Cmon, where is the Camber aftermath thread?

[DD+]

To be fair to him, I think even Aleks would agree with that

He did

[robd]

I haven't been to Camber in over 3 years but the combination of a free weekend, a cheap wristband and the offer of a sofa bed from a friend meant I made the trip down. I've always seen Camber as the poor relation to Southport (both pre and post JA) and my overriding impression throughout the weekend was 'It's not Southport' which is a bit daft since
a - the physical layout at SP lends it much of its advantage and short of rebuilding Camber it can't compete here
b - I should really be assessing Camber on its own merits rather than comparitively
Assesssed on its own merits I had a good time. Bottom line is it's a dance weekender and I had some excellent dances on each night I was there. No real grumbles with the music (though no particular highlights either excepting a nod to Ginuwine being played on a post footy STDJ slot - oh and 'I like to move it' (Madagascar) was fun in the main room)
It was warm in the venues but I never felt overheated, even upstairs so the fans were doing their job and water was always readily and easily available. Was a little disappointed with the music ending earlier than I'd expect but I know this is down to Pontins rather than Ceroc.I made it through to the end on each night but struggled a bit Sun night due to tiredness having been unable to power nap before going out.
Steve and Gordon did an excellent job in the pub with the MCing for the various entertainment. Like many, I'd prefer to be able to dance all day in a reasonable size room but I can see that's just not feasible here and more pertinently is not advertised as such. The couple of hours daytime freestyle in the lower room suffered from some poor music IMO (excepting Vince's set) though it was hilarious seeing Trampy throw Riaz around like a rag doll.
I understand the thinking behind laying as much temp dance floor as possible but it meant navigating across the rooms with a drink when they were busy was tricky since there was no obvious route.
I doubt I'll go back for the November one - the thought of the weather at that time of year is enough to put me off (and the parking situation, though understandable, is a hassle) but Storm next year could be a goer.

[Froggy]

Warning this may be a little gushy..

I had an absolute blast at Camber. Having been off the scene for a little while I wondered how my return would go down and couldn't have been anymore welcomed back into the fold than I was! Thank you all..

After having somewhat of a Ceroc drought I more than made up for it this weekend packing as much as I could in over the last few days. Unfortunately I had a lousy cold which made things miserable at times but I battled on! Some of my highlights were as always Mike's swingers hour where I had some great dances with Rob May!! Being back in the Blues room with some great partners, Dale, Rocky, Adam, Russel, Steve T, Carl etc.. There was some serious tagging on Sunday night and loved it especially as it was Mads, Jade and myself that hijacked the guys double troubling, I don't think they expected that one!! Upstairs was filled with gem partners too.. Tom, Jamie, Lloyd, Cj, Tanzin, Tim etc, etc.. the list just goes on and on.. Thinking back we really are spoiled for choice ladies!!

The dance auction was hilarious, fair play to you all who put yourself out there like that. Ginger P (as Rocky would say) and Steve were on top form and thanks too for all of you who froze for our entertainment on the water slide!

On a personal note my only problem was not having nearly enough time to dance or chat with all the people I wanted to or have missed while being away. Hopefully I can catch up with more on my next visit!

A special shout out to Tom Baker, always love teaching with you and this weekend was no different! Hopefully those who came to our class enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed teaching it!

To sum it all up I have to say Ceroc and it's dancers/teachers/organisers provided a simply pontastic time!

Thank you all!! See you next time I'm on this side of the pond! xx

[Spiky Steve]

I'd agree with that.

I found the comp enjoyable but a bit strange seeing some of the established competition faces competing in full finery (I presume because they'd done the showcase for the dancewear company rather than getting dressed up especially) I wonder if Ceroc intended it to attract this kind of crowd or if they expected more regular punters to get up and have a go?

Ceroc do try some interesting ideas, it is all a good idea in my opinion. I don't think Ceroc know what the interest would be. Yes, those dressed in the competion outfits were dressed for the fashion show. Problem is that it kind of reduces the impact a little showing the outfits in the competion first.

[frodo]

The Contoversial:

Escape comp result - I'm with DD+, but then maybe we both need new ears?!?!?

Unless you think Ceroc would tweak the the DVD sound levels between competitors where is the controversy ?

[Maxine]

I love Mike Ellards swing hour - but it is soooooooooooooo frustrating as Mike and Paul Rose are the only real swing/lindy dancers there, and Mike was DJing and I only got one dance with Paul even though I dragged him in there as there was a queue for him (Mike normally gives me a dance - but was a wrapped up with the music this time) boooooooo bloody hoooooooo

Forgot all about swingers hour – had 3 extremely fast dances in a row, one being the fastest dance I have ever danced to. Brilliant fun

[Gav]

I love Mike Ellards swing hour - but it is soooooooooooooo frustrating as Mike and Paul Rose are the only real swing/lindy dancers there, and Mike was DJing and I only got one dance with Paul even though I dragged him in there as there was a queue for him (Mike normally gives me a dance - but was a wrapped up with the music this time) boooooooo bloody hoooooooo

Wish Gav was there at least I might have got TWO proper dances - it's not the same thing dancing MJ to a swing track

Thanks Lynda , but I'm afraid dance weekenders have to fit in with childcare and mountain climbing . I wish I could've helped .

