View Poll Results: Are you going to Utopia @ Ashtons on 4th April 2008

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  • Yes, I will be there

    26 74.29%
  • No, I will not make it

    6 17.14%
  • Maybe

    3 8.57%
  • It depends whether Rocky will keep his hands off his knob (pitch control that is)

    0 0%
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Thread: Utopia 4th April 2008

  1. #61
    Dickie Davies' love-child Cruella's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by robd View Post
    Following all the recent speculation about GaG's true identity can we be sure that this forum member isn't an alter ego of yours?
    Looks nothing like me!

  2. #62
    Commercial Operator StokeBloke's Avatar
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    Cool Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    I had a good time last night overall. I couldn't get into the music that was being played for ages - but judging from the packed dance floor I was in a minority. I get caught in a vicious circle of not feeling the music, so not dancing, then when a track does get played that inspires, you are not 'warmed up'.

    The evening really picked up for me towards the end, the lights and the music were brought down and the whole venue took on a different life. Much more cozy and intimate feel to it. All the work that had gone into preparing the venue made the place really shine though - top job guys.

  3. #63
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by StokeBloke View Post
    All the work that had gone into preparing the venue made the place really shine though - top job guys.
    It was very romantic.

    You have a new move Stokie - I was swept off my feet.
    What's that one called?

  4. #64
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    What a great night I had - much better than last time I went to London Utopia....thanks everyone for making me believe that it CAN be good to dance at a London Utopia venue

    Fletch - great to finally meet the exalted one in the flesh!!
    SpikySteve - Thanks for those two wonderful dances with a nervous Kel, they really helped at the beginning of the night
    JJ - Good to meet you too!!
    Miguel - As always, a great laugh for me trying to do WCS and failing (again)
    Val - you were right, third time lucky

    And everyone elese who took the time to say hi....see you at Twickenham next month hopefully!!

    Kel x

  5. #65
    Registered User jinski's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Thought I'd add in my two penny worth!

    Ended up having a great evening having had a nasty suprise earlier in the afternoon that left me upset, somethin Silver Fox unwittingly (I hope) compounded!

    Luckily there were plenty of people to lift my mood. Thanks to Raph, Kate, Ylander,PaulF,Gerry and a whole host of others I had great dances with!

    Lovely to have Marc there as he always plays great sets and a huge thanks for the dance. So much fun.

    I even plucked up courage to get a dance with Nigel - took me until about 2am but well worth it.

    As to the decor! It looked fantastic. I'm sure some people have no idea just how much time and effort Val, Rocky and their team of helpers actually put in to creating what is always a very memorable 'Utopia' atmosphere whether at twickenham or Ashtons. Its appreciated honest!

  6. #66
    B.O.G.O.F. fletch's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Astro View Post
    It was very romantic.

    You have a new move Stokie - I was swept off my feet.
    What's that one called?
    You noticed the romance as well

    What's the move called, a 'mistake'

  7. #67
    Registered User ChrisU's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by fletch View Post
    If you do a Utopia night up north i'll come and try and get a few 'Fletcherette's' there to make it go with a swing

    Chris don't forget the Northern Soul list, any chance of a disc when its done
    :
    The Fletchererette's in Leeds Could Yorkshire stand it. Could I stand it

    My other problem is I don't have a four poster to get all that decorating cloth from to make the venue look COOL

    Im working on that Northern list and listening to some smoother stuff as I type to finish it off.

    I saw somebody mentioned breakfast. Many of the Northern soul allnighters served a free breakfast to all who remained awake at 6am. Never missed one but I was a touch younger then

    DJ Chrisu

  8. #68
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisU View Post
    The Fletchererette's in Leeds Could Yorkshire stand it. Could I stand it

    Hey! I am a Fletcherette and I live in Yorkshire.. True I don't dance much up here (am doing at moment due to lack of own transport) but yes Yorkshire could stand it!!! Have a night for us up here.. Fletch etc could stay with me again

  9. #69
    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by fletch View Post
    it look like a totally different venue, the lighting was spot on, lovely little candles on every table, and soft chiffon drapes all around.
    I agree, it looked really lovely! Apart from the IRISH banners. But I saw how much work went into making it look so different and special at the end of the night, when they were taking it all down. Total respect guys!


