The alarm sounded at 3.30am on Saturday morning heralding the start of the most prestigious event in the sequence calendar. Louise had the honour of adjudicating, hence the early start, and so needed to be in the Wintergardens at 9am.
The Chamiponships had undergone some changes this year with the festival being shortened by a day and the addition of some new events. This meant there was plenty to be involved in and it was going to be a full three days of dancing.
We had some first timers too. Rosie dancing at this event for the first time and Ella visiting for the first time, although not dancing yet but maybe soon! Rosie was the first to take to the floor and showed no signs of nerves. She received at least one recall in all three of her events and then made the final of the under 8 years finishing fifth. A fantastic achievement.
The adults joined us on the Sunday and this year we had our usual team, Josh & Grace, Craig & Emma, Stuart & Andrea, Neil & Carla, Chris & Lisa as well as our professionals, Luke, Liam and Julie. It was lovely to see Emma rejoining the team, taking over a year out and then coming back to the competition floor is no easy task and takes a great deal of determination and committment.
When the band stikes up in the fabulous Wintergardens you know you have arrived and there is no feeling quite like it. Greeted by this our dancers could hardly fail to give their best and this is exactly what they did. Sunday saw the Amateur and Senior Championships decided alongside the open Pre-Champ Modern Sequence and open six dance challenge. Chris & Lisa were delighted to make it through two rounds to the Pre Champ modern sequence final finishing a highly respectable sixth. They made a huge stride forward this year, not having received a recall in this event last year. Craig & Emma danced in the six dance challenge as did Neil & Carla. This was a test of endurance as well as ability requiring competitors to dance two classical, two modern and two latin sequence dances. Both couples survived the test and put on a creditable performances finishing second and fourth respectively.
The Senior Championship saw Stuart & Andrea and Neil & Carla in action and again both couples danced well and showing improvements. They both made the final and went on to secure second and fifth places.
The Amateur final was going to be a tough challenge as always. Craig & Emma were delighted to be recalled to the final and finshed in sixth place whilst Josh & Grace were disappointed to narrowly miss winning the event. They won two of the dances but in the final analysis were only just pipped to first place by a close rule 11 decision.
Monday began with the Inventive Dance Competition in which Liam & Charlotte and Luke & Julie were dancing. This event had the largest entry for many years and whilst both couples achieved several recalls and danced some interesting compositions neither managed to secure a win on this occassion. With a small window in which to eat and change it was then back to the ballroom for the evening session. All too soon we were reaching the end of the festival! All couples were in action once more and proceedings began with the Pro-Am Classical Sequence event in which we had Liam & Grace, Luke & Emma and Josh & Julie competing with some “friendly” inter-school rivalry. Liam & Grace won the event once again, with Luke & Emma and Josh & Julie finishing second and third.
The competitions then began to heat up with the Over 35 years Pre-Champ, the Senior Modern Sequence and Amateur Classical Sequence Championship. Chris and Lisa secured a final place in their event with another confident performance, finishing fourth. They then took up the challenge of the Latin competition and again finished fourth although could have been placed higher. In the Senior Modern Sequence event both couples were recalled to the final with Stuart & Andrea filling their familiar second place spot and Neil & Carla once again finishing fifth.
The final event of the festival was the Amateur Championship, the most pretigious title in the sequence world with a history strectching back to 1946. Unfortunately Craig & Emma did not make the final this time but Josh & Grace did secure their place. With growing excitment and tension they gave a display of great technique, superb composure and classical styling which left the judges no room for doubt and they were awarded first place by winning four out of the five test dances. In doing so they join an illustrious group including our own Luke, Alex and Liam. Many congratulations to them both for their years of hard work and dedication.
Of course the support from families, friends and the other team members is always fabulous and helps inspire our dancers to perform as well as they do.
Boris was of course beside himself with excitement at the successes and improvements we witnessed, as were his whole team. The euphoria was slightly dented however by the disappearance of Michael. Should anyone discover a lost bear whilst unpacking, his owner would be grateful for his safe return.
A small celebration was thought to be in order and so we returned to the Arabella to celebrate another amazing festival and our fabulous team of dancers and supporters, we couldn’t ask for better.
Of course we have another Blackpool on the horizon with a full team outing. This promises to be another exciting weekend so look out for the report here
