No of course not.Sorry.
You and I feel the same about weekenders.At least you can get to them,for me,here in Portugal its a little bit harder.
I was actually thinking of other 'organisations' that are trying hard to come up to the benchmark that has been set in the past by JA.
Unfortunately the opinion expressed in the first two reviews doesnt bode well for the rest of the reports that will come flooding in once they have all had time to rest and come back down to earth.
I am not at all surprised that the accomodation was superior,it just strikes me that the 'down' factors that you mention will have a greater bearing on peoples enjoyment of the weekend.
I really do hope I am mistaken.
I'm hoping some of the other reviews by people who'd not been to JA Southport before are a bit better as i've booked for my first JA in june - hopefully some of the issues will be sorted out before then.
The bonus of being able to use shower & kitchen at same time sounds great though.
Yes - but that's not an insuperable problem, the Scottish ones were like that also, and they seemed to work OK.
Similarly, the "long distance to venue" (and to a point the "distance between rooms") thing is much more of a problem in freezing February than it would be in hopefully-sunny June.
It was mixed for myself and two friends, the appartment was great, all had a room each, but our shower only gave out cold water so meant cold showers fri night and sat morning, but when they came he was very helpful and I got him to do some more little jobs for me. The distant was a pain but the weather was fine so treated as part of our keep -fit regime. I felt in Jaks it was more clicky but I think that was because if you did not do wcs I felt a bit reluntant to ask for a dance doing jive. I liked Arther's as I like latin anywhere, and I missed Reds friday and sat I hated a lot of the music on the sat and I found going in and out venues a pain so we ended up leaving around 2. I did not do many classes, and like the other person said about the tango class we gave up after 10mins as it was all over the place and not getting a dance partner, I prefer Amir. But for us girls we had a great weekend on the social front, because the appartments were lovely we had some tasty meals and good wine, we ended not going out till gone 10 plus meeting up with others in the bars for a chat. If I was going in June I would be using the pool and all the other attractions on show. I prefer Southport where the venues were together and having the place to yourself but even with that I had had enough of the place and no intention again. I hope it succeeds at Butlins and the staff said the other appartments are being done up, so with any luck you won't have so far to walk.
One more thing not to with Skegness itself but Keth Davies one of the dance teachers there I just wanted to clear one thing but was he the on the channel 4 programe dine with me last thursday when one of the contestants had some dancers round for her meal.
First of all I should say that I have never attended the Southport events although I have been to both Ceroc “Breeze” and Jive Addiction “Scarborough” in the past 5 months
Journey – Took me exactly the two hours that route-finder said, no delays, no problems.
Self Catering Accomodation – lovely and clean and very warm –. The only problem I had with the room was a flickering light in the bedroom which was dealt with promptly. Butlins have a nifty text fault reporting service and the guest services were also very efficient.
Distance from venue - probably a five minute walk to the venues which I would say was probably the average distance for most of the attendees. Felt very safe walking home on my own at 3am (I’m a lightweight) as the site was well lit and just had a good feel about it (far less scary than the other two events I have been on)
Venues – spent most of my time in the main room (Reds) very flashy I thought it had a great atmosphere, great music, great dancing and lots of space to chill and chat. The heating was only blasting out in certain areas and it was easy to avoid sitting there if it was an issue. There were a couple of uneven parts of the dance floor but mostly it was ok and huge. Arthurs (described as Modern Jive/Latin Flava) - did what it said on the tin – some sets were noticeably more “Latiny” than others , the only niggles for me with this room were the lack of space around the dance floor to dump stuff or sit and the water dispensers running out.
Jaks – didn’t spend much time in this venue although it was obviously popular – lethal dance floor on Friday night. Looked like it was a great venue for catching up with your favourite dance partners as it was small enough to create that atmosphere that the bluesy/westie crowd like.
The fact that Reds wasn’t open until 11:30pm didn’t seem to be an issue as there were opportunities to dance in the other two venues that were open (and were only a couple of minutes away). The queuing up outside the venue on Saturday night was a bit of fun and probably only caused because people wanted to get a good seat for the cabaret. Of course it might have been a different matter if it had been snowing or raining.