    I couldn't get comfy and changed 3 times before I settled down to dance properly.
    I loved your first dress Fletch but I know what you mean as, I felt more relaxed after i'd changed too!




    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    I too wasn't sure about the music, until the last 2/3 hours when I really started to enjoy the sets.
    I didn't dislike the music early on but have to say, I enjoyed the last 2/3 hours most too!

    The cakes and biccies were appreciated as a pick me up around midnight, although I felt sick cos I ate too much white chocolate!
    I did the opposite and completely forgot about the tea and biscuits but regretted it during the last hour, as I suddenly I felt really wobbly. I'm glad the music had slowed right down by then.

    As usual the London Utopia draws in some great dancers and I enjoyed as many of them as possible, which is easier than normal when you have a 3 am finish. It meant I didn't get that usual 'Oh I didn't get to dance with *** and*** and****.'
    Lucky you, I still didn't get round to everyone! Sigh!

    'Do we want one here every month?'
    Every other month would be good AFAIC, its lovely and close to me!

    Quote Originally Posted by wigglebum View Post
    Black short hair, dodgy black vest and black trousers.
    I think I might have danced with you?

    Quote Originally Posted by fletch View Post
    You noticed the romance as well
    Limpty Tink and I noticed

    All in all, I love UTOPIA, its the closest I ever get to the weekender Blues room feeling, which I love.

    The only negative for me is, the class. I wished it was either knocked on the head, or it started and finished earlier.
    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

  10. #70
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by fletch View Post
    You noticed the romance as well
    Didn't you?

    What's the move called, a 'mistake'
    Stokie super slide lift.

  11. #71
    Dickie Davies' love-child Cruella's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    The only negative for me is, the class. I wished it was either knocked on the head, or it started and finished earlier.
    It seemed to be on very late too, we arrived later to avoid it, but it still went on for a while after we arrived!

  12. #72
    Commercial Operator Rocky's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    The only negative for me is, the class. I wished it was either knocked on the head, or it started and finished earlier.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    It seemed to be on very late too, we arrived later to avoid it, but it still went on for a while after we arrived!
    You have to look at it this way:

    1.) We do a class to obviously encourage more people into slow dancing because the leap from MJ to COZ culture is a large one for many people. Are you two therefore really saying that we should do away with it? Or are you just saying that at Ashtons it should be viewed as just a purely freestyle night with no class - but at the usual Twickers venue we should continue it? Or what??

    2.) The class actually finished at 9.55pm and ran for 40mins which is a normal length for the kind of classes we do. The only reason it started late is that we needed to make sure there were enough people in the room to ensure a fairly even gender balance - and as usual, although the doors opened at 8.45pm and the class was advertised as starting at 9pm, most people arrived for the class late. On this basis are you sayng we should start at 9pm regardless - even when there are not enough people to make it worthwhile? Because if you agree that we should wait, then the class started and finished at an appropriate time.

    3.) The other major reason why we also consider a class to be useful is that it gives a point in the evening where we know some people will attend early and therefore helps to create an ambience early on. This is so that when people come into the venue later on there are already people dancing and it looks like the evening is starting to swing. Are you saying (even if you ignore the usefulness of a class to our inexperienced customers) that this wrong??

    Finally, of course to suggest that 'we should knock on the head' or that 'it goes onto late' is assuming that it gets in the way of most experienced dancers and is therefore an irritation (I'm sorry but that is how it is coming across) - and yet most hot shots don't get to the venue until at least an hour after we open doors anyway! Is it REALLY that difficult to wait for 10mins to start your dancing when you have 5 hours of freestyle to look forward to?

    I am genuinely confused by your posts..

