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Thread: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

  1. #21
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    You can if your doing salsa, but its a bit one sided.
    Whoosh!

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    Registered User jive-vee's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Is it possible for a moderator to delete the part in brackets from the title of this thread? It seems a bit harsh and more appropriate was a post rather than a thread title.

  3. #23
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Here's my two penneth...

    DJ's and music

    The music was definitely better than Skeggie in February. I particularly liked Dance Demon's soul/funk set on Sunday afternoon - that was the highlight of the weekend for me in terms of music. I even liked some of the tracks CJ played during his Mariachi set such as Cuddly Toy by Roachford and Princes Purple Rain. CJ got a standing ovation for his Mariachi set...which I suspect was due mostly to everyone standing up anyway and one of many segments of fruit from CJ's over active loins dancing around the stage in a pretty dress...definitely got him the sympathy vote. Predictably CJ finished with Stairway to Heaven (again). CJ...access denied!

    I would have liked some music to lindy too or practice Balboa.

    Classes

    Didn't make the Lindy class as it was at 10am on Saturday morning, but we did make the Balboa, which was absolutely lovely. It gave me and Gav a basic sample of this lovely dance and we will definitely be looking t more Balboa lessons in future - thanks to Jon and Wes for putting this in the schedule.


    people

    The dance crowd was great...it was a real invasion from the Scots, lots of happy chatty faces and very little bitching - thanks to Lemon Cake and Little Monkey for providing lots and lots of lovely cakes. Really enjoyed sharing with Scarface and Trouble...we had a right laugh, especially on Friday night/Saturday morning. AussieJ (ozzeyJ) sorry about the mix-up...it was late and I was tired.

    muggles

    Having witnessed some appalling behaviour this weekend from chavvy muggles, I've come to the conclusion that muggles and dance weekends just don't mix. Aside from the behaviour, we were also in an apartment above a family with two young children that were out at 8 in the morning screaming and shouting when we'd only just got back from dancing the night before and had only 2 hours sleep.

    Problems with venue size

    It rained most of Saturday day and night, which made travelling from apartments and from one venue to the other a real pain in the ass. I put the blue shoe protectors on to go from the blues room to reds and ruined my dance shoes. The shuttle service was a nice touch, but just doesn't compensate the ease of being able to go to from one room to the next without changing shoes and getting soaked.

    floor

    The floor in the main room was better then in February, but still quite sticky and a bit uneven in places. Someone put some talc down in one corner on Sunday night and it was much better...luckily Jon didn't witness this otherwise there would have been murders!

    numbers

    Numbers were down, as far as I could see on February. I did hear the same story over and over again this weekend that folk had given Skeggie a chance, but had decided to go back to Southport...which is so sad, but I do understand why.

    Conclusion

    I had a great time and I will continue to support Jon & Wes whenever I can, but I don't think I'm gonna go to Skeggie again. I'm lucky if I get to go away on two weekenders a year so I have to pick ones that I know aren't going to be a disappointment. I don't see this as a failure on Jon and Wes's part, I just think that skeggie doesn't work as a venue. If I could wave a magic wand for them I'd love to conjure up a skeggie on a smaller scale with no muggles, three halls with connecting doors and proper dance floors. Maybe it's time to look for a more suitable venue?

  4. #24
    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Quote Originally Posted by jive-vee View Post
    Is it possible for a moderator to delete the part in brackets from the title of this thread? It seems a bit harsh and more appropriate was a post rather than a thread title.
    Mod hat on!

    Just to explain the title... It was originally 'Smeggy' - the 'in brackets' name.. altered by a Mod (not me)..

    and thats what usually happens

    but as its causing offence and possibly preventing people from posting, I'll change it

    Mod hat off
    Last edited by Lory; 22nd-June-2009 at 03:44 PM.
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
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  5. #25
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    It's been suggested to me (as I was there) that it would be helpful and constructive if we could structure feedback using something like Lory's template from the first post in the February Skeggy - The Aftermath thread.

