I am obviously a bit slow off the mark after arriving home and going straight to bed but I am still reeling from this weekend.
Good things
- The friendly, relaxed atmosphere that oozed from the whole weekend was really refreshing. I felt quite at home. The guys were very approachable with big smiles on their faces and they were coming up and asking me to dance too .
- The Ceildh was great fun - very civilised without being rowdy but still walked away completely out of breath from being spun around fast enough.
- I can honestly say that I don't think that I had one bad dance the whole weekend and even had some unexpectly good ones
- The caravan was quite luxurious - big sitting room with fantastic views over the peninsula.
- Sharing a caravan with Lynn and Jivecat - Thanks guys
- Some great people to chat with and socialise over the weekend. It's always great to catch up and see people that you don't get to see that often.
- Meeting so many forumites that I had not met before
- Sunday evening was by far the best night of the weekend purely because the leaders were all in a relaxed, experimental mood - fantastic
- The amount of massages I received over the weekend - big thanks to Magic Hans, McJester, Gadget and BTC Bill
- Some great WCS dances and music too - especially all the Sack the DJ forumites who tried out
Not so Good Things
- The classes that I really wanted to do were all on on at 10am!! I did manage to crawl out of bed for Ben and Carla's Slides class on saturday morning but didn't get up for their connection class on sunday morning.
- The lack of Dave Hancock on saturday night due to drink and also Paul F most of the sunday WCS sets due to him consuming too much wine on sat night.
- I was such a wimp both nights and bailed out about 4.30am both nights so missed the UP party folics and the last dance on Sunday . I am sure someone else will fill you in.
- The weather - it was apparently really sunny on Thursday and then when we arrived the heavens opened.
- Due to the weather being so crap, the caravans were extremely cold - thanks to my hot water bottle and Jivecat's spare duvet, I managed to survive.
- The lack of Franck and Sheena for most of the weekend as they were both running around like headless chickens making sure everything was ok.
This weekend has been one of the best I have been on so far and I don't think that Franck and Sheena will ever get the amount of respect they deserve
Big Up Scotland!!!
Last edited by Dizzy; 14th-May-2007 at 07:52 PM.
- we did tell you Simon
Ok, review for me - overall a very good weekend.
Good
- Venue: nice park, amazing view (well, when it's not raining!). Good floor in the main room, temporary floor ok (small joints and a bit uneven too), floor in the blues room was a bit too sticky though - but talc powder fixed that.
- Dancing: I just was in the mood for it. Some great dances, especially saturday and sunday night - was in a (very) playful mood on sunday and I really had fun doing 2 leads 1 follow dances - thanks Isabelle, Simon, ZW, Jamie and Freya!
- People: somehow the social aspect made up for some of the downsides of the week-end (see later). Great to be invited to share with MsFab and Paul - thanks guys
- Cabarets: wow what an amazing show Ben and Carla put up
However why were they not asked to do a freestyle dance as well?
- meeting new forumites, always great to put faces on names
- I got Tornado-ed - 3 times. Not often things live up to their reputation after the hype - but I can say that move just makes you go 'oooooh' all the time!!! I just couln't repress it! Thanks Captain Fantastic
Not so good
- Venue: the park is a little BIG... not so cool when your caravan is right at the end of the site!!! Also it was fairly cold, even in the flats - not sure how that will go down in october... I had to spend 20 min in a hot shower to warm up as another cold night combined with the lack of sleep let me feeling cold pretty much all day today
The main downside was the Boudoir room though - unless you took your friends with you there was no chance people would come in and find you (hence my first STDJ slot was very empty )! The fact that it was in a different building was really an hindrance as you couldn't just walk from a workshop to the other to some dancing...
- Dancing: lack of chilled out dancing in the afternoon which I usually love...
No blues room on sunday night , although music got better with the hours... Lack of wcs leaders...
- Workshops: shame to have to chose between dancing all night long and doing workshops (why were the best workshops at 10 am !)... my body just wouldn't take 4 hours of sleep plus a full day of workshops and all night dancing... Sleep is such a waste of time. Great line up though, hard to chose which one to attend sometimes !
Blaze 2 ?
Given the number of weekenders, trips to the US I am doing this year, and limited numbers of leave days left, I'm not sure about Blaze 2 yet. I'll need some motivation to get over the it's-going-to-be-freezing thing.
So it will mainly depends on who is coming, teachers (i.e. if there are wcs pros from the US I'm sure I'll brave the cold... ) and friends wise as well...
The Good
My Fab demo Jive addicted who looked very sexy wiggling his hips at our workshop
My wonderful dances that inspired me to push myself and dance better than i have in a while.
