Just thought I'd get the ball rolling but all I can add right now is
OUCH! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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
Had an absolutely brilliant weekend but I am just too tired to make a proper aftermath yet I'll do it this evening but first more
It's still the premier weekender venue and the event is certainly establishing its own identity against the JA Southports (you don't hear the phrase Cerocport too much nowadays), for some people that's a good thing, for others less so.
One thing that I did notice and I am not sure it's Southport specific but the bar area was relatively quiet on Fri from mid afternoon onwards (certainly compared to the SP of 3/4 years ago) I thought I'd get a few good hours dancing in whilst waiting for my chalet mate to arrive but it was really very quiet in there. I suspect as more and more weekenders are available that more people come up after work Fri so events only really get going later in the evening.
Afternoon dancing (a slot that S'Funk seems made for) as much fun as ever and I enjoyed the cabarets from Ricardo and Jenny.
Its definitely painful NOW!
I'll be perfectly honest, the week leading up to it, I wasn't really that excited and if something had got in the way, I wouldn't have been that bothered about missing it, as I'd had a great time at Breeze and it felt like it was a bit too soon and there were a few other niggles that had dampened my enthusiasm, namely my best mate wasn't going and I was sharing with relative strangers and I wasn't sure how I was getting there until 2 days before and I just thought, it can't be as good and I was afraid it'd leave me on a downer!
BUT, I was wrong!
It had a totally 'different' feel to Breeze, which was very refreshing!
My chalet mates turned out to be funny (peculiar), very amusing, considerate and caring! And the demonstration, with full running commentary of how to put on your, 'giant condom' as Wuzzle described it, (the rain poncho) will not be forgotten in a hurry!
My night in shining armour, and best (boy) friend, Colin FlipFlop came to my rescue with the lift in the end. (he's a good'n that one!)
Not having my best (girl) friend there, forced me to widen my horizons (I did miss you though LT)
The music at this weekend was, for me, the best yet.
People have complained in the past about it being too samey, well I think even the hardest critic would be hard pushed to back that comment up! And I'm very pleased to admit, my fears about 'Rocky's pure blues' set, were totally blown away. It was awesome!
DJ's Flip Flop, Gerry and Wuzzle all did great in the STDJ spots too!
I also have to compliment Locoman as well, not just for his music this time... ho nooo.. the man can dance too! Apparently, I got his Mojo 'pulsating' woo hoo!
The Tango room's a bit of a funny one for me, I HATE, with a passion, walking in there and trying to figure out how I'm going to get a dance? BUT, once dancing, I love it! And I'd like to thank Ant for giving me one of the best dances of my weekend in there!
One of the surprise bonuses for us all was the weather, the sun came out and within record time, so did the flooring on the deck. I was extremely impressed by that!
The slight disappointment was the main floor in the COZ, compared to the other flooring, it was sticky and slow and very dirty, although they did take measures to rectify it, it was never as good. Next time, It'd be really nice to have that covered in the temp flooring too (please)
I don't think I've ever danced so much at a weekender. I've only ever had Redbull once before, years ago and it had a weird effect on me but someone suggested I had one on Saturday night and that was it, I was bouncing off the walls, like a duracell bunny. I'm suffering for it now though!
Not sure who did all the baking but thank you (there was tons of it), it saved me a couple of times!
Dave Hancock.. you're a legend!
Random question, do 'any' of the bathrooms at Southport have working locks? I've never had one that does!
Apologies to everyone who said they were looking forward to another video. I thought about it but never got around to it and I'm off to Spain anyway, so I wouldn't have had time to edit it properly but I promise to do my best at Camber........ EEEK CAMBER!!!!.. how long have I got to recover?
OOps that was longer than I intended!
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
The weekend started badly with sore knees from that awful sticky floor - but the endorphins kicked in and I switched shoes and danced on the temp flooring to the side and everything was wonderful.
Enjoyed it far more than Breeze, still scared senseless of the Blues room (but waved hi to a couple of people in there) and Southport is definitely a great venue.
Thanks (as always) to all the ladies I danced with, you were fantastic
Hmm how to sum up southport. Well it was lots of awe, wows and w00ts!!
Just like southport should.
This was my first southport in over a year! I was and always i suppose am a bit nervious at these events. There is so much talented dancers I always feel a bit out of my depth. I was sharing with people I didn't know well at all.
So I wasn't sure what to think.
Though that soon changed.. Lory is just excellent fun. Rob, my new found roommate was a good laugh and they both made me feel at ease. I did think that i might of been sitting in the corner eatting on my own. Though that wasn't the case. So i was thankful for their company. Especially how i felt about southport being daunting. Its a great place just can feel a bit shy round all the brilliant inspiring dancers.
So in short my chalet mates were great, the chalet itself had a few issues. No lock on the bathroom, and wonderful ice draft kept me from sleeping too much at night.
I spent most of my time in the blues room. While i probably didnt dance as much as previous weekenders the blues room still was the camping ground.