    I see Double Trouble's beaten me to it, but here are my thoughts....

    Journey

    I must have travelled at exactly the wrong time, as I seemed to hit a rush-hour queue at every roundabout on the A46, especially up to Newark and Lincoln. Probably only an extra 30-40 minutes journey time (compared to coming home today) but still frustrating.

    Accommodation

    Pretty good. I was in a standard, self-catering chalet, which was a good bit nearer the venue than the silver chalet I had last time. A proper electric shower which delivered hot water (better than some luke-warm showers I've experienced). For some reason the shower didn't drain properly though - and this was true for February's chalet too. Despite being Standard rather than Silver, it was still considerably nicer than Pontins' Budget level.

    There was also a shuttle bus which took people from the dance venues to the accomodation, and I think ran till 3am - as I was a tad nearer I didn't use this though.

    Venues

    Reds (Main Room)
    The floor was new and completely different to the one in February. However it was definitely very "sticky" on Saturday night. There were still edges where the floor sections joined together, but these were better than in Feb (as each section was bigger and the edges less prominent). There was also less floor space than in Feb and it was pretty crowded when I was in there (after the cabarets on Saturday night/Sunday morning). I think that the timing (not being able to get into the venue till late) is still an issue here.

    Jaks (Blues Lounge)
    The floor was again a little sticky (nowhere near as bad as Reds) on Saturday night. By Sunday afternoon it had got a lot "faster". Atmosphere was pretty good and the layout (seating is on a long upper level with a railing that you can lean on to watch the dancing) is very good

    I didn't go into the third venue (Arthurs) so can't really comment on that one.

    Both of the venues I went into were pretty hot and humid on Saturday night. I did wonder if the extra humidity was part of the reason why the floors were stickier?

    Music
    I heard some excellent tracks played in Jaks. CJ's Mariachi is obviously love-it-or-hate-it, and personally I loved it. However I also thought Graham Burke played some good stuff on Saturday too.

    I wasn't in the main room long, but the set I caught was too tried-and-tested, with not enough recent tracks. Overall I liked the music more than in Feb.

    Cabaret
    Christopher and Katrina did two WCS slots which were (to my eyes at least) very good. (One was also improvised freestyle, I think). Also Amir and Tara did a tango to two tracks, which looked positively steamy. Paul and Natasha did Balboa which was no doubt technically excellent, but they didn't look like they were having fun!

    I did see Christopher came out to play in Jaks on Sunday night/Monday morning, and I believe that both he and Katrina were also dancing on Saturday night/Sunday morning as I saw them around at 4am.

    Weather
    It rained on Saturday. Nothing Jive Addiction could do about it, of course, but I did think that the lack of sunshine, and the fact we were sharing the site, meant there wasn't the relaxed parties and gatherings you'd often see on a sunny afternoon at Southport.

    Overall
    I had some Awesome dances, to some fabulous tracks, but I think there are still some issues for J&W to address, most of which are imposed by the venue.
    Love dance, will travel

  6. #26
    Registered User stewart38's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    Here's my two penneth...

    DJ's and music

    The music was definitely better than Skeggie in February. I particularly liked Dance Demon's soul/funk set on Sunday afternoon - that was the highlight of the weekend for me in terms of music. I even liked some of the tracks CJ played during his Mariachi set such as Cuddly Toy by Roachford and Princes Purple Rain. CJ got a standing ovation for his Mariachi set...which I suspect was due mostly to everyone standing up anyway and one of many segments of fruit from CJ's over active loins dancing around the stage in a pretty dress...definitely got him the sympathy vote. Predictably CJ finished with Stairway to Heaven (again). CJ...access denied!
    For me

    Crap journey their crap journey back (Sliverstone etc)
    No TV (whole site ? 18 hrs) and then crap signal
    No facilities to use oven (Used frying pan)

    Last two were sorted but when your paying the equivilent of 5 star B and B should they happen ?

