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.

Saturday Night Party And Stuff

Yes, I really am still going to post about Southport. If I can remember anything that happened. Bet you are all sitting at the edge of your seats waiting.

Was at the Edinburgh Saturday Night Ceroc party on Saturday. Got there quite early... by quite early I mean before 10pm which is good in my books. Now maybe I've mentioned this before but I've been having problems with my ankle and knee for a while now and, along with making me feel like an old man, it means I try and be cautious while dancing avoiding any large leans or drops. As I felt my knee get painful on the night I really cut back on the footwork I was doing or any moves that might be bending that knee. I'm going to get to a physiotherapist at some stage in the near future but for now I'm going to take the informal advice I got from another physio.

Anyway that aside the evening was rather good. I'm trying to smooth out my lead more at the moment and quite a few women commented on it as delightful which gave a lovely warm feeling inside. Also there were some women up from that England place (they were there for a workshop that was cancelled which must have annoyed them). They commented that us Scottish boys seems a lot more stylish than those back home. I wonder whether that is true and, if so, it has something to do with the fact that many of the guys up here are very stylish and that raises the bar for the rest of us meaning that we work on style more too.

The music was a little too fast for my liking. I was hoping it would drop into a more bluesy set later on but it never really came. Other people seemed to like the set more than me so perhaps I was missing something or just looking for something else that never came.

Though it wasn't quiet by any means it was quieter than it often is and there was a lack of the people I often look forward to dancing with from the rest of Scotland :'(.

So I did have a good time. That was added to by it being the one year anniversary of my girlfriend and I. She requested a track for the twilight dance which was lovely.

Scottish Competition 2006 and Britrock 2006

I figured I'd just bundle the two competitions that I recently entered into the same post.

Well the Scottish Competition was my second competition. Due to the fact I injured myself a while before and wasn't able to dance for a while I didn't enter into role reversal or intermediate as I originally planned. I did enter into Lucky Dip though I didn't get anywhere. I found the Friday night party a bit lacking. I don't know why but I did. Saturday daytime was quite good. The pacing was good in the event with plenty of freestyle in between the events and it was enjoyable to watch a lot of the other people compete. I had a great time on the Saturday night and enjoyed the addition of the blues room. I felt a little of a blues room hotshot in regards to the fact I pretty much moved to the blues room when it was open and stayed in there all night (which is more surprising because my favourite DJ was in the main room).

I had a friend from Aberdeen staying on the Saturday night. The car journey home was certainly interesting


Anyway I also recently went to another competition down in Brighton. This time it was mainly to do a team cabaret that I had been rehearsing for. Before I went down I was a little nervous about it. I still feel I didn't quite have it all together and I felt I could have done with more practice time.

We won in the end. It certainly felt close. Amir had another team entry (though he wasn't in it) and they were very technically precise. They didn't do any team formations or such like which we did a lot of. Their approach was very different to ours, I guess, and it really depended on what the judges were looking for. Anyway I thought the other team did very well. It was interesting to see them do the beginning of their routine though as it is what Amir uses to teach one of his musicality classes.

You can, maybe, see the back of us dancing at:



The Friday night started with tracks that constantly ran into each other (like at a night club). This was rubbish as it made my I'll ask that woman to dance on the next track statement difficult to carry out and meant that when I did finally ask someone we kept dancing until we finally sort of just gave up. Thankfully that ended soon enough to let us get on with enjoying the rest of the night.

There was a fun class with a line dance (which was quite good fun) and a ceilidh (which was amusing given we were in the South). I also got picked on for not keeping the teacher straight when he got it wrong. That might have something to do with the fact that I was wearing a kilt on the Friday.

The freestyle on the Friday got better as the night went on and I was definitely enjoy it by the end. Dancing in a kilt was good fun and kept me cool (except for the ceilidh top which got very warm and later on I changed into a T-shirt). Enjoyed dancing with one new dancer in particular and had the last couple of dances with her.

The competition was quite good fun. Did Dance with a Stranger and Intermediate. We didn't get anywhere in either though that might have something to do with the fact that I always seemed to end up with my butt facing the judges or maybe just the fact that I wasn't dancing very well. There were some really great dancers there though and they were good to watch.

Loved a few of the showcases; in particular Amir's routine which was graceful and amazing. I've seen his performances on the Jango DVD but they weren't as impressive as the one I watched there. He got a standing ovation at the end and it seemed the most popular showcase though didn't win. I found this a little bit of a crazy decision by the judges but maybe I was missing something.

The day came to a bit of a stop for a while when there was a wedding service in one of the other rooms (downstairs) and our organisers felt that we made to much noise and would disturb the vows. As far as I could tell this was the Britrock people rather than the venue pushing for this and that was really considerate of them. The couple came up afterwards and did a dance for us which was lovely and really brave of them to do.

