with Paul's delivery and patience after the class with the punters.

I cannot comment on any other lessons because I didn't see any others!! I spent most of my time at the bar or in the chalet


Very difficult being at a weekender with so many great dancers and hearing so much good music and not be able to dance....painful

But Mrs Par had a great time

[Lynn]

I hope the people who'd turned out to do some WCS freestyle didn't mind too much, because this was really helpful to us WCS newbies...

They mostly hadn't turned out to WCS freestyle - they'd turned out for the review - at 9:50 there were about 7 people in the room (if even that) - it filled up just before 10 for the review. The review was an excellent way of getting people into the room to have a go - that's exactly what people need to do.

[robd]

Good
* Lots of good dances and music that generally hit the spot for me.
* ZW's sets in the boudoir. Best music of the weekend. She even played 'Skin on Skin' as her final track on the Saturday
* Dancing with ZW to that final track
* Opportunity to throw in a number of different dance styles. I had some cha-cha (on the 4&1 I hasten to add ), a fair amount of WCS, some tango and a smattering of social foxtrot which all went to add some welcome variety
* I enjoyed watching the cabarets
* A tolerant chalet mate (who also made some pretty mean cakes)
* Nicely slidey floors
* Some impromptu tuition from Jive_P even though I still haven't quite got those moves
* Never feeling too crowded on the dancefloor
* Wristbands were much better than at Breeze

Bad
* Not managing to make many classes. I did get to a beginner's WCS which I really enjoyed but other classes that I intended to attend somehow fell by the wayside.
* The weather
* The curtailment of ZW's Sunday afternoon 'Sack The DJ' slot by someone who proceeded to pretty much clear the floor
* Someone I know who is learning WCS locally being looked up and down by a forumite she asked to dance WCS with in the WCS room and being asked 'Who's your teacher and how long have you been doing WCS?' before being granted a dance. I saw the same forumite giving his time to help someone else with some basics over the weekend so I am not trying to say this is typical behaviour but the person I know was understandably very miffed by this and it doesn't help in terms of widening the pool of WCS dancers across the country.

Ugly
* Some t-shirt slogans were pretty crass. Unless you find swear words amusing, that is.

[Gav]

It's taken me a while to put my two penneth in because I've not long since got home.
Arrived Friday afternoon to a lovely sunny, mild day and had a nice relaxing drink in Dunes, before some more drinks in the Pontins pub.
Some great dancing in the pub and the Blues room Friday night (surprisingly a few great dances upstairs too!).
Had my first dance with Jamie. Don't want to continue to inflate his ego any more, but definitely the best male follower I've danced with so far.
Met even more forumites for the first time and all nice people too. One dance in the bar with a forumite that felt great, even though I didn't actually do very much .
Thanks to one special forumite who continues to teach me new stuff and encourage me to relax more.
Saturday, I wanted to do two of the workshops. The first was far too packed and the demonstration of the routine was uninspiring so we left. The second interfered with a very special birthday dinner with a very special person
Despite not getting to dance very much, I had a wonderful time anyway. Shame we had to leave on Sunday morning

I like swearwords and apparently my t-shirt may have caused offence. Ah well

[Minnie M]

...........Did some people park 'free' When I arrived the guy at the gates asked to see my paperwork, my chalet mate had the same papers (I was asked to pass on this as I was the lead person) - could she have used her set of papers to get her car in ??

Have to admit, I was a little cross, as after paying the £10 I did at least expect a 'legal' parking spot.

.......... As for the parking issues, I paid my tenner and parked with no problem but my chalet mates (who didn't book a space) had my details (as group leader) and their car reg taken from them when they got there and were told to park as close as they could to their chalet and then to enjoy the evening Nothing about separate car parks. No wonder people ended up parking on the verges ..

hmmmmm......... thought that might have happened ..... not your chalet mates' fault though

[stewart38]

YOU MEAN YOU DIDNT MISS ME

Not my fault if you were in bed all weekend, poorly

i had a really fab weekend made even better by the people i had around me. The caberets were great especially Simon and Nicoles one, it gave me goosebumps!