    The music was 500 times better then Feb
    Jon Brett , Sheepman and Tessalicious , Graham Burke stand out but i think they all did well and stuck to plan

    Wasnt sure why Nigel S didnt say sorry for all his mistakes ? Fri night and sunday ?

    Re above the Mariachi set was fantastic and for someone knew to it I was well impressed, I assume it was a toned down set ?. I expected 6 head baggers but it was very well attended 150 + ?

    Dance demons on sunday afternoon didnt work for me or the others, it got one clap at the end, it wasn't danceable stuff and every song faded in half, maybe dance around a hand bag type stuff. The rest of his sets were fine.

    As soon as Graham played his first song everyone came on to the floor

    Vicktor class another mess in class rotation (was about 50+ women) now for me someone should be their and organise that.

    For me bottom line here is price, those who havent been to Southport ceroc have heard the feed back is good.

    So do I pay £350 skegness for 2 or £132 for southport for 2 ??

    If you want to go to butlins skegness next week end ( see Sun Newspaper) its £48 pound per person silver catering . Jive addiction charge £139 a person

    Im afraid the price could be the death of skegness they will have to respond with loyalty/group gender discounts.??

    My apartment was at very far end a good 15 min walk but as had car and drove their and back wasnt much of a problem

  7. #27
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Gus View Post
    Thats a fairly damming report, especially in comparison to Fletch's comments. She seemed to think that the floor was fixed. Don't know the full DJ line up but I thought that Dance Demon, Roger C and Nigel S were playing. Still not good enough?
    Did I ? sorry if I gave that impression, I wouldn't know if a floor is fixed or not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    :

    I hope scotttwins experience wasn't shared by many and lets hope people come on here and share their positive experiences too but please let people feel free to tell it, how it 'really' was for them!
    I will do my review tomorrow, after a 5hr 30min drive home with work tonight, I have no chance...but....i'm going to be honest and tell you how it was for me........and for Joe...are experences were very different.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Bartholomew View Post


    There didn't seem to be any WCS Snootyness either this time. One or two WCS idiot but you will get that in any dance


    So there WAS snootyness last time!! and not just my imagination

  8. #28
    Registered User jive-vee's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Journey

    Still long, and even though we leave early we always seem to get caught in slow moving traffic through Boston. Good company and music for the journey though so no major problem.

    Accommodation

    The chalets are lovely. We were in a two-bed this time though rather than a three-bed so the lounge area was a lot smaller but still comfy enough to chill out in. A big plus was that we were in Starfish Quay rather than Oyster Bay - the 5 min walk to the dance venues was sooooo much nicer than the 15 min walk we had in Feb (wouldn't have fancied that in the rain).

    Venues

    Reds (Main Room)
    The floor didn't seem to be any better than Feb, it was just different. Once again there were certain areas of floor that were better to dance on than others (the best temporary flooring I've seen is the one that JA laid down the first time they moved the tables in the blues room at Southport, I guess that's not suitable for Skegness though? )

    I did miss the extra flooring (what was the black and white flooring in Feb) near the doors - there were extra tables and chairs here this time instead . This was my favourite place to dance in Reds in Feb and seeing people dancing there as you came in created a real party atmosphere, in my opinion, in Feb. Is there any chance this flooring could be back in September?

    Jaks (Blues Lounge)
    The floor seemed fine to me - no return of the lethal, fast, gritty flooring of the Friday night in Feb

    Arthurs

    I didn't really go into Arthurs over the weekend so can't really comment. I did, however, go in to watch some friends do the line dance class - a great giggle! Even we did put them off somewhat

    Music
    I missed the party, funky, cheesy, disco sets. Personally I didn't hear enough of the funky, modern or disco/party classics to get my real buzz, or to create the atmosphere I felt Reds had in Feb. There were some fab dancers in there and the odd fab track scattered in the sets. I did enjoy my dances in there but I just didn't get quite the same buzz, as the music I know and love in the 'JA main room in the early hours of the morning slot' arrived too late. By the time the music was what I'd come to expect most of the people I love dancing with to those tracks had decamped to Jaks or Arthurs.