  13. #73
    Dickie Davies' love-child Cruella's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    You have to look at it this way:......blah blah..
    Firstly, I didn't say it should be knocked on the head and I think a class is a good idea to get people onto the floor at the beginning of the night. But if I (like others) arrive late on purpose to avoid it, I am going to be disappointed if it is still running.
    If the class is advertised at starting at 9 then yes it should start at 9. If there weren't enough people there at that time, then surely that is because, like others, they are coming late to avoid it.
    Do you delay your normal wednesday classes to wait for more people to arrive? (I seem to remember this discussion being had on here before, if anyone can find a link)
    You of all people hate the luvey dovey posts, would you prefer that people just came on and big up Utopia or would you rather we were honest and gave you the bad points in our evening too so you have food for thought?

  14. #74
    Registered User Limpy Tink's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post

    Limpty Tink and I noticed .
    Romance... next time we should just get a room hun!

  15. #75
    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    Are you saying (even if you ignore the usefulness of a class to our inexperienced customers) that this wrong??
    No, what I'm saying is...
    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post

    The only negative for me is, the class. I wished it was either knocked on the head, or it started and finished earlier.
    So, I'm not saying any of the points you've made aren't valid, its just 'my' personal preference!
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
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  16. #76
    Commercial Operator Rocky's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    Firstly, I didn't say it should be knocked on the head and I think a class is a good idea to get people onto the floor at the beginning of the night.
    I didn't say you did, Lory said that - you're post referred to the irritation you felt in that it had over-run thereby eating into 10mins of your 5 hours of freestyle... My post therefore quoted both of you and replied to both points raised.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    But if I (like others) arrive late on purpose to avoid it, I am going to be disappointed if it is still running.
    If the class is advertised at starting at 9 then yes it should start at 9. If there weren't enough people there at that time, then surely that is because, like others, they are coming late to avoid it.
    Umm.... when people arrive at 9.10 they are obviously not trying to 'avoid' the class, they have (for whatever reason just arrived late) or been delayed at the door because there was a queue of people waiting to get in. On that basis I would like to think we did what any responsible organizers would do and that is to act in the best interests of our customers.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    Do you delay your normal wednesday classes to wait for more people to arrive? (I seem to remember this discussion being had on here before, if anyone can find a link)
    Our regular class is at Twickenham and is on Monday (which is what I assume you are referring to) and categorically YES, we do delay the start of the class if the gender balance is way off.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    You of all people hate the luvey dovey posts, would you prefer that people just came on and big up Utopia or would you rather we were honest and gave you the bad points in our evening too so you have food for thought?
    I'm all for constructive criticism but you're comment is not that. On a regular evening where you have classes and a freestyle session of say, max 2 hours, I can see that a 10 min over-run is not desirable - but when you have another 5 hours of dancing available, do you really think it's constructive criticism to suggest that the class should start irrespective of the 60 or so people who did want to do it, just so that we don't run the risk of upsetting a handful of people sitting on the sidelines waiting for the freestyle to begin?

    Obviously you do - and at this point can I remind you of this in your earlier post...

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    I wasn't feeling too well early on, (must remember not to mix pain killers and wine in future! )
    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    So, I'm not saying any of the points you've made aren't valid, its just 'my' personal preference!
    I understand it's your personal preference Lory but by saying you would prefer us not to run a class you are inferring that as you are a good enough dancer not to need one and that we should therefore simply ignore all those who do need a class just to give experienced dancers 30-40 mins extra freestyle.

    From memory, you do arrive early at most Utopia nights, but you do always (I think) arrive after the class has finished. Are you saying that if we abandoned the class that you would arrive when the doors open at a normal UTOPIA at 7.45pm?

    If the answer is an honest 'yes' that I would completely accept your point. If the answer is no, then it does make a bit of a nonsense to suggest not running a class when you wouldn't even arrive to take advantage of the extra freestyle time anyway!

    Even if we took the other option of running the class earlier - how many people do you think would realistically turn up for a class at 7pm on a Friday? 3 or maybe 4?

    On that basis, if we abandoned it what do you suggest we do with an empty venue whilst we wait for the experienced dancers to turn up? Even if we started at 10pm we would still be DJing to an empty floor for the first hour - and that's because most dancers (myself included) wouldn't turn up at any freestyle event until at least an hour to an hour and half after the advertised start time.

