An Eggsellent Easter at Southport

Easter usually means chocolate eggs, bunnies and a long weekend but it also brings the Southport Sequence Festival.

In action this year were Dawn & Andy, Carla & Neil, Grace & Josh and Andrea & Stuart. The first event in which we had some interest was the Dancer of the Year in which Carla & Neil were placed 3^rd and Dawn & Andy 6^th, a good start to the weekend. In the Senior Modern Sequence event Andrea & Stuart were placed 3^rd and Grace & Josh danced their first competition in the “Amateur” grade, having moved up following their successes last year. This was the event which Liam and Alex won last year and although they have now retired from Sequence competitions it was nice to see them in attendance throughout the festival supporting their fellow competitors. Grace & Josh gave a good account of themselves but unfortunately they didn’t get a recall on this occasion.

In the over 35 years Classical Sequence event Dawn & Andy turned the tables on Carla & Neil finishing 3^rd and 4^th respectively. The Latin sequence events followed and this usually creates some interest and excitement with both dancers and audience since this is one of the few places which puts on such events. This year we had separate events for both under 35 years and over 35 years. Carla & Neil won their event with Andy & Dawn 2^nd and Grace and Josh came 2^nd in their event. The finale of the day was the Pro-Am event, which replaced the usual team match, in which Alex & I were placed 1^st. A great overall team performance then after which we retired to the bar where “Liam and Alex” could be seen tucking into a picnic and a few glasses of wine.

The next day began with Dawn, Andy, Carla, Neil, Grace and Josh all in action once more. In their two dance event Carla and Neil secured 3^rd and Dawn and Andy 4^th whilst in their four dance event Grace and Josh gave a much more assured performance but unfortunately did not make the final. However, Grace looked lovely in her new dress and Josh very suave in his new tail suit. I am sure that these will be performances to build on for the future.

All too soon it was the final evening of the festival and all our dancers were in action once more. Andrea & Stuart, once again, were placed 3^rd in their event whilst Carla & Neil excelled themselves with a 2^nd place in their Modern Sequence event followed by Dawn & Andy in 4^th place in the same event. Grace & Josh again performed well in their Modern Sequence event but progressing to the final was always going to be difficult especially when only five were recalled. Another successful day then for the team and afterwards we retired back to the hotel to relive some of the highlights of the weekend of which there were many.

Roll on next year!!