Amateur cabarets?

[Wendy]

I should simply dance elsewhere when the cabarets are on.

Now that wasn' t so hard was it

And just thought I'd say publicly that DJ comes second only to WittyBird in the rep rankings and that must mean something...

Wx

[Wendy]

Hey, if you're gonna insult people, do it in a job lot, that's my motto.

To repeat, I made two points:

• the performance didn't work for me
• but I respect the courage and efforts of the performers.

Why is that mean and evil? What am I doing wrong here?

grr .. now you are making me laugh which means I can't fight so hard... .. ahem... grrrrrr...

Wx

[David Bailey]

grr .. now you are making me laugh which means I can't fight so hard... .. ahem... grrrrrr...

My cunning plan. It always works

[Wendy]

My cunning plan. It always works

Win the battle....

Wx

[WittyBird]

And just thought I'd say publicly that DJ comes second only to WittyBird

I really am biting my tongue

[Dance Demon]

I really am biting my tongue

as long as it's just your tongue

[fletch]

And just thought I'd say publicly that DJ comes second only to WittyBird in the rep rankings and that must mean something...

Wx

ooooer!

[Magic Hans]

... let's talk about this big group cabaret thing. My impression was that the people doing the cabaret got more out of it than the people watching it. Which seems unbalanced to me. If I'm going to rest my weary bones on the floor and pass up on an hour of dancing (on the Sat night, no less), it'd better be for something damn good. Which, frankly, this to me wasn't.

....

So, do we need cabarets at weekenders? Or should they be binned?

...

I wouldn't disagree with any of this .... however, what is the aim of the 'learn a cabaret routine in 3 (or so) hours' thing all about?

Creating a polished routine? Clearly impossible.
Create a watchable display? Well .... yes and no (IMO)
Show what can be achieved in such a short time? This one's my vote.
How about, giving people a little taster of performing in a fairly safe environment.

And so, how can a performance that clearly doesn't have the time to become polished? Clearly not on the performance, but only by those watching having some sort of personal connection to the performers, ie they might know one or two.

This can work quite well with fewer people on a weekend, as the dance community can build to a far greater extent. On larger weekends, there will still be hundreds of people who have never yet met on the dance floor or otherwise.

Hence I think that this idea has worked better in the past, and probably won't work so well in the future, especially at popular venues such as Southport.

!an

~ Message Ends ~

[Wendy]

Wise words Magic Hans.

This begs the question : Is there an ideal number for weekenders ?

I feel I danced with more people I didn't know at the first Southport than this one. And at Beach Boogie I think I danced with everyone (including the teachers).

Could big weekenders become less friendly as people form groups (aka cliques) to "survive" ?

Wx

[David Bailey]

I wouldn't disagree with any of this .... however, what is the aim of the 'learn a cabaret routine in 3 (or so) hours' thing all about?

God knows; I've never had the slightest urge to do any, it's too much like sequence dancing to me. But there is (was?) a spike in interest in this sort of stuff, team cabarets and routines seem to be very popular in Australia.

So, arguing the point, I guess these types of class teach things like:

• team discipline and cameraderie
• how musical interpretation can be done
• the benefits of practice
• introduction to creating a routine

So I guess they're of benefit to people who, for example, are thinking of going down the competition route.

[Paul F]

God knows; I've never had the slightest urge to do any, it's too much like sequence dancing to me.

I'll have you know sequence dancing is very enjoyable Its not all little old ladies you know.

Well, ok, most of it is

[ducasi]

So I guess they're of benefit to people who, for example, are thinking of going down the competition route.

How about those just looking to have some fun?

Isn't that enough?

[David Franklin]

But there is (was?) a spike in interest in this sort of stuff, team cabarets and routines seem to be very popular in Australia.

~snip~

I guess they're of benefit to people who, for example, are thinking of going down the competition route.

Surely the only valid comparison is with the other displays on the cabaret? Or is this a handicap-based competition

My feeling is you completely misunderstand the difference between what you can do in 3 hours with a random group of punters and a team cabaret practiced over many weeks or months with a small group of selected dancers. It was never supposed to be a competition. I can accept you didn't enjoy the performance, but to complain it wasn't up to the standard of the professional couples seems a little unrealistic.

There are too many crap dancers on this forum who are quick to give their views on others. They would be far better looking at their own dancing than being rude about people way better than they are.

[David Bailey]

Well, if you can point out where I've been rude to any of these performers, I'll do my best to negative rep myself

Perhaps I should start a "Are you a crap dancer?" thread...

[robd]

There are too many crap dancers on this forum who are quick to give their views on others. They would be far better looking at their own dancing than being rude about people way better than they are.

.....waits for ESG to ask DavidB to name and shame, to put up or shut up...................

[Gus]

There are too many crap dancers on this forum who are quick to give their views on others. They would be far better looking at their own dancing than being rude about people way better than they are.

Hear Hear. I think its important to realise that with the possible exception of the top 1% oe so of MJ dancers, most of us a pretty poor to average dancers compared to other dance forms. We do it because we enjoy it. To see a group of people who in 3 hours or so have put together a passable routine ... AND ENJOYED IT is something worthy of celebration. If you dont want to watch it, fine ... but don't diss it.

My saddest experience of this forum is see opinions of rather poor dancers being taken as authoratative just because it appears in 'print'. It would be lovely to take some of these experts through a coaching session and allow them to see their own flaws. I see it time and time again even at our local clubs where the ones who make most noise are those who need to listen more. When was the last time your heard someone like DavidB, Viktor, Kate etc doing someone else down? Say less ... listen more.

Now going to shut my big gob and try to learn how to dance propely one of these days

[David Franklin]

Well, if you can point out where I've been rude to any of these performers, I'll do my best to negative rep myself

Sorry, my agreement was a general comment, not directed at you. I should have made 2 posts.

Not wanting to be accused of weaselling; although I wouldn't say you were directly rude (others were), I think the "if you put yourself up there, you deserve to get criticism" attitude you show is wrong.

[El Salsero Gringo]

.....waits for ESG to ask DavidB to name and shame, to put up or shut up...................

A dangerous strategy - it might be me he's talking about.

I've just spent a few minutes looking for the criticisms and insults directed at the cabaret, but failed to find any. Could someone post a link to the really juicy bits?

It would be lovely to take some of these experts through a coaching session and allow them to see their own flaws.

You talking about Arlene Phillips here, too?

[David Bailey]

I've just spent a few minutes looking for the criticisms and insults directed at the cabaret, but failed to find any. Could someone post a link to the really juicy bits?

Nah, we hid them away, they were too juicy for the plebs to be allowed to see. But don't worry, we'll let you have a look once you become a Good Dancer.

David "50% chance of being crap" James

(I'd also love to see the juicy insulting stuff, please let me know if you see any )

I think the "if you put yourself up there, you deserve to get criticism" attitude you show is wrong.

Possibly - and that's a reasonable debate to have, the criteria audiences should apply to these things. I tried to have this debate a few posts back, but no-one was interested...

My saddest experience of this forum is see opinions of rather poor dancers being taken as authoratative just because it appears in 'print'.

My saddest experience of this forum* is to see people being too scared to post their opinions about dancing, because they're worried they'll get jumped on. Anyone daring to express a non-luvvy opinion, no matter how mild or how balanced, seems to be castigated. So most people spend time talking about pets, singletons, limericks and other games, endless "What's on this weekend" posts, or just lurk.

* Am now so tempted to do a "What's your saddest experience of this forum?" thread...

[David Franklin]

(I'd also love to see the juicy insulting stuff, please let me know if you see any )

You don't think

it was Sh1te

is insulting?