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Thread: Is the MJ scene struggling?

  1. #41
    Registered User frodo's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by David Bailey View Post
    And if you look at it, a MJ / Ceroc night is pretty damn cheap - you can get an entire evening, with a couple of soft drinks, for a tenner. Which is less than the price of (just taking one recent example) going to see a completely rubbish Johnny Depp film .
    It all depends on travel costs. I reckon it is generally easier to travel to a cinema than a MJ venue.

    At 20p a mile for petrol the distance before travel costs exceed the entrance fee is about 20 miles.
    Last edited by frodo; 9th-June-2011 at 12:35 AM.

  2. #42
    Registered User Lost Leader's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Local franchise Ceroc Passion have just raised their "on the door" freestyle prices by £1 to £10. Ceroc Central pushed up their prices by a similar amount in January.

  3. #43
    Registered User Tiger Pants's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lost Leader View Post
    Local franchise Ceroc Passion have just raised their "on the door" freestyle prices by £1 to £10. Ceroc Central pushed up their prices by a similar amount in January.
    It's amazing what a little competition does ........ here in Scotland its £12 on the door for a Ceroc freestyle, I believe.
    Last edited by Tiger Pants; 9th-June-2011 at 05:13 PM.

  4. #44
    Commercial Operator Rocky's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    In general many organizer's, including ourselves at Newbury, offer discounts of around £2 for advance online freestyle bookings. That helps to keep costs down for dancers and helps to give organizers an idea of what numbers to expect.

    Whenever we run a themed ball, if we have a good number of advance bookings we'll look at spending more money on decorations etc. because we have an improved expectation of revenue.

  5. #45
    Omnipresent Administrator Franck's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tiger Pants View Post
    It's amazing what a little competition does ........ here in Scotland its £12 on the door for a Ceroc freestyle, I believe.
    Goes to show how long since you've been dancing! Freestyles in Scotland are only £10 on the door. For example, you can dance at the Bonar hall (normally 1st Saturday of the month), Rutherglen Town Hall (this Friday), The Hangar in Perth, or St Stephens in Edinburgh for £10 every month.

    We run occasional Special Events which are £12 or more, when the venue is particularly spectacular (and expensive), and we offer extras, like Sparkling wine reception, etc...
    Franck.

    There's an A.P.P. for that!

  6. #46
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Tweet bemoaning closure of classes in W. London at Chiswick and Ealing, anybody know of new ones opening? http://twitter.com/#!/allwellandgood...86396129280001

  7. #47
    Registered User Lost Leader's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    In general many organizer's, including ourselves at Newbury, offer discounts of around £2 for advance on-line freestyle bookings. That helps to keep costs down for dancers and helps to give organizers an idea of what numbers to expect.
    A good bit of advice for anyone trying to keep costs down is to book in advance on-line if at all possible as it's normally cheaper and in some cases the savings can be very significant. To get the biggest savings you sometimes have to book quite a long way in advance, but sometimes you still get a discount if you book on line at the last minute, assuming the event isn't a sell out by then of course.

  8. #48
    Registered User Tiger Pants's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Franck View Post
    Goes to show how long since you've been dancing! ........
    You're right, apologies.

  9. #49
    Registered User fandangle's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    In the South, where I live, it seems that in the last couple of years the number of freestyles has increased. I'm not sure about attendance at weekday classes but based on the freestyle entries on the Southern Jive Calendar, there are plenty of freestyles available each weekend, some weekends there are up to 14 in the Southern area! Some of these are regularly sold out so I really don't think that the MJ scene is struggling, particularly in the southern area. Admittedly some operators have reduced their venues, but others have moved to larger venues and there are also new operators starting up. It remains to be seen how long things can expand before saturation point is reached but currently, it appears that point is still a distance away.

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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by fandangle View Post
    the number of freestyles has increased.
    Wouldn't that deter beginners? I would assume that there isn't much of a class at a freestyle and therefore one would need a certain level of competence to enjoy the evening.

  11. #51
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Prian View Post
    Wouldn't that deter beginners? I would assume that there isn't much of a class at a freestyle and therefore one would need a certain level of competence to enjoy the evening.
    No, I dont think so. The great thing about MJ, is it requires very little experience / competence to enjoy a free style


    Beginners are allways made very welcombe, at least in my part of the world
    Last edited by philsmove; 10th-June-2011 at 08:40 AM.

