My thoughts...
First comment was that I didn't do the 'forumite thing' this weekend as there were 30 of us over from NI and I made the decision to spend most of my time on and off the dance floor with them, mainly because for many it was their first weekender and even first large freestyle event, and I know some definitely felt a little overwhelmed and needed a little moral support.Thanks to those who came over and danced with some of them, a few occasions I was aware of were Dizzy who danced with several of our guys, Caro, who one of our guys asked, and she wanted to dance that track with someone else, but came back and asked him and Tiggerbabe, who had promised a dance to another of our guys and came and found him. For some of our dancers it took them til the Sun night to get up the courage to ask anyone they didn't already know for a dance so things like that meant a lot to them.
I'm sure there were others who did likewise, I just know of those instances. (On the negative side, one of our ladies was refused with no reason by someone who proceeded to then ask someone else.
)
The site
Scenic location, our caravan was lovely, fab views over the sea, very comfortable, though the bedrooms were pretty chilly. Unfortunately some of the NI crowd weren't so well off with two groups needing to be moved several times, and another with no heater at all til Sat. Most didn't mind too much and found ways round the problems (like grill not working so toasted bread on a fork by the gas fire!). All issues with the site and not the event itself.
Great room-mates with Jivecat and Dizzy
The workshops
Fab line up of workshops - lots of great technique stuff. I did 4 and watched parts of a few more. Esp liked the connection and musicality ones - and again from the POV of being there with our local dancers - lots of new ideas for them and I could see the effects starting to come through in their freestyle which was great. This was the second Scottish event I've been to and the standard and content of workshops has been excellent at both. (So good, I felt it was well worth buying the DVD and look forward to a few 'revision' sessions with my dance partner to reinforce what has been learnt.)
Freestyle
The floor in the COZ was a bit too slow for my liking - I wanted the music that was in that room, but the atmosphere and floor of the other room - so I was quite happy later on Sun night when Marc, Sheepman and Tiggerbabe were playing more chilled sets in the main room. Also nice to have everyone in the same room - I was able to get a few dancers I'd missed out on earlier in the weekend. Still managed to miss dancing with Franck though.
Called into the Bodouir briefly but I think it suffered from location as it was very quiet. Though with the range of workshops on that I wanted to do and with spending time with our NI crowd, I didn't miss the daytime dancing much.
That's all I can think of for now. Two things that made it a great weekend for me were seeing our local dancers grow in ability and confidence over the course of the weekend - and the fact that I ended up enjoying dancing again after having over a month of not wanting to dance and not enjoying it when I did. I had some fab dances and heard some great music that really made me want to get up and dance.
I felt really bad about that in fact, I don't normally do thatOriginally Posted by Lynn
... The guy first came and asked to dance when I was comitted to dance with somebody already so I said I would get him for the next track, but then when the next track came it was a tango and Manal was around and I really wanted to tango to it... But I did catch up him the track after that, I hope he didn't think I didn't want to dance with him... We had a very nice dance in fact in the end
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....
The bizarre:
My 'dance' with LYF in the boudoir
Who's a violent little monkey then... Thank you for defending me and looking after me all weekend. I really wanted to go home on friday and thought my whole weekend was going to be ruined, but youand thank you for letting me share your caravan too
That 'dance' really was something special. Bet we made everybody else reeeeeally jealous! Just cos we are fab!
Last edited by Little Yellow Fish; 15th-May-2007 at 12:47 PM. Reason: spelling
He didn't mind at all - he said you explained that you wanted to tango to that track and then came and got him after that.I felt really bad about that in fact, I don't normally do that
I thought it rude not to register on the forums after being asked who I was by every lady I danced with and then why I was not on the forums.
Suffice to say I had a fantastic weekender. I was very apprehensive after my mate pulled out last minute and had to travel up from Peterborough on my own to my first solo weekender. (Not that I am scared to leave the house without someone holding my hand
The weekend was great fun and it was a nice intimate affair. Was a bit of a buggers muddle when i arrived but once settled it was great. I met some great people who made me feel very welcome and had some stunning dances... and yes the cake was awesome!! Thanks LemonCake!