    As I said earlier, I am genuinely confused by both your points of view...

    What do other people think?

    1.) Should beginners/improvers classes be abandoned in favour of extra freestyle - and if so do you believe that suffecient dancers would turn up during that extra early 30-40mins to create enough ambience to make it worthwhile?

    1.) Should a class start irrespective of the gender balance or late arrivals dead on time when there are 5 hours of freestyle on offer - or is a delay of up to 10-15mins acceptable in the scenario of a longer freestyle session?

    2.) Would most other people be irritated by a class running over for 10-15 mins when there is another 5 hours of freestyle dancing to look forward to (you will note that we finished the evening at 3.15am and NOT the 3am advertised...) - or is it completely justified to raise this as a criticism?
    Last edited by Rocky; 7th-April-2008 at 12:56 AM.

  17. #77
    The Dashing Moderator
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    What do other people think?
    1.) Should a class start irrespective of the gender balance or late arrivals dead on time when there are 5 hours of freestyle on offer?
    Yes. If you always start the class on time, then people get used to it - and those people who wanted to do the class but arrived 10 minutes late will know to set off earlier next time.

    I've been to other freestyles where they would "wait for enough people" to start the class. The result was that it started later and later every time, and a night which was scheduled to start at 7:45 would have an empty dance floor at 8:30 because the class hadn't started and hardly any dancers had showed up because "it always starts late".
    Love dance, will travel

  18. #78
    The Dashing Moderator
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Another thought on gender balancing.

    If (as a leader) I miss the start of a class, I'll generally not bother joining in unless I'm confident I know the moves I've missed (eg. a Ceroc Beginners class).

    If as a follower someone misses the start of the class, they usually have a good chance of joining in midway through and picking up the routine (because the leaders should be able to lead it).

    So followers can arrive to a class late and still do most of it.

    Do you generally have too many leaders or too many followers at the start of class?
    Love dance, will travel

  19. #79
    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post

    I understand it's your personal preference Lory but by saying you would prefer us not to run a class you are inferring that as you are a good enough dancer not to need one and that we should therefore simply ignore all those who do need a class just to give experienced dancers 30-40 mins extra freestyle.
    I don't think I am saying that, I'm simply saying, for me, a Friday night freestyle, isn't the best night for a class!

    When I do a class nowaday's, its rarely for 'fun', I like to take it seriously and go with a totally different head on.

    From memory, you do arrive early at most Utopia nights,
    Correct!

    but you do always (I think) arrive after the class has finished.
    Sorry Rocky, your wrong on this one, I'm usually there just as the class 'starts'

    Are you saying that if we abandoned the class that you would arrive when the doors open at a normal UTOPIA at 7.45pm?
    Yes, I'd probably would get there early, although I can't guarentee I'd be standing outside waiting for the door to open.

    But correct me if I'm wrong, don't the classes at Twickenham usually start earlier?

    If the answer is an honest 'yes' that I would completely accept your point.
    Thank you


    If the answer is no, then it does make a bit of a nonsense to suggest not running a class when you wouldn't even arrive to take advantage of the extra freestyle time anyway!
    I'm actually one of the few people who gets to Ashtons early on a normal freestyle, I like to take advantage of the space!

    Even if we took the other option of running the class earlier - how many people do you think would realistically turn up for a class at 7pm on a Friday? 3 or maybe 4?
    This is true, as I honestly believe, most of your target market, turn up later, to avoid the class!

    On that basis, if we abandoned it what do you suggest we do with an empty venue whilst we wait for the experienced dancers to turn up? What do other people think?

    Maybe you should run a 'poll' to see what implications are.

    Anyway Rocky, I think you've blown my small negative comment way out of proportion.

    As I said, I had a great night and i'm sure most people will disagree with my POV anyway but I like to give an honest review, which sometimes will differ from from the majority.
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
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  20. #80
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    Re: Utopia 4th April 2008

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    I think I might have danced with you?.

    lol, I hope I wasn't too shabby!

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