Music – I enjoyed the sets I heard but I got a bit sick of “Mercy” by the end of the weekend –I know it is a main floor-filler but it seemed to be in every set.
Workshops – I attended a number of workshops – all the teachers were friendly and professional but the 45 minutes for each class was really difficult to manage – just not long enough, I think it would be better to do the hour class length and then cut down the time between each class to 15 mins instead of 30 mins. I did enjoy most of the classes but my enthusiasm was starting to wane by Sunday afternoon (although Simon Selman’s threesome class was good fun).
Cabaret – Kyle and Sarah were fab, they did a great routine and really played to the audience. The second of the two AT performances from Richard and Maria had the wow factor for me. The Showgirls routine was fun to watch and respect to the girls involved for taking part.
Downsides – The only real downer for me was the number of people who I spoke to who were moaning that “it’s not Southport”. I found it really enjoyable – had no problem at all with the fact that we were sharing the site (perhaps the Butlin’s holidaymakers were annoyed that so many venues were out of bounds for them!!).
Next time – take less food and fewer clothes, spend more time in the blues room.
Thanks to my roomie Tessa - great to meet you - off now to practice those body rolls.
Sorry about the long review - I got a bit carried away.
Wasn't going to post but after enduring more rambling from those who wren't there than those who went, thought I'd give maybe a different view.
To put it in context, I'm not a great fan of weekenders and I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for the fact my partner dragged me there, however ...
First real challenge is that people were expecting 'Southport' on the East Coast ... never going to happen ..... like some other weekenders you have to share with Muggles and the dancerooms aren't together. First never became an issue, the second ended up (for mots?) just being a minor inconvenience. Obvious advantage if the site, accommodation and facilities vastly superior. The obvious downer was the quality of the temporary flooring in the Red room and Arthurs. BUT ... this is fixable and knowing John, it will get fixed for next time. Re teaching, well IMHO a far better balance of MJ to non-MJ. Viktor, S&N were the usual stars. The WCS teachers were great to watch ... even though I don't do WCS. Bit disappointed by some other workshops but they will tend to be a case of personal taste.
My mian disappointment was SOME of the music. Given the late start of the main room I don't understand why Arthurs wasn't a designated 'MJ' room till Reds opened up. Some established DJs were a little inconsistent, and the two sets that replaced TWK on Sunday night were noticeably disappointing. On the flip side, the DJ Choice sessions during the day at Jaks was some of the best sets I've heard ... an eclectic pick but genially danceable and much fun was had. Lee B, Tess, Chill and a few others impressed ... though not sure how the sets would translate to a standard Blues room set. Dance Demon's set on Sunday night in the main room stood out and Nigel S was his usual reliable self.
One other thought ... the place I keep coming back to is Jaks. Its a different feel to the SPort Blues room, more accessible .. didn't notice any cliques ... enjoyed the room, floor, layout, vibe of the place ... its not that far from being perfect
So ... lets see how JA deal with the teething problems before a final verdict is placed on Skeegy.
ohh ... main disappointment was not to get time to play in all the amusement parks, water-slides, camel racing, Quasar, go-karts or get facepainted
We've just gotten in through the door.... tired, aching and grinning.
Skeggy! Guess what.... there were pros and cons. Like any new venue (especially I would imagine a weekender) there were initial teething problems - remember this is an event being run by people, and not Jesus Christ, The Holy Ghost and the Saints.
I guess you have to try and work out *exactly* what 1,500 dancers want and put that in place..... when they arrive they may not *all* agree with you. This seemed to be the case with a few things, but in true Jive Addiction style Wes and John were out and about and they were LISTENING to the dancers and if humanly possible they were making changes when needed (although my request to turn the water in the swimming pool into wine just got a blank look).
I think many people, regardless of what they said before Skeggy went thinking they were going to get Southport in Skegness. No wonder they were confused - poor wee lambs. This is a brand new venue with the associated learning curve - so of course it wasn't perfect from the get go - I mean... reality check!
