Esp the transport thing for those who dont drive. 1/2 hour mini bus trips on the Fri and Mon would be good.
A seperate room if poss for privates?
Oh and me getting a proper DJ slot
To balance the Blush suggestions thread...
Personally, and again as a general philosophical point, I think the "Southport traditions" should be maintained - Forum gathering, breakfasts, fancy dress parties, etc. - to give a sense of continuity.
Also, I think given the transport thing, some ideas about helping some way with organising coaches would be worth considering.
Esp the transport thing for those who dont drive. 1/2 hour mini bus trips on the Fri and Mon would be good.
A seperate room if poss for privates?
Oh and me getting a proper DJ slot
I think some should be retained, but I also think this is an opportunity to create new ones.
Of course we can't give any venue specific suggestions as we don't know what the venues will be like yet.
In terms of continuity - given the numbers who booked for Eclipse before leaving Southport at the weekend, I think the dancers themselves are going to create the continuity. A lot of the same people will be there and I think its the people and music mix that creates that 'vibe' and that will continue.
Hmmm it sould be nice if the teachers and DJ's had an evenings meeting with John and Wes (with a little dinner and dance if they must) in a months time so they can review all of the suggestions, familiarise themselves with the venue, identify possible snags and fine tuin arrangments.
The teachers would then be in a good position then hit the boards running with tthe familiarity that they had with Southport and give the first event a full 100%.
It would also have the added bonus that DJ's and teachers would know well in advance that they were booked, and may be persuaded to promote the event (with mini buses a La ANdy McG) with their local dancers
Too often teachers who aren't headlining (ie are on the B list) don't know that they are booked until close to the event so the opportunity of bringing their crowd and doing some group bonding is missed
BTW is there a special price for group bookings??
All this is free, if you want any more PM me and I'll give you a quot, for it
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
If there are separate buildings then this outdoor carpet that Bluey mentioned to save changing shoes would be a good idea.
Oh! and some outdoors dancing if possible in June.
Steve
Speaking as a "B-List" teacher, I knew I was teaching at Southport quite some time ago. I can't remember how long exactly, but it was months ago. John and Wes really do have it all very well organised and seem to get their people lined up well in advance.
Now, how do I get to be an "A-List" teacher? Plastic surgery?
That's always been the problem with multi-room venues - they've got to be close together, and indoors. Almost no-one is going to bother to change their shoes just to check out a venue - that's one of the reasons the Marquee at Southport had problems.
If they're not, you don't get mingling, you don't get choice, and you don't get such a good feeling. So making it as easy as possible for dancers to go between rooms is vital.
I've been thinking about what inspires me the most when I go to conventions in America.
I'm inspired when I see great dancing, but the icing on the cake is when it happens between unlikely partners and is spontaneous (not choregraphied).
So, I thought, why not run an invitational J'n'J (that means partners are drawn randomly) with all the SP (sorry, Eclipse) teachers ? It hasn't got to be in the main room (not everybody is interested) and could be done late on the friday night. The dancers would choose 2 types of music (for example, tango and MJ or waltz and balboa) and dance spotlight.
I would love for example watching Simon dancing with Sarah Vann Drake, Flavia dancing with Kyle, Amir with Nicole, etc. There are so many styles taught at SP that the combinations could be potentially fantastic. I really want to see that now
The other advantage obviously is that it is a bit like a 'teachers presentation' (they could be allowed to dance a minute with their partner too) which could help people decide which classes they want to take during the weekend etc.
One of my friends has a marquee company and he's shown me these entrance tunnels you can get. All we'd need is some of them snaking through the site - of course being the other side of the road creates problems - nothing the military couldn't fix with a temporary bridge, tunnels, etc.
I know !!!
I the US they dance to about a minute and a half of each track. I thought 2 tracks would be polite when in all likelyhood teachers will be from 2 different dance backgrounds... If you draw Flavia, for example, it'd be polite to try and tango her... Of course in your case you'd be allowed to pick another follower if you wanted to do a double trouble after that
Lookong at the room descriptions for Eclipse there no longer seems to be a Latin Room. I accept that in Southport the Latin Room was busy for only 2-3 hours each night but I hope that we still have dedicated upbeat Latin session each evening. For me the mellow Latin is really an echo of the Blues Room. There are plenty of Blues Rooms, WCS, tango etc around the country. The Latin Room at Southport was unqiue and is not replicated anywhere else.
Taking up Caro's spontaneous theme I have always felt that a "spontaneous" planned dance time maybe starting in the common parts and corridors incorporating some Columbian and Brazilian street band music and conga chains to give a real South American fiesta feel a bit like the flavour you get when you look at the holiday picture on JA's website would go down a treat. This did start albeit to different music on Sunday evening at Southport when some of the ladies started dancing on there own in the Blues Room. I think it would really adds a new dimension to the atmosphere.
Hmm..it only seemd to have problems for the WCS dancers who had to choose between dancing WCS in the blues room or the Marquee. The milonga was well attended (dare I say packed) all 3 nights.
I guess it depends on if there is enough of a difference in dance styles and music played and how motivated the dancers are.
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