Paul F and Simon R's Calf muscles
Tiggerbabes set on sunday
Lots of cuddles from lots of friends
Lovely Caravan and roomie
Cereal boxes!
Spending more time giggling than dancing
and finally my entire sunday night antics!
The Bad
The rain...thought you ordered sunshine franck.
No dances with Franck
Boiler not working (however cute guy came out to fix it)
Dancing finishing way too early.
The Weird
Under Par with his shorts pulled up to far!
I have to say it was THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!!
Big up to Franck and Sheena
Well, I've had a little rest and some time to compose my thoughts, so here goes..
I didn't have a clue what to expect from this weekend, Sheena had warned me it was going to be smaller in numbers than the others but I wasn't sure how this was going to affect the atmosphere but the moment we arrived, we felt so welcomed, involved and valued it was heart-warming, it seemed that all the Scots were working together in an effort to make us feel special!
On the journey home, ZW, Dizzy, MsFab and myself were all laughing about the fact, if you sat down for longer than a minute or so, you could almost guarantee that someone (and it could be just about anyone) would appear out of no where and start stroking, massaging you or playing with your hair .. as Paul F said, it was sometimes like a mass group groping session!
Friday morning, I got the early flight up and bumped into Mr and Mrs Underpar and MinnieM, who started my weekend off with a bang, especially when Paul brought me a Bacardi and Coke at 10am while we were waiting to be picked up he twisted my arm ... we couldn't believe it when we found out that Franck (the big man himself) was personally coming to pick us up..
A big thanks to Gordy for helping me move into my caravan!
The site!
My initial impression of the complex was, it felt something like a large motorway service station, with Burger King's, amusements, pubs, clubs, shops and bars, with doors leading into 'show bars' etc but its different once outside.. the view of the sea was lovely, especially when we were treated to a beautiful sunset!
As someone else said, it was nice to have all the facilities open and IMO, 'Srummy Yummy's was the best place to eat by far... their freshly home-made soups were to die for!
Our Caravan was huge, we had three bedrooms between 2 of us and enough seating to accommodate about 16 people! It was spotless and even had washing up liquid and shampoo!
Workshops - I confess, i only did one.. Amir's advanced Jango, (beautifully demo'd by MsFab) I definitely wouldn't say it was 'advanced' but I did get some good pointers out of it and I was very lucky to have a fab partner to fix with, which made all the difference.. thanks BlueShoes! and Amir was funny! (I agree with Caro about the times though... I think it would have been better to put the more advanced workshops on in the afternoon, as the more experienced dancers tend to be the late night dancers too! I had to make myself leave the after party party earlier than i'd have liked to, so I could get some sleep first )
Cabarets - These were superb... Nicole and Simon did themselves proud and were well worthy of sharing the equal limelight with Carla and Ben (well done guys )... What was nice, was the fact that the performances were so contrasting! It was fabulous to watch Ben and Carla freestyling too, their musicality is simply breathtaking.
Ben seemed happy to dance with anyone who asked and woo hoo, wait for it.....he even asked 'ME' twice too!!
Funny moments - At after party party at the Underpar's... firstly Paul fused all the electric's, so we had to sit in the dark (but not for long, as its only dark up there for about 4 hours a night) then we played 'Chubby bunny's' which involves stuffing as many marshmallows into your face keep saying chubby bunny's... Rebecca had just put her 9th marshmallow in, when a whole bunch of people arrived.... believe me, it wasn't pretty! And paul, just want to say, you have a very big mouth, as well as everything else!
Firefly's introduction to ZW... I think i'll let her explain that one.. if she's not scarred for life from the experience?
The Ceildh- great fun... it reminded me of the 'County dancing' I was so fond of at school!
Mine and Rebecca's impromptu 'line dance' lesson from Jamie.. we were really getting into it in the end! Thanks Jamie!
Sunday night stands out as one of my best nights EVER, no one cared what they looked like, we just danced our little socks off!
Where an earth we all got that last burst of energy from, I'll never know! (Freya and Jamie, your not human!)
Franck, apparently my hair was horizontal, when we span! ... loved our other dances too!
Cheeks pole dance.. then Gadgets majorettes display! (Franck holding his breath, as he visualised it all going horribly wrong!)
Sheena's set!
Lemon Cake's home baking!
Magic hands, proving he really is worthy of his name... he miraculously got rid of a pain i'd had in my knee for the past two weeks!
Scottish bear hugs.... I love them!
Sharing with ZW, my stomach ached from laughing so much!
The bad..
The rain on the first day
I missed spending as much time as i'd hope too with Franck and Sheena and also knowing they felt the same way was sad very sad!
All in all though, a brilliant weekend!
Photo's to follow...
Last edited by Lory; 14th-May-2007 at 10:47 PM.