  12. #52
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by philsmove View Post
    No, I dont think so. The great thing about MJ, is it requires very little experience / competence to enjoy a free style


    Beginners are allways made very welcombe, at least in my part of the world
    I agree with this, mostly.

    In the real world (rather than the world of advertising) I've found that a woman with no dance experience will have a fantastic time at a freestyle. Unfortunately a man with no dance experience usually has a dismal time.

    However, a few lessons later the guy is loving it and can attend any freestyle.

  13. #53
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Prian View Post
    Wouldn't that deter beginners? I would assume that there isn't much of a class at a freestyle and therefore one would need a certain level of competence to enjoy the evening.
    I found that when I first started to learn MJ, I needed a lot of classes and at least one workshop before I was able to go to a freestyle and enjoy myself.

  14. #54
    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    My first freestyle was a Valentine's Hammersmith. I was terrified! I must've enjoyed it though as I was back for the St Patrick's day one a few weeks later. And I'd been dancing about 9 months by that stage, so far from a complete beginner, though in retrospect I can see how bad I really was. So it may depend on the lady and the freestyle as to how easy she finds it.

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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post
    .................... Unfortunately a man with no dance experience usually has a dismal time.

    However, a few lessons later the guy is loving it and can attend any freestyle.


    So, in theory, freestyles should encourage men to take more lessons

    That certainly was my experience, after my first freestyle, i started going to several classes a week, rather than just one

    (I dont think my first experience of a freestyle could be described as "dismal" challenging may be, but definitely not dismal )

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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post
    Unfortunately a man with no dance experience usually has a dismal time.


    And having had a dismal time is probably unlikely to seek out lessons. Especially as he or rather the lead has to learn the bloomin' thing, more than those who follow

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post
    However, a few lessons later the guy is loving it and can attend any freestyle.
    So how does MJ get this point across.

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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gerry View Post
    I found that when I first started to learn MJ, I needed a lot of classes and at least one workshop before I was able to go to a freestyle and enjoy myself.


    Of course back in my day there were no freestyle evenings The closest there was was Mike Ellard's Casbah in Farringdon and even that had an hour class albeit only intermediate. I think the first proper freestyle was Hammersmith which started in 1995 I think. So I'd been dancing for 2 years by then. also I knew most of the people as I went to all the London venues, well a lot of people did.

  18. #58
    Registered User fandangle's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tiger Pants View Post
    It's amazing what a little competition does ........ here in Scotland its £12 on the door for a Ceroc freestyle, I believe.
    Sounds like you are paying quite a lot. It seems quite a bit cheaper here in the South. Check out this thread. However, I do agree that if the event is a special, a Ball or one with a professional Cabaret for example, then the organiser will quite justifiably charge more. A recent freestyle at the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth was £20!! That is just taking the P**s.

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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post
    a man with no dance experience usually has a dismal time.
    Quote Originally Posted by philsmove View Post
    (I dont think my first experience of a freestyle could be described as "dismal" challenging may be, but definitely not dismal )
    That was because you were not
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post
    a man with no dance experience

  20. #60
    Registered User FirstMove's Avatar
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    Re: Is the MJ scene struggling?

    Quote Originally Posted by fandangle View Post
    In the South, where I live, it seems that in the last couple of years the number of freestyles has increased ... Some of these are regularly sold out so I really don't think that the MJ scene is struggling, particularly in the southern area....
    I live in the same area, but see it a bit differently. Within an hour's drive of my house there are 3 Ceroc franchises. Between them, there's at least one freestyle every Friday and Saturday each week. There are also 2 large independents that manage to have a couple of freestyles each weekend too. Then there are about 5 small companies with one or two freestyles a month. (Observation: often these companies only run freestyles). Just for good measure, there are also a fair few charity events too.

    Overall, I think the number of migrant dancers is fairly fixed, so we're getting rather thinly spread over all of the freestyles. Interestingly, the local market is breaking-up into separate niches. One of the large independents seems to be pitched at the 50+ group with little music played dated after 1980. One of the smaller ones is trying to specialise in Blues, even though I don't think it has enough competent Blues dancers yet.

    Me? I go where there is cake.

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