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Thread: LUX - how was it for you?

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    Registered User Easily Led's Avatar
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    LUX - how was it for you?

    For me personally this was my best ever weekender experience. It exceeded my expectations in terms of luxury, food and access to teachers etc. My list of "complaints" is so small that it is hardly worth mentioning - and it was mostly about it being too hot to dance for some of the time (particularly Sunday afternoon during the Motown slot and I don't think even Rocky can control the weather). So here are the/my highlights:


    • Fluffy everything in the rooms towels, enormous bathrobes, free toiletries, tea/coffee making, great air con etc.
    • Excellent food including a great fruit salad and the whole gala night menu + very efficient service.
    • Classes I attended were not too crowded and all pretty challenging/interesting.
    • Did not attend any master classes but met someone who ended up with an extremely cheap one-to-one!
    • Fantastic layout with all rooms on one floor and 2 rooms adjacent.
    • The outdoor dancing area
    • The special Lux chocolates on the bed were a nice touch
    • The music in general.
    • The chilling out area in the foyer

    Personal highlights:

    • Meeting Franck and Sheena properly when they joined us for a drink on the first night (like a proper French-Scot he was drinking champagne !)
    • Getting to dance with Franck 3 times!!!
    • Franck's outfit on the Gala night.
    • Chatting to Rocky, Val and Bill on Sunday evening (and finding out that Rocky can be charming in real life!)
    • Doing a lead and follow lesson with David and Lily and then getting to dance with him later.
    • Long distance handbag dance with Fletch to "My Guy".
    • Chats with IainL, Drathzel and Kazibaby ( I picked up some tips)
    • Not getting my usual weekender low time
    • Getting dances pretty steadily in spite of some ladies over.
    • Rachel's and Rocky's sets that I heard (missed all of Marc's)

    All in all a great time for me - how was it for you?
    Last edited by Easily Led; 29th-June-2009 at 10:21 AM.

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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Unfortunately this was not my best weekender that I’ve been to mainly because there were just not enough men to dance with and practically nonexistent in the daytime dancing.

    Good
    Accommodation really comfortable, really lovely to have a balcony in England, the hotel was really good and the staff very helpful. Socializing with everyone chatting with different people over breakfast and outside over drinks made it very relaxed and sociable. I loved dancing on the balcony on the Saturday night under the warm night air. Catching up with people you don’t see normally, great to see Kazibaby again . Had some lovely dances and thanks to Stewat38, Gerry, Jivelad, , Lost Leader, The Wanderer and a special thanks to Ant for your patience during my tango practice. Also had some lovely non forum dances and my Saturday was made when I discovered Herbie had materialised from thin air at 4am and had a couple of fantastic dances with him made my night.

    Bad

    The heat in the Utopia room on the Friday night just got unbearable but to the organisers’ credit they swapped rooms for Saturday and there was a 100% improvement. Just lack of men to dance with and hate feeling like a stalker and don’t want to ask someone more than once unless I know them well. The event seemed to be dominated by WCS dancers but that may have just been a perception, although they were all mainly friendly and we had quite a few improvised pretend WCS dances, it can’t have been that bad as one guy danced with me 5 times.

    My Observations

    I think there was too much going on for too few people and having a blues room and a Utopia room going at the same time just seemed to split the people up unnecessarily. When I went from the Utopia room to the blues room the music seemed very similar. So in my opinion once the milonga (sorry if it’s spelt wrongly) was finished I personally don’t think that there was a need for 2 rooms. I also don’t think that it is necessary to split the WCS dancers from the rest of the dancers as we all seemed to be able to alongside and times with each other just fine. I think also because a large number of attendees were coming only for the freestyle it left not enough people to dance freestyle in the day. Lastly I personally did not need to be full board would have been happy with half board (never made lunch) maybe have brunch instead of breakfast and lunch to allow everyone to get up later.

    I want to end on a positive and say that I could tell that the organisers had put in a tremendous amount of work for all our enjoyment and that did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. I can see there is great potential there.

  3. #3
    Registered User ant's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Originally posted by Easily Led
    Fantastic layout with all rooms on one floor and 2 rooms adjacent.
    The outdoor dancing area
    The music in general.
    The chilling out area in the foyer


    Originally Posted by Maxine
    The heat in the Utopia room on the Friday night just got unbearable but to the organisers’ credit they swapped rooms for Saturday and there was a 100% improvement........ The event seemed to be dominated by WCS dancers but that may have just been a perception
    Maxine, from a general point of view I had the same sort of experience as you on the Friday night. Although I enjoyed the Milonga in the first half of the evening that allowed me to enjoy the evening more.

    But by Saturday the rooms were well sorted and I had a great night.