I am just looking to book up for Southport at the moment. I am going to go up solo again as I got so much more out of the social thing this time round and not having to "hang around" the same old people. (If anyone I know closely is reading this it is not to their detriment, i love you all!). If anyone has a space in their chalet for a random bloke I would be very interested in hearing about it, or any advice on how to book a space solo. PM me by all means.
I intend to get my self active on here as I can't believe how busy this forum is!!
See you all soon.
(sorry, this is quite a long post!)
Still recovering from a fantastic weekend!
Blaze, for me, equals Southport in enjoyment, though for different reasons.
It didn't start very well for me and my crew on Friday night, what with the rain, the slight feeling of disorganisation during registration (having it split into Ceroc bit and Haven bit didn't help), and the fact that we were given the key to completely the wrong caravan. Oh, and that they didn't have a key to the right caravan...
Things that could be improved here: Haven should have at least 3 keys to each caravan available to give out. The share with a stranger thing requires better tying up of the strangers so that people don't have to try to find someone they don't know in a group of however-many hundred people.
Our caravan, once we got in it was quite nice – clean and modern, though a bit cramped and very cold outside of the main living area. Beds were quite small and not very comfortable. Oh, and none of the doors fitted properly.
Once settled, we went off to dance... The main venue we were in wasn't quite as modern as the nice reception, but it was nice enough. The main room had a great main floor – nice, clean and fast. The additional temporary floor was necessary though to make it big enough, and this flooring wasn't quite as good (think it was the same temporary flooring I'd seen at Chill, and presumably used at other ceroc weekenders.)
One weird thing about the temp flooring was that I would get electric shocks off some of my partners when dancing on this floor – Ben & Carla also had the same problem on the same flooring on the stage. Seemed to be something to do with me wearing a synthetic sole, and my partners wearing suede soles.
As others have said, the blues room floor was a bit sticky, but a bit of talc on your shoes helped a lot. The boudoir wasn't quite as good as the others, but it wasn't awful.
A key ingredient to a good weekender is the crowd. Being predominately Scottish, I knew most people there to some extent. This was very different to Chill – at Blaze I was always surrounded by friends. It wasn't all Scots though, and the folks from further afield were welcome and hopefully felt welcomed. Was good to see a fair number of forum friends and meet a few new folks.
Next important ingredient necessary is music... And this is one area in which I was disappointed. The best music of the weekend was played after midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning by Greg and Sheena. It was soooo hard to leave the room at about half three as Sheena kept playing more and more fantastic tunes.
Next best music was played by some of the amateur DJs in the "Sack The DJ" slots. Respect to Zebra Woman and Caro for some good music on Sunday afternoon.
Best blues-room music was played by Marc. Also caught a little of Rachel's choice. Think we might see her behind the decks a bit more in the future.
The rest of the weekend, although there were good music played by all the DJs, from some it was surrounded by too many tired "classics" and dull, uninspiring swing music.
Sadly I missed the slots played by some of the younger, newer DJs, such as Tessa, but I trust their musical selection would have been more inspiring than the average.
Over-all I enjoyed the dancing during the weekend – the person you're dancing with usually matters more than the music, and there were so many great dancers there, I don't think I had a bad dance all weekend... Well, OK, maybe one or two, but they weren't awful or anything.
Sunday night was the high-spot for me. As I said above, that was when we got the best music and the folks there were all passionate about their dancing.
As I said, I also really enjoyed much of the music in the "Boudoir" on Sunday afternoon, and the dances I had then were some of the best. It's nice to have a place in the afternoon with that special "tea dance" feel.
It's a shame that the Boudoir wasn't better used. With its limited hours, and its separate location, it was never really going to busy though. I played two "sack the DJ" slots there to basically empty rooms. The times I booked were a bit early, but I had to avoid the workshops I wanted to do.
Things to learn from this: the boudoir needs to be easier to find (a few signs to help guide people might have helped) and/or better advertised. A bar serving food might have helped. I should also book later Sack the DJ slots.
The workshops... Before the event, when I saw the timetable I said this was the best line-up of workshops I'd ever seen. Sure enough, the workshops were great, though I missed most of the ones I'd hoped to do, and was a little disappointed by some aspects of them.
