Looking at the unseasonably warm, sunny weather we have been enjoying recently it seems hard to imagine that at this event last year we were in the grip of “The Beast From The East” and a number of people were unable to attend due to the snow!
Once more our team of dedicated dancers gathered for our competition this time at a new venue in Kirkby in Ashfield which although a little further out for some, it suited our needs and provided a cosy atmosphere. At our own events our regular team are joined by some less experienced dancers, as well as some first timers. We also had several who although not new to competitions were dancing with us at this event for the first time.
Boris always looks forward to these events as he gets the chance to catch up with old chums he doesn’t get to see too often and was pleased to see Arabella once more. There is always a friendly, team atmosphere and this was once again in evidence. Our more experienced competitors also get the chance to “step up to the plate” and partner some of the less experienced ones as well as compete themselves.
First timers at this event were Olivia Rose, Ashton, Sian and George who all gave a good account of themselves. Sian and George were placed first and second in their waltz event and Sian also won her latin event. Olivia Rose came third with her walks and points and Ashton made the final of the ballroom couples event with Phoebe. A good first outing and hopefully one to build on for the future.
Dancers had come from as far away as Hull and Newbury and many of the events had good levels of entries and also a good standard of dancing. For some of our dancers it was an opportunity to measure themselves against dancers from other schools in preparation for their attempts to qualify for the “Blackpool experience” with the NATD in April. Which is an exciting addition to our dancing calendar this year.
There were numerous finalists and everyone danced really well but making it onto the top step of the podium this time were: Kaitlyn, Jack, Craig, Chris, Peter, Molly, Karly, Allison, Grace P, Tabatha, Sian, Chloe, Lewie, Karen, Serena, Carol, Paul and Brooke. Also winning their couples events were: Paul & Karen, Craig & Karly,Grace P & Molly and Jack & Grace S. Apart from the winners there were also a number who made finals that perhaps did not expect to so well done to everyone who took part.
Another new innovation at this event was our charity donation scheme. Many of our regular competitors acquire a good many trophies over the years which is great since it means they are doing well, but it does also mean they run out of space for them at home. Furthermore they are not entirely environmentally friendly being made of plastic and marble. Whilst acknowledging that younger dancers and newer competitors like to have mementos of their achievements and taking your feedback into account we decided that we could donate the money used to buy the trophies to good causes.
We therefore introduced a token scheme for our adult competitors who received tokens instead of trophies which they could then place into the collection box of the charity of their choice. This time the chosen charities were Diabetes UK, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance and the British Wildlife Trusts. The amount to be donated to each charity will be proportion to the tokens placed in each box and were as follows: Diabetes UK 33%, Air Ambulance 47%, Wildlife Trusts 20%. Anyone wishing to exchange their tokens for a trophy or trophy for a token was welcome to do so but we hope you felt it was a worthwhile exercise. Please let us have your feedback and if popular we may extend it to our junior dancers next time. If feedback is positive then we will aim to support different charities each year.
Thanks once again to our team of helpers: Jean, Julie, Andrew, Rob and Debbie and of course the partners: Luke, Liam, Ruth, Karen, Grace P, Emily, Molly, Craig, Jack who have all come along willingly to lessons and classes to practise with their respective charges. A huge thank you to everyone we couldn’t do it without you.
Boris wore his paws to the bone with all the clapping but now has a short break before we have the next event which will be the ISTD Sequence Qualifier on 17th March followed closely by the NATD qualifiers in April. Make sure you don’t miss out!!
A lovely day out and I liked the new venue with lots of space to dance. Thanks to Louise and Robert for preparing us all for the comp and organising a great event. Thanks to Serena, Grace and Molly for dancing with me. Thought the DJ wasn’t bad either and loved the tokens!
It was my first time helping out at a competition and I had a great day. I thought it was incredibly well organised and the tokens scheme seems like a great innovation. Well done to all the dancers.