Originally Posted by
Val Rokov
Hi Nick, thanks for starting a thread regarding this as we all feel it’s important to present the facts rather than to engage in unsubstantiated speculation.
Steve at the Liberty Ballroom contacted David and myself about bringing Ceroc to the Liberty Ballroom a very short while ago. The Ballroom is Steve and Lindsey’s livelihood and it is therefore important to have a high volume of footfall through the venue. Numbers at the Ginger Jive nights had apparently been dwindling.
David and myself had contacted the Liberty 18 months ago with a view to running an extra night alongside GJ (not instead of) as we wanted to create our own franchise. As such we would have actively promoted MJ and Ceroc to the local community with busks, advertising, editorials etc that would have benefited both businesses. Robbing Peter to pay Paul would have done nobody any good so we were keen for Steve to communicate our commitment to develop new business and attract new members to Kerrin.
GJ did not wish us to start alongside them so guaranteed the Liberty that they would devote more time and effort to promoting the venue. 18 months later this does not seem to have happened. Therefore, as the Liberty is Steve's business, he needed to make alternative arrangements and asked if we would be willing to give the venue the promotion it deserved. Since our initial contact with the Liberty Ballroom we had not been in contact again until Steve contacted us.
We have now signed an agreement and once GJ have concluded their arrangements with the Liberty we will start teaching there two nights a week as well as running regular freestyles (dates to be announced shortly). We and Ceroc have not ‘gazumped’ Ginger Jive – the agreement is not based on the venue rental, but on the amount of promotional activity and dedication we will put into the dance nights and subsequently the venue.
Our aim, as always, is to offer the best teaching and dance experience we can for our customers and also to help our venue managers in expanding their businesses. To this end we will be actively promoting the venue and hope to grow the MJ community as a whole in the Newbury area - which is something that many people, including local dancers, agreed seemed to be lacking at the moment.
I hope that clarifies the issue.
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