    The music in Jaks was a bit hit and miss for me too - as I didn't get my perky buzz from Reds the music when I first entered Jaks was a bit too 'sleepy' for me initially. But it got better and the music from 5ish onwards on all nights was great from what I recall (very tired now though so my memory is getting hazy haha).

    Cabaret
    Saw from the end of Amir's first tango onwards and thought both ATs and the WCS cabaret that I saw were good.

    Weather
    Nothing that any organiser can do about the weather. The sunshine and chilling out on space-hoppers with friends was what made Scorch for me. The weather wasn't so great for Skeggy but I was with a fab group of people and we had an awesome time in the pool - loving the flumes!!! - on both Sat and Sun (and then chilled in the spa afterwards on Sun). Plus the Twister party we had was hilarious.

    Overall
    I agree with DavidY there are still some issues that could be addressed but overall I had a great time and so many fab, fab dances and giggles.
    Last edited by jive-vee; 22nd-June-2009 at 04:41 PM.

  9. #29
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    This was my first 'big' weekender having only been to the Kirriemuir blues weekender last October.

    Journey was fine, we flew to Doncaster and hired a car. The drive down was smooth, about two and a half hours. Unfortunately they had disabled the cigarette lighter port on the car to stop people smoking, which also meant that I couldn't plug my ipod into it so we had no music!

    Arrived about 5pm and got settled in then met up with the others from NI for a meal. The on-site food was good throughout the weekend. The accommodation was good although the curtains in our chalet were very thin, and I find it difficult to sleep when there is daylight coming in - had to install a blackout blind in my room at home for this reason. I realise this isn't everyone's problem so not complaining. Gail (my fiancée) wasn't too pleased with the cleanliness of the place though.

    The first night's dancing was a bit of a disaster for me. I was pretty tired on arrival having had a busy week. We went to Jak's hoping to get to the forum meet, but a combination of tiredness and sweltering temperatures made me feel quite unwell. The venue was very very hot towards the back, but even at the front near the doors it was bordering on uncomfortable. Several glasses of water didn't seem to help, and after realising I was dripping sweat while just sitting down, figured it was time to leave.

    Apologies to all the forumites I missed, would have loved to meet more of you but circumstances prevailed against me. Was in a fairly bad mood at having to leave so early, and trying hard in a dance with one particular forumite (no names) who gave me a pitying look at the end and just said "...yeah, ok, thanks" didn't help.


    Didn't sleep amazingly well but woke up looking forward to the classes on the Saturday. I managed to get to three:

    1) Latino Jive with Adam - well taught, nicely paced, billed as Intermediate Plus but reasonably accessible, which was good. Unfortunately they ran out of time to teach the third move.

    2) Smooth and Sassy MJ with Viktor - sadly I got very little out of this class. The rotation has already been mentioned - it was a shambles, and as couples got frustrated and dropped out it got worse and worse. Half of our row seemed to be fixed couples and half rotating, and by the end nobody around us was quite sure where they were meant to be. The moves were very tricky - I really struggled to pick them up and from what Gail was saying, hardly any of the men got them, and the ladies were faring no better.

    3) Smooth Jive Coasters with Simon & Nicole - good clear teaching, but again very difficult moves based on WCS patterns without the footwork. This class (from memory) wasn't marked as Intermediate Plus but really should have been - it was a lot harder than the first one, and again came away feeling like I hadn't really learnt any of the moves to the point where I could hope to use them. Very good explanations of basic technique though. They did say at the end of the class that it was a hard routine...