    Then by Sunday (I don't think you were there then, didn't see you) the enjoyment level was right up there with the very best wekenders. Sitting out on the balcony to great music and a series of good /very dances after a long lazy morning of sunbathing by the River Thames. Great day.

    Hospitality
    IMO the level of hospitality shown by the organisers this weekend was first class.;
    Water all the time.
    Ice cream on the terrace Sunday afternoon
    Teachers ensuring they danced with everybody
    Fans on the terrace Sunday as the weather was so incredibally good
    The reception desk open at times until late in the evening
    At least one organiser available at all times who was ready to listen and react to comments
    Making changes to the setup as soon a possible, so by Sunday it was IMO from a dance point of view up with the very best of weekender.

    I was on the freestyle package, so cannot comment on the accomodation and workshops but the feedback I had was very positive.
    Last edited by ant; 29th-June-2009 at 01:42 PM.

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    Registered User stewart38's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Maxine View Post
    The heat in the Utopia room on the Friday night just got unbearable but to the organisers’ credit they swapped rooms for Saturday and there was a 100% improvement. Just lack of men to dance with and hate feeling like a stalker and don’t want to ask someone more than once unless I know them well.
    I attended the fri and sat night. Drove down the M40 in torrential rain and lighting on sat ,thankfully it didnt follow me down to the hotel. Which remained dry

    Only down side for me was the friday night utopia room which was like a sauna and located in the wrong place and a bit too boppy. The music was bit samie in each room.

    Put it in the right place on saturday with for me much better music and everything was great.

    Well organised , they had to replace 300 + jugs of water and even when I drank 3 jugs in one go I dont think I caught them out

    Really nice to catch up with people I havent seen for ages in that area

    All very very good and i hope its on next year and would stay

    The outside dance area with the music reminded me of Southport at its best

    ps did sf realise he played the same song twice in a row

    pps I didnt see more men ,maybe more sitting out , ladies just need to ask

  5. #5
    Dickie Davies' love-child Cruella's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    I can't comment at all on the daytime stuff as I wasn't staying at the hotel, but I did have a whole house to myself just 20 minutes away which was fabulous .
    The hotel was gorgeous and I even went into a friend's bedroom without being thrown out by Rocky. So can confirm they were lovely too.
    It was obvious that a lot of hard work and risk had been taken on by the Utopia team. There was always a member of the crew on the door when I walked past, so if there were any issues it would have been easy to find someone.
    Unfortunately I couldn't get into either the Fri or the Sat nights, but that had nothing to do with the event, just me being bored with dancing in general.
    I really liked the temporary floors but for some reason the one in the (Friday night) Utopia room felt very spongey Was it laid on top of carpet? A good idea to swap the rooms around for the Saturday as the one with the balcony was much cooler and it was nice to have the outside area. The music was very good in both the Utopia and Blues room but IMO also very similar. I agree with Maxine that in hindsight they didn't need the 3rd room for the amount of people that were there. Maybe it was busier at times when I wasn't around, I have no idea. I think if more people had supported the event, then yes the 3rd room would have been needed but as it was, it seemed to split the crowd a bit too much. As for the comment on separating the WCS crowd from the jivers I'm not sure that was in the control of the Utopia Team, the Westies do tend to follow each other and congregate together, as groups of friends tend to do.
    All in all, I hope this can work for them if they do it again, but I suspect it may need more 'full packages' to lessen the financial risk, as it must have been very expensive to hire out and a lot of people seemed to be on freestyle only tickets.

  6. #6
    Registered User Lost Leader's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Personally I absolutely loved Lux!

    The hotel Obviously key to an event like this and was IMO just about perfect. Really spacious room, very comfortable bed, etc. Given the very warm and humid weather one of the best features was the really effective air conditioning in the rooms . This was an absolutely god-send in terms of comfort. Hotel staff were also excellent.

    Dance venues The three rooms were all of a decent size and you could very easily move between them. Two were almost next door to each other and the third was a one minute walk through the huge hotel lobby / bar area. All had good floors. The outside balcony area was really large and made a great extension to one of the rooms. I flitted between rooms more than I normally do because it was just so easy to do so.

    Music Fine - heard a lot of good stuff played in all three rooms.

    Food Really, really good. All the meals were great and some of the dishes really top class. Starting the day with a massive cooked breakfast was a treat.

    Classes Enjoyed the 4 that I did. Smaller numbers meant classes worked better than at normal week-enders.

    General stuff Lux is rather different from normal week-enders - it's' a much smaller event in terms of numbers which has pro's and con's. Unlike say Southport you won't find 1500 dancers from all over the country. Lux is more like 300, mostly from SE England (with a few notable exceptions). It's a lot easier to find people and much harder to miss someone you want to dance with - and you have more chance of getting more than one dance with some of your favourite partners. Although the number of dancers overall was smaller I still found plenty of really good partners.