Well done to everyone on the team and crew for storm

Agree best ive seen from them

Yes for the crew as well , cant be fun looking at peoples wrists for an hour or two unless you have a wrist fetish ?

[Sheepman]

Oops - still editing...

[Cruella]

I had an absolute ball with the handbag dancing, the atmosphere was incredible! (SEE HERE, sorry its terrible quality! Therefore, i'm afraid it'll only make sense if you were there! But at least you'll be able to enjoy the singing! )

I see 'The Finger' made an star appearance too!

[stewart38]

* * The curtailment of ZW's Sunday afternoon 'Sack The DJ' slot by someone who proceeded to pretty much clear the floor

Yes I notice that, the 234bpm thing after a mellow phase

why cant we score the DJs at the end of their set out of 5, put it in a post box.

i dont know , but how do you give feed back apart from on here ??

[David Bailey]

* Someone I know who is learning WCS locally being looked up and down by a forumite she asked to dance WCS with in the WCS room and being asked 'Who's your teacher and how long have you been doing WCS?' before being granted a dance. I saw the same forumite giving his time to help someone else with some basics over the weekend so I am not trying to say this is typical behaviour but the person I know was understandably very miffed by this and it doesn't help in terms of widening the pool of WCS dancers across the country.

Careful, you'll be accusing WCS-ers of being snooty soon...

[Sheepman]

Good
The journey down (albeit a bit slow at times in South London), arriving in sunshine Having had a relaxed and scrummy pub lunch.
The check in speed, (though it was a little intimidating being the only one there faced with all those manned desks, it felt like I was going into a polling station!)
The dance floors, all superb and fast, and no rough edges on the temporary flooring. (I've just remembered that I didn't wear shoes that might have revealed any rough edges anyway.)
The people.
The abscence of overplaying tracks in the sets I heard.
Chilled water, always available as were the cups.
Simon & Nicole's cabaret

Highlights
The company and the food when dining at "The Place" on Sunday night.
Impromptu champagne, and watching LM go crimson at a barrage of unremitting compliments about her dancing.
An amazing WCS dance with Rebecca (who says she's a beginner ) Thanks for playing that track Steve.
Several wonderful dances with new and familiar faces that transcended expectations.
The lunar eclipse.


The Bad
The filthy state of the chalet, every cooking utensil needed cleaning, every cupboard/surface was sticky, and what I cleaned from the floor is best not mentioned After an hour or so of cleaning, and plenty of bleach, it was bearable.
The strong smell of fresh paint in the chalet, OK at least it meant the woodwork was clean!
The inadequate heating - I've stayed in Camber plenty of times before, but never in a chalet with such underpowered heaters, they were tiny! Once the sun had disappeared, we spent Friday early evening under a duvet watching a film trying to get warm. (OK I know I should have gone dancing - but see injuries!)
The location of water coolers in the COZ, leading to crowding in that spot & spillages on the dance floor.
Apart from periods in the COZ on Friday & Saturday night, THE MUSIC EVERYWHERE WAS TOO LOUD!!! OK I expect that in Camber in the main room, (one reason I hardly ever dance there.) My ears are still ringing, and I expect will do for some time.
The injuries, - for me only being able to dance for about an hour on Friday night, for LM severely restricting her dancing, and Sparkles, who caught my elbow when trying to scoot through a space which wasn't quite there. I hope it heals quickly!
The Boudoir being closed before 10pm on Saturday night, when it was due to go on till 1:30 a.m.(?), when I was hoping to find something different.
Just too many dancers I missed
Missing ZWs sets.
Being too slow to get one of Sparkles cakes, entirely my own fault.

More soon ...

Greg

[Sheepman]

Perhaps it was partly because there weren't many people in there, but I felt that the WCS dancers who were there were welcoming and friendly to me, and as a newbie I appreciated that and tried to be equally welcoming to the WCS complete first timers who ventured in.

I do hope it had nothing to do with it not being busy in there. I'm sure as a cross section the Westies are just like other groups of dancers. Many will welcome new people, and appreciate how essential freestyle is in order to consolidate and improve.