    In general the classes seemed to be well attended and it was obvious that the teachers knew what they were doing, but with the exception of the first I still came away not really having gained much, and none of them covered the timing of the moves very well, which made it very difficult to stay in time when doing them to music. Maybe I'm just not as good a dancer as I think I am, but I know that a lot of people really struggled with the second and third classes and I felt that they were pitched just a bit too high.


    Went to Arthur's first on the Saturday night which was really nice. The floor wasn't nearly as fast as in Jak's, and that actually helped a bit. Had a few dances in there - open doors and a giant fan really helped control the temperature. It was warm but not uncomfortable. Headed over to Jak's afterwards and danced for a while although again, the temperature and my own tiredness stopped me from staying out past midnight. Met up with a good number of forumites though, which was nice, and had some good dances, although the music didn't lend itself to constant dancing.


    On Sunday Gail & I headed to Amir's musicality class which was very good. I (theoretically) play the cello and used to play piano & did Music GCSE, so quite a bit of what he was saying was stuff I knew from that, but in terms of the application to dancing it was interesting and well presented. Besides the Scottish chap at the front who obviously thought he was really funny, this was the best class I went to, even though it involved hardly any actual dancing!

    Went for a nap after taking Gail and Lynn to the Heavenly shoe stall - we all came away with new pairs bought or ordered! Went to Jak's again and had more dances with more forumites and others before going for dinner, and then afterwards back for more dancing. This was the best night for me - danced in Arthur's and Jak's for a good few hours and enjoyed it even if I did feel that I was remembering fewer and fewer moves... if anyone danced with me and was really bored, I'm blaming exhaustion...

    Travel back this morning was all smooth again.


    Best bit:
    Dancing in Arthur's both nights, being led by Little Monkey (who is a fab lead as well as follow even if I can't get particular moves right ), the food on site, and CAKE!!!

    Worst bit:
    Confusing classes that didn't seem to take any notice of where people were at. Also me being too tired to properly enjoy the weekend, but that was just me. I actually felt like my dancing deteriorated over the course of the weekend. Got the post-dance pitying look from a couple of people which didn't help.


    Nice to meet:
    Caz again, and we finally got to dance!
    Little Monkey again, and as promised had more than one this time
    Villemo
    Fletch
    Trouble
    Double Trouble
    Minnie M
    Astro (sadly out of order due to injury)
    Tessalicious
    Helen B (freaky small-world type thing going on there)
    Lemoncake
    Cheeks
    pmjd
    Wuzzle
    Claire from Glasgow who apparently used to be on the forum but isn't any more...
    and a few others were pointed out from a distance but didn't get to say hello in person.


    Overall, then, I wasn't in great form so my views may be tinted by that, but I was rather whelmed by the whole thing. Not overwhelmed, not really underwhelmed either. It was OK, it just wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Part of that was down to my own lack of energy. Hopefully most people enjoyed it more than I did.
    Last edited by CheesyRobMan; 22nd-June-2009 at 06:16 PM.

  10. #30
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Just a few quick points.

    The floor in Jacs was great: I really enjoyed it. The floor in reds was terrible. I was in a group of about twelve of us and I think at least half of us damaged their shoes on the floor, some to the point of completely ruining them. On mine, I caught the sole on one of the edges between the tiles and basically ripped it off. I'll need to glue it back on, but that's not a very good look. I didn't dance much in Arthurs', but the little I was there didn't impress me.

    The music was generally good. I enjoyed Jacs (but then I like the Blues - and I had my best dances in there). A few sets in Reds were less than impressive, but it was generally pretty good. Nothing outstanding, but good enough. Of course, I'm rarely impressed by standard MJ music anyway.

    The standard of teaching that I saw was generally very good. In particular, I enjoyed Simon and Nicole. I watched parts of Christopher and Katrina classes and they were excellent.