The early evening got of to a really bad start. After a bit I went back to the hotel (where I caught a bit of Strictly Come Dancing where they apparently were doing West Coast Swing though I'm sceptical to say the least). Got back and had a much better evening (including a few dances with another lovely dancer from down South). Was pulled away from the dancing to dress up for the cabaret (in case we won as we had to do it straight after the awards) which resulted in me missing so many great tracks :'(. Thankfully that was over with and other than possibly one of the worse performances of the cabaret I've done it went ok. Had such a lovely time for the rest of the evening with so many lovely dances with lovely dancers. I am glad it finished when it did though since my legs were aching and I had to get up early the next day to get back to Edinburgh.

Classes

I've still got to write about the Scottish Competition or Southport but I'm sure I'll get around to both. Recently most class nights have seemed pretty average to me. I figured I needed bigger events to get the same enjoyment that I used to get at a class night. I'm pleased to say this week's classes have be really good though.

I had quite a good time at Ceroc on Tuesday, I think a couple of silly dances really made my evening fun. At West Coast Swing on Wednesday, even though there weren't a whole lot of people there just two really good dances were enough for me to think my dancing is coming on and to make my evening.

Finally Thursday night Ceroc seemed to attract a lot of people I don't often see in regular class nights (and one person I haven't seen in ages). I think I had two bad dances in the evening. I felt on form and rushing to try and get dances with all the women I wanted to dance with. The set seems so much better than what I've come to expect of a class night. I don't think that was just because of my dance high, rather the tracks played were just better.

Anyway it's been such a reassuring week for me. Really good to remember how it should be rather than worrying that my class nights just are short term fixes :D.

August Round Up

Well August was a fairly quiet month with me taking it easy and making sure I didn't overwork my ankle (which is still not quite right). It was so good to be back and really enjoyed being back dancing, it was like it was the first time all over again. I was following in a few classes to get ready for Role Reversal at the competition (though I never entered into it in the end). I found following in class really interesting and I hope it helped my following.

I also went to the Edinburgh party night which was good mainly as a chance to see all those people from Glasgow and such that I've missed. So August... a bit light on the dancing :(.

April Review

Cutting a track short is like stealing a special moment of my life.
-Ducasi

I started off dancing in April early with the April Fools Party. There was some dress code about dressing up foolishly. Since I felt I didn't need much work to get to that state I just went in what I'd normally wear. The party was very quiet since there was another party going on in Glasgow at the same time. This meant:

• having two rooms felt a little excessive.


• it felt like there were more Edinburgh dancers there than Glasgow ones.

This wasn't bad though it did mean that I felt I wasn't really experiencing a Glasgow party. I had a reasonable night though I had a slightly sore knee so I was careful with the moves I did. Not having dips and drops isn't a huge thing but being careful means you have to add another layer on to leading to make sure you automatically don't just lead a move. They supplied Cream Eggs as well which I ate a lot of... and then felt ill :p.

I didn't really attend that many other parties in April. Red Hot and Blue was good from what I recall. I've totally forgotten about classes. This is what you get for writing things up so late. I didn't do to much West Coast Swing this month as most weeks it wasn't running.

My big weekender for the month was Perth ran by Boogie Nights. It's not a Modern Jive event though there was a lot of Modern Jivers there. It made it interesting as you couldn't guarantee that the person who was following had a clue about even the most basic of move. It also means the weekend wasn't necessarily tailored to MJ music though it did end up taking that focus.

The workshops were a bit mixed. I enjoyed the Line Dancing workshop; it was a silly and a fun way to get into the mood for dancing. I enjoyed the WCS workshops though the mix of ability meant that they kept it a little simpler than I was expecting. However it was Keith and Janey's classes that were really the highlights workshop wise. They focused on some really interesting moves and frame theory which was all really interesting stuff. One issue with these classes is the lack of a definitive level of the classes and the fact that there were only two workshops on at the same time meant that people who really weren't ready for those classes attended them.

Friday night party was good and I certainly had a few really enjoyable dances. It was quite warm (indeed this apparently affected the DJ's equipment) but, as it turns out, cool compared to Saturday night. Saturday night was a much shorter evening for me as I didn't get to the party until late and then went up to the hotel room to get a change and fell asleep! So I got about 2 hours of freestyle in (maybe a little less). The atmosphere did seem good but it was very warm and humid making it difficult to have a dance without feeling like you were melting.

However beyond the workshops and the freestyle the hotel, meals and the really pretty city that is Perth made it a really enjoyable weekend for me to spend with my girlfriend. I had a really good and relaxing time.

Ah well that's April's summary done. May and June should hopefully be soon and then I'll try and stay up to date on posting a summary at least at the end of the month if not at the end of a week.