It was a pity that so few people were there -snip -

Improvements would include DJ lists and if Ceroc are ever going to try a WCS room again, thinking about location and ways of encouraging enough dancers in. Or if they are going to play a lot of WCS music in the COZ then maybe an advertisted WCS set in there at some stage?

I much preferred the atmosphere in the COZ, where I heard more WCS music than I've ever heard in a "Blues" room. The WCS room was more like a stark dance studio, I had some fab dances in there, but also struggled more with the volume in there.
I totally agree re. DJ lists, if I'd known when Steve was playing, I would have made more effort to spend time in there, and I hear that I missed a great set on Friday night (have I mentioned that I was injured )
As well as atmosphere, I think it's a case of the wrong location, maybe if WCS had been in the Boudoir, (OK a small space, but nearly big enough to accommodate the dancers I saw in the WCS room) then the Westies could easily move between the COZ and WCS. That might also have kept the pub open instead of being shut early. Up the stairs and through the ballroom is just too far to go when the next track is likely to be fine for WCS.

Greg

[Sheepman]

the sheep in the field outside my kitchen window

I'd like to point out that at no time was I to be found in any of the fields...

The Footwork Fusion class on Sat by George Rundle which included a great combination of dance styles.

I just caught a few minutes of this towards the end of the class, and thought "I wish I'd done this class." If there had been more precise descriptions of some of the classes in the programme, then I would have made more effort, I really hadn't expected there to be any tango in this class, and yes, I did realise that George is into tango. Essentially I want precise information so that I go to the classes that are right for me.

Didn't feel that there was the same "buzz" that there was last year, but good weekend on the whole.

That pretty much sums it up for me too, (oh, except that I wasn't there last year). I had plenty of fab dances, but for me, this didn't reach the parts that other weekenders reach. One person I spoke to suggested it was because there were "Too many egos on display here" maybe somebody can explain this better to me?

I was loving John Baker's set in the blues room on Saturday night

It just shows you can't please all the people all the time, for me this was my least favourite set, though I only realised this during the last half hour or so, when it was still good stuff, but just seemed too samey for me, then Marc came on, and continued in the same vein for the next 15 minutes or so

Generally I thought the COZ music was great, though at times I felt the RnB was overdone, especially on Sunday night, when I heard very little latin or neuvo tango. My favourite sets were Tessalicious on Friday (though I wasn't able to dance much.) On Saturday Vince, Marc & Oxo did it for me

I only spent about half an hour in the main ballroom, in the early hours of Monday morning. No complaints about the music, though apart from one track (Lil' Star) the speed was pretty unremitting, and out of the dances I had, only one fab dancer could really cope with anything more than absolute basics at this speed.

* The curtailment of ZW's Sunday afternoon 'Sack The DJ' slot by someone who proceeded to pretty much clear the floor

Sorry Bill, it was good music, wrong time (I know Fletch will disagree), still, I needed to catch up on my sleep.

* * Someone I know who is learning WCS locally being looked up and down by a forumite she asked to dance WCS with in the WCS room and being asked 'Who's your teacher and how long have you been doing WCS?' before being granted a dance. I saw the same forumite giving his time to help someone else with some basics over the weekend so I am not trying to say this is typical behaviour but the person I know was understandably very miffed by this and it doesn't help in terms of widening the pool of WCS dancers across the country.

Certainly not typical in my experience. I can only think of one person there that might do this, and he should know better. OK to ask these questions after a dance, but definitely not as part of a "pre dance exam"!

Greg

[Lynn]

I do hope it had nothing to do with it not being busy in there. I'm sure as a cross section the Westies are just like other groups of dancers. Many will welcome new people, and appreciate how essential freestyle is in order to consolidate and improve.

I meant simply because there were less people in there I didn't get lost in a corner and I got asked to dance more. In the COZ if a WCS track comes on the Westies will go and find another Westie to dance with - for me to get a dance I'd have to be a lot more proactive. Also if only some of the tracks in a set are WCS ones then Westies will be more inclined to want to dance those with their fav partners, whereas because all the music was WCS there was more time for them to dance with new people. So simple logistics.

Agree the location was a problem and somewhere closer to the COZ would have worked much better.