Carla and Ben taught some great workshops, but because they were using the framework of Lindy Hop to teach their technique, sometimes too much time was spent teaching Lindy basics meaning less time for the important stuff. I've suggested to Franck, and I think all organisers who bring in outsiders to teach at MJ events, that 6 months before the event they should send them a Ceroc beginner's DVD, plus maybe a competition DVD so that they can get an idea of what everyone should know, plus what our dance looks like at its best. Anyway, there was lots of good technical material in their workshops. I'm going to make sure to study their bits on the DVD.
During the Slides & Glides workshop, Carla talked about stretching yourself to find your boundaries. In the brief freestyle slot immediately after that class I found a boundary when I slid too far while trying to rely on my partner for balance and found out what happens beyond that line. Ouch! Still sore today...
The workshops Marc and Rachel gave were excellent as usual. While they were moves-based, there was lots of useful technique too. I really like their style. When I grow up, I want to dance like Marc.
What else is there to talk about?
- I was impressed by the knowledge and expertise of the guy running the shoe stall.
- Bought the DVD – £15 was a better price for more useful content than the Chill DVD.
- There were water chillers in the two main rooms, but not in the boudoir which could have done with one.
- The boudoir could also have done with someone stopping random kids coming into the room and throwing things at us.
- At Chill the blues room was often busier than the main room, and this was also sometimes the case here...
- Injury... as well as falling and hurting my hip, I've strained various bits of my arms – too much over-enthusiastic dancing, I think...
Oh, thought of something more... Freudian Hips and I got some fantastic complements from lots of folks for our dancing. Really flattering for both of us. Thank you all.
Think that's it! Only one thing to do is to give a big, big thanks to Sheena and Franck for working so hard to give us a really fantastic weekend.
We'll be booking for Blaze II for sure.
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
In repsonse to ducasis post
Ben asked me to dance and asked what dances i did cuz if i hadnt done lindy or wcs he could have "faked ceroc" I thought this was nice as it meant he was willing to give it a try to help me feel comfortable dancing with him
Just a quickie
More sleep methinks
He asked me that too and then confessed that he was finding that doing 'faked Ceroc' was quite taxing for him .... aww bless!
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 did find that the wcs he did with me could have easily been converted in to ceroc if we had taken away the foot work bits.He asked me that too and then confessed that he was finding that doing 'faked Ceroc' was quite taxing for him .... aww bless!
But then again i dont know how much of my dancing on sunday night was even close to ceroc
I'm sure he could have picked up "fake Ceroc" very quickly to dance it, but not to teach it. With a couple of DVDs he would have been much more comfortable dancing it, and more importantly, teaching people who do it.
Most WCS/Lindy folks brought in to teach at MJ weekenders only try to teach their own dance, either to complete beginners, or to those who already know it.
Carla and Ben were asked to come and teach more advanced technique from Lindy to MJ dancers who don't know any Lindy, which is a much harder, but also much more useful prospect.
I think they did a good job of teaching us enough Lindy to understand their classes, but wouldn't it have been simpler for "us" to teach them Ceroc beforehand, than for them to teach us Lindy at the same time as advanced technique?
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
Well what a weekend that was! I had a brilliant time. Loved it loved it loved it.
Big well done and Thank you
Friday
I was so pleased to find I wasn’t the only person on the flight
Friday was a great night dancing, although the stickiness of the blues room floor did start to get to me in the end and my knee became quite sore. I really wish the rooms had been the other way around – the main room made such a fantastic blues room.
My Friday night highlights included having my back fixed by Mc Jester (thank you) and finally meeting and dancing with Gadget. Loved that - what a gem he is!
Our caravan was huge and very warm in the lounge but the bedroom heaters were really weak, probably equivalent to 2 candles. Top tip - I used a hair dryer to heat the room while I washed and then I heated my bed with it. Very effective indeed.
Saturday
The only class I wanted to do was at 10AM , but I wanted to sleep more.
We had some impromptu Boudoir dancing in the afternoon. There was a problem with the decks so we could only use phones/mp3 players and ipods. The funniest bit was switching from one device to another, not so smooth but it just had to be done. Big well done to Manal and Jennifer – Superstar DJs of the future I think.
The Ceilidh was hilarious. Huge apologies to everyone in our set for Witty’s and my contribution to the strip the willow. When we realised we were going to have to do it again we nearly died, it didn’t get any better….
