Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday

Well quick post about the last couple of weekends which have been pretty fab.

Fife Party

I went to the Fife party to do a smaller version of the Heaven and Hell routine and get some freestyle in. We started out by going to a nice restaurant and having a lovely meal. Then onwards to do our thang. It's great how relaxed it felt doing the routine now, the competition really took the fear out of this performance even though we made some quite big changes to it.

It's was a quite quiet venue; as Bill has only just recently started there this wasn't a huge surprise. They really did a nice job with food and such and there wasn't a bar but soft drinks and water were laid out. It helped make it a nice atmosphere. Not surprising, given the time it has been running, that there are quite a few beginners there but they seemed good followers, Bill is obviously teaching something on the connection and other principles as they often seem to have grasped that. So it was a really nice night of dancing and I had quite a few complements which was lovely.

I got a dance with Bill a bit later on in the night. I like dancing with really proficient leads occasionally as you can feel what makes them such a good lead, something you can't pick up by just watching. Sure enough he was very smooth and I can see why he is so popular.

Tuesday Night Ceroc

I was looking forward to Tuesday night Ceroc as there was a special guest dancer there who I love dancing with. I had some good freestyle dances that evening in spite of the music which was poor and also, for the first time ever in my MJ history, too loud (I found my ears were slightly ringing at the end of the night). Still it was good fun hamming up Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Also there were new moves in the intermediate class and I mean I haven't done any of them before which was a nice surprise. I've forgotten most of them now but... oh well.

Dance Fever

I didn't go to all of Dance Fever just the Saturday workshops and party. Started out with a Lindy Hop class taught by Joseph & Trisha. I had previously done a blues class with them and they seemed a good laugh. They didn't disappoint here and had the crowd laughing loads. It was a fun class though I don't expect to take up Lindy any time soon. Next up was a WCS which was good but was aimed at beginners (which I still am but it was nothing new). I then did Bill and Fran's Blues class. I've done quite a bit of blues but only a couple of lessons. I took things away from that lesson and not just a couple of moves but a better understanding of the fundamentals. I'm always happy to practice my blues dancing. I did the Latin MJ class with Steve and Lindsay which was maybe over all to quickly to get everything in about the style. I missed the next class to relax and then finished with the WCS class to try and balance the numbers as there was a men's style class at the same time. I think I probably should have done the latter though. Steve, who was teaching it, had some interesting things lined up.

Anyway after going back to my lovely host's flat and getting some food I headed back out for a quick rehearsal in the evening before the party started. After some nice freestyle there was a brief Lucky Dip competition (which I didn't get anywhere in but that is expected :D). We did the cabaret (for the last time?) which was probably our best performance yet. There was also a couple of other performances which where amazing for two reasons. First they both looked good and second both of them had very little time to pull them together. Keith & Janey were involved in a car crash the day before and Janey didn't make it up (it's good to know that both of them and their child are ok) so Keith did the routine with someone else. James McLauchlan did a line dance performance with Ross and that was really fantastic to watch. Both men have such style and it was a really fab routine.

After getting glittered up for the glitter ball I danced the rest of the night away. Due to some exceptional dances I had a fantastic night rivalling the better nights I've had at Southport (and that's saying something). When I was dancing with someone she mentioned she wanted to applaud a dance I had with another woman earlier. That was lovely to hear and was interesting that the dance looked good from the outside rather than just feel good. Anyway I can only hope for more party nights like that. Afterwards I headed to my host's place. As I was packing the next day I realised that I forgot my dance trainers. Crisis of epic proportions! I went back to the hall and couldn't find them. Thankfully someone else did later and my trainers are in good hands which is great because I love them.

I couldn't end this without thanking the woman who gave me a place to sleep for the night and cooked me nice food and to all the women (and man) who I danced with for making it such a good evening.