They aren't really weekenders in OZ. Not in the way that we view weekenders anyhow.
There's often a dance on Friday - finishing at maybe midnight. Then the competition is on Saturday. Usually there's less freestyle than at the competitions over here. Then on the Sunday, there's a few hour long workshops, and a dance party in the evening, again, finishing at midnight or 1am. I'm sure that if you wanted to do that sort of thing in the UK you could - we did last weekend, except for the workshops in the afternoon (which are generally not that well attended either anyhow).
And, getting a little back on topic, I enjoyed the day on Saturday. Well done to all the competitors.
Then don't go to the competition weekender. I realise this would only leave 9 (?) Ceroc weekenders, 3 Southports, 1 Scarborough, 3 (ex) JiveTime, 4 Rock Bottoms, 3 Party Weekenders and 1 Beach Boogie, and the one-day events like Rebel Yell, Swingin' the Blues, When Jive Met Swing and Boppin' in Bristol, but I'm sure people can manage.
One of the biggest reason why competitions are stressful is that so much is packed into one day. You might be doing the DWAS, the Intermediate and a team, with several rounds in each. It makes it a long and tiring day. Spreading the whole thing out over a weekend is far more relaxing for the competitors, judges, spectators and maybe even the organisers.
What about the option............. Competition Weekenders.
I think if you asked the 1200 that attend our Blackpool Comp each year they would tell you it is a fine balance between the "Comp" and "freestyle time" and we appear to have nailed it.
I guess they're more competition-oriented, with a bit of dancing thrown in.
I think it'd be the other way round in the UK, for the large-scale weekenders - most people wouldn't enter the comp, in the same way that most people don't do classes or even watch the cabarets.
Fair enough, they take up a lot of time, but weekenders usually have several rooms. And as long as there's something else going on at the time, even I'm not bothered if there's a competition on as well.
Although I'd still like to know if people thought the Blues comp at Breeze made a significant difference to the "atmosphere"?
You missed out Warmwell, Beach Ballroom and Jive Nation
If im entering the compatiton then id choose it over a weekender but no if i wasnt..
The emphasis wasn't on the competition, it was a mearly a minor part of the weekend and I think the whole thing, if you added it up, probably took less than an hour??
I don't know why but it wasn't in the slightest bit stressful and that's something coming from 'me', I can tell you!
So no, it didn't affect the atmosphere IMO but it was just one little comp, not loads of different catagories!
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
Well, I don't think a full-on multi-category comp (Champs-scale) is in the cards, really - that would take a lot of organisation.
But a specific targeted competition seems to be reasonable; I can't see a "WCS/Jive" (for example) comp ruining The Southport Experience for people.
Comps in Aussie only become a weekend of dance as it is recognised that people travel and will stay the weekend (some of them fly for 6 hours to be there), so they put on events over the weekend to keep people entertained (and to make the travellers welcome).
A dance "weekender" is seperate to that.
As comps have a whole weekend of entertainment anyway, I would like to see weekenders seperate to comps.
The exception being the Queensland "10 days of fun" coming up next year... a weekender, then a weeks holiday with other dancers and events put on especially (dance and chill events) then a champs. You can still just go to the champs, or just go to the weekender, but if you have paid out the cash to travel, you can make it a holiday.
Been tried in Spring 1999 Jivetime Camber...
The teachers were asked to compete (although I was teaching, I decided to give it a miss)
There were heats and then a final... My interest level was zero, as I was there to have fun, teach a couple of workshops and chill out.
The highlight being Dave (one of the judges) doing a Franco impression, then handing the mic over to Franco to anounce the results....
There were cash prizes, no cups.
From memory...
Joint first place Nigel and Nina... Roy Forbes and Anna
Second place Eric and Debbie
Third place Nick Frazer and Rayona
Since then Jivetime stuck to Caberet acts at about 12 midnight on the Saturday, which was not too bad if you got a compare who did not rattle on too much...
On the very first Jivetime event, Franco asked the teachers to do a bit of a progressive spotlight dance demo on the Friday night, just to show the punters the quality of dance they were getting from the teachers... which I was happy to take part in.
I know what you mean Lory but your thread did get me thinking: I've mostly shyed away from competing in MJ - However, possibly the only time I would feel completely comfortable entering a competition these days would be at the end of a weekender as then I usually feel "in the zone" and a fun DWAS could be a good way to top this feeling off.
Your comments about the potential for division is a fair one, but I've seen a wider range of dancing experience dare to enter a DWAS than to enter a seperate WCS room
Yeah, as I said, a novelty comp or DWAS would be perfectly fine and Sunday night might be a good time to do it, as everyone's warmed up, relaxed and hopefully gained a lot of confidence by that time!
Its the merging of a big 'multi category' comp with a weekender that I wouldn't like!
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 think the Blues comp at Breeze was a great addition to the weekend ( I spectated all rounds but didn't compete) but of course that was relatively small scale. I would not welcome a full scale comp at a weekender as it would likely reduce the amount of time and willingness of some dancers to dance socially prior to the comp. A fun DWAS on a Sun night might be a good idea though assuming numbers were limited to ensure it didn't take too much time.
DWAS on Sunday night - it certainly appeals. It did affect my Saturday at Breeze - so Sunday night would be definitely preffered, even though reasoning was that it was set up specifically to merge DWAS with "proper" comp on Sunday.
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