    In general the event felt more intimate - I did far more chatting than I would normally do at a week-ender. In that respect the hotel lobby / bar area functioned as a luxurious chill out area which worked brilliantly (cool and airy, loads of super comfortable chairs and sofas, drinks brought to your table, no noise from the dance venues so you could chat really easily).

    The fact that you could pop back to your room at any time for a quick shower / change / nap / lie down etc with the air con turned up to max was absolutely great.

    Special dance thanks Drathzel, Kazibaby, Mrs Under Par (loved the new hair style and that great dress you wore on Sunday), Sheena, Lily Barker, Val, Maxine, Fletch, Cruella, Lory, and the no doubt several others I have embarrassingly forgotten .

    Last, but not least, thanks to everyone involved in organising and running this event. It was obvious that a lot of care, thought and attention to detail had gone into making this a success. No doubt there are a few tweaks that could be applied to make the event even better next time - I would certainly go again.

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    Ceroc N.I. Franchise Owner drathzel's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    My Feedback is coming soon! Just the second i get more than a few minutes to put my thoughts down on paper! However i think i can sum it up in one word in the meantime...

    FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!!!!

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    Registered User Easily Led's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    I forgot to say thanks to the organisers and all the lovely people who danced with me in spite of my sweaty state . In general male forumites are hard to get hold of but I did manage to secure dances with the following, despite their best efforts : IainL; Jivelad ; Ant and Gerry (who I thought was just WCSwinging but he can do either when he has a mind to). Mostly I danced with strangers who rarely asked again except for a young guy who asked 3 times even though I abandoned him when the music stopped suddenly during the first one! Another bloke accused me of trying to give him a heart attack! Most mysterious was the man with a soft American accent who asked me twice to dance but when I told him I didn't WCS he lost interest and moved on .

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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Easily Led View Post
    Gerry (who I thought was just WCSwinging but he can do either when he has a mind to). .
    It comes in handy being multi skilled

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    Registered User Northants Girly's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    No one has mentioned the fish tank . . . is it still there?

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    Dickie Davies' love-child Cruella's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Northants Girly View Post
    No one has mentioned the fish tank . . . is it still there?
    Yes.

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    Registered User FunkyAngel's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Easily Led View Post
    Most mysterious was the man with a soft American accent who asked me twice to dance but when I told him I didn't WCS he lost interest and moved on .
    That would probably be James who was visiting from Vancouver. He dances WCS but had never seen modern jive before that weekend and of course didn't know anybody there either. So no surprise he was asking what dance people did out of politeness. He must not have realised he'd asked you twice - obviously you look like a Westie! I'll leave you to decide whether you take that as a compliment or a terrible insult (ducks and runs...)

    I know he had a great time though and was commenting on how friendly everyone was.

    I thought it was great fun and had some lovely dances. Looked like a really well run event - I'd definitely go again.

    FunkyAngel

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    Registered User Brighton Belle's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    I just came for the Sat night freestyle so can't comment on accom, food etc but I have to say I absolutely loved it! The best freestyle I think I've ever been to.

    I had some brilliant dances and it didn't seem to me that there were women over (maybe that was just during the day?). I arrived at 9.15 and it seemed only a couple of hours later that we were watching the sun come up on the terrace and suddenly it was 5.30.

    I was in the Milonga room for the first 3 hrs and there were possibly slightly too many women there but big respect to all the men for dancing with as many ladies as possible, especially Mr Under Par (who incidently is becoming a very accomplished tangoer! ) and Amr (ditto) who I don't think sat down once and many thanks of course to Marc and Amir for the music and some wonderful dances.

    After that I flitted from room to room, again much more that I would normally. The music was brillant everywhere I went, even the main room, which I don't usually spend much time in. I met some wonderful people, had some good chats and adored dancing out on the terrace in the Utopia room. No space issues anywhere and the temperature was perfect. Everyone seemed very relaxed and I even plucked up courage to ask some guys to dance who I'd seen at other events but was too indimidated to ask before.

    Dance of the night had to be an amazing one I had with Lucky - a mixture of blues/jive, tango and swing which was just brilliant fun!

    Many thanks to all the organisers and DJ's who did a wonderful job and to my many partners and friends who really made my night! It was just fantastic

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    Registered User Lost Leader's Avatar
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by drathzel View Post
    My Feedback is coming soon! Just the second i get more than a few minutes.....
    Tum-te-tum...yes, any minute now......can't be long (glances again at watch)

  15. #15
    The Dashing Moderator
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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    The Cerocpix folk have been busy today - photos from Lux are online.
    http://www.cerocpix.com/index.php?ca...X_2009&start=0
    Love dance, will travel

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    Re: LUX - how was it for you?

    Nice pics…the action shots certainly highlight the space available on the dance floor(s)…(IMHO of course...)

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