Month: June 2015

Following on from an exhausting day the week before some of our intrepid dancers were once again in action at the Supadance Championships, a pretigious sequence event held at the lovely Walsall Town Hall. Liam and Alex and Stuart and Andrea were in action in the Amatuer and Senior Classical Sequence Championships respectively. I am pleased to report that Liam and Alex won their event and Stuart and Andrea were placed third, a position they also secured in their Modern Sequence event.

Andy & Dawn, Neil & Carla and Dennis & Sue were all in action too and all three couples made the final of their Modern Sequence event against a strong field.

Andy & Dawn and Neil & Carla also made their Classical Sequence final with Andy & Dawn finishing 3^rd and Neil & Carla 5^th. In the Open Saunter Together event Andy & Dawn and Dennis & Sue both made the final finishing 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Everyone rose to the occasion and gave a great performance with some noticeable improvements. Well done to you all.

Apologies for those who have been waiting to read the report from our own competition which was delayed for a number of reasons and thank you for “bearing” with us. Needless to say it was a fantastic day with a great atmosphere and support throughout. Thank you to all those who helped in any way. Luke and Ruth for partnering along with those of you who partnered as well as competed, Andy on the music, Paula for helping with the scrutineering and Maria, Beverley, Anita and Janet for helping with the door and raffle.

As a special treat we have a report from a guest blogger (do you know who it can be?)

“As the sun rose on the longest day for the revellers at Stonehenge, our dance school made their way to one of the best competitions of the year. Long Eaton was the destination and West Park leisure centre was the venue. Following on from a slightly extended warm up (which everyone was grateful for) the shoes were brushed, the tans were glowing and all the outfits finished ready for the competition to begin. From the moment the first dancers took to the floor the lively and supportive crowd cheered on all of the competitors and on occasions sang like a (slightly out of tune) choir to a fantastic range of music. It was nice to hear so many new songs played at the competition and was a real pleasure to dance to this really exciting selection.

This competition is always a good one for a range of competitors and it was great to see so many starters taking their first steps. For more experienced dancers grouping the competitions by age ensured the chance for recalls and for less experienced dancers to nip at the toes of some of our more experienced dancers. Everyone danced well, with this blogger’s highlight being the duels between Paul and Karen and Lydia and Josh and also the Viennese Waltz selection. John Williams’s Harry Potter theme tune is such a lovely song to do this dance to and there was some real magic on the dance floor throughout the day.

The day was also nicely broken up by the raffle (I won nothing) and a barn dance managed to wake the room up and stop the thoughts of the post chicken mid afternoon snooze. As the sun began to set and the nights begin to draw in again our dancers left with smiles on their faces and bags which were slightly heavier due to all of the trophies making their way home. Well done everyone!”

Thank you for that ………????

There were many highlights of course but here is the Hall of Fame of our winners and finalists:

Couples Winners and Finalists:

Jack and Leila – winning all their events

Emily and Madeleine – winning three out of their five events

Josh and Lydia – winning their ballroom events and being placed 2^nd in their latin events

Paul and Karen – winning their latin events and being placed 2^nd in their other events

Dennis and Sue – winning their ballroom event

Andy and Dawn – winnng their sequence event

Serena and Allison – winning their latin event

Grace P & Olivia – winning the Viennese Waltz

Individual Event Winners:

Luke

Miriam

Leila

Molly

Allison K

Rebecca (entering her first competition)

Individual Finalists:

Fearn

Grace S

Eleanor

Grace P

Olivia

Sarah D

Karly

Craig

Sarah S

Karen C

Serena

Chris

Geraldine

Keshni (finishing with a 2^nd and 3^rd in her first competition)

Debbie

In many cases our finalists were only beaten by other team members from the school. Well done to everyone it was a great day. We now take a small breather before the final Blackpool Qualifier at Pudsey. Don’t miss it!!

The team was out in force for the annual Sequence Medallist event organised by the ISTD. For some it was another opportunity to qualify for the Blackpool grand finals and of those still needing to qualify I am delighted to report that Iris, Karen C, Hazel, Sarah D, Elizabeth and Luke all managed to achieve just that with both Iris and Elizabeth winning their respective events.

The classical sequence events came first and there were winning performances from Molly, Chris, Serena, Josh and Elizabeth, for whom this was her first competition for over 2 years so a welcome return to the fold. Molly, Grace P and Olivia took 1st, 2nd and 3rd a feat they repeated in both the modern and Latin sequence sections although Olivia came 2nd and Grace P 3rd in the later event. Elizabeth, Allison, Karen H, Andy, Neil and Christine completed a clean sweep of the final in over 35 years event which also had the largest entry of the day.

The Junior and Juvenile couples followed with a very respectable 5th for Leila and Miriam against some experienced opposition. Molly and Emily S came 3rd in the Tango Serida and Grace P and Olivia came 4th again dancing against seasoned competitors.

In the modern sequence events again we had a clean sweep, with Elizabeth, Karen H, Allison, Andy, Iris and Neil completing the final of the over 35 years bronze/silver event. Chris and Hazel came 1st and 2nd respectively in their event as did Christine and Serena. Grace S Leila and Miriam all made their final and Karly (who was a first timer at this event) backed up her 5th in the Classical with a 4th in the modern sequence and a respectable 3rd in the Latin sequence.

The New York Quickstep event for the under 40 years couples was next and this dance is a recent addition to the Championship list for open competitors and so provided a challenge for some of our dancers. Nevertheless Josh and Lydia, Craig and Charlotte and Paul and Karen took up the challenge and aquitted themselves very well with Josh and Lydia being placed a highly creditable 4th.

The highly contested three dance events followed and making the final of the Junior section were Grace P, Molly and Emily S and Paul and Josh made the final of the under 35  years event. In the over 35 years section, Karen H was placed 1st with Serena and Neil 2nd and 3rd. Carla came 5th and Chris 6th. Christine won the over 50 years section followed by Allison in 2nd, Andy in 4th and Dennis 5th.

The Latin section was the last section of the day and Luke led the way with an excellent 1st place in his Jive. Christine completed a near perfect day for her with another 1st in her section and Karen H took 1st in her event which also saw Elizabeth, Allison, Andy, Dennis and Carla filling the remaining final places. Whilst Charlotte and Leila and Chris took 2nd places in their respective events.

The final event of the day was the over 40 years Paso Petite competition and since only 7 couples entered (all from our school) it’s no surprise that we took all 7 places in the final. Nevertheless it was a good way to end the day and well done to all the couples who took part, especially those who formed impromtu parterships in order to be able to take part (Hazel and Karen C, Chris and Christine and Geraldine and Iris). The top three places were taken by Neil and Carla in 1st, Andy and Dawn 2nd and Dennis and Sue 3rd.

Of course we must thank all the partners for their invaluable assistance: Luke, Ruth, Alex and Liam as well as those who took up partnering duties alongside competing themselves: Karen H, Josh, Emily S, Grace P, Molly and Paul. Finally a big thank you to those members of the school who assited in helping the day run smoothly, particularly Jean and Maria.

The dust will harldy have settled before our next big event which will be our own competition on June 21st. Make sure you don’t miss it – Boris will be taking note!!!