Saturday night I really missed Franck and Sheena on the dance floor. Apart from that great music and dancing, great social scene and massages from men in kilts . The after party party at UP’s was hilarious . You had to be there…
Sunday
The Boudoir dancing went very well. I managed to DJ for the first time without feeling nervous, and I even danced and DJ-ed. Thanks to everyone for dancing and extra big thank you to Little Monkey and Sheepy for being so supportive and rounding everyone up. So sorry I didn’t manage to stay for Caro’s set I was so shattered.
Sunday night was the business. It all kicked off when Rachel (another DJ star of the future) played some lush tunes in the Blues room then Marc started his set, then Greg then Sheena. Yum yum yum what an amazing line up! I am close to thinking it was my favourite ever Sunday night. The dancing was incredible, and the atmosphere was perfect.
Bad Bits:
Insomnia
The skipping tracks in the main room on Friday night and Boudoir on Saturday.
Sticky Blues Room floor
Franck and Sheena being so busy and missing from the dance floor, as hosts that was the one job that only they could do.
Not enough Ceroc crew on hand to do the other jobs so Franck and Sheena could dance.
The Boudoir was really hard to find.
The rain, and then the gorgeous sunshine on the monday morning when we had to leave
Best bits:
Sharing with Lory - we had a huge laugh (mostly un-printable I’m afraid).
THE KILTS
The laughs - For me the funniest thing of the whole weekend (that is repeatable) was when Lory introduced me to Firefly who I was sitting next to. I said ‘Hi I’m Zebra Woman’…..silence…the music was loud so I repeated myself . ‘I’m Zebra Woman’, but this time as I said it I lifted my top a couple of inches slightly so that my zebra print bra could be seen through the chiffon. Firefly looked shocked and was completely dumbstruck. LM and Lory colapsed in hysterics. That’s when I realised I had just flashed my bra to a complete stranger!
People - I loved meeting all the fabulous Scottish people and seeing what a great dance community they have up there. It seemed to be so much more than just dancing . Mc Jester did a great job on my back and Magic Hans amazed me by fixing my knee on Saturday night. He really did. If we weren't dancing we were being hugged or massaged. I have never felt so welcome anywhere before. Thank you all
Dancing - I had so many lovely smooth dances with relative newbies, every single dancer looked safe to me and when I danced with them they were. No yankers. I had only one uncomfortable dance in the whole weekend (with a gripper) and he was from London! He stopped gripping when I asked too - so not a problem.
To Summarise - IMO Blaze definitely had the X factor! Well done you Scots – I’ll definitely be back.
ZW x
You had heaters in the bedrooms?
I aired the clothes I wanted to wear by setting them on my hot water bottle while I had my shower and also found the hairdryer heated the room nicely as I dried my hair getting ready.
A bit of a contradiction there ZW.That’s when I realised I had just flashed my bra to a complete stranger!
Oh c'mon, that was funny
Please don't ever make me do that again ZW
It was they way you did it..
That’s when I realised I had just flashed my bra to a complete stranger!
it was as though you thought, 'I know'THIS will make the penny drop and with that, you proudly flashed your Zebra Bra, as though it was a completely normal thing to do when you first meet someone.....
It was only when Firefly looked as you as though you were mad
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
Yes that was exactly my thinking.It was they way you did it..
it was as though you thought, 'I know'
It was only when Firefly looked as you as though you were mad
First impressions are so often correct.
That's a horrible picture of me
Anyway I finally figured I'd get around to posting my thoughts about the event. I'll probably make a blog post more about my dancing, at the event, in general but, for the moment, I'll post my thoughts on the event.
Accommodation was alright. We had a problem with our water boiler the first day and Haven didn't actually come and look at it until Saturday morning (thanks Dizzy, Jivecat and Lynn for use of your shower). Other than that I don't really have any complaints about it; it was fine for the purposes of chillin', eating and sleeping and that's all I wanted it for.
I had a really good start to the weekend with a dance with Zebra Woman that started the Friday night well. I really enjoyed the Cuban Blues class and loved the class being on at that time in the evening (that class slot could work for me). I enjoyed my Friday night though I left (apparently just) before the end.