    Having non-dancers there was really a non-issue for me. I'm prepared to admit there are people in the universe that do not dance; that some of them were in the same place as me is really irrelevant. As long as I can get on with what I'm there to do, then that's all I care about. That was the case this weekend.

    Overall, I had a great weekend. But that was mostly due to the group of people I was there with...

  11. #31
    Registered User Villemo's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Right, review time! (Thank you coffee keeping me awake still)

    First, this was my first weekender, so I have nothing else to compare it to. I didn't feel a 5 min walk to the venues was bad at all, and never bothered with the shuttle bus. The rooms were okay. Couldn't really care a whole lot about the standard, as I didn't spend much time in there.

    The Good:
    - My chalet mates, Little Monkey and Freudian Hips!!! Thanks for talks, laughs and CAKE! You guys are great!
    - Meeting all the forum people! Hi, and thanks for a great weekend to (in no particular order, and sorry to the people I've missed...): Minnie M, Trouble, Scarface, Double Trouble, Gav, DavidY, Mr. Darcy, Astro, Helen B, pmjd, Cheesyrobman and his better half, Under Par, Lynn, Steward38, Wuzzle, Rafael, Sheepman, and last, but not least: Tessalicious
    - Wes and John for really making people welcome!
    - The blues room! Didn't see any reason to leave it
    - Tessalicious's sets in the blues room! You are by far my favorite DJ!!!
    - Loosing my Weekender Virginity! I must say that was a group effort from many great dancers

    The Bad:
    - Hitting a 0-confidence note with my dancing on Saturday (Hey, the blues room can be very intimidating! So many fantastic dancers). This was helped by an impromtu blues lesson from Little Monkey, pmjd, Tessalicious and Helen B. Thank you, guys
    - The 8 hour long drive.

    The Ugly:
    - Getting an albue slammed in my forehead during the Smooth Jive class, and then the guy just mumbling a "sorry", and walking off the floor leaving me dazed and hurt , and not bothering to see how I was doing, or walking me off the floor. I felt that was just plain rude, no matter how mortified he was by doing it .

    The Venues:
    Reds: Not very happy with the floor, as the partitions didn't fit very well in several places. Only did two classes in there though, so not too bothered by it.
    Arthurs: Did one freestyle dance, no classes. Was okay,but not really keen on the tile-style.
    Jakes: My favorite room! Main dance floor was good, and got realy fast on Sunday! The top part was really sticky Friday night and Saturday, but fast on Sunday.

    Summary:
    I had a great weekend! First time doing blues (well, trying to ) Thank you everyone who let me try and offered hints and tips! Very much appreciated.
    Said in a heavy accent: "I'll be back!"

  12. #32
    Senior Member rubyred's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Please will someone tell me what the tango classes and milongas were like.Thank you
    if you love the life you live then you'll get a lot more done

  13. #33
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath (was Smeggy)

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    I hated what ceroc did to JA, but had to go to Southport, and compared to JA it was crap, the dancers were poor and I hate dancing with women that can't dance,
    Well considering modern jive is a male lead dance perhaps you should take a look at yourself before blaming the follow, it may just have been that they 'can't dance' with you!!

  14. #34
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    My first time to a JA weekender so was expecting great things from what other people have previously said on here/elsewhere.

    Journey
    Not great as my satnav took me god knows where on the way & way back, not helped by additional miles to avoid Silverstone road closures.

    Accommodation
    V nice, we had silver chalet in Oyster bay so a bit of a trek, after a day of dancing. Shower wasn't great (poor drainage), and quite a few missing items vs the inventory, but luckily I took most of the things we needed just in case. It was a bonus to get a 3 bedroom, especially as we thought the 2 girls would be sharing a double bed given a double/twin was what we'd understood was all that was available when booking. We did have annoying muggles next door who insisted on kicking a football against our wall on Sun afternoon while we were resting. I'd rather have a weekender which was just for dancers.