In my view though the pros FAR outweighed the cons - which we are told, are already being worked on in readiness for June
I would like to say three final things:
Tessalicious!
Tessalicious!
Tessalicious!
There now follows a commercial (sleep) break, after which I will post a far more detailed review. . . .
Journey
Excellent, Got the train up in 3 hours flat, drove back in 3.5 hours
Accommodation
- Cleanliness - Excellent
- Hot water - Excellent
- Cooking facilities - Used site restaurants
- Distance from your accommodation to the venue? - Not so good, 10 mins walk
Venues
- Distance between venues and was this an issue? Not really, pretty close to each other
- Timings of available dancing, Good, liked the afternoons dancing in the blues room, Also the ad-hoc WCS freestyle in the LAtin room on sunday night
- Size- Ok
- Floor- Friday was awful in the blues room due to Talcum powder on the floor, Didn`t like the floor in the main room, not good! the floor in the latin room wasn`t the best either
- Heat - fans - air-con etc - Main room was very hot, blues room very good
- Bars - efficiency and prices - Expensive, £2.60 for a pint of coke!
- Seating - Always found a seat
- Atmosphere? Generally ok, Difficult as people were expecting a southport style atmosphere,
Restaurants
- Quality - Excellent
- Prices - Good
- efficiency - Good
Other facilities
- spa - Very good
- swimming - N/A
- Shops - Good
- Bars - Pricey but ok
the good the bad and the Ugly of the...
Music - Dj's - Music generally very average, too much new stuff, i heard some nonsense about there being too much WCS music on friday night, utter nonsense, Familiarity is a good thing, Zebra womans sets inc her set on sunday afteroon was the best of the weekend IMHO
Workshops - didn`t do any
Cabarets - K&S amazing
and any other incidentals.
Any complaints? Music the my main issue, It seemed the DJ`s wanted to try and out do each other, too much new stuff IMHO
Any surprise.... 'Wow..... that was a brilliant innovation'?
What could be improved on? Initiall teething problems are to be expected, some things can`t be changed like the distance from the accomodation to the venues however they can improve the floors, Music, Classes etc
Any Shocking gossip??? Nope!
Lovey dovy news, Valentine proposals etc? Got a Valentines card from my baby who was in the States winning the Allstars JnJ at 12.05am via a friend.....beautiful touch
and finally ... compared to the previous JA Southport's, how does it rate, as an overall experience??? Not as good as Southport however nothing will match JA Southport, not Skegness and nor will Blush, they are different events and comparision will lead to disappointment imho
P.s. I missed you all! [/quote] We all missed you too Honey xxxxxxxx
Posting anonymous posts from ceroc plants I think is bang out of order
I can guess who it is so I understand why they would want to remain anonymous
The post about the accommodation facilities etc Ill endorse. The spa was great etc.. Lots of restaurants /coffee places etc. So yes it didn't 'feel' cosy like Southport but you had a wide range of stuff to do.
I also didn't have a problem with screaming kids (one of my concerns !) and generally the security on the door worked well .
It was a pain to arrive after 10pm on Friday and spend 30 minutes trying to find where do you get the wrist bands etc , I'm sure these teething problems will be sorted,maybe someone from JA on the gate ? Water ran out as well one night but over all it ran fine
However my great disappointment was Jaks , please don't refer to it as a blues or smooth jive room
Please people dont refer to it as blues room . Jaks was a WCS room with a few good line dancing tracks.
This is a JIVE EVENT put the WCS crowd in another room, we know this wont happen
Why cant WCS dancers be catered for in the third room ? What usually happens is after an hour there is no one in 'their room 'and the WCS crowd move out . The only benefit of so much up tempo music was it never got that crowded as many went to the main room (why were the heaters on in the main room ?)
The only cliques I found were from a WCS lot.