It's been years since I've been to Camber (I've never heard of Mike's Swing Hour ). Maybe it's time we started thinking about doing it again...

[nebula]

The good
The weather was lovely. Had a chalet to myself +1, which actually was very nice, no caution needed to tiptoe around the room at odd hours Lyndsey's kids taking mine under the wing and having a blast together, incl the water slide!!!
Most dances, esp those in the pub, and in the blues room, were fab.
Sack the DJ slots were good, great fun, though uglies to follow
The bad
The heat in the dance rooms, of course... Know nothing can be done, especially when the weather is so nice outside, but wish there were powerful ceiling fans as well as the standing ones...
Being stressed out fri/sat. Thanks to BFF, she let me spill without being overly dramatic, and we had a big big hug.
Main room felt a little flat for me, for some reason. There were fab dances now and again, thanks to usual victims, but it's the in-betweens that dragged me down more than was giood for me in that frame of mind.
Missing the Escapee comp - 2nd time!
The ugly
The iPod chanel not working at STDJ slot on Sunday - grrrr!!!, had to delay by 20 mins whilst picked the CDs. Had a blast though
My NOT new shoes rubbing me raw on Sunday - another grrrrr!

[fletch]

Still want to hear all the gossip though

Lory you know i'm not one to gossip.........

I love Mike Ellards swing hour - but it is soooooooooooooo frustrating as Mike and Paul Rose are the only real

:

I miss some of my northern friends at Camber swing hr, even when your not dancing you can soak up the atmospher, with the guy's and girls dressed up, I felt a bit daft in my dress I think there were only 2 of us in them

[fletch]

just a quicky i'll try and do a review later,


I won 2 men at the aution, I went 2's up on Rob May and CJ Baker.

We were going to have 5 dances each but the lovely guy's said they weren't counting, I must have had 15 with Rob, worth the money...CJ Backer said we can continue at Daventry.


I think Tom and Jamie should have gone last as the star prizes, one is the current champ and one the undefeted champ. Good money raised think it was in the region of £700 I hope they do it agin. Lots of people asking why there were no girls been auctioned, and also guys wern't allowed to buy dances, come on guy's its a 'dance' 'open mind'

[alinp]

Unless you think Ceroc would tweak the the DVD sound levels between competitors where is the controversy ?

I've seen the comp element of the DVD and am still of the same opinion (as were Mork & Mindy, who watched it with me)

[fletch]

I've seen the comp element of the DVD and am still of the same opinion (as were Mork & Mindy, who watched it with me)

I was told there were a few high pitched screemers that register high on the sound, Im going to bring a wistle on the next one.

[sunnybunny]

Im going to bring a wistle on the next one.

As long as you don't bring a bl**dy Vuvuzela !

[fletch]

As long as you don't bring a bl**dy Vuvuzela !

No it would take up to much room, I need all the room I can get for my dresses.

[alinp]

I was told there were a few high pitched screemers that register high on the sound, Im going to bring a wistle on the next one.

Like it

[Kazibaby]

I won 2 men at the aution, I went 2's up on Rob May and CJ Baker.

Its all about quality Fletch....one was enough for me....

[fletch]

Its all about quality Fletch....one was enough for me....

glad you got him, but then there was never any question was there, I certainly wasn't going to bid against you.

My biggest laugh of the weekend was Paul Harris's bid. After us all shouting 'off off off' to get his top off and him squirming holding his 'T' shirt over his nipples. When Lisa went on stage to collect her winnings the guy's have to escort you to the bar and buy there lady a drink, Sarve jump out her seat and shot over to the bar, its was so funny...............she didn't need to say it but it was so 'you won a dance not MY MAN'

Have to say Paul Harris's package was well worth £150. bargin

[Rocky]

Cabaret timing - in the pamphlet as 9pm, we decided it probably wouldn't happen til after the football so arrived at 9.30 minus dance shoes as we were intending to watch it, then go back and change...only to find that it was close to 10.30 by the time it started with no communication about the time change..

The Cabaret hour being advertised at 9 and yet not starting till after 10...

I am a little confused by these comments because if you read the schedule in the pamphlet (and I have one in front of me..) it says:

21.00 - 23.30: Caberets, Competition & Live Entertainment incl. Freestyle.

It therefore doesn't specify any particular time at all for each of those events.. just that they will occur at some point during that time slot.

It also specifically mentions that the Live Singing act will be on from 23.30 - 00.30.

... Lots of people asking why there were no girls been auctioned, and also guys wern't allowed to buy dances, come on guy's its a 'dance' 'open mind'

I think there are a number of problems with regard to a 'female auction' and all of them were discussed at length before a final decision was made. So apart from the problem that some of us had about the concept of what a 'female auction' conveys, the major issue was one of gender balance. As has already been discussed at length on another thread, regardless of what the gender balance is at an event there does always seem to be more ladies out available to dance in the freestyle sessions than men. So if a guy wins a bid for 10 dances with a female teacher it means he's less available to dance with other ladies.