I think I dance 5 times in the main room. However it was more of a moosh pit when I was there. So seeked sanctuary in the blues room.
I did go use the Wcs hours eventually. Though its still a scary place with far too many talented people. I didn't feel that i could actually ask any of them to do a westie. I do love wcs though, hope to go to an event soon. Maybe dance a little... Abhi kept on introducing me to many great westie. I just felt too chicken...
Did the STDJ thing, which for me was a lot less nervous the second time you do it. Gonna give up telling friends as there is far too much other stuff happening I think almost everyone i knew went to tango or was sleeping by the time my set was on. Still I got a few thumbs up which is always nice. wuzzle did good
Only felt really awful at southport after consuming a cheap redbull thing which backfired on me at 4am sunday morning. Though by sunday, I discovered the uber powers of cake! Coffee cake is great...!!!
I managed to make it through to till the end, was delighted to have a group picture and a freebie
Made some new friends found a few more wows but only danced with them once or twice. I suppose as a rule we all look up someone and its very cool when the someone asks you to dance. Perhaps on reflection i should of used from drinkin courage alas southport don't do Guinness!
I found myself only saying cerocport only once and that was a discussion about the differences between JA and Ceroc southports. I think the blues room has changed a bit music wise. I wasn't totally thrilled with swing hours however thats just down to personal taste. I don't think i could bop about at speed for that length of time. The music was just top notch, it was very rare that i heard anything repeated. It was great for me as I heard alot of new tracks. Having not been down southport for a while it was really refreshing. Saying that I did pod down at one point only when the blues rooms tune tastes differed from my own. That was very rare though.
I am very glad that southport was how i remembered it. Very cool and just a slice of a happy dream. That you always hope to have another one when you wake.
The Good
Sunday night was great - finally room to dance, fab music from Mike Sailsman's upbeat bluesy set which got me going after a midnight nap (with some help from vodka and redbull) to Marc Foster's finale - especially the moment when he turned the house lights up for a split second to hit a break in Hey Eugene. A little bit of magic that. Great people to dance with too. Felt like the good old Jive Addiction days (yawn, yawn, i know).
Also the late-night set on Saturday by Garry Turner (my favourite dance DJ) - Sheena's West Coast set and Rocky's blues set (like Lory I was very pleasantly surprised). Others probably too, but still have a scrambled brain.
With a few less Westie followers than previously, branching out to dance with a couple of the brilliant young jivers - much more talented and seemingly natural dancers than me - who i might have missed out on otherwise.
The not so good
Personally I could do without two 90-minute S'Funk sets - immensely popular as they are and much as i love funky music. I feel like i already know the set list before i walk in the room. Any chance of mixing in some modern R'n'B as well?
The bad
The packed beyond comfort blues room on Friday and Saturday night. I don't know how many tickets Ceroc sells but the more dancers you cram in beyond a certain number the less people are going to enjoy themselves. And Lory's right the main blues room floor wasn't great.The floor by the bar, meanwhile, had too many people wandering straight across the middle of it or straying onto its edges because the room was so full.
The ugly
Seeing two really great follows almost having their arms separated from their bodies as they were spinned at top speed and then dropped by someone who doesn't apparently know what damage that kind of torque can do to their shoulders. Same guy both times
Southport October 2010
The Ugly
Who put the heating on in the old Latin room? I could only ever stay in there for short periods as it was really uncomfortable.
Too many dancers walking across the dance floor with drinks in their hands.
Dancers walking into a crowded dance floor and not watching what the other dancers are doing. I had a number of real near misses where my partner could have been really hurt
The Bad
The floor in the Blues room around the DJ was very poor and was never up to its usual fast speed.
The Music
I thought all the DJ’s did a splendid job; it was great hearing blues from Rocky which wasn’t slow. You could see that he was having a ball.
I love Soul and Disco so Vince’s set really ticked all the boxes.
The highlights
Leading Jamie and getting a few squeals when I lead a few Gerry specials.
Being led by Alex Faulkner, a real bad idea at 6.30 in the morning as he got me back for being spun so much.
All in all, another quality Southport
The Really, Really Ugly Bit
The sight of one of the Forumites (who thinks he is a Blues aficionado) dancing with one of the top young followers in the country and nearly ripping her arms out of their sockets and then he almost dropped her, only her quick agile feet stopped her from being splattered on the dance floor like Paul Harris but that’s another story.
As leaders we should ensure that we look after all our followers
I had a great Southport as usual but the floor in the main room was appalling, and parts of it were filthy. If the floors at the MJ venues I help to run were like that we would be inundated with complaints. It was a shame as it's normally a really good fast floor. I don't dance much in the blues room but found the main floor in there sticky too.
I don't know if I danced with any forumites (apart from Gerry) but if I did thanks for the dances!
You know it would get pulled double-time for naming and shaming if they did. I know who is being referred to and know also that many follows avoid dancing with him for fear of injury. I do wonder why Gerry and nomoves didn't make their disquiet known to the person in question if they felt so strongly about it (or maybe they did?)
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