    Venues
    Loved the floor in Jaks when I was in there (mostly on Sunday) - nice and fast.
    Reds floor I didn't get on with at all. Bumpy floor in some places, in others tiles lifted up when you danced on them, and in several places interlocking joins were raised - I kept getting my shoes caught, almost tripped twice, and 2 pairs of shoes now need glue-ing. Not impressed.
    Arthurs was mixed, for jiving I found again I was getting caught on the joins, but for my short time during WCS slots I had less of a problem.
    Overall, the venues were ok: plenty of room to dance (I was expecting a lot more people, but that wasn't helped by the number of rooms), and free water available, but I found all rooms way too hot. Apart from Arthurs where there was a door open on Sat night, I didn't spot any fans that were either switched on/effective. For me, that needs to be addressed as it's just too uncomfortable to dance for any length of time without lots of breaks.

    Music
    I generally stick to the main room but do like a variety of music. For me there wasn't any - it seemed like having the 3 rooms meant that the main room suffered as I didn't hear any funky modern or latin music until the last few tracks on Sun evening when there was very few people left to dance with. The best MJ music I heard was in Arthurs before the Sat evening cabaret. I generally enjoyed the music in Jaks, and the time I ventured into Arthurs for some WCS it also sounded good.

    Classes
    I did quite a few classes. As the classes were only 45 minutes with a half hour break, most I did overran by a lot because there just wasn't the time to teach all the moves. All except the WCS I was in a 'fixed couple rotation' so can't comment on how the rotations were going/how people were coping. I was quite surprised at how few teachers were there - few teachers doing a lot of classes. If there was a teacher you didn't warm to, it could put you off doing more and therefore missing out.

    My favourites were Katrina & Christopher doing the WCS: really accessible classes which had something for all levels, and helped give me a bit of confidence about being able to understand how patterns are built up.

    I was disappointed with Viktor's first class (Smooth & Sassy MJ) - our crowd are used to his teaching, but he seemed to change one of the moves (each of our 4 leaders ended up leading it differently) and not really explain it, and the final move didn't seem to have been finished. Quite a few of us didn't do his second class because of the nightmare of the first one. Felt like more preparation was needed (although I did hear the second class was better).

    Advanced jive with Simon & Nicole - moves were nice, but not at an advanced level IMO (apart from the final one). I agree with what CRM said about timings not being explained properly - we ended up dancing it how were wanted to.

    Amir's AT beginners intro was good. Not really enough time to get more than just the real basics (my partner got impatient about that), but enough to give people the buzz, and it's always great to get a demo from Amir & his partner.

    Forumites
    Nice to see forumites I've met before, but only managed to introduce myself to Northants Girly. Somehow one of my chalet mates got onto the topic of the forum with Lemoncake, and then got introduced and danced with lots of nice forumite girls, Adam says you were all really nice (hopefully next time he'll point you all out to me!).

    Other
    Good:
    Accommodation, some lovely dances in both Reds & Jaks, braving the WCS room and managing to get through a whole track with someone new, getting over my fear of the blues room.

    Bad:
    Floor in Reds and heat in all venues
    Length of classes meant they overran and people were having to rush between venues.
    Saturday evening - I just wasn't enjoying my dancing, I'd wrecked my shoes on the floor, and wasn't enjoying the music in Reds.
    Accessing the shoes/clothing shops through Arthurs - when I had a break and wanted to go in, I couldn't find a way through/round the class that was going on at the time. Would have been better to have a more central location.
    General welcome/information about the weekender. For me, I found the lack of communication/confirmation on booking was a scary prospect as I like more information. On registering we were just handed our envelope, then had to find a Butlins person where we could get a map/how to find our chalet (would have been good to have a map within the brochure, as well as the number of brochures we needed in the envelope). We also hadn't worked out that the wristband colours tied in with our tickets, so had to look out for what other people were wearing. It would have been nice to be asked if we'd been on a JA weekender/ Skegness before and told what was in our brochures and where we should go if we had any other issues.
    I'm used to the visibility of lots of crew members at weekenders, but at this one I felt like it was all down to me.