This is of course also true of taking male dance teachers out of the mix, but as one lucky lady said on winning her man it did mean to her that she was guaranteed 10 hot dances over the w/e regardless of the availibility of other men. This also explains why men weren't allowed to bid for the guys in the auction because it meant we would be taking two available guys off the dance floor in one go.

Separate to that, you can discuss all you like about the PCness of guys dancing with guys and it only being a dance etc etc. But it is a fact that some guys don't feel comfortable dancing with other men (and I'll hold my hand up as I'm one of those..) and on that basis we should never put any person in a situation that they are not comfortable with - especially as they would have no choice in who their dance partner was. That's fair enough isn't it?

As regards the rest of the w/e, well it was Pontastic for us and probably one of the most social weekends that we've ever had in the company of wonderful friends. It was also a w/e filled with some of the best dances I can remember, so thank you to my dance partners for that (not least my dance with my beautiful wife to Lady Soul..)

Finally I want to say a big thank you to Steve and Gordon (Stevey T and Ginger P) who as always did a fantastic job organizing all the social stuff in the pub AND did an incredible job with the man auction. Doing their intro and then handing the mic straight to Gordon for a comeback on my comments resulted in exactly what one would expect. I'm just sorry I didn't keep a mic so that we could have started the whole event with more abuse..

And as for Gordon's comment all I can say is that I can shave my beard off overnight but that he would find it far more difficult to lose that 13 stone of ugly fat he's carrying... I may talk like a **** but at least I don't look or smell like a fat one... (anymore...)

[emmylou25]

I am a little confused by these comments because if you read the schedule in the pamphlet (and I have one in front of me..) it says:

21.00 - 23.30: Caberets, Competition & Live Entertainment incl. Freestyle.

It therefore doesn't specify any particular time at all for each of those events.. just that they will occur at some point during that time slot.

It also specifically mentions that the Live Singing act will be on from 23.30 - 00.30.

Fair point about the timings on the cabarets. But it would be handy to have specifics of when the cabaret will start as not everyone wants to go out early, but does still want to see the cabaret. It's quite a long slot to be hanging around for just in case the cabaret starts early. (In future I shall remember to take my dance shoes out with me so at least I can get in some dancing!)

For me, the live singer was very good, but 2 songs is enough...I just don't enjoy dancing to a live act and at that time I wasn't enjoying the music in the blues room, so there was quite a block of time that I didn't enjoy things despite there being 2 rooms for dancing in.

[Phil_dB]

Good


Brilliant weekender, still buzzing from it now tbh

Tried the WCS Beginners class with Paul & Sarve, which was fine in the workshop but went a bit to pot in freestyle but thank you Phil dB for having the patience to bear with me

My pleasure

........and being a glutton for punishment did the WCS Doubles, think I held my own tho!

Glad (after a bit of persuasion!) you decided to join! I thought you did really really well (especially considering you'd only had one previous proper lesson & i'm sure my lead was on the ambiguous side!)

Never done double trouble MJ or anything before, so wasn't going to bother with WCS, but decided late in the day to "sod it - give it a go for a laugh - any WCS practice is good practice!". I fully expected it to be tricky to lead two girls at the same time, but one thing I didnt consider beforehand was the different (sometimes VERY different) connections from each partner, ie trying to match 2 different compressions & leverages at the same time. Really good fun class

WCS double trouble class - great fun

Was you fixed? If not, I'm sure it must have been you & your friend that I was partnered with at the end of the lesson transitioning into freestyle? Both of you (if it was you?!) were a pleasure to dance with btw



Because it suited the gender balance of our chalet, we decided to do the 'Awesome Foursome' class with Debbie, - good laugh


WCS Slick-Whips masterclass with Paul Harris was definitely worth the extra fiver! - very worthwhile - really enjoyed that one too


Everything about the apartment was good in good nick, a stone's throw from the main entrance, & lovely to open the sliding doors to a flood of sunshine every morning


I enjoyed all the freestyles, spent mostly in the COZ, music was good IMO, stayed up till at least 5am every night. Very impressed with Gerry Turner in particular, just my taste though


Camber beach in the weather we had was lovely

brilliant meal planning in advance.

We did that too

The cookies and cake supplied by Twirly.........thank you

Ah yes, thank-you also, I had the delicious shortbread so thanks to Beowulf!





Bad


Coming back to reality


I did a lot (probably too much) this weekend but there was so much more I wanted to do but couldnt fit in, during the late night freestyle there were times where I wanted to dance but just felt shattered. Personally I would love to attend an extended "weekender" ("weeker"?), - 4 - 5 days or something. At least then I could chill out a bit more, sleep a bit more, not have to miss out on stuff which is happening at the same time as other things, and feel a bit more lively during the early morning freestyles, considering there's so many weekdenders now, I reckon they should make one of them a bit longer (thinking as I type I guess dance holidays are already available!)