Month: January 2016

The end of January usually brings our medal presentation dance following our NATD exam day last December and this year was no exception.

It is great to see how dancing brings together people of all ages, from 2 years to over 80 years, to enjoy a social afternoon. There were some delicious cakes available, made by the FroGS together with a mix of ballroom, Latin, sequence and line dancing hopefully to suit all tastes.

One of the highlights of the afternoon is the display provided by the children and young adults. First to perform were the younger children, Grace, Emily R and Fearn, partnered by some of the older children, who showed us their Paso Doble and Jive. Then followed a routine by the older ones with a demonstration of Quickstep, Tango, Gavotte, Waltz, Viennese Waltz and Two Step all choreographed to music from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They all performed brilliantly especially since it was a challenging routine and they had barely had more than five hours of rehearsals in which to learn it!

The school award this year was presented to Joshua Horsley for his commitment and dedication over a period of years leading to some excellent results in both examinations and competitions. A deserving recipient I am sure you will agree.

We have a very short break now before we launch full steam into the competition season with three events in quick succession commencing on February 14^th and culminating in our own competition on March 6^th. Make sure you don’t miss out.

The new season usually kicks off with a visit to Kettering and that usually means snow. This year was no exception albeit with only a small amount (although Boris was glad to have his jumper) and certainly not enough to cool the enthusiasm of our dancers who were keen to get the New year off to a good start.

Kettering always brings some tough competition and is usually a long and busy day. The Sequence events are made more difficult as most dancers have had only a short time to learn and perform three new routines and this is the first time they have danced them in competition.

Grace P and Emily had moved age groups and Luke and Leila were unable to attend so we only had three of our younger members in attendance. Nevertheless they did not disappoint, all making their ballroom finals with Olivia having the honour of claiming the first qualification slip for this year. Also in the Sequence they were all finalists with both Grace S and Molly awarded 2^nd place a tremendous achievement in these hard fought events. Molly and Olivia also came 4^th in their couples CCC event not really having danced much together before.

The adults therefore, as usual, had a lot to live up to but once again delivered in all categories. Grace P, Chris, Serena, Iris and Geraldine were all placed 1^st in their ballroom events, Dennis & Sue and Dawn & Andy were 1^st in their couples events and almost everyone else reached the final. Craig & Karly and Chris & Sarah all made their ballroom couples finals which was a great achievement as they had not really danced together much beforehand.

In the Sequence, Grace P and Josh both reached their hard fought final with Grace taking 2^nd place on her first attempt as an adult competitor. Karen H won her event as did Christine. In fact in the Over 50 year’s section we had five of the six finalists: Christine, Andy, Allison, Sue and Dawn.

The Latin events continued to bring successes, again with most dancers reaching the finals. Karen H, Iris and Geraldine all won their events as did Serena and Allison in their couples CCC event.

All in all then we had a great day out against some tough opposition and it was a tremendous start to the year. A big thank you to Liam and Alex for coming along to help with the partnering, also to all of our supporters.

The next few weeks will be busy with the medal presentation dance followed by three more competitions in quick succession. Boris will be busy!!