    Overall, I'm not sure if I'd go back to Eclipse unless I get more into WCS and need to get to more classes like Christopher & Katrina's. For jiving, I know I can get a weekend that I know I'll enjoy for a cheaper price (and without wrecking my shoes). I think it would depend very much on who else was going that I wanted to spend time with as to whether I'd go back to Skegness.

  15. #35
    Basically lazy robd's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by fletch View Post
    So there WAS snootyness last time!! and not just my imagination
    Impressed. Despite a lack of perception of snootyness this time around you still manage to raise it as an issue before you've even posted a proper review. Bit of a fixation you've got there.

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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Hi,

    I've now been to two JA Skeggy weekenders and two Cerocports this year.

    This is going to be a really short review cos I'm tired..

    Bad points:
    1. After the feedback from Feb, there really is no excuse for the abysmal floor in Reds. Trips galore, ruined shoes, plus super sticky so knackered knees. Why is laying a good floor so hard?

    2. Where were the fans? I danced mainly far end of Reds - saw none. Jaks for heat - don't even go there. Some seriously sweaty dancers - and no opportunity to dry off.

    3. Running out of cups in the main room on Saturday for the whole of Viktors class and part of the next class so nothing to drink from. Asked a member of staff for cups to be told they were provided by JA, nothing to do with them.

    4. Music skipping (and just plain stopping) in Reds on Friday night (I think).

    5. Having to walk (over) drunk muggles on the floor on my way through Skyline pavilion. Another muggle examining her norks in a drunken stupor. Walking behind a group of drunk muggles who'd tried to get into Jaks and were basically taking the p** out of the "ballroom dancers" inferring we all looked like tossers. Made me feel very intimidated.

    6. WCS room smelt unpleasantly damp.

    7. Accommodation - it would make much more sense to keep all the (self-catering) dancers together. Why were some of us in Oyster (10 mins away), some 5 mins walk away?

    The good:
    I cannot say this enough - Christopher and Katrina were AMAZING. Amazing, amazing, amazing. GREAT teachers, really thorough, and genuinely lovely people. John & Wes - get them back next year! Please!

    Am already booked for September. Hope these issues get sorted once and for all next time!

  17. #37
    B.O.G.O.F. fletch's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by robd View Post
    Impressed. Despite a lack of perception of snootyness this time around you still manage to raise it as an issue before you've even posted a proper review. Bit of a fixation you've got there.
    Call it what you wan't rob, but was an issue with snootyness last time, the only people that didn't think there was seem to be the people in denial.


    As you have pointed out I havn't done my review with my perception YET! so how have I rased it as an issue this time

  18. #38
    Registered User stewart38's Avatar
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by jivegirl100 View Post
    Hi,

    2. Where were the fans? I danced mainly far end of Reds - saw none. Jaks for heat - don't even go there. Some seriously sweaty dancers - and no opportunity to dry off.


    4. Music skipping (and just plain stopping) in Reds on Friday night (I think).

    2 . How about the big Industrial fan near the front or the toilets or just use a ladies dress ??

    4. Yes Nigel S according to the schedule and on friday . Every other song jumped to a new one or in the middle of the song it just stop. ( I assume something to do with his set up). However what I found amazing was that there was no apology . It happened about 10 times. My musical chairs joke was wearing thin

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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    2 . How about the big Industrial fan near the front or the toilets or just use a ladies dress ??
    Didn't spot it in the many hours I was in Reds.. was there just one fan?

  20. #40
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    Re: Eclipse Skegness June 2009 - The Aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by jivegirl100 View Post
    Didn't spot it in the many hours I was in Reds.. was there just one fan?
    Apologies Reds had air conditioning but agree wasnt working well. It had no fans I could see

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