Month: September 2023

The great and good of the Dance world gathered at the famous Wintergardens in Blackpool for this pretigious event to recongnise achievement across all levels and genres of dance. It is a bit like the BAFTA’s of the dance world and a near capacity crowd filled the Empress ballroom for this black tie occassion. The event includes a formal dinner, a number of superb cabarets, social dancing and of course the awards themsleves.

There were five nominations for our team which was in itself a great achievment and recognises the hard work of our open competitors. Nominated were Andrew & Dawn, Stuart & Andrea, Neil & Carla, Josh & Grace and ourselves, in the professional sequence category (which happily, we won!).

The following day, for those sober enough from the night before, the Icons titles took place also in the fabulous Empress ballroom and the competitors had the bonus of dancing to live music provided by the Empress Orchestra, a rare treat to be savoured. Three of our couples stayed to take part in this event. Andrew and Dawn were placed second in two of their events and third in the other one, Neil & Carla finished third in one of their events and fourth in the other two whilst Stuart & Andrea were placed second in all of their sequence events. For Stuart & Andrea it was also their first foray into the open ballroom competitions, which was something completely new to them. They danced extremely well for this first occasion being placed second in one of their events and fifth in the other. A great end to a lovely weekend and well done to everyone on their achievements over the whole weekend.

So much seems to have happened since our last competition here and yet in other ways it has come around again quickly. September to December is always a busy term with many of the larger National events taking place and our event at Chesterfield always starts the ball rolling.

Whilst of course the competitions are serious we try to make it a relaxed and fun day with a mix of National League events, fun competitions and social dancing. Alongside our regulars at these sort of events, Josh & Grace, Stuart & Andrea, Neil & Carla, Andy & Dawn and Chris & Lisa we also had Charlotte & Emily dipping their toes into the water for the first time and Brooke and Tabatha competing in both solo and couples events.

It was also great to see many others from the school coming along to support the team and also join in with the social dancing.

Brooke and Tabatha were first in action and they knew they would be in for a tough time as they were competing against dancers with a lot more experience in this field. Nevertheless they coped very well, dancing their routines with confidence and gaining experience which will serve them well at other events. In the end Tabatha reached the semi-final of one of her events whilst Brooke made two of her finals, a great achievment. In their couples events they were the only couple but nevertheless stepped up to the plate and gave a good account of themselves, not easy when you are the only ones on the floor doing something which is new to you. Well done both of you!

The adults came later and were able to perform to a full ballroom which is not always the case and this in turn lifted their performances. Josh & Grace won both of their events with a confident and lovely display as did Stuart & Andrea. Neil & Carla were runners-up in both of their events whilst Andy & Dawn also won all three of their events with Chris & Lisa finishing fourth in both of theirs. On their first outing, Charlotte & Emily came third in both of their events another teriffic performance on their first outing in this style.

One of the highlights of this event is the fun, change partner, Sindy Swing competition. This gave some of our supporters the chance to get invloved, so congratulations to Alison D, Stephen, Emily and Beverley for all reaching the final with their respective partners

As always we have a great many helpers whose support is invaluable so a huge thank you to Janice, Brian, Jean, Ruth, Julie and Joan we couldn’t run it without you.

Boris particularly likes this event as he gets to sit on the stage and so gets a good view of proceedings. Well rested after his summer break he’s now raring to go and looks forward to seeing you all at future events.