I had, already, decided that I'd be mostly freestyling at the expense of classes (rather than sleep) but I did WCS and Marc and Rachel's classes on the Saturday. It was about that stage that I decided to try and fundamentally change my MJ to a more slotted dance (which was the direction I was heading anyway). I haven't yet decided if it has improved my dancing or made it really boring. Anyway with that in mind I went into Saturday night (just catching the end of Tess' set) and had a really good time though tiredness was setting in and I was losing my voice so I didn't go to the after party.
Sunday I only did the Hi-Jacking the Connection class which I enjoyed. Freestyle on the Sunday was the best night for me; I just felt the most "in the zone" that night. I also loved the look on ZW face when she asked what I put next to her bag (I just put it there because her bag is very identifiable) and I said "oh a booklet Gadget gave me on Partner Swapping". It took me a bit to realise that not everyone first associates that with dancing.
Anyway I've wittered loads already and I was planning on keeping this short. I had some really fantastic dances over the weekend. I enjoyed the few following dances I had too. Jamie was a pleasure to dance with and I real inspiration to watch (must learn how to spin that quickly). I loved my dances with lots of people there; the quality of the dancers there were really high and it was a joy to dance with so many of them (and finally meet a few new forumites).
I guess on a down note there was a bunch of people on my "dance card" that I just never got the chance to ask. So for those that didn't I hope to get a dance with you soon.
So yeah, I had a really good weekend. Thanks to Franck, Tiggerbabe and all the other people who organised the event.
Gosh that was the short post I was looking for
I'll keep this short, honest!
Despite a pretty depressing start, for me at least (rain, problems with train tickets, problems with DJ equipment etc), I ended up being really pleased I'd gone to Blaze!
I was a bit disappointed to have two sets which were pretty empty, due to being early or clashing with Ceilidh and cabarets, but my last set was one that I really enjoyed doing (I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but I had fun and learnt a lot from it!).
Trampy's class was great, if I do say so myself, and really rewarding to see some people really working at getting it right all weekend! I didn't do any other classes over the weekend but watched several and was glad to see some really great stuff being taught clearly and with great class-interaction by so many of the top British teachers. I didn't see Carla and Ben's classes, so couldn't comment, but what I saw of their dancing looked fabulous!
Saturday night once I was done DJing in the blues room was one of the most fun nights I've ever had at a weekender! Not only was everyone's music just great, but I finally got some well-worth-waiting-for dances from Paul F, and then the waffle party (minus waffles). I must say I hate the 'Chubby bunnies' marshmallow game, but the company was fabulous and the humour sick, twisted and silly all at the same time! Breakfast followed by bed is I'm sure only possible at weekenders, but it definitely works.
But the highlight of the weekend for me has to be all the men in kilts
This was my first weekender, and it was an intense and (for a few reasons) memorable experience.
I won't go into too much detail; a lot of what I would have said has been mentioned already anyway
However particular highlights for me include
all of Saturday, when I felt I was being immersed into the weekender experience
the workshops - especially the ones by Amir, and Carla and Ben
Sunday night - the music and the company just came together to create an amazing atmosphere; I'm so glad I stayed right to the end
Jamie's reaction when I offered him chocolate at the end. I don't think I've ever been told "I love you" by someone so soon after meeting them
Hair By Dazzler; I'd like to stake my claim as one of your first regular weekender customers please
Finding that Ben and Carla, especially Carla were such amazingly lovely people
Finding out about Little Monkey's protective (and violent) streak
I don't think I'll ever forget my first meeting with a particular forumite though
The laughs - For me the funniest thing of the whole weekend (that is repeatable) was when Lory introduced me to Firefly who I was sitting next to. I said ‘Hi I’m Zebra Woman’…..silence…the music was loud so I repeated myself . ‘I’m Zebra Woman’, but this time as I said it I lifted my top a couple of inches slightly so that my zebra print bra could be seen through the chiffon. Firefly looked shocked and was completely dumbstruck. LM and Lory colapsed in hysterics. That’s when I realised I had just flashed my bra to a complete stranger!I thought perhaps it was a secret forum signal I wasn't yet privy to, you know pass 1000 posts and be inducted into the mysteries of the forum; learn the coded greetings and be known as a true forum believer; say your name and flash your underwearIt was they way you did it..
it was as though you thought, 'I know'
It was only when Firefly looked as you as though you were mad
Thanks to everyone who made it such an amazing experience. Roll on Blaze II!
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