Big Fat Friday

[Mary]

Deliberately didn't go to Hipsters on Friday because I thought it would be too crowded - looks like I made the right choice. Would have loved to have done the Tango class tho"

Went to Twyford instead. More space, friendly, great floor, and some people practised their aerials ............... at the end when everyone else had gone and the rest of us were packing up.

Also Simon R did an interesting 'swing hip hop' workshop whilst the intermediate class was going on. It was called an 'improvers' class - I reckon it should be called 'intermediate +' or something similar. I gather this is going to be a regular feature - to introduce other styles and elements. Suppose I should put this on the Twyford thread. Anyway, way to go Simon - good class mate

M

[Lory]

After a VERY dodgy start to the evening I ended up having a great night, personally I hated the Tango lesson, although I can understand people liking it but it's far too serious for me and the music reminds me of being at a funeral

Yes, it was too busy BUT packed wall to wall with fabulous dancers and lovely friendly people, I had a few dances with people I've never seen before and WOW ooooooooh ahhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmm and of course my old favourites and good friends were there too...

[Andy McGregor]

Originally posted by Lory
After a VERY dodgy start to the evening I ended up having a great night, personally I hated the Tango lesson, although I can understand people liking it but it's far too serious for me and the music reminds me of being at a funeral

I must admit that the music had me thinking that there must be better music you can do this to. But the actual dance was fantastic from a lead and follow point of view. It had all the feel of ballroom without any of the stuffed-shirt attitude.

Originally posted by Lory
Yes, it was too busy BUT packed wall to wall with fabulous dancers and lovely friendly people, I had a few dances with people I've never seen before and WOW ooooooooh ahhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmm and of course my old favourites and good friends were there too...

I agree with Lory on this. It was packed wall to wall with lovely dancers. BUT it was difficult to find them at the end of a track and when you had found a great partner you had to dance very small when the music was saying 'DANCE BIG'.

If this class was 10 miles away I'd be thinking it was fantastic. But it isn't worth a 165 mile round-trip to be banged into, kicked, trodden on and endure the frustration of glimpsing great dancers but never actually getting to dance with them

[Lounge Lizard]

This is the reason I went to Bisley, Franco etc.should make it a ticket only event - it will still sell out and if demand is high open up the other room.

Hipsters has two weekday nights with two different DJ's, why not reflect this on the big cramped (sorry fat) friday freestyle.
Hipsters success is jiver based, not lindy, balboa or tango.
so use the other hall (if available) to the benefit of the loyal masses i.e. the modern jivers, not the specialist minority. - we dont want to be converted to alternative dance styles, we want space to dance, great music and awsome lessons.

The success of Hipsters means it is now the most popular regular venue on the MJ circuit (ceroc is the most popular orgnisation but as far as I am aware no single ceroc venue meets the popularity of Hipsters).

The Hipsters DJ'S are recognised as the two leading DJ's on the MJ circuit (ok JB was there anyway, but Hipsters has taken him to an even wider audience).
So two DJ's, Two dance halls, Two music styles - it worked ok at chiswick, sure it would work at Ealing.

And for the next BFFF (if it is same format as last week) I will be at Bisley WCS, Great teaching, Great music, space to dance.
Peter

[Jayne]

Well Friday night had sooo much promise. Good venue with a great floor. Fantastic DJ. Fab dancers going. Two lessons (one of which was Tango - HUGE brownie points IMHO). Plus a cabaret. Who could say no??

As it turned out it was a HUGELY disappointing night for two reasons.

Firstly it was WAY too busy. Maybe if it had been blues all night then packing that number of dancers in would have been OK. But there was me thinking that it was a MJ night. MJ NEEDS SPACE. It really is quite simple.

The second reason why Friday was disappointing was the attitude of dancers. Why do people put up with being treated with so little respect? Packing a room full of dancers, then adding a few more dancers IS NOT acceptable. It reminded me of the Ceroc Scotland 10th anniversary party in Glasgow a couple of years ago, where (to cut a long story short) Franck sold too many tickets and let too many people in. At the time Franck was nearly flamed alive. He received many complaints on the night, many e-mails and PMs afterwards and publicly flamed on the forum. To his credit Franck stood up and said that he had got it wrong. Not only that but he learnt from his mistake and hasn't oversold a night since.

It will be interesting to see if Franko has enough respect for his customers as Franck and modifies his door policy.

Until he does I (and many others) will stay away from the BFFF.

J

[Pammy]

Jayne - there was plenty of room at the hollow tree

[Sheepman]

Originally posted by Peter
There were noticeably fewer "big names" last night - where were they?

Well I saw plenty of them, but not until about 1:15am, when the crowds had dissipated, and the lights were up.

There may be fewer of them at the next BFFF though, as it clashes with Blackpool.

Greg

[Lounge Lizard]

Originally posted by Sheepman
Well I saw plenty of them, but not until about 1:15am, when the crowds had dissipated, and the lights were up.

There may be fewer of them at the next BFFF though, as it clashes with Blackpool.

Greg

Will JB be at Blackpool or Hipsters then

p

[Doc Iain]

I agree with the comments above. I went along for my first friday night experience at hipsters and I have to say I was not overly impressed. The class was good and nice for a change but it was a bit much trying to do tango with about 150 couples on the dance floor! Kind of 1, 2, 3, (hold that thought, people in front have just stopped.... twiddle thumbs......oh all go again), 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.

The freestyle was a great standard as always. And although there were some people doing a few silly things no where near as bad as at Orpington this week (While I am based in Kent I popped along... never again!!) I am black and blue!!... Me the big bloke too!


I
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[foxylady]

Originally posted by Doc Iain
And although there were some people doing a few silly things no where near as bad as at Orpington this week (While I am based in Kent I popped along... never again!!) I am black and blue!!... Me the big bloke too!


I
x

Come back to the Jive bar - you know it makes sense....

Pah !! sod the expense - I'm sure there enough women desperate enough for your company to pay you !!!

FL

[Minnie M]

Originally posted by foxylady

Love the avatar FL

[Mary]

Originally posted by Minnie M
Love the avatar FL

Me too.

M

[foxylady]

Originally posted by Minnie M
Love the avatar FL

Oooh thats given me a warm glow....