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
This was my first weekender, and had a fabulous time! Everyone was lovely, and all the ladies were very understanding given that I've only been dancing a few months.
It was great to just be able to dance so much, and to see some truly incredible dancers. Just give me twenty years and I might just get a quarter as good as some of them.
Big hello to the Northern Ireland contingent who were all very lovely indeed, and hopefully we'll get the Inverness crowd over there very soon.
Glad everyone seemed to enjoy the ceilidh - Fiona did a great job of calling the dances as well, so a big thank you to her.
Blaze II awaits...
As promised...
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
More...
Last edited by Lory; 15th-May-2007 at 11:25 AM.
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
More ...
Last edited by Lory; 15th-May-2007 at 11:50 AM.
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
more...
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
And more ...
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
and even more..
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
I would have to say that Sunday evening/night was possibly the best dance night I have ever had at any weekender.
It was the combination of plenty of seating, the massaging, great music, great company, carefree attitude and the massaging
Although I didnt get to dance with everyone I would have liked to I really really enjoyed the night.
Some wont work I'll have another go..
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
Where to begin... well it was my first weekender so i don't have much to compare it to.
I had a great time, lost count of how many fantastic dances I had. Got intouch with my inner green eyed monster tho had to stop watching some people cause they'd just in like a league of their own.
Still plucked up enough courage to ask some of the Mount Olympus dancers to dance with me. A little star struck with some of them.
Have to do a few blues workshops still find it a little difficult to dance to it. Which meant i was mostly in the Thunder room.
Can't wait till Blaze 2 the teaching / Djing was excellent got the dvd so i could see the workshops i missed.
Do we always get a freebie when we go to a ceroc weekender?
Still bonucing off the walls was such a good laugh.
Its a shame some of the crowd had to disappear before the weekender had finished.
Whats the next ceroc weekender?
Great photos Lory!
There really is no explanation for what Little Monkey and I are doing is there?!?!?!
The other ones that didn't want to work before
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
Got back v. late last night and currently at work. will post thoughts later.
Er...
Maybe I should post something about the weekend, too? Aaargh, still tired!
Right, here goes:
Friday: Greg picked up the hire car, and then went to collect a very poorly Little Yellow Fish. We set off about 2 hours later than planned, and arrived around 7.20pm. Unfortunately the weather was rather cold, wet and miserable more or less all weekend, and because the caravan was at the far end of the site, we actually drove to the venue that night!
I had some amazing dances on Friday, but due to a certain incident it wasn't exactly a perfect night, and I now have a new nickname....
Oh, and thanks to Magic Hans for the wonderful neck and shoulder massage he gave me!
Saturday: Sam and Monika's wedding in Aberfoyle! We had a fantastic day and night at the wedding, with lots of other dancers, and after eating lots of yummy food, we danced the night away. Then we got in the car, drove back to Blaze, and continued dancing from 2.30 until the music stopped around 4.30 am. I had actually planned to go to bed after we got back, but didn't manage to leave the dancing... Unfortunately we were just too tired to join in the fun and frolics at the UP's caravan.
Sunday: Had my best dances on Sunday, first for a couple of hours in the Boudoir to ZW's fab set, then in a very empty main room and blues room from 6-9pm. For a while it was only me and about 5-6 men in the blues room, but I wasn't complaining.... I was in demand! And I had some very good dancers queuing up to dance with me, too! Unfortunately tiredness hit me after we'd had dinner at 10pm, so my dancing was pants for the rest of the night. However I stayed on to chat to people, and just as I'd decided to head for bed, Cheeks came sneaking up from behind (oh-er missus!) and gave me a wonderful massage.
The good:
Caravan mates: a sheep, a fishy, a dog and a lovely hairdresser!
The standard of the caravan
ZW's set in the boudoir
Sheepman's sets that most people missed!
My haircut! (Dazzler is my hero!)
Massages
Cuddles
Lovely dances
New shoes! (thank's Drathzel!)
The bad:
The temperature in the bedrooms. Pretty damp, too.
The floor in the blues room (but talc helped)
No blues room on Sunday, so we didn't get the 'smooth and chilled out' set that Sheepman had prepared.
The weather
Very few people, so lack of chilled out daytime dancing....
The distance between the caravan and the venue
The lack of lights on site, making it rather unpleasant to walk back alone late at night in the cold and drizzle.
The punters (kids throwing wet toilet paper at us in the boudoir)
Friday night's incident, earning me a new nickname...
The bizarre:
My 'dance' with LYF in the boudoir
ZW's introduction to Firefly!
Jamie's reaction to being tickled....
Group groping session
Simon R enjoying inflicting pain on people..... And the look on his face when he was doing it!
Forgotten lots, but giving up now.
Excuse spelling, brain still not switched on.
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