If ceroc have the guts to remove some of this cancer at Southport in March and put the blues room back on par to say Southport June 2006 they will have made good strides
What I fear will happen is the few vocal WCS like FF will demand more and more WCS
If i want a WCS event i`ll go to America or wait till Weston, I`m fully aware that Ceroc and JA run Jive events, Not anywhere in my thread did i suggest that we needed more WCS music, all i said was people were complaining about too much WCS music which is utter nonsense, If a track is played that people find hard to dance to people automatically assume it must be a WCS track!Originally Posted by stewart38
Another point , Ceroc and JA are spending a small fortune on WCS teachers coming over from the states, JA show all the WCS performances on the TV screens, and yet people want to limit WCS music! I don`t think it is unreasonable to ask for more cross over tracks that you can dance both Blues and WCS to! there are plenty of them around, go to Utopia and you`ll see people dancing WCS and Blues all night! it is possible!
Last edited by Lory; 16th-February-2009 at 06:20 PM. Reason: Fixed quote
Thanks babe and for the great review too
Sorry Stewart, you're wrong! This person has absolutely nothing to do with Ceroc and you can guess as much as you like but I doubt very much you'd get it.
And if truth be known, i've never actually met him in person either but its my word against yours.
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
OK my take.
Clearly not Southport transported to Lincolnshire. For me it lacked the atmosphere and buzz of Southport - maybe because of the fact that dancers and facilities are spread around far more. As Stokie and Gus said the biggest problem is probably simply one of change, we don't normally like it do we................
Generally facilities are far superior. Accommodation beats Southport hands down and loads of restaurants and other facilities. For me it was a 10 minute walk to the venues from my room so not overly long. Dance venues all pretty close together - and although you had to go outside to move between them shoe protectors were available so you didn't have to keep changing footwear.
Some negative comments about the floor in the main room floor (Reds) and heard of a few trips and damaged shoes. I was feeling crappy on Friday so didn't have to brave the talcum powder skating rink, but otherwise I thought that Jaks was OK.
I spent most of my dancing time in Jaks and I found it a disappointment. The Blues and WCS crowds are not working well together and if we can't start cutting each other some space then different rooms are the only solution. That's not meant to be a cheap shot at the huge slots that some of the westies seemed to need to occupy, and the resultant barging me when I was largely stationary on the floor (as befits a guy of my advancing years and considerable bulk). Otherwise, I'm with S38 that unless we can stop this polarisation or channel it more effectively then Cerocport will have a far easier job to pull the punters.
I liked the music in the main room, but in Jaks there was simply not enough Blues to generate the atmosphere I like. Lots of people mentioned to me about there being too much WCS (sorry FoxyFunster but Friday was the worst). JA tried some quick fixes - including dedicating a blues time overnight on Sunday and into Monday but I'm afraid that the DJ in the chair (Roger Chin) didn't seem to have brought any real blues tracks with him so we had easy listening instead - I sort of likened it to the longest elevator ride I've ever taken and if it hadn't been such a long way back to the room I'd have offered him my iPod. Tessalicious's set was good from what I heard but by that time I had to get off for some sleep so I wouldn't crash on the way home and I didn't get to experience her fully.
All in all for me it was a good weekender. Although I can't be there in Jun I'll be there in Sep as long as I can get dedicated Blues time. Otherwise I'll have to seek this elsewhere and it would remove the reason for me going at all
Agent 000
Licensed to Dance
[ Lots of people mentioned to me about there being too much WCS (sorry FoxyFunster but Friday was the worst). JA tried some quick fixes -
Who were these people with vast experience of WCS music complaining of too much WCS music, like i said before the people i spoke to were disgruntled with the quality if music rather than the Genre! People who think Friday night contained too much WCS music really do not know what they are talking about!
Why is it 'utter nonsense' if people complain at a Jive event that there is too much WCS music ?? Its their opinion. Please also credit Jivers with a bit more savy then assuming they think a difficult track must imply a WCS track
I 'miss' the 'Chilled out music" we use to get that's all, I don't think I am alone but its become an old story.
Why cant we have 3 hrs of chill out music say from 3am to 6am, instead of one slow two fast etc
Jaks has great potential
The only Utopia event I went to was very up tempo I had expected more 'chilled music'.
Given the back ground and politics someone who does a lengthy post anonymously criticising the WHOLE event seems very strange
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